Mid-April is one of my favorite times of the year. It’s one of the only times of the year where I can wear a sweater outdoors without a jacket, as the weather generally has that chilly-but-not-really quality to it. This is one of those drinks that are perfect for this time of the year - not necessarily a winter drink, but not really a summer favorite, either. If I were behind a bar this week, this is what I’d be recommending.

Royal Jack - Recipe:

• 2 ounces applejack
• 1 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon homemade grenadine, recipe follows
• 3 ounces brut Champagne
• Sliced or diced apple or red apple peel

Fill a cocktail shaker or small pitcher with ice. Add the apple jack, lemon juice, and grenadine. Cover and shake vigorously until thoroughly mixed and chilled (about 30 seconds, or until your shaker mists up.) Strain into 2 Champagne flutes. Top each drink off with 1 1/2 ounces of Champagne, and garnish with the apple slices.
Technorati Profile

Last Friday night, I tried out the grape Jolly Ranchers Vodka; in fact, a few of us did. We all came to the same conclusion: It’s not bad at all, but it also tastes like cough syrup; verily, something was missing.

Instantly, I knew what I had to do.

Thinking of the color and the taste, I began channeling Homer Simpson. I poured some of this “purple drank” into a mug, then I topped it off with a little bit of overproof liquor. Immediately thereafter, I set it on fire. And much like Homer Simpson, “I don’t know the scientific explanation, but fire made it good.”

If you get a chance to make some of the grape Jolly Ranchers Vodka, try topping it off with, say, a teensy bit of 151, and setting it on fire. If you’re unfamiliar with flammable drinks, you’re supposed to blow out the fire, and make sure it’s out before you ingest the beverage. Otherwise, you run the risk of ending up like these guys:

History Lesson: Rum Runners were actually the folks who smuggled liquor; most often just to avoid higher state taxes in one region versus the other, but most notably during prohibition. Pirates were the original Rum Runners during the 1500s, right after the British government began taxing alcoholic beverages. It was during the same period that the term “Bootlegging” came into the language, as Rum Runners on land would often carry liquor in flasks in the long leggings of their boots to avoid detection.

The actual drink was invented in the 1950s, long after the end of prohibition. However, the name sounds cool.

Rum Runner - Recipe:

• 7/8 oz Blackberry brandy
• 7/8 oz Banana liqueur
• 1/2 oz Black rum
• 1/2 oz 151 proof rum
• 5/8 oz Grenadine
• 1 oz Lime juice

Shake with ice and strain in to cocktail glass.

We just don’t see enough cocktails with bourbon nowadays. Today’s drink is the Bourbon Bog, named as such because bogs are where cranberries (and many other kinds of berries) are grown, and cranberries and bourbon are the two main ingredients of this beverage.

Bourbon and Whiskeys in general are of those liquors that most people never really consider to be great cocktail ingredients. This, to me, is precisely the reason to post a recipe for a delicious Bourbon-based recipe. Also, I wanted to make sure that once I posted a recipe for Lemon Syrup, you’d have something to make with it.

Bourbon Bog - Recipe:

• 1 1/2 ounces bourbon
• 1 1/2 ounces cranberry juice
• 1 to 2 teaspoons lemon syrup, recipe follows
• 3 dashes orange bitters
• Fresh cranberries, lightly smashed and soaked in bourbon

Fill a cocktail shaker or small pitcher with ice. Add the bourbon, cranberry juice, lemon syrup, and bitters. Cover and shake vigorously until thoroughly mixed and chilled, about 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Drop 2 to 3 cranberries in the glass.

I mentioned last week that many people expect a Daiquiri to be strawberry flavored by default. I wanted to post this recipe alongside the others, but I got a tad derailed, as I posted a couple more tequila-based concoctions.

Let it never be said that I don’t care about my readers.

Strawberry Daiquiri - Recipe:

• 1/2 oz strawberry schnapps
• 1 oz light rum
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• 1 oz frozen strawberries

Add ingredients with some of the frozen strawberries and some ice in your blender. Blend and then strain into a margarita glass. Garnish w/ frozen strawberries.

Since I was challenged yesterday to come through with a few more tequila-based recipes — not that there aren’t some here already — I figured I’d go with one of the best named tequila cocktails around. Why? Because it makes for good blog headlines, mostly.

Tequila Mockingbird - Recipe:

• 1 1/2 ounces Tequila
• 1/2 ounce Triple Sec
• 1/2 ounce Blue Curaçao
• 2 ounces Orange Juice
• 1 ounce Cranberry Juice

This is one of those rare drinks where the “balance” ingredients (the juices) are also measured precisely. It’s also uncommon, in that it has juice ingredients, but you don’t mix this cocktail.

Fill your highball glass or tumbler with ice. Add tequila and triple sec, followed by orange juice and cranberry; then, lastly, the blue curaçao. Don’t shake or stir it; let it blend on its own. Garnish with a lemon wedge or a cherry, if desired.

I ordered some Girl Scout cookies today; I’m a sucker for samoas. So, it followed, logically, that I would post this drink. Although, to be fair, this drink tastes more like thin mints.

Dirty Girl Scout - Recipe:

• 1 oz vodka
• 1 oz Kahlua® coffee liqueur
• 1 oz Bailey’s® Irish cream
• 1 oz white creme de menthe

Mix the vodka, kahlua and bailey’s and pour over ice. Pour the creme de menthe down the center of the glass. Looks gross, but tastes delicious!

There are a lot of cocktails out there that taste pretty good - until you find out what’s in them. The Kool Aid cocktail is a lot like that. Although, to be fair, I guess one could argue that if you knew precisely what was in the actual Kool-Aid mix, you’d probably be grossed out by that, too.

I’d like to say that this cocktail legitimately tastes like drinking Kool-Aid, but I haven’t had that stuff in a pretty long time. What I can say is that it tastes better than it sounds; if you like your drinks sweet, that is.

Kool Aid - Recipe:

• 1.5 oz Midori
• 1.5. oz Amaretto
• 1.5 oz Vodka
• Cranberry Juice

Fill a collins glass with ice. Add the Midori, Amaretto and Vodka, and fill the remainder of the glass with cranberry juice.

It’s somewhat strange to me, but there aren’t too many people who truly appreciate Cranberry Juice; especially not in their cocktails. Still, cranberry juice - or rather, the combination of cranberry juice and vodka - is the cornerstone for many a cocktail. So, as was done with orange juice, I’m going to hit you with a few cranberry juice based highballs all at once.

You know, in case you just happen to have several bottles of Ocean Spray lying around.

Cape Cod - Recipe:

• 3 oz (or one shot) vodka
• Cranberry juice

Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour in your vodka, and fill the rest of the glass with cranberry juice as the balance. If you can’t measure ounces very easily (we’re Americans, it happens), then just pour it in a shot glass.

Madras - Recipe:

• 3 oz (1 shot) vodka
• Orange Juice
• Cranberry Juice

Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour in your vodka, then add equal parts Orange and Cranberry juice until the glass is filled. Garnish with an orange slice.

Cranberry Cooler - Recipe:

• 3 oz vodka
• 1 oz amaretto
• Cranberry juice
• Orange juice

Fill a collins glass with ice. Pour in your vodka and amaretto, then add equal parts orange and cranberry juice until the glass is filled. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Ruby Relaxer  - Recipe: