alkoholfrei_cocktails

26 great cocktails in the Los Angeles area

The classic michelada at Loteria Grill consists of lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, Maggi, Tapatio, celery salt and a bottle of Dos Equis.

The classic michelada at Loteria Grill consists of lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, Maggi, Tapatio, celery salt and a bottle of Dos Equis.

(Mariah Tauger / For the Los Angeles Times)

C heers! It's six o'clock somewhere. And while your attention may have been diverted elsewhere, Los Angeles has become a cocktail town, a city where the sommelier thing seems just a bit old-fashioned, the craft-beer thing is a little played out and, as far as I know, there is still only one restaurant with a water sommelier. For the first time in recent memory, it is easier to find a delicious Negroni to drink with your pizza than a delicious, affordable bottle of Napa Zinfandel.

In the cocktail universe, Los Angeles was probably better known as the TV home of "Three's Company's" Regal Beagle pub and as the birthplace of novelty cocktails like the White Russian and the Harvey Wallbanger than as a destination for serious drinking. Dale DeGroff, the father of the 21st century cocktail renaissance, spent decades behind the bar at the Hotel Bel-Air without attracting much notice.

So it was a surprise to almost everyone when local chefs like Mark Peel and Michael Cimarusti began to lean toward cocktails a decade ago, intrigued by the clean flavors and the precise ways in which a cocktail could be manipulated to flatter the contours of a dish. Cedd Moses, the Houston Brothers and the 1933 Group opened multiple bars where the cocktails were as important as the groove. A generation of young drinkers grew up more confident in their ability to order top-shelf rye old-fashioneds than to navigate often-overpriced wine lists.

And the bartenders got better. Where there were once perhaps a dozen L.A. bartenders who could handle a Corpse Reviver or a Ramos gin fizz, suddenly there were hundreds, and it became difficult to sustain an ambitious restaurant without an ambitious bar program.

The bartenders who were stars a few years ago have mostly become consultants, managers and brand ambassadors — while you may be able to try Julian Cox's inventions in a dozen venues, you are unlikely to taste a drink actually shaken by Julian Cox — but it hardly matters. Los Angeles is at long last a great place to drink, not just in a few specialty cocktail bars but practically everywhere.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Moscow mule

I have tasted a well-made Los Angeles, the shaken whiskey-egg concoction described in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, and it is not, perhaps, a cocktail for which a great metropolis might want to be known. The great Los Angeles cocktail is really the Moscow mule, a combination of vodka, lime and strong ginger beer first mixed at the old Cock 'N Bull on the Sunset Strip in the 1940s and now made in its most authentic form at the Tam O'Shanter Inn, a 1920s-era restaurant still owned by the Lawry's family and best known for its Robert Burns Day celebration. The Moscow mule is the drink that pretty much introduced America to vodka and may be responsible for that box of tarnished copper mugs in the back of your great-aunt's garage. The Tam makes a great Moscow mule, for decades served in a chilled pewter vessel but now in a proper copper mug: spicy, not too sweet and sneakily alcoholic.

(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Tequila y sangrita

In Jalisco, the spirit's birthplace, tequila tends to be served not as a margarita but as a shot — perhaps a shot in a snifter if you're drinking something good in a fancy bar, but a shot nonetheless. And if you have lived your life well, there will also be a shot of sangrita, a blend of fruit juices anchored by a few drops of bitter orange perhaps and zapped with a bit of hot chile. A good sangrita has an almost magical ability to scrub the palate between sips of straight tequila, in the way that a sliver of pickled ginger prepares you for the next piece of sushi or a sip of cold Muscadet sets you up for your next oyster. You'll probably be going to Corazon y Miel for the pork ribs with cactus, the wild boar chilaquiles and the spicy 12-hour barbacoa, but it may be the dual shots of tequila and spicy-tart tomato-based sangrita that will persuade you to return.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

English milk punch

Faith and Flower has become the drinking destination of choice in that hinterland between the L.A. Convention Center and the financial district; boisterous enough for dude-bros but elegant enough for first dates, a grand, high-ceilinged complex featuring the Asian-tinged French cooking of chef Michael Hung. The drink menu is no longer as dependent on the great old cocktail books as it was in its first days, but there is still the English milk punch from "Professor" Jerry Thomas' 1862 "How to Mix Drinks": milk, clarified in a complicated process taking several days, flavored with spices and mellowed with bourbon, absinthe, Batavia arrack and three rums, among other thing, served cold. It is among the nicest possible accompaniments to a Sunday breakfast, and you absolutely cannot make it at home.

(Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

In the post-"Mad Men" era, old-fashioneds have become the whiskey cocktail of choice: bourbon, sugar, a dash of bitters and ice. And Seven Grand may be the most old-fashioned-intensive bar in the western United States. They claim to sell 70,000 of the cocktails each year. Yet I'm not sure I've ever walked into Seven Grand without drinking a Sazerac or two: lightly sweetened rye stirred with a dash or two of anise-scented Peychaud Bitters and served neat in a small, absinthe-rinsed glass. As it should be, the Sazerac is complex yet straightforward, and fragrant yet austere. You will not find a better version of the New Orleans classic in Los Angeles.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Brandy old-fashioned

My friend Sara Roahen, a longtime New Orleans resident, is a food writer faithful to all things Louisiana, from sno-balls to fried catfish to sausage po' boys. You really should look up her turkey bone gumbo recipe sometime. Yet her alcoholic obsessions run neither toward the Sazerac nor the brandy milk punch but toward the brandy old-fashioneds that her family drank when she was growing up in Wisconsin: brandy, sugar and bitters topped up with a splash of soda (or 7Up), served in a double rocks glass mounded high with crushed ice. A brandy old-fashioned is the quintessential cocktail of the Upper Midwest. Does it make sense that the best version in Los Angeles is served at the Ledlow, a restaurant serving Josef Centeno's refined take on American dinner house cuisine? It just might. Ledlow's brandy old-fashioned is a cocktail meant to be savored with dinner.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Gin and tonic

