Shake, strain, up.
I’d say a 5 for a full-throttle, no-fuss, low alcohol drink. Well balanced and more interesting than it sounds.
Combine 1 oz. concentrated cider, rye, lemon juice, and maple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously, and strain into a cocktail glass (with or without ice). Garnish with ginger slices or lemon rind. Serve immediately.
To make the cider reduction: In a medium saucepan, over high heat, boil 2 cups of apple cider until it has reduced by half to 1 cup, about 20 minutes. Cool over an ice bath until at room temperature.
Curated this a bit - Clarified the recipe, moved cider reduction instructions to the notes section. Removed "fresh" from lemon juice - we always assume juices, etc. are fresh.
Stir, strain, straight up, coupe, garnish
"Alex Smith, bar manager at Honor Kitchen & Cocktails, says that The Corsican is the East Bay bar's most popular cocktail."
Curated to conform to reference, reducing vermouth and falernum from 1 oz to 1/2 oz. Also removed excessive quote from source for copyright reasons. Added attribution details.
This is really a great drink. To me, it's like the mirror image of a Martinez. Very three-dimensional.
Shake, serve over rocks or cracked ice. Garnish with cocktail cherry.
Pumpkin liqueur recipe from Marica Simmons on Serious Eats: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/10/diy-pumpkin-liqueur-recipe.h…
Curated this slightly - changed "Pumpkin seasonal spirit" to "pumpkin liqueur" to accurately reflect the recipe at the link.
Shake well with ice and double-strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass.
Thunder Shirt, my riff on a Jacob Grier cocktail (the Lazy Bear) mingled with the rum and ginger flavor profile of a Dark & Stormy. The Thunder Shirt as you may know is the miracle garment for nervous dogs to help usher them through the stress and anxiety of a thunderstorm. This is the human beverage equivalent of that comforting shirt. The harshness of white dog whiskey is tamed with the soothing spice of ginger syrup, accented by the pot still funk of Smith & Cross and balanced with a healthy dose of citrus. The pimento bitters here play the role of a falernum, adding some island spice notes. It's delicious, and I think you'll agree that its cool liquid embrace has a dramatic calming effect (over 80% of nervous drinkers show improvement with one of these in hand—a statistic I just made up).
Good! I have this neglected bottle of Bully Boy white dog and I really didn't expect to get a good result mixing it.
Cold: shake, strain, stemmed wine glass, twist. Hot: Build in a warmed mug and add 3 oz boiling water. Garnish.
Thanksgiving Turkey: infuse two barspoons of cardamom seeds in one liter of high proof bourbon for 24 hours and strain. Add 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cranberries and three cinnamon sticks; infuse for two days, agitating daily, and strain. Keep cool and dark like you in your high school days.
Made these for Thanksgiving (cold). Fantastic. One change: smash the cranberries before steeping them in the bourbon. It imbues a wonderful flavor and gorgeous color. Also satisfying to squash fresh cranberries with a meat mallet.
Stir, strain, rocks, twist, garnish.
Bartender dudes and dudettes: I know there's a huge overlap between bar nerds and indie peeps, but there's no need for one in four delicious autumnal drinks to be named after your favorite Yo La Tengo song.
Stir, strain, rock, twist.
Cleng Peerson was a pioneer who led the first wave of Norwegians to the United States aboard the sloop Restauration.
Stir, strain, up.
The recipe on Rowen's page calls for Bittercube's Jamaican #2 bitters, but his tasting notes ("Hints of ginger, allspice and black pepper from the bitters") describe the Jamaican #1 bitters.
Stir, strain, rock, twist.
Campari + cassis almost gives me the impression that there's sloe gin in the drink; they combine into one dark, tart berry flavor with a long, bitter finish. The orange notes of Campari only become apparent as the drink warms up.