Need to make some great, easy cocktails.

[Charter Member]

I've recently learned how to make an amazing cocktail known as a Caprioska/Caipiroska. It's basically vodka, lime, and sugar.
Can also be made with white Rum as a Caipirinha.

What im looking for is some more simple cocktails like this that taste great but are very easy to make.

Ideally i'd like to make a lot of cocktails with only a few ingredients. I don't want to go out and have to buy some obscure mixer if it's only useful for one semi-decent drink.

So let's say Vodka, White Rum and Tequila, with an emphasis on the Vodka and Rum.

I've noticed a quarter of a lime can add a lot to a few simple drinks such as Rum & Coke and Vodka & Cranberry. So little things like that will be useful aswell.

Any suggestions?

[Tapioca Dextrin]

How about a Tequila Sunrise?

* 4.5 cl (3 parts) Tequila
* 9.0 cl (6 parts) Orange juice
* 1.5 cl (1 part) Grenadine syrup

Preparation: Pour the tequila and orange juice into glass over ice. Add the grenadine, which will sink to the bottom. Do not stir. Garnish and serve.

[Athena]

One really nice & relatively easy summer drink is vodka and fresh grapefruit juice. Don't try it without the FRESH grapefruit juice - it's not nearly as good. Get white grapefruit (if you can find 'em - the pink are more common and will work, they're just not quite as good), squeeze 'em, and pour with a shot of vodka over crushed ice. Deee-lish!

Vodka, club soda, and a lime/lemon is a good, light drink. You can fancy it up some by using the flavored sodas (the ones with slight lemon/lime/orange/berry, but no sugar). Or just use the plain stuff, and add berries/fruit and a little lime or lemon juice. As you've noticed, the acidity of the lime/lemon brings out the other flavors, so don't be afraid to put a bit of lime in it even if you have berries or other non-citrus fruit.

[romansperson]

Originally Posted by Athena

One really nice & relatively easy summer drink is vodka and fresh grapefruit juice. Don't try it without the FRESH grapefruit juice - it's not nearly as good. Get white grapefruit (if you can find 'em - the pink are more common and will work, they're just not quite as good), squeeze 'em, and pour with a shot of vodka over crushed ice. Deee-lish!

This drink (aka a Greyhound), when prepared as Athena says, can be lovely on a hot summer day. The fresh squeezed juice is indeed critical!

Here's another summer drink:

Bombay Cooler

All you need is a tall glass, some ice, a shot of gin (I prefer Beefeater for this drink) and some lemonade. Put the ice in the glass, pour in the shot of gin, and then fill with lemonade.

If you want something a little snootier, try a

Lemon Fizz

You'll need a highball glass, some ice, a fresh lemon, a shot of cognac and more lemonade, though ideally this should be French sparkling lemonade in order to get the 'fizz' part of the drink right.

Cut the lemon in half and squeeze half of it into the glass. Add the cognac and then the ice. Fill the glass with the lemonade. Slice the other half of the lemon and use it for garnish. Pretend you are in France.

[pulykamell]

Also, the Greyhound is particularly good with gin instead of vodka. Apparently, that makes it a Salty Dog cocktail, without the salt. Or perhaps you can call it a Gin Greyhound, I don't know. Anyhow, if you like gin and tonics, grapefruit juice is a great mixer with gin, as it has a similar flavor profile as tonic (bitter and sweet).

[Trunk]

You'd probably like a Gin & Tonic.

You'd probably like a mojito. Rum, mint, and sugar.

When I say "sugar", I really mean "simple syrup". I'd imagine that's probably better in your Caprioska, too, although the recipes seem to call for sugar.

Simple syrup is easy to make, and keeps in the fridge forever. If you're going to be making sweet drinks, it's worthwhile to make some.

[flex727]

Originally Posted by Trunk

When I say "sugar", I really mean "simple syrup". I'd imagine that's probably better in your Caprioska, too, although the recipes seem to call for sugar.

Simple syrup is easy to make, and keeps in the fridge forever. If you're going to be making sweet drinks, it's worthwhile to make some.

Can honey be substituted for simple syrup?

[Athena]

Originally Posted by flex727

Can honey be substituted for simple syrup?

No. Honey will not dissolve in cold liquid. It'd be OK for hot drinks.

Really, do what Trunk said - simple syrup is a basic cocktail ingredient, is easy to make, and lasts forever.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by Trunk

Simple syrup is easy to make, and keeps in the fridge forever. If you're going to be making sweet drinks, it's worthwhile to make some.

Simple syrup is your friend. I don't use a lot of it for myself, but it helps take the edge of some of the more sour cocktails, if you know your company may prefer things a little gentler.

There's the classic Margarita, on the rocks:

2 parts tequila
1 part freshly squeezed lime juice
1 part triple sec (e.g. Cointreau)

You can tame it a little by adding simple syrup, but my favorite part of a good margarita is its assertive acidity.

Gimlet

4 part gin or vodka (I much prefer gin in this case)
1 part Rose's lime syrup

I don't usually like Rose's, but a lot of people are very particular about Rose's being used in a gimlet. Instead of Rose's, you can substitute about 1/2 part simple syrup and 1/2 part (or a little more) freshly squeezed lime juice.

Vodka/Gin Tonic

1 part vodka or gin (I strongly recommend gin in this again)
1-2 parts tonic water
Lime to garnish

Serve over ice with lime to garnish. The lime is an important accent in this drink, so make sure to serve. It particularly goes well with the gin.

You almost have enough for a Long Island Iced tea with rum, tequila, gin. Here's the complete recipe, as I make it:

1 part each of the five whites: gin, white rum, tequila, triple sec, vodka
2 parts lemon juice
2 parts simple syrup
Splash of coke, lemon to garnish

You can live if you skip the gin or triple sec, although it'd be nice to have the triple sec around for margaritas.

If you want to take shortcuts, you can get stuff like Sour Mix and Sweet and Sour Mix, but I think you're much, much better off squeezing limes and lemons freshly for cocktails, as these mixes have, to me at any rate, a weird chemically sharpness to them. I'd say the two tricks to really good cocktails are simple syrup and freshly squeezed citrus.

[pulykamell]

Oh, almost forgot:

Daiquiri

2 parts white rum
1 part lime juice
1/4 part simple syrup

Shake ingredients together and serve over ice.

You can also substitute grenadine for the simple syrup for a nice color and different taste. Also, you can pulverize some ice cubes with the above ingredients in a blender for a frozen daiquiri.

[Quercus]

Originally Posted by Trunk

You'd probably like a mojito. Rum, mint, and sugar.

You'll probably want to add some kind of fizzy water to that (plain or lime seltzer or 7-up), and squeeze in some lime juice.

[Adding lime to gin and tonic to make a Gin & Tonic has already been covered]

[madmonk28]

Moscow mule: vodka, ginger beer, lime juice.

[Precambrianmollusc]

Flatliner

Fill a large shot glass 1/2 full or Sambuca or some similar syrupy clear drink
Pour in tabasco - slowly
Fill remainder of glass up with vodka or tequilla

You should now have two clear layers separated by a thin red line.
Down it
repeat

[Bridget Burke]

The Paloma is a refreshing tequila drink. Not as strong as a properly made Margarita; not as cloying as a badly made Margarita.

* Pour a shot of tequila over ice in a glass. (Good blanco tequila; reposado if you're feeling generous. Under no circumstance use Cuervo Gold. For anything.)

* Add juice of 1 to 1 1/2 lime.

* Fill with Grapefruit soda. (Alternate: Grapefruit juice & soda.)

You could have rimmed the glass with salt at the beginning. But I don't....

[Joey P]

I saw gin and tonic, I assume vodka tonic is mentioned already as well. Another quck easy one. Whiskey Sour. Fill a glass with ice, add Whiskey and Squirt. Quick, easy and a great summer drink.

[BrainGlutton]

Originally Posted by Charter Member

I don't want to go out and have to buy some obscure mixer if it's only useful for one semi-decent drink.

I took a bartending course once (never could find a bartending job afterwards). The basic standard array of mixers every bartender will have on hand is: Water, sour mix, orange juice, cranberry juice, cola (Coke or Pepsi), uncola (Sprite or 7-Up), club soda, and (sometimes) cream. Get those (and the necessary alcoholic beverages) and you can make almost anything in the book.

[Dinsdale]

My favorite was, you take a glass, put ice in it, fill it with gin, drink, and repeat.

In a pinch, the same basic recipe can be done with scotch.

(Nope, never was much of a cocktail man myself!)

[Joey P]

Originally Posted by Dinsdale

My favorite was, you take a glass, put ice in it, fill it with gin, drink, and repeat.

In a pinch, the same basic recipe can be done with scotch.

(Nope, never was much of a cocktail man myself!)

Vodka and (good) tequila also go quite well with ice.

[Dinsdale]

Originally Posted by Joey P

Vodka and (good) tequila also go quite well with ice.

Nah. For vodka, the recipe is pull bottle out of freezer, fill shot glass, down it, repeat.
For Tekillya you can keep the bottle someplace other than the freezer.

[Aceospades]

I'm a bartender at the Hotel Dupont. This is one of my favorite concoctions I made up for last summer's drink specials

The Mexican Rose

3 oz cranberry mint tea
1 1/2 oz GOOD tequila
Wedge of lime

Get some mint tea (or use fresh mint if you can) and instead of water, use cranberry juice. I like the spearmint tea myself.

Pore ingredients into tall highball glass filled with ice and enjoy. It's a great drink on a hot day. Also the non alcoholic tea isn't half bad for those tea toetlers out there.

[Charter Member]

Thanks, these suggestions have been great.
I should have stated earlier that i do know about (and use!) simple/sugar syrup.

I've also got a decent shaker and a muddling stick which i have so far only used for Caprioskas.

I'll definitely be taking some notes from this thread.

[Runs With Scissors]

I'm a BIG fan of "shaken" drinks. My shaker is the most used tool in my kitchen. (That sounded dirty.)

I shake my margaritas. 1 part 100% agave tequila, 1 part Cointreau, 1 part lime juice...shaken then poured over ice.

Try a whiskey sour:

2 ounces of whiskey
1 1/2 ounces of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of powdered sugar

Shake with ice then pour into a glass of ice.

[devilsknew]

Blackbeard's Ghost
! shot white rum
! shot vodka
! shot tequila

Grenadine, Orange Juice, and Pineapple juice.

[gigi]

Another great summer drink: Campari and tonic. Add tonic until the Campari is a rich pink/pale red. Twist of lemon, and yum.

[Critical1]

on a smoking hot day this drink goes over well.
one can of Bacardi frozen margarita mix. you can find it with the orange juice in the grocery store.
ice,
rum,
some heavy large glasses, thick walls on them.

Freeze the rum and the glasses (hour or 3 in the freezer) you could even freeze the blender if you want (not the whole thing just the glass)

follow directions on the frozen mix if you use a full can of rum it will be strong.

pour into your frozen glasses and serve...a thick layer of frost will form on the outside of the glasses, it looks cool, tastes great, and will give you brain freeze like nothing else so be careful with those big swallows.