Around here, gin and tonic is a basic summer tipple, one step below a pitcher of sangria, perhaps, and one step above a frosty can of Bud Lite. So Spain's obsessive gin and tonic cult often seems odd to everyone who thinks of it as the one cocktail his or her great-aunt knows how to make. Gin, tonic — done. But there is a quiet beauty to the infinite variations you find in Madrid or Barcelona: the herbs, the tinctures, the aromatics added to the basic drink, which is almost always served in a bulbous wineglass. (Some Spanish lists feature almost a hundred variations.) As served at the Chestnut Club, Steve Livigni and Pablo Moix's oversubscribed Santa Monica lounge, Spanish-style gin and tonics tend to be unfussy and aromatic, small liquid essays on the kinds of bitterness that can be coaxed out of the basic ingredients. I like the variation called Brighton Racecourse, inflected with a hint of grapefruit and a sprig of fresh lavender.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Is the Negroni the best of all possible aperitifs? Yes, the Negroni is the best of all possible aperitifs, unless you are strictly of the glass-of-Champagne school, or perhaps of the school that insists the job of an aperitif is to taste so persuasively awful that the rest of the dinner can only be an improvement, in which case, enjoy your artichoke liqueur. Strictly speaking, a Negroni should also be persuasively awful, composed as it is of equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari, each of which is basically undrinkable on its own, especially since Campari became the New Coke of amari when it was reformulated a few years ago. But stirred together, nicely chilled, enhanced with an orange peel — not bad, especially on a lazy afternoon. Everyone who's visited Italy has his or her own version of a peak Negroni experience. Mine came, as so many do, in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, because of the taste and also because of the stupendous price. The Negroni at Scopa Italian Roots, that Venetian palace of veal chop Milanese and day drinking, has all the well-calibrated syrupy bitterness at a small fraction of the cost. Get a plate of the jet-black fried calamari too.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

If you are into hardware, Church Key is definitely the place to be. It is easy enough to believe that you have been transplanted into the culinary pages of a Rejuvenation catalog. But even for those of us most apt to covet hand-cranked Berkel ham slicers or wooden tool boxes converted into hors d'oeuvres caddies, the real knockout is the vintage Pan Am drink cart, pushed by a uniformed flight attendant prepared to make you slushy alcoholic popsicles, plastic-encased booze frozen on the spot in a misty swoosh of liquid nitrogen. Even if you wouldn't be caught dead ordering a lemon-drop martini or a Sex on the Beach — the selection of Odder Pops changes almost every day — the Space Age groove of the presentation somehow makes it OK.

A well-made martini is one of the greatest works of humankind: a caressing bitter chill, a burst of aromatics and a terrible, crystalline beauty that replicates what Kantians know as Pure Reason — a moment of clarity that carries within it the seeds of its own demise. In the dark years of the American bar, those decades when the eminence of the cocktail was superseded by bad white wine on the one hand and the Slippery Nipple on the other, it was the martini alone that upheld the integrity of the genre. Must a great martini be stirred by a 40-year veteran who takes as much care in the snappiness of his bow tie as he does in the quality of his drinks? Not necessarily, but it does usually end up that way. There has never been an article of this kind that does not end up praising the supremacy of the gin martinis at Musso & Frank, and this is not about to be the first.

(Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Is the Tonga Hut the place to experience high-tech rotovap extractions, rare liquors and orgeat made from green almonds handpicked under a full moon? It is not. The North Hollywood institution is one of the last of the original tiki bars standing, a place built to quench the tropical thirsts of men and women who had served in the Pacific in World War II. And it is a pleasure to watch the bartender make six drinks at once as if she were playing a real-time game of Tetris, constructing her mixtures of rums, juices and whatnot according to some arcane additive principle that could probably be expressed as a question on the SAT. Tonga Hut is not a temple of mixology. It is a bar. The scorpion, a circus of rum, brandy, almond syrup and more, is fruity and cold, and it comes in a bowl for two. Romantic!

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Oyster shooters

A shooter is usually a gentle thing, a tiny, subtle concoction prepared from an oyster and aromatized sake or clear spirits, often pressed into service as an amuse bouche. A shooter demonstrates a chef's ability to select seafood, to tweeze into existence a small but delightful tableau in a glass and to season in a way that both heightens and respects the flavor of a fresh kumamoto. At Tipple & Brine, the Studio City oyster bar, a shooter is less an appetizer than it is a formidable cocktail, especially when presented as a flight: a trio of small glasses sunk into holes in a wooden board. You pound them — one! two! three! — one sluiced with vodka and horseradish, the next with bourbon and bacon, the third with tequila and smoked roe, and you are all at once tipsy, slightly full and ready for a glass of cold beer. If you are anything like me, you are also wondering why Tipple & Brine doesn't do its oyster luge anymore, but the combination of shellfish and smoky Islay Scotch may never have been one for the ages.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Pisco sour

If you ask me, the greatest cocktail in all South America is the pisco sour served in the bar in Lima's Gran Hotel Bolivar, a thick, luxurious tipple of pisco brandy shaken with egg white and fresh citrus, strained into a squat glass and inscribed with a free-form squiggle of Angostura bitters. It is served with a little dish of salted cancha, marble-size kernels of toasted Peruvian corn. Mario Vargas Llosa drank this pisco sour. Generations of diplomats drank this pisco sour. You are at the heart of the Andean world. You won't find the right cancha at Los Balcones, a loungey Peruvian restaurant kitty-corner from the ArcLight theater in Hollywood, but you will find remarkably good pisco sours, rich as cream, to sip alongside the tiradito. If you're having more than one, have your second made with the spicy pisco the house infuses with Peruvian rocoto chiles.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Jimmy Conway

In "Goodfellas," Jimmy Conway, the mobster played by Robert De Niro, drinks Seven-and-Sevens, the house cocktail of men who don't give a damn what other people think about what they're drinking. "Hey, kid, keep 'em coming," he tells young Henry. For some reason, a Jimmy Conway, equal parts straight bourbon, Sambuca and Canadian whiskey served in a shot glass, became kind of a thing a decade ago. But at Love & Salt, a fashionable Italian restaurant in Manhattan Beach, a Jimmy Conway becomes whiskey seasoned with walnut bitters, pricey Nonino amaro from Friuli and a weird, bitter Italian liqueur made from rhubarb. It tastes less like a mobster shot than it does like the best old-fashioned you've ever tasted. Is a Jimmy Conway what you want to be drinking with lamb's tongue panini or a whole maple-glazed pig's head? Probably so.

