Easy Cocktail Recipes For The Home Bar

Being a bartender is never an easy job. But it’s never been harder than right now. The overwhelming majority of those in the drinks industry have been laid off indefinitely as the COVID-19 pandemic shutters food and beverage businesses from coast to coast. To keep spirits high, we’re profiling cocktail recipes from some of the biggest names in mixology so you can enjoy a taste of their genius from the safety of your home bar. While sipping through these satisfying recipes, please consider donating to the US Bartender Guild’s COVID-19 Relief Fund.

Matt Trathen/Locked Barrel Whiskey Bar/Sacramento — The Broken Berry

My Riff on a Vodka Sour; light, fluffy and floral with a tang of sour blackberries and sweet honey. I would enjoy this cocktail at a crisp spring mid-morning brunch, when it’s not yet a hot day, but no longer a cool morning.

I’ve got a full bar at home, so I have been playing around with cocktails, but mostly I’ve been studying, reading up on new techniques, refreshing my knowledge of classics, and basically trying to come out of this better then I went in. I’ve signed up for several online classes, as well. When do we as an industry ever have this kind of free time to better ourselves?

INGREDIENTS

•2oz Broken Shed Whey Vodka

•1oz Fresh Lemon Juice

•50oz Blackberry light syrup

•50oz Local Honey

•1Egg White

•1 Dash Orange Bitters

•Lemon Zest Discard

DIRECTIONS

-Add Egg white to Mixing tin and dry shake.

-Add remaining ingredients minus bitters and dry shake again.

-Add 5 ice cubes and vigorously shake until ice is pulverized.

-Double Strain into chilled coup.

-Lemon Zest Discard and Orange bitter dash.

Savvas Punsalan/Peppervine/Charlotte, NC — Basil Pepper Smash

This cocktail reminds me of summer, when we’ll hopefully see the light at the end of the tunnel! Cheers and stay healthy!

This is of course a tough time for the entire hospitality industry. Here in Charlotte, we’re just trying to help each other out while we’re temporarily closed. The owners of Peppervine have set up a GoFundMe and the funds will go to pay rent, utilities, and some of our staff that are in need. I feel very lucky to be a part of a team like this.

INGREDIENTS

• 5 Anaheim peppers

• 2 cups sugar

• ¼ cup water

• 6-7 leaves of fresh basil or Thai basil

• 1 oz. fresh lemon juice

• Ice

• Vodka or gin (your preference or omit if making it a spirit-free)

• Soda water

• Garnish – lemon twist and basil leaf

DIRECTIONS

1. Prep Anaheim pepper syrup

• Wash, cut up, and deseed 2 cups (about 5) Anaheim peppers (only deseed 75% because you want some seeds to provide a little bit of heat)

• Put into a sauce pan with 2 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup of water

• Bring that to a boil and reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes (stir occasionally)

• Set that aside and let cool

• Strain out all peppers and seeds

• Now you have your Anaheim pepper syrup

2. Build the drink in the top of the shaker (smaller of the two) If you don’t have a shaker, you can use a strong measuring cup (maybe a glass Pyrex so you don’t break while muddling)

3. Add fresh basil or Thai basil and tear off about 6-7 leaves without stems, then tear that in half to make about a palm’s worth

4. Add 1 oz. fresh lemon juice

5. Add 1 oz. Anaheim pepper syrup

6. Muddle the basil in the liquid (lemon juice + Anaheim pepper syrup); forcefully muddle almost making the mixture liquid (will turn green)

7. 7.Pour in vodka or gin (your choice); I recommend Botanist gin or other botanical gin. For vodka I recommend Tito’s.

8. Add scoop of ice, close it up and shake vigorously to mix it all up.

9. Take the top off the shaker, place on an ice strainer, and also use a double strainer to keep the ice out and to catch the basil

10. Pour into a double rocks glass

11. Gently put ice into your double rocks glass, then fill the rest up with soda water (depending on your glass, about 1 oz.)

12. Garnish with a lemon twist and a basil leaf

Rob Cianicimino/VERSE/Toluca Lake, CA — N.W.A.

The N.W.A (Negroni with Absinthe) was inspired by the classic Italian cocktail, but with a Los Angeles twist. I crafted this cocktail by imaging if the traditional drink were combined with a hip hop song (similar to how the food and beverage at VERSE is combined with the immersive acoustic environment and unique soundtrack). The classic Negroni is given a “sense of attitude” with the addition of the absinthe. We’ve pivoted to to-go/delivery; you can get this drink as a specialty to-go cocktail.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 oz Gin
• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz Sweet Vermouth
• Absinthe mist

DIRECTIONS

1. Spray Absinthe into a Chilled Double Rocks glass

2. Add all ingredients into a mixing glass over ice

3. Stir

4. Strain into Double Rocks with a Big Ice cube

5. Spray Absinthe on top

6. Garnish with an orange peel