Drinks In Recipes

You'll never make it another way again.

Celebrate summer with something cold and fruity.

Transform any bottle of wine into the summer Slurpee of your happy hour dreams.

Today is the first official day of summer. Before you finalize your beach trips and plan your attack for the commandments of summer cooking, let’s raise a glass to the next three months. On the longest day of the year, we propose a toast to the hot days to come. Something sparkly is definitely in order. This four-ingredient cocktail makes a great pitcher drink. It’s extra sparkly due to the Champagne and club soda. Don’t skip out on adding fresh fruit!

[Beginning next week, The Celluloid Pantry will take a short hiatus while Nora spends the month as a writer-in-residence at the Ucross Foundation. We’ll return December 12.] “You must never be rough with them. You must always send them away quietly.

The 4th of July is almost here, so we decided it was precisely the right time to show you how to make jello shots. Summer is with us — seize the day, right? Wait, you say. Jello shots? Dorm room, frat party, neon green vodka bombs? No, no. What I’m about to show you today is jello shots all glammed up, and even, dare I say it, healthy. OK, healthier.

If there’s anything better than sharing beers with friends, it’s making beer with friends! For my recent All-American Beer Bottling Party, I invited a bunch of friends over for what is arguably the most fun part of the brewing process: bottling the beer. This is the moment when all the hard work of making the beer and waiting for it to ferment finally comes to fruition — and at the end of the day you have beer. Real beer! Bottled and (nearly) ready to drink. Here’s how!

Do you love horchata? This sweet, creamy, rice-and-almond-based drink is not to be missed, especially now that summer is here and a cool, refreshing drink is always appreciated. While traditional horchata contains milk and sugar, it can also be made without dairy and lends itself well to sugar alternatives such as agave or dates. Read on for our classic Mexican horchata recipe with some extra ideas for non-dairy and sugar-free alternatives.

Long holiday weekends are made for big-batch cocktails. Gather a group of friends, mix up a big pitcher or two of something light, refreshing, and preferably packed with fruit (for health reasons, you know) and you’re set for an afternoon of day drinking. Just make sure you have plenty of pitchers of water and an abundance of snacks on hand, too. Sangria isn’t just the cheap summer drink of your younger days — it can go completely gourmet if you pair your fruit and wine right.

Smoothies are one of our favorite breakfast options year-round, but especially in the winter because it’s an easy way to brighten the mornings by adding extra fruit to our diets. And since frozen fruit works just as well (if not better — hello, icy, creamy texture), there’s no worry about whether it’s in season. If you’re stuck in the doldrums of gray days, try these tropical smoothies.

Smoothies are a fast, easy breakfast, and many of us are devoted to our morning shake of fruits, vegetables, and yogurt. If you would like a few tips to help build a better smoothie, look no further. We’ve rounded up our best ideas and tips covering everything from blenders to protein powder, plus inspiring recipes with fruit, greens, and even whole grains. There’s a raspberry rosewater smoothie with yogurt and honey, and another with fresh coconut and kale.

It seems like winter colds strike with a vengeance right now, at the end of the season. In my household we drink literally gallons of ginger and honey tea during the cold months. Fresh ginger tea is delicious, and it wards off colds pretty well. But when I was felled last week by a particularly nasty cough, I had to turn to something stronger. Not to get all graphic or anything, but this hacking cough just wouldn’t quit; I felt like the consumptive heroine of my very own Regency adventure.

Whether you’re hosting a dinner party or looking for something to sip while curling up with a good book, check out these autumn-appropriate non-alcoholic drinks. You’ll find plenty of warm fall flavor here, from apple and pear to ginger and cinnamon.• 1 Spiced Apple Cider – Hot apple cider in the fall. What could be better?

Memorial Day weekend is the official summer kick-off. Every year, this weekend marks the calendar with family picnics, backyard BBQs, and pool parties. In our neck of the woods, it inevitably rains, but that never stop us from celebrating like it’s sunny outside! Grab a pitcher and join me in turning summer’s favorite staple — lemonade! — into the perfect cocktail for happy hour.

I have been so very excited to share my new homebrewing book, True Brews, with you this week. Yesterday we gave you a little peek into the book, and today here’s one more tidbit to spark your homebrewing daydreams! I have many favorites from the book — the Peach Iced Tea Kombucha, the Mocha Stout, the Chai-Spiced Mead — but this ginger ale is The One.