(Amy Scattergood / Los Angeles Times)

Gin and juice

Everybody at the moment seems eager to tell us how to think like a chef — to expand on the produce we find in shops and at the farmers market instead of blindly following recipes. At Commissary, Roy Choi's vegetable-forward restaurant in the Line Hotel, you also have an opportunity to drink like a chef: The cocktail, basically the two titular ingredients sloshed together with ice in a plastic deli container, is exactly what a sweaty line chef might want to have by her side when the orders start pouring in on a Saturday night, although she may have to settle for it as a shift drink. Is it a plus that the cocktail is named for Snoop Dogg's wooziest hit? Do you even have to ask?

(Amy Scattergood / Los Angeles Times)

Little Tokyo

Was there a Little Tokyo cocktail in Harry MacElhone's 1926 edition of "Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails," the essential drinks manual of Paris in the '20s? Would yuzu, cloudy nigori sake and the bitter, orange-scented Italian aperitivo called Cappelletti have been available there at the time? I can't answer that definitively. I can tell you that my copy of MacElhone's 1927 "Barflies and Cocktails," whose recipe section is said to basically duplicate that of the earlier book, lists a Japanese Cocktail containing almond syrup, brandy and bitters, which is pretty much identical to the Japanese Cocktail in Jerry Thomas' "Bar-Tender's Guide" from 1862. Cocktail geeks can be pretty insufferable. At any rate, the cocktail program that Julian Cox and Tobin Shea put together for Redbird, the restaurant by the deconsecrated St. Vibiana's Cathedral downtown, resurrects lots of recipes from classic old cocktail books, the strategy that established the new cocktailian movement in the first place. And whether or not the Little Tokyo has its roots in the Paris of Hemingway and Fitzgerald, it is a complex, low-alcohol cocktail that goes splendidly well with Neal Fraser's light, strongly flavored hors d'oeuvres.

I'm not sure you can even call a michelada a cocktail — it's basically an improved way to drink beer: Add some heat, toss in some umami, spritz with fresh citrus and ice them down so that you can drink them on a patio all afternoon. Some of my favorite micheladas are made with nothing more complex than Corona, Clamato and a splash of chile. Jimmy Shaw, owner of the Loteria Grill in Hollywood, Westlake Village and elsewhere, tweaks his micheladas just that little bit extra. If you're a thrill seeker, you can try the variation of michelada popular in Mexico City, spiked with Tapatio hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and the dread Maggi seasoning. It smells a bit like a sheep pen but has a shimmering depth of flavor you would never expect from a shotgun marriage of supermarket condiments.

Also: 180 Promenade Way, No. 15, Thousand Oaks; (805) 379-1800. 12050 Ventura Blvd., Studio City; (818) 508-5300, and others.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Mezcal is definitely not a cocktail. It's a spirit, made from the heart of the agave plant, that at its best has a smooth, almost shimmering aroma underlaid with an aggressive hint of wood smoke from the pits in which the agave was roasted. And as delicious as mezcal can be in mixed drinks — Julian Cox's Donaji at the old Rivera comes to mind, served in glasses rimmed in grasshopper salt, as well as Marcos Tello's Medicina Latina — it never tastes better than when it is served traditionally, in shallow gourd cups, a plate of oranges and spiced salt on the side, at the Guelaguetza mezcaleria. Even if you collect mezcal the way that some people do comic books, there are bound to be a few bottles on the huge list you haven't run across yet.

(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Havana fix

The fix is among the oldest and simplest of cocktails, essentially a shot of liquor, a bit of sugar and a squeezed-out quarter lemon served in a glass of crushed ice. Most 19th century cocktail books give instructions for fixes made with gin, brandy, whiskey or rum. One of Eric Alperin's most popular drinks in the earliest days of the Varnish, the cocktailian bar behind Cole's downtown, was a gin fix empurpled with a little homemade grenadine, pomegranate syrup; later came a Brazilian fix with cachaca, honey and chartreuse. Alperin's particular gift as a bartender is twisting a classic recipe just a half-turn or so; it is still recognizable but somehow more glamorous, like that girl from your junior high school class who grew up to be a model. Which brings us to the Havana fix — not a 19th century cocktail but one that could pass as one in a police lineup, a fix made with rum, pineapple and a splash of chartreuse, like a tiki drink's mustachioed great-grandfather.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

Kiki Fantana

The newest wave of neo-speak-easies in Los Angeles is pretty straightforward. You weave your way through a loading dock, a barbershop, an oyster bar or somebody's dad's garage, and then you're in a room with mismatched furniture, retro music and lots of Grey Goose — so comfortable. But Honeycut, another bar in Cedd Moses' seemingly endless portfolio of downtown bars, has a few more layers to it. Because you really are staggering down a dark alley, the bouncer really is the size of a USC defensive tackle and the bar at the bottom of the stairs really is a small disco, complete with booming Chic and Donna Summer, where people are strutting on a flashing dance floor identical to the one danced on in "Saturday Night Fever" — ironic yet somehow also post-ironic. Will your cocktail be dispensed out of a machine the way that the ones you (or more likely your parents) used to get at Flipper's Roller Boogie Palace on a false ID? Yes, except instead of a Pina Colada, you will be drinking a Kiki Fantana — a strangely delicious thing involving gin, vermouth and house-made strawberry cream soda. But wasn't Kiki Fantana the dancer representing orange Fanta in those old commercials? Shh.

(Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A gin gimlet, nature's perfect summer drink, was a safe order even in the dark ages of the American cocktail. A shot of gin, a splash of Rose's Lime and you're there. Even then, it was understood that muddling in some basil or using fresh lime juice instead of the bottled stuff was just messing with what was undeniably a classic. But then came the introduction of the lime cordial, a syrup, often homemade, which incorporated the breezy, bitter aromatics of the peel back into the mix. And a well-made gimlet made with a good cordial, like the one you can find at 320 Main, is beautiful — a little sharp, more bracing than the gimlets you may be used to, but with real citrus depth.

(Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Baby's First Bourbon

The concept behind this drink at Harvard & Stone is silly, possibly bordering on the offensive. As its name suggests, it is basically a cocktail with training wheels: whiskey sweetened with almond syrup, scented with lemon and touched with the barest hint of Angostura bitters. It may serve as a useful pivot to more serious cocktails, such as old-fashioneds, Manhattans and sours, and even if your tastes lean more toward an Aviation No. 2 or even straight mezcal, it does taste pretty good, although on the sugary side. Still, if your Tinder date ordered this for you on your first meeting, you would be justified in ditching him for a solo bowl of duck stew noodles at the nearby Sanamluang. Sanamluang is less crowded too.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Smoke of Scotland

Vincenzo Marianella may be the bartender equivalent of Kobe Bryant in his prime, a guy who knows all the basic moves but can still score with a drink lightly scented with marmalade and Dijon mustard, or with a spontaneous juice concoction whose ingredients are known only to farmers market ninjas. The $5 happy hour drinks at his Copa d'Oro are popular with UCLA students, but his menu includes $55 Manhattans for the Silicon Beach crowd. Marianella, who may have started the local cocktailian movement in his years behind the bar at Providence, was the first in town with the Bartender's Choice thing. Still, his most enduring invention may be the Smoke of Scotland — ultra-peaty Islay Scotch given glowing, moody depth with a few drops of vermouth, elderflower liqueur and the Italian herbal liqueur Averna. It's the drink that taught Scotch to speak Italian.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Hemingway liked his daiquiris frothy and frozen, he liked them spiked with grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur, he liked them unsugared and he liked them huge. His beloved double frozens, as described in "Islands in the Stream," "had no taste of alcohol and felt, as you drank them, the way downhill glacier skiing feels running through powder snow." A proper daiquiri, on the other hand, like the ones you find at Caña Rum Bar in downtown L.A., contains nothing more than sugar, fresh lime juice and rum. It does taste of alcohol, specifically the rum with which it is made, which is kind of the point: If you are drinking Smith & Cross or a nice old agricole, you may as well enjoy it. At Caña, you can also drink rum from a coconut. Please don't.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

It's a hot afternoon. You and the one you love have found an outdoor cafe in Guadalajara. You have no intention of moving from the table, maybe ever. And in front of you is a cold — margarita? Yeah, right. What you are actually drinking is a paloma, which in its platonic form is just tequila and Squirt in a tall glass with ice and maybe a wedge of lime. This is Mexico, so it's Mexican Squirt, the kind that comes in a thick, swirly bottle. We're not savages here. At the formidable downtown tequila bar Las Perlas, the palomas are made with Jarritos grapefruit soda, which is an acceptable substitution, but no tricky grapefruit cordials, no handcrafted bitters and no shaman-approved agave syrups. Are you not refreshed? We thought as much.

(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Sherry cobbler

A cobbler is among the oldest of American cocktails, one of those drinks, like the crusta or the daisy, whose existence on a menu serves more to establish the bona fides of a bartender than it is to stimulate the thirst of a modern barfly. How important is the sherry cobbler? Dickens mentions it in his novel "Martin Chuzzlewit." It is the drink credited with introducing the idea of ice cubes. It is the drink credited with popularizing the idea of straws. It was the appletini of 1843, and yet when you mention the great sherry cobblers at Belcampo Santa Monica to a friend, she will assume you are talking about cherry cobblers instead, and she will ask whether they come with ice cream. Belcampo's cobbler does not deviate from the basic formula of lightly sweetened sherry over ice, but I can tell you that the effect is to make the nutty, fragrant wine taste even more like itself. It's the way you may have always wished sherry might taste. And the amontillado sherry Belcampo uses is so expensive that bartender Josh Goldman begged me not to mention the drink: It may be his favorite cocktail, but it is also a loss leader. Write about the (handcrafted, artisanal, farmers market-based) appletini instead. Done.

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Bourbon Cherry Muddle

Bourbon Cherry Muddle

Bourbon, cherries, and ginger make this sophisticated beverage a show-stopping addition to any cocktail party.

Get the recipe from Swooned.

Moscow Mule

Moscow Mule

No ginger beer-themed cocktail list would be complete without the classic Moscow Mule. This version is a refreshing way to drink ginger beer, lime, and vodka year-round.

Get the recipe from Delish.

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Bourbon Cherry Muddle

Bourbon, cherries, and ginger make this sophisticated beverage a show-stopping addition to any cocktail party.

Get the recipe from Swooned.

Moscow Mule

No ginger beer-themed cocktail list would be complete without the classic Moscow Mule. This version is a refreshing way to drink ginger beer, lime, and vodka year-round.

Get the recipe from Delish.

Spiced Apple Sangria

Sangria gets a fall makeover in this cider-based cocktail. Bursting with fresh spice and bubbly ginger beer, this cocktail deserves a spot at every holiday party.

Ginger Beer Bourbon Cocktails

The simplicity of this cocktail is what makes it great. It's refreshing and warming at the same time, which guarantees everyone will be begging for seconds.

Rhubarb Gingerbeer Cocktails

Tart rhubarb and sweet ginger ale make this drink absolutely irresistible. The best part is the rhubarb syrup can be made any time of year, allowing this drink to flow even when it gets below freezing.

Ginger Beer Margaritas

Margaritas might seem like a drink destined for summer, but with the addition of ginger beer, these classic drinks get a fall-friendly makeover.

Horse's Neck

A little lemon, whiskey, and ginger—really, nothing is better. This classic creation will have you warmed up (or cooled down) in no time.

