Drinks

Need some cool inspiration?

We think you deserve something that has some punch.

Consider it an Italian Old Fashioned.

Scotch may not be your usual drink, but stir it with some sweet red vermouth and a dash of bitters, and you may just find you like it.

Because sometimes you want all the flavor but none of the hangover.

Because you know you have a bottle somewhere in the liquor cabinet.

It's the ultimate summer pitcher cocktail.

You're just two ingredients away from the easiest boozy thirst-quencher.

If you have a bottle of gin on your bar cart and you're not sure what to make, start here.

Tiny umbrella not required, but encouraged.

Three words: Ultimate blender margaritas.

With summer travel on pause, these cocktails will help you enter vacation mode at home.

Mix it with a mini-bottle and crisp ginger ale for an air travel-inspired cocktail.

Mimic vacation vibes with this refreshing sipper.

It's an easy way to re-create vacation vibes.

Bring a little slice of Europe home with this effervescent sipper.

It's loaded with strawberry flavor, slightly sweet, and the perfect way to cool off from the summer heat.

A true three-ingredient delight.

It doesn't take a lot of fancy footwork to make a really good whiskey cocktail.

If you've never had a shrub, or sipping vinegar, now's the time to try it.

And there are plenty of ways to make it.

Go beyond the margarita.

You'll be happy to have a batch of this in the fridge.

I had one of the best cups of coffee of my life the other day at Four Barrel Coffee in San Francisco, California. Smooth, robustly flavored, hardly any acidity – you can bet I savored it to the very last drop! This terrific coffee was brewed following “the pour over method,” and it’s not hard to duplicate at home. Here’s how!I’m a pretty simplistic (some might say lazy) when it comes to brewing coffee.

Take a break.

Rosé season officially starts with that first balmy day in May. Come mid-summer, if you’re a fan of the pink wine, you’ve likely hit it a little too hard. Because when it’s hot and you could be sipping a crisp, cool glass, when is it not rosé o’clock? Let’s be completely honest here — rosé fatigue exists.

This party-worthy pitcher cocktail evokes red carpet glamour.

When it comes to holiday drinking, eggnog is only the beginning. Many cultures and cuisines proudly claim a Christmas punch and this week we’re bringing you The Global Punch Bowl with five festive punches, each with a story of their own. Some years back my mom, who I call Mami, threw a Christmas party at her home in Clarkston, Georgia. She made a pernil (traditional pork shoulder), arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas), and a rum cake — the standard ‘Rican holiday fare.

When it comes to holiday drinking, eggnog is only the beginning. Many cultures and cuisines proudly claim a Christmas punch and this week we’re bringing you The Global Punch Bowl with five festive punches, each with a story of their own. It takes time to realize the importance of some traditions and flavors in your life. That’s how I feel about sorrel punch, the drink my dad always insisted we make at Christmas, even though we very rarely got around to it.

There are lots of ways to heat up your drinks, from fresh cracked peppercorns to wasabi and my personal fave — freshly grated horseradish. Add the endless array of fresh peppers (habañeros, serranos, thai bird chilies, etc.) and the even wider variety of hot sauces out there, and you’re choices are endless. Flavored and infused spirits are in the spice game, too, from vodka to tequila.

Green smoothies get a lot of attention for “detox” or “cleanse” purposes, but I offer this recipe simply because it’s delicious. Packed with immune-boosting ingredients — like spinach, pear, and ginger — it’s bright and invigorating, yet not teeth-chatteringly cold. In other words: an excellent smoothie for winter. Nutrient-rich spinach forms the base of this smoothie.

This light, dairy-free blend packs a punch with the quintessential summer flavor of fresh raspberries, the creamy sweet addition of ripe mango, and the perfect pick-me-up flavor of mint. Not too sweet, not too complicated, and topped with a dash of salt and lime, this is the ultimate lazy afternoon smoothie.

When you go to an ice cream shop, are you a sundae or a milkshake person? I’ve always ordered a milkshake, but I have to admit, seeing the towering sundaes loaded with toppings has always made me a little jealous. Here’s a smoothie that meets both camps halfway! Fresh banana, a healthy dose of frozen sweet cherries, milk, and a spoonful of sunflower butter (to make this nut-free) get tossed into a blender with some vanilla extract to mimic the flavor of vanilla ice cream.