This week’s 10-Minute Happy Hour was inspired by multiple factors. All the hype for Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee celebration this weekend has me in a royal state of mind. Then my darling friend Belinda, who also happens to be British, decided to have an intimate dinner party. Since I’ve been working mainly on mixed drinks as of late, I offered to bring a cocktail to kick off the evening.

Go ahead…start a new holiday tradition with this subtly sweet spiced bourbon.It’s cold. And when I think of a liquor that will warm you up, I think bourbon. (Although maybe that’s just because I love bourbon so much.) Add spices and apple and you’ve got a delicious little concoction that is perfect for wintry weather…and perfect for everyone on your list.I can’t think of enough good things to say about this drink. In fact, I am enjoying one as we speak.

Memorial Day weekend’s almost here. These last lazy days of May call for something tall, cool, and refreshing. Something that’s quick and easy to mix so you can get back to that very important job of relaxing…Here’s a roundup of some of our favorite no-hassle patio drinks:Dark and StormyDeliciously spicy ginger beer is mixed with rich, dark rum and accented with a zippy wedge of lime.

What do you get when you mix the freshest plums, berries, and melons that summer has to offer with a little sugar and a splash of sparkling water? Why the snazziest sodas around, of course. Are you ready to get your soda on?I’ve been hooked on the idea of homemade sodas ever since trying my hand at Ginger Ale last year. The first sip of that fizzy ginger-tastic soda pop blew my mind and made the stuff at the store seem like sugar water ever after.

Feeding is often one of the most stressful parts of new motherhood. Being able to easily nourish your newborn is essential to the physical health of your new babe, and to your own mental sanity as you enter into life together with your baby. We knew that as part of DIY Mama (our month of homemade luxuries for mama and baby) we needed a homemade version of the Mothers’ Milk tea that many new moms love to sip for relaxation and to encourage a sustained milk supply.

Touted as magical herbs that help you adapt to new situations and decrease stress, adaptogens are naturally earning a coveted spot in the hearts of the wellness set.

When I’m in need of a little afternoon pick-me-up, but I don’t want another cup of coffee, I always turn to matcha. I love its unique flavor, and the fact that it doesn’t leave me feeling jittery. I’ve covered my fair share of matcha drinks here, but this one really stuck out to me. Why? Because it’s creamy yet doesn’t contain a drop of dairy. Oh, and it doesn’t call for coconut milk either.

For something as festive as New Year’s Eve, serving a drink that fits the mood is extra important. And while you can never go wrong with sparkling wine, sometimes you want just a little bit more, right? That’s where these cocktails, drinks, and big-batch punches come in. They run the gamut from classic to quirky and can serve just a few or a whole crowd, depending on what you have in store for the holiday. Fancy up your New Year’s Eve festivities by serving a great cocktail.

Now that the holidays are said and done, you may find yourself wanting to step back from the alcohol a bit after all the parties and festivities. Dry January, or Drynuary as it’s often referred to, is exactly what it sounds like: quitting booze for the entire month. For many, it’s a way to reset and practice a little self-care after a busy past couple of months. It doesn’t mean you have to subject yourself to just water for 31 days, though.

After sweet tea, a refreshing glass of lemonade is the quintessential summer thirst-quencher in the South. I have memories of gallon-sized pickle jars filled with white sugar-laced lemonade that my maternal grandmother used to make at her home in Memphis.

The ice cream truck may have shunned the streets of the deep-woods neighborhood I grew up in, but my parents made sure that my brother and I didn’t miss out on the joy of a Popsicle on a hot summer day. They kept a second freezer in the basement, and though I’m sure it was used for important things like storing meat, vegetables, and the odd set of important documents, it was reliably stocked with what seemed to be a never-ending supply of Flav-Or-Ice Pops.

A classic combination of wine and bubbles, the wine cooler exists for moments of summer when pure, unbridled refreshment and the glory of wine collide.

Long live frosé.

There's a better way to add herbs to your cocktails.

Trust us.

It's the perfect thing to drink alongside your favorite game-day apps.

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. When the sun starts to set at 4 p.m. and the grass is frosty in the morning, it can be difficult to look on the bright side (there are so few hours of sunlight, after all!). But there’s a silver lining to this dark and chilly season: mulled wine.