Ginger Blood Orange Cocktail

These vibrant cocktails are a great way to celebrate seasonal citrus. Be sure to pick big juicy oranges to get every last drop of sunshine into the glass.

Kentucky Mules

Kentucky Mules are a ginger beer cocktail staple all across the United States, and with good reason! These light and smooth drinks are an easy way to enjoy a good bourbon.

Dark and Stormy

We never get tired of this classic drink.

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Aperitif events & cocktails

Aperitif is Nashville's premier cocktail & libation experience firm.

At Aperitif, our goal is to concoct an unforgettable cocktail experience with events ranging from simple to extravagant; we focus on weddings, corporate events, as well as premier bars and restaurants in Nashville.

Our libation team curates immersive cocktail experiences by paying homage to classic cocktails and techniques, as well as fusing unique and bold flavor combinations.

Our mission is to elevate cocktails in every facet.

We do this by combining fun, fresh, and ever evolving ingredients from vegetables ranging from rainbow radishes, ginger and cactus, to fruits varying from Maradol papayas to passion fruit and combining it with high quality spirits as well as house made bitters, syrups and juices.

. Every cocktail carries a personal experience.

. Even before consumption a cocktail is a full sensory explosion.

. With each sip something new and flavorful should appeal to your palette.

. Memorable cocktail experiences come from an understanding & appreciation of all the senses.

. Our mixologists understand that a quality cocktail has the ability to bring back fond and lasting memories

Upon assessing each client, our craftsman will build an unforgettable beverage experience, by working to create innovative cocktails for your special event.

Creativity/ Seasonality/ quality/ flavor/ passion

Events are our passion not just our profession

Summer Fruit Cocktails

These refreshing recipes include star chef Bobby Flay's watermelon-tequila cocktails and strawberry-lemon mojitos.

Blackberry-Mint Julep

Adding blackberries to a mint julep adds fruity flavor to the classic warm-weather cocktail.

Watermelon-Tequila Cocktails

When watermelon is in abundance, this is a great way to use it. Bobby Flay purees seedless watermelon chunks, then strains the juice through a sieve and mixes it with silver tequila, sugar syrup, blueberries, mint and fresh lime juice.

Sour-Cherry Gin Slings

This sweet-tart concoction is based on the classic Singapore sling, replacing the traditional cherry brandy with an intensely vibrant homemade sour-cherry syrup. With a squirt of sparkling water, the syrup also makes a great base for kid-friendly cherry soda.

Tabernacle Crush

This light and refreshing cocktail is as reminiscent of the American South as it is of the South of France.

Watermelon Sangria

Sangria, a Spanish variation on traditional punch composed of wine, fruit and brandy, was formally introduced to America at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City. This seasonal version uses vodka instead of brandy.

Blueberry Cosmopolitan

For anyone who wants to flaunt a love of Cosmos, muddled blueberries tint this version a gorgeous hot pink.

Strawberry-Lemon Mojitos

Strawberries sweeten these mojitos from Joaquin Simo. “This is a great drink when you’re in the mood for something fruity,” says Simo. Use a molasses-based rum (like white Brugal) for a smoother drink, or a sugarcane-based rum (such as white Barbancourt) for a drier cocktail.

This drink pays homage to the orchards and vineyards of British Columbia’s fertile Okanagan Valley.

Melon Sparkler with Tapioca Pearls

Mixing honeydew juice with the fizzy Italian wine Moscato makes a super-refreshing cocktail. Melon balls and chewy tapioca pearls are fun to eat and cute to look at.

Watermelon-Honey-Citrus Refresher

One great thing about blender drinks: The machine does all the work. Adam Seger prefers Vita-Mix blenders, which create especially smooth purees.

Indian Summer Cup

Master bartender Wayne Collins prefers using premium, naturally sweetened tonic water (sometimes called Indian tonic water) in this punch. Q Tonic, made with agave nectar, and Fever-Tree, sweetened with cane sugar, are both excellent brands.

Peach Donkey

Blueberries Gone Wild

Health-conscious bar chef Debbi Peek created this gin drink to showcase antioxidant-dense ingredients, including blueberries and pomegranate.

Bourbon Blackberry Collins

Many spirits and fruits and herbs can work in a Tom Collins riff. In place of blackberries and bourbon, try raspberries and vodka or cherries and rum.

Black Pepper-Raspberry Sorbet with Prosecco

Chef James Holmes topped raw oysters with this sweet-savory sorbet before deciding it would make an excellent cocktail with Prosecco. A good-quality, store-bought raspberry sorbet is a fine shortcut.

The Don's Bramble

Mixologist Jackson Cannon calls this drink a celebration of late summer.

Porch Crawler

New York chef-partners Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo and their friend Travis Kauffman concocted this terrifically refreshing cooler one hot summer night with ingredients from Falcinelli’s rooftop garden.

Bitter Peach

While playing with leftover ingredients one night, Jamie Boudreau combined grappa and peach puree. The mixture was sweet, so he added Aperol, a bitter orange liqueur, then Champagne, resulting in this well-balanced cocktail.

Cholo Fresco

Cholo fresco means “somebody who is fresh in every sense,” Hans Hilburg says. “Light, saucy, naughty, audacious . . . And what’s fresher than cucumber, melon, mint and lime?”

In-Sandíary

This cocktail’s name is a play on both the Spanish word for watermelon, sandía, and “incendiary,” referring to the peppery tequila and the spicy ancho chile rim.

Cucumber-Honeydew Freeze

Fruit flavors generally mix well if they’re from the same botanical family. This cool and light summer cocktail works because cucumber and melon both belong to the Cucurbitaceae family.

Manhattan Cocktail Recipe

The classic cocktail, made with rye, sweet vermouth, and bitters.

• Yield: makes 2 cocktails

Ingredients

• 4 ounces rye whiskey
• 2 ounces sweet vermouth
• 4 dashes Angostura bitters
• Garnish: 2 Maraschino cherries

Directions

Pour the whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters into a mixing glass filled with ice. Stir until outside of shaker is very cold to touch.

