The art of the 3-ingredient cocktail is perhaps the best way for a budding home mixologist to get into the act. We love our complicated cocktails, infused and smoked and shaken within an inch of their icy little lives, but we leave them to the bar experts; the simplest drinks are the best ones to make with a limited home liquor cabinet, especially on a casual Friday night at home. These simple drinks include such classics as the Liberté Cocktail (Lillet Blanc, gin, and orange bitters), and the Gold Rush (bourbon, lemon, and honey). What about you? What's your favorite 3-ingredient tipple? 

What's a party without a cocktail? But shaking them to order just isn't practical when there are guests to enjoy and dinner to finish. Two words for you: pitcher drinks. These cocktails are full of fresh flavors and ingredients, but they can be made in big batches, refrigerated, and pulled out right when the first guests arrive. Let's start with strawberry margaritas, and move on to Hurricanes. The party's just getting started. 

It's cocktail week here in the Kitchn!  Practical gal that I am, I thought I would just leap to the most important piece of information you'll need when it comes to cocktails:  the hangover cure.  I'll share mine, if you'll share yours!

Love the cool, crisp flavor of a gin and tonic during cocktail hour? Lucky for us, there's no good reason that fragrant lime flavor has to be relegated to a cocktail shaker. Why not bring it on over to the dessert side of things? 

The Gold Rush

It's Cocktail Week at The Kitchn, so we're going to be pushing nibbles and drinks on you all week, in one big happy hour. We'll have smart ideas for pitcher drinks and easy cocktails, little snacks to go with that drink (up first, savory scones!), and yes, plenty of non-alcoholic as well as alcoholic drinks that everyone can enjoy. What would you like to talk about this week? Any cocktail topics you're curious about or obsessed with at the moment? What's the best cocktail hour appetizer you've discovered lately? 

This week's 10-Minute Happy Hour is inspired purely by the long overdue dose of gorgeous weather here in the Northeast. My hubby had been outside shoveling mulch into our much-neglected gardens for about 5 hours now, so off I went in search of finding him the perfect cold drink to toast his hard day's work. A bright orange box that shouted Perfect Margarita was just too hard to pass up.

Sunshine. That's all I want right now. Bright golden sunshine — enough to justify a pair of flip flops. And if it comes in liquid form, like this seasonal brew from Sam Adams, I'll totally take it. 

I appreciate a good drink at a restaurant, and the same goes for dinner parties or events. It's the little extra something that isn't required but usually appreciated. In the vein of reining things in, there are a few key ingredients needed to pull off a successful one with minimum fuss.

When I decided to throw a weekend brunch for my book club, the one aspect of the party that was a big question mark was the coffee. Ever since I ditched my drip coffee maker for a Chemex, making coffee for more than four people has meant a lot of me standing around in the kitchen slowly pouring hot water over coffee grounds while everyone else is having fun in the other room. I didn't want that to happen at this party.

Instead I experimented with using a coffee concentrate — the same type I had used in the past to make stellar iced coffee — and discovered the process turns out a cup of hot coffee that is just as good: rich, flavorful and mellow. Even better, making a pot of coffee for a crowd of people with this method is literally as easy as boiling water.

Wine of the Week: 2010 Gary Farrell Pinot Noir
Region: Russian River Valley, California
Price: $45

I discovered Gary Farrell’s Pinot Noir wines about eight years ago,  and they made a strong and lasting impression on me.