mellonbread's Favorite Drinks to Make at Home - Part 2

Building on the wild success of the first drinks post, let's have another!

APEROL SOUR

Availability: Easy. Aperol isn't hard to find, though I don't actually like it for anything besides this drink.

I doubt I invented this drink, but I can't find any mention of it anywhere else. I find the Aperol Spritz is too sweet for my taste. This recipe tames the sweetness and lets the rest of the flavors express themselves better.

• 2 oz Aperol
• 4 oz Prosecco (can use a drier sparkling wine if you want the drink to be even less sweet)
• Juice of one lemon
• Carbonated water

Shake the Aperol and lemon juice with ice, strain into glass with ice, add prosecco and top with carbonated water to taste. Garnish with lemon wheel and cocktail cherry of choice.

Consider also: just a splash of absinthe or Pernod to turn it into a Death in the Aperol Sour.

CAIPIRINHA

 I didn't have a photo of the drink by itself

 

Availability: Moderate. Grocery stores don't stock cachaca, but liquor stores usually have it. If there's anything besides 51, get that. Otherwise, 51 will do.

I didn't like cachaca at first. It's kind of rank tasting if you're expecting an ordinary rum. The raw sugarcane flavor really grows on you though, and it grows even faster when combined with sugar and a frankly excessive amount of lime juice. This is a sweet, citrusy, boozy drink that can hold its own against a gin and tonic for summer sipping.

• 2oz cachaca
• lime
• tablespoon white sugar (or more, or less)
  

Cut the lime into quarters lengthwise. Scrape or slice the pith (the white vein running through the core) off the slices to avoid excessive bitterness. Slice the lime chunks in half again to form eighths. Toss those in a shaker and mash them up with a muddler. If you don't have one of those, you can rinse the handle of a hammer or other tool and use that to crush the limes. by pressing down with the butt end. That's what I did before I got one.

Once you've muddled your limes, add the sugar and spirits to the shaker, along with some ice. Shake well and open pour into an ice filled vessel of choice, letting the lime husks float around in there.

For a minty bonus, add a tiny bit of fernet branca before shaking. Don't overdo it, or your drink will taste like an andes mint dipped in mouthwash.

PLANTER'S PUNCH

Availability: Easy. Most grocery stores should have a Jamaican rum, though not necessarily a great one. That's the minimum requirement for this drink.

 

One of my favorite Seattle drinking spots is Rum Ba, a quasi-tiki spot that evokes powerful nostalgia from my grad school days. A planter's punch tastes like something they would make. Sweet, sour, and with that signature Jamaican rum funk.

This recipe is supposed to include grenadine. I don't use grenadine because I hate the store bought stuff for tasting chalky, and I'm too lazy to make my own. I realize it's basically just a daquiri without it, but I don't care.

• 3oz Jamaican rum (most grocery stores here stock Appleton. If you can't get that, Meyer's will suffice. Don't write it off completely just because it comes in a plastic bottle)
• Juice of one lime (could go up to two)
• 1 oz simple syrup (you're supposed to use sugarcane juice)
• 3 or 4 dashes Peychaud's bitters (you could use Angostura if that's what you have)
• Carbonated water

Shake everything but the carbonated water with ice. Pour into your vessel of choice, also filled with ice. Top with carbonated water.

IMPROVED WHISKEY

Availability: Moderate. Absinthe and Peychaud's bitters are what make this drink come alive, and you'll need to visit an actual liquor store for both.

I didn't have any whiskey drinks in the last post, let's fix that. Something a little subtler than the rest of the list, without the pile of citrus fruit I usually use.

• 1/4 oz simple syrup
• 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters (can use Angostura, but it's not the same)
• 1/4 oz Luxardo (do NOT overdo this or it will be undrinkable)
• 2 oz rye whiskey (can use bourbon, but it's not as good)
• Dash of absinthe or Pernod

Combine and stir with ice, strain into glass, squeeze a lemon peel over it.