Place a maraschino cherry in each of two chilled cocktail glasses. Dividing evenly, strain the contents of the shaker over cherries and serve immediately.

Special Equipment

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13 Spooky Halloween Cocktail Recipes

Despite its name, the only thing devilish about this tequila cocktail is how easily you can slurp one down. Even traditional margarita drinkers will have to admit that the combination of sweet crème de cassis, earthy tequila, bright lime, and spicy ginger beer is a stroke of utter genius.

The kids can keep the candy—treat the grown-ups to one of these fiendishly good holiday drinks.

Black Velvet

It may look like the stuff of witches brew, but this disarmingly simple combination of beer and bubbly wine is true to its name: rich, smooth, and lush. It’s also perfectly balanced, with the dark, chocolate notes of the stout (perfect for Halloween!) offset by the crisp fizz of the champagne.

The bittersweet orange edge of Cointreau liqueur adds citrus complexity to this tasty twist on the classic Cuba Libre. Add a spooky swizzle stick for a festive note or an orange garnish for a punch of seasonal color.

Despite its name, the only thing devilish about this tequila cocktail is how easily you can slurp one down. Even traditional margarita drinkers will have to admit that the combination of sweet crème de cassis, earthy tequila, bright lime, and spicy ginger beer is a stroke of utter genius.

The Last Word

Electric green Chartreuse liqueur is the star of this crisp, Prohibition-era classic. While some of the ingredients may seem a bit obscure, trust us, they’re worth the investment: you’re going to want to make more of these.

Blood and Sand

This elegant cocktail is nearly a century old and takes its name not from gruesome ingredients, but a 1920s movie starring Rudolph Valentino. Though the components may seem a little odd, they blend seamlessly, and the warming scotch and sweet vermouth are a welcome nod to early autumn.

Chartreuse Smash

This is one cocktail that will make you happy to drink your greens. Muddled mint and a bit of brown sugar take the medicinal edge off of the Chartreuse, resulting in a crisp, refreshing riff on the julep that is as delicious as it is eye-catching.

Caramel Apple Punch

This autumn punch calls for just four ingredients—apple cider, spiced rum, lemon juice, and a sliced apple (naturally) for garnish.

Chocolate Malted Martini

Rich and creamy, this decadent cocktail—made with chocolate syrup and vodka—will bring out your dark side.

Pumpkin Martini

Stay away from those cloying pumpkin-flavored liqueurs—this drink uses pure pumpkin puree, with vodka for the kick.

Vampire Punch

A generous dash of juicy pomegranate seeds adds a sweet-tart bite to every cup.

Deviled Margarita

A cayenne-spiced salt rim gives this easy margarita its heat.

Dark and Spooky

Use ginger beer—not ginger ale—and dark rum for the deepest, most intense flavor.

Bloody Maria

Shake up your usual brunchtime beverage with a shot of tequila instead of vodka.

Kombucha Craft Cocktails

Our in-house Senior Barman, Franklin Parr, has concocted these fabulous cocktails featuring NessAlla Kombucha as an ingredient. Many of them also feature amazing local spirits and mixers from Old Sugar Distillery, Death’s Door Spirits and Quince & Apple.

Blueberry & Basil Smash

Before you bust out the Korbel, take a closer look at the ingredient list. Note that this recipe calls for unaged brandy (a.k.a eau de vie, which, for anyone wondering, is French for ‘water of life’). With that out of the way, go ahead and enjoy this lovely cocktail!

Make yourself some chamomile tea, reserving 1 oz. for this recipe. Muddle blueberries and basil in a highball glass. Add brandy, kombucha, and tea. Add ice. Lemon peel twirl as garnish.

Ginger Rogers

Bonus points for dancing while you make this cocktail. Backward. In high heels.

Pour gin and lime juice into a highball glass. Add ice. Pour kombucha over ice. Float campari on top. Garnish with a lime wheel.

The Booch Buck

Pour bourbon, lime juice, and bitters into a highball glass. Add ice. Pour kombucha over ice. Garnish with an orange peel.

Dark ‘n’ Boochy

Fill collins glass with ice. Pour ginger syrup, followed by kombucha. Float black rum on top. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Peach Old Fashioned

This cocktail is a rebel. A drink too cool for rules. Its got no time for squares. When The Man says that an Old Fashioned must be made with brandy, it grabs a bottle of whiskey. Oranges and maraschino cherries? Nope: peaches. And it keeps the peach theme going with NessAlla Peach Blush Kombucha and Mathilde Peach liqueur. Why? Because it can.

In a highball glass, place peach slices, orange bitters, Angostura bitters, and peach liqueur. Muddle ingredients. Pour whiskey. Add ice. Fill rest of the glass with kombucha.

Lavender & Mint Cocktail

Muddle mint and lime wedge in a highball glass. Add gin and lavender syrup. Add ice and pour kombucha. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Booch Bellini

Named after Renaissance painter Giovanni Bellini – not The Kids in the Hall writer Paul Bellini, as one would have hoped – the Bellini is a sparkling, peach-flavored delight. So, naturally, we headed straight for our Peach Blush Kombucha when we came up with the Booch Bellini. And while we’re at it, why not add a little Great Lakes Distillery Peach Brandy to the mix? Seems appropriate; we think your tastebuds will agree.

Pour peach brandy and kombucha in a champagne flute or a chilled coup glass. Top off with prosecco. Kick back and enjoy.

Lemongrass Ginger Mule

Necessity, being the mother of invention, deserves some credit for the Moscow Mule’s existence. Needing to clear out an overstock of vodka and ginger beer, Wes Price, bartender at Cock ’n’ Bull Restaurant, created a drink using both ingredients. A more apocryphal account suggests its origin is the result of three gents kicking around the possibilities of mixing vodka with ginger beer. The latter story makes for better marketing, but knowing a thing or two about human nature leads us to think that the former is more likely. Regardless, the Moscow Mule was a hit. Builds on the original recipe, the Lemongrass Ginger Mule adds Lemongrass Ginger Kombucha, falernum, and bitters to a new dimension of flavor to this incredible drink.