Did you know you could turn a simple banana into a delicious milk alternative? There have been a few recipes floating around the internet for some time, but in the last couple months the concept has really picked up steam. This is largely in part to a new company making banana milk you can buy in a grocery store It isn’t too surprising that someone finally figured out they could make “milk” out of bananas.

Have you tried this?

Pass that appletini over this way.

Have you tried this?

So this angel walks into a bar’.In Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life (1946), the angel is the dim, but well-meaning Clarence Oddbody (Henry Travers, right), and the bar is Nick’s, a place full of hard-drinking, hard-bitten cynics.George Bailey (James Stewart, left), reeling from a tough day, quickly orders a double bourbon, but his 293-year-old Mark Twain-reading guardian angel takes some time making up his mind:“I was just thinking of a flaming rum punch.

Whenever I’m sick, I soothe myself with this simple tonic. Whether I actually feel like I’m coming down with something or whether my voice is just hoarse, this tonic does the trick. I recall having a bout of the flu a few years ago that lasted eleven days, and this drink was the only thing I consumed. I’m not here to give medical advice, but I can say this cocktail kept me alive when it seemed the flu was trying to kill me.

There’s nothing like the briny crunch of a cocktail onion to complement a Gibson’s bracing coolness (in fact, garnished any other way, the drink would just be called a MartiniWe had a bag of raw pearl onions in the pantry, leftover from another recipe, and decided to try whipping up a batch for ourselves.

With warm-weather-drinks season fast approaching (Mojitos, Caipirinhas, Mint Juleps!), now’s a good time to stock up on a key ingredient in many refreshing summer cocktails: simple syrup.Also known as bar syrup, sugar syrup, or gomme, simple syrup plays well in any chilled drink calling for a dash of sweetness.

Raw egg whites. They’re not just for your breakfast glass of Tiger’s Milk anymore. With the recent revival of certain pre-Prohibition cocktails, they’ve been finding their way back into some spectacularly elegant drinks.

With warmer weather inching its way into New York, I felt inspired to make a fresh spring cocktail. Well, I did some experimenting, and while my first inclination was to use strawberries, I found piles of rhubarb at the farmers market — and came up instead with this lovely pink concoction. Rhubarb definitely needs to be sweetened up from its natural state, especially for a warm-weather cocktail, so I cooked it down with some sugar and made a purée.

A tart, cool thirst-quencher that merges the rich warmth of rum with the zippy tang of lime, the Daiquiri is the perfect cocktail to put even the most office cubicle-weary of us in an island mood.But sadly this sultry, storied favorite of both JFK and Ernest Hemingway is well on its way to becoming an endangered species: The Daiquiri needs your help.

It’s not officially summer quite yet, but the recent temperatures here in New York say otherwise. I decided to take advantage of the early days of strawberry season and cool off with an icy strawberry lassi. A lassi is a traditional Punjabi drink made with yogurt. The most traditional forms are salty, rather than sweet, and are believed to aid digestion. Sweet lassis often feature mango, sometimes with rosewater.

With the mercury tickling the top of the thermometer this week, today at Straight Up, it’s All About Ice.All ice cubes are not created equal. And while you might not know it, these little frozen blocks do much more for a cocktail than simply chill it. For the full scoop on ice, read on…Why Some Melting Is GoodContrary to popular belief, a little melt can do wonders for a drink.

Infused syrups. Muddled fruit. Zippy garnishes. Stylish glassware. Why should drinks made with a shot of the hard stuff have all the fun?Move over, Shirley Temple. “Soft” cocktails are growing up.This is the philosophy of the folks behind the bar at New York’s Eleven Madison Park. Here, alongside the usual booze-laden summer classics, is an intoxicating array of alcohol-free composed drinks.

Half the fun of cocktails is all the fascinating lore behind them. Here’s a roundup of some of our favorite cocktail names – and the colorful stories they bring to the table with them: Harvey Wallbanger. There’s something kind of 1950s, Alfred E.

As summer cools and mellows into fall, it’s time to begin shifting the way we eat – and drink. Why not celebrate the Autumnal Equinox with a cocktail that mixes the best of both seasons?A warm/cool, tart/sweet concoction of muddled peach, mint, and lemon, shaken together with whiskey and a touch of simple syrup for balancing sweetness, the Whiskey Peach Smash is the perfect sipper for this transitional time of year.

Margaritas. Daiquiris. Sidecars. It wasn’t too long ago that I realized some of my favorite drinks had something in common. Each is a member of a certain tart and delicious extended cocktail family: the Sour.The perfect combination of citrusy freshness and mellowing sweetness, backed by the rich warmth of alcohol, Sours are one of the earliest cocktail types on record (Brandy Sours were big in the 1850s), and their modern cousins (Cosmos, anyone?) are still holding their own.

Sugar + Water + Pomegranate Juice + HeatThe formula for this home bar staple is simple. A deep garnet-colored syrup with the distinctive tart/sweet flavor of pomegranate, grenadine is really just a slightly fancier cousin of simple syrup that has earned a name all its own.

No cocktails for me this week. That is, at least not until Sunday evening – then I know what I’m having…The morning of November 2 (and, um, most of the afternoon) I’ll be running 26.2 miles through the five boroughs of New York City on nothing but water and Gatorade. But after that (I hope, at least), it will be time for celebration.

Today is Repeal Day, the cork-popping anniversary of the end of that long dry spell from 1920 to 1933 that was Prohibition. To honor the occasion, we’re taking an up-close look at a spirit that, until just last year, had been sentenced to a special ban of its own: Absinthe.“The Green Fairy” as it’s also sometimes known, has a bad (although irresistibly romantic) reputation as dangerous, hallucinatory stuff.

With all the fresh, juicy citrus flooding the fruit stands right now, it seems the perfect time to take a look at some quick and simple cocktails powered by Vitamin C.And when we say simple, we mean simple. Each of these classic recipes uses just one kind of freshly-squeezed citrus fruit, and one kind of liquor (okay – and maybe a dash or two of plain old sugar to ease the pucker factor). That’s it.

Looking for something a little special for the 14th? A dark, luscious liqueur with an all-natural black cherry taste, Cherry Heering pairs with chocolate as beautifully as it does Champagne, making it a sweet choice for Valentine’s Day.Still made today from the original 1818 recipe, this old Danish favorite has been enjoying a bit of a cocktailian revival lately.

Fruit or no fruit? That is the question (or one of them, anyway). Like Martinis, Old-Fashioneds are one of those drinks that’ve been around long enough to have developed more than a few variations. A satisfying blend of whiskey (preferably straight rye or bourbon, though some recipes use Canadian Whisky or a blended scotch), bitters, and sugar, stirred together with ice (and sometimes topped up with club soda), the Old-Fashioned makes a great wintertime drink.

Considering that the MartiniBut this past weekend, that’s just what I did – I mixed gin with three different red apéritifs (Dubonnet Rouge, Campari, and sweet vermouth), in three classic cocktails: The Dubonnet, the Negroni, and the Gin and It.The results were delicious.Dubonnet Cocktail(makes one drink) 1.5 ounces gin1.

It’s sugaring-off season. As spring creeps across the maple forests of the Northeast, the sweet, watery sap is rising, ready to be tapped from the trees and boiled down to a dark, rich syrup.So why not toast this new season with a cocktail rounded out with the deep, woodsy sweetness of maple? I recently tried out two recipes that are sure to get your sap flowing:The first recipe, the Maple Leaf, is a variation on the Whiskey Sour.

Here at The Kitchn, we’ve talked a lot about the welcome new “culinary” approach to cocktail-making. About the growing interest in cooking up homemade syrups and garnishes, in juicing fresh, seasonal fruits, and about the enjoyable practice of flavoring alcohol by infusion at home (Faith’s quince ratafia (aka “Booze Froot”), and Kathryn’s nocino).

Another title for this post might’ve been “The Earl Grey MarTEAni Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Mix My Favorite Cocktail.”I don’t know about you, but there are plenty drinks I love to order in bars and restaurants, but for some reason or another, never get around to attempting at home.

The tinkle of ice. The scent of fresh-cut lime and the cool, bittersweet, tongue-tickling effervescence of that first sip. A perfectly seamless blend of crisp, junipery gin and thirst-quenchingly zesty tonic water, it’s no wonder the Gin and Tonic is one of the most perennially popular patio drinks. THE STORY In the beginning, it was all just medicine.

