Prickly Pear Cooler

This is the first "Audition" for baby shower drinks that I can put in a punchbowl/pitcher.  The original recipe we saw used blood orange bitters. They stole the recipe from someone that used St Germain, so we tried both. Aperol was the closest thing I had to blood orange bitters and it was definitely the favorite of the official tasting commitee.

8 oz Vinho Verde (a slightly fizzy white wine)
3/4 oz Prickly Pear Syrup
1/2 oz Aperol or St Germain

Plum Whiskey Smash

To celebrate Mad Men on Netflix Instant!
1/2 plum
2 oz bourbon
1/2 oz simple syrup
1/2 oz lime juice
Muddle, shake with ice, strain over crushed ice and add three dashes bitters.

The Good Doctor

I don't drink highballs very often but I saw this recipe and gave it a shot. It's a little sweet. Next time I'll up the rye and use less amaro. It has good flavor. I used Rababaro Zucca for the amaro and it's rhubarb flavors work well with the Dr. Pepper.

1.5 oz Amaro
1.5 oz Rye whiskey
6 oz Dr Pepper
Orange slice, for garnish

Fill a glass with ice. Combine Amaro and rye, and top with Dr Pepper; squeeze orange slice into mixture, and drop the slice into the glass as garnish.

Boo Loo

It's Memorial Day weekend an we have limited ingredients at our rental house in Palm Springs. Luckily the Tiki+ app has a search by ingredient function. So far we've had Admiral Schley Punch, Cinerama Punch, and now the Boo Loo!

a few small chunks fresh pineapple
2 ½ oz unsweetened pineapple juice
1 ½ oz fresh lime juice
1 oz honey mix
1 ½ oz Demerara rum
¾ oz 151-proof Lemon Hart Demerara rum
¾ oz dark Jamaican rum
1 ½ oz club soda
Put everything—except soda—in a blender. Blend without ice until pineapple is liquefied. Add soda. Pour unstrained into a hollowed-out pineapple filled with crushed ice (use a Vacu-Vin pineapple corer), or into a 36-oz snifter filled with crushed ice. In either case, stir until well-chilled before serving.

Hai Karate

It's a big night tonight. Obama just announced the death of Osama Bin Laden. We needed a "kick ass" drink to watch the coverage. Might have two.
1 oz fresh lime juice (I used lemon)
1 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
1 oz orange juice
1 tsp maple syrup (Mr Berry says grade A only but B is always better)
1 dash Angostura bitters
2 oz amber Virgin Islands rum
Shake well with ice cubes. Pour unstrained into a tall glass. Garnish with a lime wedge and orange slice speared to a cocktail cherry.
By Beachbum Berry 1999

Aviation Cocktail

An adult lemon drop.

2 ½ oz gin
½ oz maraschino liqueur
½ oz lemon juice
Shake and strain into a cocktail glass.

Sbagliato

This is a nice and refreshing variation on a Negroni. The name means "wrong" in Italian and supposedly was created by mistake by a hurried barista in Milan.

1 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz Campari (I used Gran Classico Bitter, an excellent Swiss alternative)
2 oz prosecco
1 orange slice (or lemon twist)

Somewhere I have this recipe written down on a bar napkin from a trip to Genoa. I thought it might be a regional recipe or a bartender's secret recipe. Turns out it's fairly common, at least in Italy.

The Negroni calls for equal parts gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth and some recipes for the Sbagliato use equal parts as well but I prefer more prosecco to lighten it up.

Enjoy before your meal to stimulate the appetite.