Traditionally served in a chilled copper mug, but if one is not available, use a collins glass. Pour vodka, falernum, ginger syrup, ginger beer, and kombuhca into mug or glass. Add ice. Dash bitters on top and add lime garnishes.

Our Lips Are Sealed

Our very own Mr. Frank teamed up with Mark Paschal, bartender at The Brass Ring, to create this sweet and tart wonder. When it debuted at an event we co-hosted, Our Lips Are Sealed proved to be a smash hit. Here it is for you to try out for yourself.

Pour black rum into a collins glass. Add ice. Pour kombucha next. Float Campari and garnish with a lemon peel.

Dane In Blood

Because SLAYER. That is all.

Begin with lime wedges, bitters, simple syrup in a highball glass. Add a splash some club soda and muddle ingredients. Once muddled, add the bourbon. Add ice and finish with kombucha.

The year: 1915. The scene: Paris, France. The Great War is underway. Soldiers on leave from the trenches head to the New York Bar, where barman Harry MacElhone is serving a new drink. He calls it Soixante Quinze – Seventy-Five – due to its purported similarities to the kick of French 75mm field guns. MacElhone’s creation, under its anglicized name – the French 75 – lives on as a timelessly classic, crisp-tasting cocktail. We’ve given the French 75 a Wisconsin make-over – using Death’s Door Gin and NessAlla Juniper Rose Kombucha – to create the Wisco 76. We think Harry would be proud.

In a champagne flute or a chilled cocktail glass, add gin, lemon juice, and a dash of simple syrup. Then, add the kombucha. Top off with cava and garnish with a lemon twist.

Oo…Yuzu Good

A soothing and refreshing drink that goes down easy. Plus, a great reason to have sake on hand.

Grab your favorite highball or collins glass. Pour sparkling sake, honey liqueur, and kombucha over ice. Garnish with a lemon peel twist and mint sprig.

Oh, Sangria – how we love thee! Sangria recipes are wonderful to play with. The base liquors are usually brandy, an orange liqueur – such as Cointreau–, and wine. Your ‘classic’ sangria calls for red wines, but feel free to experiment with whites and roses. Tip: Need a use for those empty NessAlla Kombucha growlers? Sangria.

In an empty NessAlla Kombucha growler – or similar container [But seriously – ours work like a charm. Plus, booch], add all of the fruit. Next, add brandy, Cointreau, ginger beer, and wine. Add kombucha last. Tightly fasten cap on growler and refrigerate overnight. The next day open your growler, pour, and enjoy.

Martillo y Clavo

The “Hammer & Nail”, simply translated, doesn’t hit you quite as blunt-ly as the name implies. This canna-kombucha cocktail has a full, savory, earthy, and smoky flavor; with a sharp piquant dry spice at the finish. Every sip reminds us of the autumn harvest.

Add all ingredients, minus the red bell pepper, into a mixing glass. Add ice and stir. Pour & strain into a chilled cocktail or coup glass. Cut a strip of red bell pepper skin and place into cocktail.

Mango Turmeric Mai Tai

The Mai Tai stands as a classic tropical drink, emblematic of the post-WWII tiki culture craze that swept over the American cocktail scene. Our version of the Mai Tai uses Mango Turmeric Kombucha to help sweeten things up, while also bringing out a more complex taste. A modern take on a retro tropical drink. Cheers!

In a mixing glass, pour light rum, orgeat, bitters, and NessAlla Mango Turmeric Kombucha. Stir contents. Pour contents into a 16 oz. glass or similar size tiki glass. Add ice. Float black rum on top of ice. Garnish with mint sprig, lime wedge, and pineapple wedge.

Traffic-Light Cocktail

Carefully float each ingredient, in order, on top of each other by slowly pouring over the back of a bar spoon. Keep separated.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 Crème de menthe (green)
• 1/3 Crème de banana
• 1/3 Sloe gin

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Alkoholfrei cocktails

Cocktails of the World

A COCKTAIL is a synonym of creativity and imagination but even if you’re lack of both you can also give shape to most of them. This is a guide for you to get started in the fantastic world of: " Cocktails of the World ": history, recipes and more!

Try the national drinks of different countries around the globe. Their drinking culture, traditions and costumes will fascinate you every time you click on the different countries that you will find in my website.

You will find from the most classic to the most bizarre cocktail recipe in different places. In addition you also will find a brief history of how many drinks were created. I am sure that you will have lots of fun reading it.

If you have any suggestions or comments please feel free to post them onto the webform you will find below each of the pages in this site or send me an email. I'd be glad to read and reply to you.

I firmly encourage all of you to drink with moderation, which is the best way to enjoy a drink.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

CHEERS!!

Got a Cocktail Recipe you'd like to share?

If you do, please feel free to let us know. We will publish your recipe in the act! What we need is your name (cocktail creator), and the country of origin.

Additional links that might be of interest for you.

Cocktails

A cocktail you'll love at first sip thanks to its special texture and striking mixture of flavors. There are many legends and stories about how this cocktails got its name, for sure the Americano is one of James Bond's favourite cocktails (he ordered one in 007 Casino Royale). The Americano is part of the official cocktail list of the IBA (international bartending association) and IBA cocktails are prepared all over the world according to this original recipe.

• recipe

- 1 part (1oz, 3cl) Campari

- 1 part (1oz, 3cl) Red Vermouth

1) Pour the ingredients directly in a old-fashioned glass

2) Fill with ice cubes

3) Add a splash of soda water

4) Garnish with orange slice or lemon peel.

It is commonly used to serve neat aperitif or any drink “on the rocks”.

Simple and balanced, it's considered to be one of the most famous Italian cocktails in the world. Invented in 1919 by Count Negoni - who asked to add a touch of gin rather than soda to his americano, in honour of hist last trip to London - the cocktail was finally named after the count who adored it. The Negroni is part of the official cocktail list of the IBA (international bartending association) and IBA cocktails are prepared all over the world according to this original recipe.