Summer is definitely cocktail time for us. We don’t tend to drink so many cocktails in the fall and winter; beer and wine are more common then. But summer is all cocktails, and every summer we look for something new to add to our repertoire (and our liquor cabinet). This summer it is definitely St. Germain elderflower liqueur (more on that soon!) and we are also eyeing Fernet Branca: a new-to-us bitter digestif.

I was commiserating with a friend the recently about the heat and she told me her latest afternoon addiction was a shake made from matcha, the Japanese powdered green tea. “Blend matcha powder with milk, sugar, and ice. Green frothy jolt at 2pm!” Easy enough. I put down my work and raced to the blender. Matcha isn’t always available at your average grocery store, but it can usually be found at Asian groceries or specialty tea shops, and certainly online.

Here in the Bay Area, the evenings are slowly getting cooler and it’s certainly getting dark a bit earlier. Fall has certainly arrived this week. So it’s time to put away the chilled white wine and the cool beers and look for a new way to wind down and warm up. Have you heard of Tuaca? A friend introduced me to Tuaca when I was going to graduate school in Boston.

During cold and flu season, we make sure the pantry is well stocked with honey, ginger, lemon, and a few other ingredients so we can easily stir up soothing beverages for ourselves and loved ones. Here are five of our go-to drinks for calming a sore throat to combating a full-blown, hacking cough.

Looking for a lighter alternative to eggnog this holiday season? Something rich and boozy and fragrant, but without the heaviness cream and eggs? How about this tasty new recipe made with whole milk, the Drambuie White Nail?The creation of mixologist, Ashley Schirmer, who tends bar at Ulysses Folk House in Lower Manhattan, the White Nail was the New York regional winner in a recent cocktail competition sponsored by Drambuie. (Full disclosure: I was one of the judges.

I am plotting a Mother’s Day brunch and right now I have bubbly on the brain. I love having a little sip of something cool, bubbly, and sweet to start off a special weekend brunch. Here’s my current favorite: crisp, inexpensive Spanish cava with a touch of elderflower syrup. When it comes to refreshing, effervescent wines, there are many alternatives to pricey Champagne. I love prosecco, from Italy, and cava, from Spain.

Have you tried Becherovka? Spicy, aromatic, and bittersweet, this iconic Czech liqueur makes a surprisingly flavorful addition to summer cocktails.Up until this year, Becherovka (pronounced beck-ur-OHV-kuh) was a rare sight in U.S. bars and liquor stores. But thanks to its recent acquisition by liquor giant Pernod Ricard, it’s now popping up on shelves nationwide.And although it’s relatively new to this part of the world, the liqueur comes with a 200-year-old pedigree.

Spicy, zesty, and addictively tangy and salty, Sangrita makes the perfect sipping partner for tequila. I recently tried a version I’m over the moon for, and am excited to share the recipe with you today. What Is Sangrita? But first a little background. Sangrita is a non-alcoholic beverage traditionally served in a small glass alongside a shot of tequila or mezcal.

We’ve gone a bit mad for vinegar drinks this summer, and making homemade shrubs led us to another old-fashioned refresher: the switchel. Dating back to the early American colonies and possibly the Caribbean before that, this vinegar and ginger drink became known as haymaker’s punch in the 19th century, when it was served to quench farmers’ thirst during the hay harvest. It’s a fun recipe to tinker with and a charming alternative to aggressively sweet modern day drinks.

Here’s a delicious variation on an old favorite, made with fresh figs, bourbon, maple syrup and…balsamic vinegar? Yes, you read that right. The old-fashioned, traditionally made with bourbon, sugar, bitters, and orange, is almost as old as the cocktail itself. Its simplicity invites endless variation, so when I set out to create a cocktail with figs and bourbon, of course the idea doing a sort of autumnal old-fashioned popped into my head.

Here’s a pitcher-sized version of a classic cocktail that’s sure to be a big hit at your Halloween party (or any other party, for that matter). The El Diablo cocktail first appeared in Trader Vic’s Book of Food and Drink as early as 1946. The original recipe called for tequila (white, or silver), creme de cassis, lime juice, and ginger ale (which at the time would have been much more similar to the spicier ginger beer of today). What, you may ask, is creme de cassis?