The Best Cocktails to Make at Home
Sometimes, all you need is a delicious cocktail in hand. While we love to enjoy the best bars in town, we also love to enjoy the best cocktails in the calm and tranquility of our homes! That’s why we selected some of our favorite cocktails, along with their recipes, so you can make them at home. Will you join us?
Best Cocktails to Make at Home
Piña Colada
Ingredients:
120ml / 4oz pineapple juice
60ml / 2oz white rum
60ml / 2 oz coconut cream
1 wedge of pineapple, to garnish (optional)
Pulse all the ingredients along with a handful of ice in a blender until smooth. Pour into a tall glass and garnish as you like.
Vodka and Watermelon Punch
Ingredients:
240ml / 8oz Smirnoff Red Vodka
16 pieces watermelon, cut into small rounds
8 fresh basil leaves
120ml / 4oz lime cordial (optional)
800ml / 27oz soda water
Ice
Muddle watermelon pieces in the bottom of a punch bowl. Then, add Smirnoff vodka, basil, lime cordial and ice and stir. After, top with soda water and stir once more.
Negroni
Ingredients:
30ml / 1oz London dry gin
30ml / 1oz sweet vermouth
30ml / 1oz Campari
Mix all with ice for 20-30 seconds. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with orange peel.
Bloody Mary
Ingredients:
2 parts Grey Goose vodka
4 parts organic tomato juice
½ part fresh lemon juice (to taste)
4 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
4 dashes of Tabasco (or hot pepper sauce)
Some cubed ice
To garnish: Celery, ground black pepper, olives, horseradish, fresh aromatic herbs
Add plenty of ice and all of your ingredients to a shaker or stirring glass. If you’re using a shaker, tilt it backward and forwards a few times to mix the ingredients without making the drink frothy. If you’re stirring, you can do so vigorously. Then, pour the mix into a glass. Top up with fresh ice if it’s not quite full. At the end, add your garnishes.
Martini
Ingredients:
60ml / 2 oz gin
30ml / 1 oz dry vermouth
Add contents to an ice-filled mixing glass or metal shaker. Stir, don’t shake, for about 10 seconds. Strain into a coupe or cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon peel.
Moscow Mule
Ingredients:
60ml / 2oz vodka
15ml / 1/2oz lime juice, freshly squeezed
180ml / 6 oz ginger beer
Squeeze lime juice into a Moscow Mule mug (or a Collins glass) and drop in the spent shell. Add 2 or 3 ice cubes, then pour in the vodka and fill with cold ginger beer (not ginger ale, although what the hell). Serve with a stirring rod.
Dreaming of Cocktails at the Baccarat Hotel NYC
Manhattan
Ingredients:
60ml / 2oz rye whiskey
30ml / 1oz sweet vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Stir the ingredients with cracked ice, then strain into in a chilled coupe. Garnish with an orange twist or brandied cherry.
Classic Daiquiri
Ingredients:
60ml / 2oz white rum
30ml / 1oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
22ml / ¾oz simple syrup
Combine ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and shake well. Strain into a coupe.
Caipirinha
Ingredients:
Lime, cut into wedges
10ml / 2 tsp Sugar
60ml / 2 oz Cachaça
Garnish: Lime wheel
In a double Old Fashioned glass, muddle the sugar and lime. Fill the glass with ice, add the cachaça, and stir briefly. Garnish with a lime wheel (optional).
Margarita
Ingredients:
60ml / 2oz silver tequila
30ml / 1oz Cointreau
30ml / 1oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
Rub a lime wedge over the rim of a Margarita glass, then twist on a plate of coarse salt so it attaches (optional). Shake the ingredients with cracked ice, then strain into a glass over ice.
Champagne Cocktail
Ingredients:
89ml / 3oz Champagne
10ml / ⅓oz Cognac
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 sugar cube
Add 2 dashes of Angostura bitter and sugar cube into a Champagne flute. Then add the cognac followed by gently pouring chilled champagne. Express a lemon twist over top.
Hope you enjoyed our selection of the best cocktails to make at home!
Words by Rita Archer