• recipe

- 1 part (1oz, 3cl) Campari

- 1 part (1oz, 3cl) Gin

- 1 part (1oz, 3cl) Red Vermouth

- 1 slice of orange

1) Pour all ingredients directly into a rock glass filled with ice

2) Garnish with a slice of orange.

It is commonly used to serve neat aperitif or any drink “on the rocks”.

Invented during the prohibition years and served in American style, The Boulevardier mixes European ingredients and has a rich, intriguing and intense taste.

• recipe

- 2 parts (1oz, 3cl) Campari

- 2 parts (1oz, 3cl) Red Vermouth

- 3 parts (1oz, 3cl) Bourbon Whiskey

1) Pour all ingredients into mixing glass with ice cubes.

2) Stir well and strain into chilled cocktail glass

3) Garnish with lemon twist.

Size: from 16cl to 24cl

The cocktail glass is commonly used to prepare “straight up” alcoholic cocktails without ice in the glass, usually shaken.

The eye catching colour and the sweet taste makes this cocktail unique. The Campari orange was originally named Garibaldi - the soldier who fought for the Italian unification movement - as it combines two ingredients that come from north and south of Italy: Campari is from Milan and oranges from the south.

• recipe

- 1 part (1⁄4 oz, 4cl) Campari

- 3 parts (top) Orange juice

1) Pour the ingredients into a tall glass filled with ice.

2) Garnish with a slice of orange.

As the name suggests, it is commonly used to serve cocktails made with fruit juices.

In 1972, Mirko Stocchetto at the Bar Basso in Milan added sparkling wine instead of the gin by mistake to a Negroni. He then realized that this variation had some sense and this humble mistake led to the creation of a classic cocktail that is still enjoyed all around the world today, and to its name: in fact, in Italian "sbagliato" means mistaken. Ideal for those who want to enjoy a few "bubbles" without having to forget the classic sharp Negroni taste they know and love.

• recipe

- 1 part (1 oz, 3cl) Campari

- 1 part (1 oz, 3cl) Red Vermouth

- 1 part (top) Sparkling Wine

1) Build in a double rocks glass with ice.

2) Garnish with a slice of orange.

It is commonly used to serve neat aperitif or any drink “on the rocks”.

Simplicity is often the key to the best results. And this drink proves the point. All it takes is a touch of tonic water to make an irresistible, thirst-quenching cocktail.

• recipe

- 1 part (1,1⁄4 oz, 3,75cl) Campari

- 3 parts (top) Tonic Water

1) Build the drink in a balloon glass with ice.

2) Garnish with a slice of orange.

A stemmed cocktail glass with a balloon shape bowl, ideal for serving gin or cocktails.

It holds about 415 ml and is 18 cm high.

This was the most popular drink in the bar Camparino, opened by Davide Campari himself back in 1915. Simple and easy, and perfect for the aperitif when you are in town.

• recipe

- 1 part (2 oz, 6cl) Campari

- 3 parts (top) Soda water

1) Prepare directly inside the glass.

2) Pour the chilled Campari and top up with soda.

3) Garnish with an orange slice if desired.

A stemmed glass, wherein the top of the glass pushes out a bit to form a lip in order to capture the head and the body is bulbous.

Campari and the shaker were invented at almost the same time and soon became a twosome. Perhaps this is why together they create something special. Quick, uncomplicated and with a simple elegance it is one of the best ways of enjoying Campari’s complexity.

• recipe

- 1 part (2 oz, 6cl) Campari

1) Shake well with ice and pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

Size: from 16cl to 24cl

The cocktail glass is commonly used to prepare “straight up” alcoholic cocktails without ice in the glass, usually shaken.

The simplest, most classic way of discovering and enjoying Campari's complexity. The ice will enhance its unmistakeable hint of bitter, entering dry and strong on the palate. The best time to enjoy it? Aperitif time, of course.

• recipe

- 1 part (2 oz, 6cl) Campari

1) Prepare this cocktail directly inside an ice-filled glass.

3) Garnish with a slice of orange.

It is commonly used to serve neat aperitif or any drink “on the rocks”.

Italy, around 1870. Campari bitter (made in Milan) came together with Cinzano vermouth (made in Turin). An encounter that changed everything. It is hardly surprising that the name Mi-To sounds exactly like the Italian word for ‘Myth’

• recipe

1 part (3 cl - 1oz) Campari

1 part (3 cl - 1oz) Red Vermouth

1) Build in a rocks glass full of ice. 2) Garnish with a peel of orange.

A stemmed glass, wherein the top of the glass pushes out a bit to form a lip in order to capture the head and the body is bulbous.

This is the Stars and Stripes version of the Negroni. It uses the characteristic American spirit – rye whiskey – instead of gin and became famous in the 50s. It is both strong and fascinating, like its most famous

admirers, the male stars of Hollywood of the time.

• recipe

- 1 part (3 cl - 1oz) Campari

- 1 part (3 cl - 1oz) Rye Whiskey

- 1 part (3 cl - 1oz) Dry Vermouth

1) Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass filled with ice cubes.

2) Stir well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

3) Garnish with orange peel and red cherry cocktail.

Size: from 16cl to 24cl

The cocktail glass is commonly used to prepare “straight up” alcoholic cocktails without ice in the glass, usually shaken.

Campari Milano is a new reinterpretation of Campari Spritz with a touch of mint and elder flower syrup, that offers an unexpected fresh taste experience. Ideal for the hot summer nights.

• recipe

- 1 part (11⁄2 oz, 4,5 cl) Campari

- 1 part (1oz, 3 cl) Elderflower syrup

- 3 parts (3oz, 9 cl) Prosecco

1) Prepare directly inside an ice filled glass

2) Pour the prosecco first then the elderflower and finally the Campari.

3) Garnish with fresh mint leaves and stir gently.

Size: from 30cl to 60cl

This glass has recently become popular for Prosecco based cocktails.

The Mixology Map

Find out which campari cocktail perfectly suits you.