While cool, crisp watermelon gets so much of the love this time of year, cantaloupe casually sits on the sidelines, waiting for someone to call it onto the field. It’s just as sweet and refreshing, but all too often lurks in the shadows of its pink counterpart, who gets blended into cocktails, tossed in salads, and more. Luckily, this smoothie changes that; it puts the orange melon right in the center of the action — exactly where it deserves to be.

This may be the easiest of this week’s boxed wine pitcher recipes to craft, as it’s based solely on purchased ingredients. If you have a box of light, fruity, or even sweet red wine, this recipe is the one for you. Basing a cocktail on this style of wine assures a vibrant, deeply hued sangria-like flavor profile. Fruity, fresh, and tart, with a swift kick of ginger — this blackberry and pomegranate cocktail may also be the most crowd-pleasing of the pack.

From a citrus and white wine cocktail to a peppery rosé cocktail, we’ve covered a lot of ground this week, as far as flavor profiles go. We’ve also covered the major boxed wine styles. We’re finishing up our series on boxed wine-based pitcher cocktails with a dark, brooding drink based around a bold, red wine. A fiery touch of bourbon makes this cocktail perfect for both lovers of red sangria and Manhattans.

I love sparkling cider. Love it. It feels just as special now as it did when I was seven and sipping it (carefully…so carefully!) from one of my grandma’s best champagne flutes. I always have a spare bottle stashed away this time of year, just in case the need should present itself. Although lately, those bottles have been plain brown swing-tops and they’ve filled with my homemade version of this bubbly treat.

Sangria isn’t just for summer. Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday to stir up a big seasonally-inspired pitcher — perfect for kicking off the holiday season. Since we’re celebrating, I decided to add a little class to the pitcher this week with a bit of VS Cognac and some bubbly wine. The cognac that I chose perfectly compliments the apples with its notes of caramel and vanilla, and it makes your cider into a cocktail suited for the adults at your gathering.

Throughout the summer, our CSA membership has pushed my culinary prowess to extremes. Finding ways to continually interpret items such as spinach, Swiss chard and summer squash into new and exciting versions has been trying to say the least. Canning and preserving have eased the plethora of said veggies, and incorporating herbs and berries into Happy Hour has been advantageous — not to mention delicious. Here’s the latest: sparkling watermelon sangria. Here’s the story.

Watch the video to learn how to make this boxed wine cocktail.

Brunch season is heartily upon us, and what’s a holiday brunch without a festive drink? Here’s a gorgeously simple sangria that isn’t much more work than a pitcher of mimosas, but much prettier. I call this a breakfast sangria for two reasons: Number one, it’s a citrus-driven sangria with all the breakfast fruit you can eat. Oranges and grapefruits make for a pretty pitcher on the breakfast table, clear and colorful. Number two: this is a light drink!

Sparkling rosé wine is my choice over and over in the spring and summer, for both casual sipping and for sangrias. This week I chose a demi-sec rosé champagne. Demi-sec translates to “half dry,” which is another way of saying “semi-sweet,” so expect a little inherent sweetness here. That touch of sweetness also makes rosé perfect for an icy pitcher drink. When making sangria, you need four things: wine, a spirit, usually sugar, and fruit.

In my book, summer calls for a spritz, and while this sangria is hot pink and bubbly, don’t be fooled — it’s anything but delicate. It’s loaded with fresh cherries straight from the farmers market, spiked with cherry liqueur, and finished with cherry bitters. This sangria is as pretty on the palate as it is in the pitcher. A dry rosé wine, not a blush or white Zinfandel, is the base here.

And you only need 3 ingredients to make it.

Expect to pour this all wedding season long.

It's the only excuse you need to throw a party.

This crisp, bubbly pitcher drink pairs perfectly with potato latkes.

The best cocktails don’t require a whole lot of effort, but win accolades with friends. This is one of those cocktails. It starts as a classic crowd-pleaser — the margarita — and then leans into fall with the help of plenty of tart cranberry juice. If you’re hosting Friendsgiving this year, this is the easy pitcher drink to serve while the turkey is roasting and friends trickle in with stuffing and mashed potatoes and pies.

Nothing says fall and Halloween like classic candy corn. If you are a fan of these fun striped candies, this is the perfect cocktail for you. It pays homage to these delightful little treats with a colorful layered combination of juice, booze, and cream that transforms into a tropical punch when poured. You might be wondering if you have to be a skilled mixologist to create the layers in this colorful punch. Fear not — the secret ingredient is actually gelatin!