Cocktail Recipes for You to Ponder (and Make) This Thanksgiving

The Biscotti Manhattan offers a hint of the famous Italian cookie, with notes of cocoa and cherries. Perfect with Bacon-wrapped Apricots.

We are the proud yet ashamed owners of cocktail recipes scribbled across stacks of mismatched scratch papers, napkins, business cards, index cards, menus, and the ubiquitous Post-Its. We call them strays. As Thanksgiving approaches, we decided to shed ourselves of things that do not or no longer give us joy. Scraps of paper are those things. So before tossing them into the wastebasket of thwarted dreams, we decided to publish a few recipes that actually sounded good. Invite one of these strays over for Thanksgiving. Feel free to substitute whatever you see fit, or better fits with what you have on your shelf. Don’t have Dubonnet rouge, then substitute a sweet vermouth or another quinquina. Try them all up or on the rocks with a splash of soda. We hope you enjoy experimenting behind the bar (and in the kitchen) as much as we do. Here’s to you and all the fun you bring to flavor.

Fall Pear Manhattan
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 ounce bourbon
1/2 ounce pear liqueur
1/2 ounce Dubonnet rouge
dash whiskey bitters
1/4 teaspoon Velvet Falernum
pear slice, as garnish

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Add garnish.

Biscotti Manhattan
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces bourbon
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1/2 ounce Faretti Biscotti Famosi liqueur
1 dash mole bitters
maraschino or brandied cherry, as garnish

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Add garnish.

The Biscotti Manhattan pairs perfectly with Bacon-wrapped apricots with fresh sage. So easy to make, yet the rewards are infinite.

Bacon-wrapped Apricots with Sage
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
package quality bacon
package unsulfured dried apricots
bunch fresh sage

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking tray completely with parchment paper, so that it hangs a little over the sides. If apricots do not seem bite-size, cut in half. Cut bacon slices into thirds. Wrap bacon slice around apricot piece and place on parchment, seam-side down. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until bacon has reached desired doneness.

Pair them with any of the cocktails on this page, or with a William Tell All cocktail or a ’69 cocktail for a “Perfect Pairing.”

Maple–Rye Highball
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/4 ounces rye
1/2 ounce Sortilège maple liqueur
2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters No. 6
maple water, carbonated

Method
Shake for 15 seconds in ice. Strain into chilled glasses and top with maple water.

Dutch Negroni
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 ounce genever gin (we used Bols)
1 ounce Aperol
1 ounce sweet vermouth (we used Martini & Rossi)
dash camomile tincture
orange peel, expressed and rubbed around rim

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Add garnish.

Gin and Aperol
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces G’Vine Floraison gin
1 ounce Aperol
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/4 ounce Galliano l’Autentico
1 dash Boker’s bitters

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Add garnish.

Golden Bees
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 ounce bourbon
1/ ounce Berentzen Bushel & Barrel
1/2 ounce goldwasser
dash Boker’s bitters

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Add garnish.

❤ ❤ ❤

Even if you never make any of these tantalizing concoctions or nibbles, we hope they inspired some of your own ideas. Share them with us.

photos © Cocktail Buzz

Cocktail Buzz Spicy Ginger Syrup Is Your Best Friend This Summer

Homemade ginger syrup is easy to make and will brighten up your cocktail hour. Try this Ginger Pear Highball, made with Berentzen’s light and fresh-tasting pear liqueur.

Crisp ginger ale and its spicier cousin ginger beer are tried and true mixers at your home bar, and for good reason. They combine so well with so much. We love ginger beer in our Zul Mule or in a simple fizzy Presbyterian. These are the perfect drinks for sunny, breezy days. But if we’ve run out of ginger beer, or have some fresh ginger lying around, we love to make ginger syrup to mix with soda. Our homemade spicy ginger syrup is versatile for both cocktails and nonalcoholic “mocktails.” The best part is it’s simple to make.




Cocktail Buzz Spicy Ginger Syrup

Ingredients
6 ounces fresh, unpeeled ginger, washed and diced (or sliced with a mandoline or pulsed in a food processor)
3 cups of water
1 1/2 cups of sugar
pinch of salt

Method
Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool completely. Strain mixture into a jar and store in refrigerator for about a week.

❤ ❤ ❤

Now you can start mixing. Combine the syrup with soda water, to taste, for your own homemade version of ginger beer. It’s really good with some fresh lime juice as well. Or add a little grenadine and the kids have a zestier version of a Shirley Temple we call the Shirley Temple Black.

Ginger Soda

Ingredients
1/2–1 ounce Cocktail Buzz Spicy Ginger Syrup (depending on how sweet you like your drink)
soda, chilled

Method
Fill rocks glass or highball glass with ice. Add ginger syrup, then soda. Stir. You can always add a lemon twist, or perhaps a spring of mint, if it pleases.

Shirley Temple Black
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1/4–1/2 ounce Cocktail Buzz Spicy Ginger Syrup (depending on how sweet you like your soda)
1/4–1/2 ounce grenadine
club soda, chilled

Method
Fill rocks glass or highball glass with ice. Add ginger syrup, grenadine, then soda. Stir. You can always add a lemon twist, if it pleases.

❤ ❤ ❤

Now it’s time to make a cocktail. How about a Dark and Stormy: dark rum mixed with ginger beer and perhaps a little fresh lime juice in a tall glass of ice.

Cocktail Buzz Dark and Stormy

Ingredients
2 ounces dark rum (traditionalists use Gosling’s Black Seal)
1 ounce Cocktail Buzz Spicy Ginger Syrup (recipe above)
1/2 ounce lime juice (optional)
4 ounces soda water (to taste)

Method
Shake first three ingredients with ice and strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Top with club soda. Stir.

❤ ❤ ❤

If you desire something less alcoholic, use you’re favorite liqueur, like the light apple or pear versions that Berentzen sent us recently. Their flavors are crisp, not at all cloying. Add a little of our ginger syrup and soda water and you’re ready for some backyard barbecue festivities. Their low alcohol content makes them the perfect choice for when you want more than one cocktail; we’ll be reaching for these liqueurs again and again this summer.

Apple or Pear Ginger Highball

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Berentzen Pear or Apple Liqueur
1 ounce Cocktail Buzz Spicy Ginger Syrup (recipe above)
4 ounces soda
ice

Method
Stir first two ingredients in ice for 15 seconds ice and strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Top with soda water.

❤ ❤ ❤

We’ve also been adding ginger syrup, in lieu of plain simple syrup, to a lot of classic cocktails. One of our favorite iterations is the Ginger Whiskey Sour. Just add a warm summer night. We think it’s a winner.

Cocktail Buzz Ginger Whiskey Sour

Ingredients
2 ounces bourbon or rye
3/4 ounces Cocktail Buzz Spicy Ginger Syrup (recipe above)
3/4 ounces lemon juice

Method
Shake with ice for 15 seconds and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

❤ ❤ ❤

Pairing Suggestions
Halloumi with Fig Jam
Braunschweiger Spread
Smoked Eel
Sweet Potato Crisps
The Chick’s Peas
Smoked cheeses, such as gouda

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz