Unlike the vast majority of college students, alcohol doesn’t hold any allure for me. The brief buzz isn’t worth the assault on my taste buds every time I down a shot or sip a crude combination of juice and vodka. However, easily mingling with strangers and dancing provocatively on tabletops (my recipe for a good time) isn’t possible without at least a few ounces of liquid courage.
If your palate can’t stomach the thought of alcohol, here’s a list of cocktails you can make that are sweet and savory enough to pass the taste-test, yet potent enough to guarantee a good time. So grab your shaker tins, drink up and party on.
Queens Park Swizzle
- Prep Time:3 mins
- Cook Time:3 mins
- Total Time:6 mins
- Servings:1
- Medium
- 1 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
- 3/4 oz simple syrup
- 4-6 mint leaves
- 1 Demerara Cane Sugar cube
- 2 oz Caña Brava Rum
- Crushed ice
Ingredients
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Step 1
Add sugar cube and simple syrup to a shaker tin. Thoroughly muddle (bartender speak for crush) sugar cube with a pestle or blunt object.
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Step 2
Add mint leaves and press gently on leaves about 3-4 times, enough to release the mint aroma but not the bitter chlorophyll.
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Step 3
Add the rum and a few pieces of crushed ice into the shaker tin. Shake for 6-8 seconds or until tin is cool, then pour into chilled glass.
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Step 4
Top with crushed ice and Angostura bitters. Garnish with a mint sprig (slap it a few times to activate the aroma) and serve with a straw.
Moscow Mule
- Prep Time:1 min
- Cook Time:2 mins
- Total Time:3 mins
- Servings:1
- Easy
- 2 oz vodka
- 6 oz ginger beer
- 1/2 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
Ingredients
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Step 1
Squeeze lime juice into glass.
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Step 2
Add ice.
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Step 3
Top with ginger beer and add a ginger cube on a toothpick if you’re feeling extra festive.
Penicillin
- Prep Time:3 mins
- Cook Time:2 mins
- Total Time:5 mins
- Servings:1
- Easy
- 3/8 oz honey
- 3/8 oz ginger syrup
- 3/4 oz lemon juice
- 2 oz blended scotch
Ingredients
-
Step 1
Add all ingredients to shaker tin with ice. Shake well.
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Step 2
Strain into a double rocks (short) glass and add ice.
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Step 3
Garnish with a ginger cube on a toothpick.
Pimm's Cup
- Prep Time:5 mins
- Cook Time:3 mins
- Total Time:8 mins
- Servings:1
- Medium
- 1/2 inch thick cucumber slice
- 1/2 inch thick lemon slice
- 2 oz Pimm's No. 1
- 4 oz Sprite
- 2-3 raspberries
- 2-3 blackberries
Ingredients
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Step 1
Muddle the cucumber, lemon, raspberries and blackberries in a highball (tall) glass.
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Step 2
Add Pimm’s No. 1 and Sprite. Stir gently.
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Step 3
Fill glass with ice and garnish with a half-moon lemon slice and a blackberry.
French 75
- Prep Time:2 mins
- Cook Time:2 mins
- Total Time:4 mins
- Servings:1
- Easy
- 1/2 oz simple syrup
- 1/2 oz lemon juice
- 1 oz gin
- 3 oz champagne
Ingredients
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Step 1
Add ice, simple syrup, lemon juice and gin to shaker tin. Shake well.
-
Step 2
Strain into champagne glass.
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Step 3
Top with champagne.