Q: We've decided to do "signature cocktails" at our wedding along with beer and wine. Here's our criteria: 1. uncomplicated but not dead simple, 2. not too strong, and 3. not cloyingly sweet or girly or tacky — a crowd-pleaser without being overdone. Any ideas?
Sent by Kristin
Editor: Kristin also mentioned that her fiancé has already settled upon the Moscow Mule (vodka and ginger ale) for his signature cocktail, so she'd like to do something with a different liquor base.
Readers, what are your suggestions?
Related: Literary Drinks: 10 Famous Fiction Writers and Their Cocktails
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For my wedding we picked a few cocktails form our going-out history; one based on a dark and stormy (ginger beer and rum) we had during a fantastic dinner out in Manhattan, and a tea punch based on one we had in London.
I can't remember the name of this
3 ounces prosecco
1/2 ounce Campari
1 ounce Stega
1/2 ounce grapefruit juice with a raspberry to garnish
I think the easiest way to solve something like this is to take a cocktail that's familiar and add one ingredient that makes it unique and special - perhaps an unexpected liquer or fruit puree?
blackberry mojito
St. Germain gimlet
Maple white russian
Blood orange Rob Roy
etc. etc.
I think I found out about this website called Tasteologie via a post on theKitchn...well, anyway, they have a sister site called Liquorious that is full of cocktail ideas (http://liqurious.notcot.org/). Maybe you can find something there. I think the best signature cocktails either reflect your wedding theme or something about the couple.
Attended a wedding that served Rusty Nails. Even as a bourbon girl, I thoroughly enjoyed (plenty) of them.
I think a signature cocktail should have ingredients that represent something characteristic of the person the drink is created to honor. For example, for my boyfriend Zack's birthday I created what I called the Zachary Daiquiri: a classic daiquiri (light rum, lime juice, simple syrup) with the addition of muddled serrano or habanero pepper--because he loves spicy hot peppers and it's well known among people who know him how he loves to make salsa so fiery hot it burns everybody's tongue off. So, think about flavors that mean something to you and that others will recognize as saying something about you.
We did a basil-infused whiskey sour (infuse the simple syrup with basil, or whatever herb you like), made into a punch by adding a decent amount of sparkling water. It disappeared (all 3 gallons...), as did the second batch. (People chose to fetch more of the whiskey sour instead of drinking wine with dinner, leading to 2+ cases of leftover wine. WIN!)
I've since had to give out the recipe to a bunch of people who wanted it for parties, so it worked out quite well! :)
What time of year is the hitching? Some cocktails really lend themselves to different seasons/temperatures and even locations. (For instance, here in the south I drink a lot more bourbon in fall and winter and a lot more margaritas in the summer.)
Porch Swing: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/07/porch-swing/
(Spring/Summer wedding) Easy enough that we could make giant pitchers of it and tasted great. In hindsight I wish we would have made double the amount we did because it was such a hit that we ran out of it during cocktail hour!
Pink Elephant : http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/224646/pink-elephant-signature-cocktail
This drink was a HIT at our wedding. Seriously, nothing else got drank because of it and friends tell me they have made it for parties and whatnot since then (we had the recipe printed on napkins). Martha has a nice stash of signature cocktail recipes.
How a French 75 cocktail? Festive, more on the dry side, refreshing, and not too girly.
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/10/french-75
Caiperinha! Or Moscow mule!
What about an Old Cuban? It is basically a mojito with champagne. Also the drink mixes well ahead of time and then you can just top it off with the champagne. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/08/cocktails-the-old-cuban.html
You can test it at Pegu and at Flatiron Lounge.
john daly's!!! they're so yummy!
french 75s are amazing too...
Choose something you like to drink, or something that has meaning to you. For our wedding, I chose the sangria recipe from my favorite local restaurant, and my husband recreated his favorite drink he had while living abroad.
We did a gin and cucumber drink along with a whiskey, ginger beer, and clementine drink. Our wedding was in August, so we tried to choose unique but refreshing signature cocktails. Good luck and congratulations!
Check out this site http://thebestremedy.co/. Awesome, simple, beautiful cocktails.
Pim's Cup
As a person who bartends a whole lot of weddings...mojitos are always a bad idea...they take wayyy to much physical work and time especially if you decide to do a tray pass of them. We've done them before and it's always a huge mess.
Passion fruit caipirinha
Old fashioned