When life gives you Meyer lemons (or ruby red grapefruit or blood oranges or fresh limes), just add whiskey (or rum or vodka or applejack or gin). During these cold, gray days of winter, it can sometimes feel as though we're in the middle of a long sea voyage into spring. Brighten your evenings (and ward off scurvy) with one of these temptingly fresh citrus cocktails.
TOP ROW:
• 1. Whiskey Old-Fashioneds (With Really Good Fruit): Bourbon or rye whiskey, sugar, and bitters garnished with a homemade maraschino cherry and a blood orange slice.
• 2. Spicy-Cool Blood Orange-Jalapeno Margaritas: Home-infused jalapeno tequila, blood orange juice, lime juice, Cointreau.
• 3. Salty Dog: Vodka or gin, grapefruit juice, salt.
• 4. Hemingway Daiquiri: White rum, maraschino liqueur, grapefruit juice, lime juice, simple syrup.
• 5. Ginger-Kumquat Smash: Dark rum, brown sugar, freshly grated ginger, kumquats.
BOTTOM ROW:
• 6. Meyer Lemon Whiskey Sour: Bourbon or rye whiskey, Meyer lemon juice, simple syrup.
• 7. Applecar: Applejack or apple brandy, lemon juice, orange liqueur.
• 8. Irish Whiskey Skin: Irish whiskey, hot water, lemon peel, sugar.
• 9. Maple Leaf: Bourbon, maple syrup, lemon juice.
• 10. Jack Rose: Applejack or apple brandy, lemon or lime juice, grenadine syrup.
Nora Maynard is a longtime home mixologist and an occasional instructor at NYC’s Astor Center. She is a contributor to The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries and is the recipient of the American Egg Board Fellowship in culinary writing at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow. She previously covered food and drink in film at The Kitchn in her weekly column, The Celluloid Pantry.
Related: 7 Super-Simple Citrus Cocktails
(Images: Nora Maynard)
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I've been dabbling in cocktail construction and lately I've been sipping on my first successful concoction. It uses the same proportions as the Jack Rose cocktail but the ingredients are different: fresh grapefruit juice, blended scotch (I’ve been using Famous Grouse with good results), and a simple syrup made with maple syrup rather than sugar. Not too sweet, nor too “summery.” Really, I love sours and other assorted citrus-based cocktails.
When in doubt, just mix it with 2-3 parts gin, fill the glass with soda, and add simple syrup and bitters to taste.
Any suggestions for the Seville (bitter) orange in my cupboard?
Sean P., 2-3 parts only means something when there are other ingredients! It refers to ratios.
As for the orange, I think the juice it would go beautifully with a strong, herbal gin (eg Tanq), and you can use the rind as a garnish and extra little hit of bitterness in anything that would normally have a citrus garnish. Or candy thin slices of it if you're feeling fancy!