Cheers to You and Me

Cocktails

Irish coffee is a hot cocktail that was created in the 1940s by Irish chef Joe Sheridan. The cocktail consists of black coffee, Irish whiskey, brown sugar, and cream. This cocktail has variations like serving it with different types of coffee or serving it with ice. Drinking the classic Irish coffee you'll get it with hot black coffee in a mug, stirred whiskey and brown sugar in it, and topped with a thick layer of cream.

Kir is a cocktail made with blackcurrant liqueur and white wine. It is a traditional French beverage usually drunk as an aperitif. This cocktail was named after Felix Kir, who popularized it after WW II through the twinning movement, promoting friendship between towns, cities, countries, and cultures. The cocktail is called Kir Royale if champagne is added instead of white wine.

A classic breakfast cocktail Mimosa is made with freshly squeezed orange juice and champagne. Any other sparkling wine can also be used. To enhance the flavors of the cocktail Grand Marnier or bitters can be added. Orange juice is poured into a champagne flute and topped with champagne. 

Negroni is a cocktail with equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari. This cocktail was created by Count Camillo Negroni in Florence, Italy in 1919. It is considered to be an aperitif and served on the rocks in an old-fashioned glass with an orange wheel for garnish.

Bellini is a classic Italian cocktail. It consists of Prosecco (Italian white wine) and white peach nectar or white peach puree. The peach nectar is poured into a chilled flute glass and then topped with Prosecco and gently stirred. It was created at Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy by bartender Giuseppe Cipriani and named after the Italian painter Giovanni Bellini.

Sangria is a fruity Spanish cocktail. It is a combination of red wine and fruit like pears, peaches, berries, apples, nectarines, or pineapples. Making the cocktail sugar, orange juice, sparkling water, and brandy are added. 

Gin and tonic is a highball made with gin and tonic over ice and a garnish of a lime wheel.



Haiboni or Japanese highball is a combination of Japanese whisky and soda water.

Screwdriver is one of the most popular highball cocktails. It is made with vodka and orange juice. The cocktail originated in the US around the middle of the 20th century. It is served on the rocks in a highball glass with an orange slice as garnish.

Sex on the Beach is an American cocktail with many variations. The most popular is a combination of vodka, orange juice, Passoa or peach schnapps, and cranberry juice. Other ingredients that can be added to this cocktail besides vodka are Chambord, Midori melon liqueur, and pineapple juice. The cocktail is served on the rocks in a highball glass with an orange slice for garnish.

Moscow Mule is a classic cocktail created in New York City in the 1940s. It is a combination of vodka, ginger beer, and lime juice. The cocktail is served in a copper mug, on the rocks, with a lime wheel as garnish.

Cosmopolitan or Cosmo is another classic cocktail from New York City. This was created in the 1970s. It is made with vodka, orange liqueur, cranberry juice, and freshly squeezed lime juice. The Cosmo gained popularity in the 1990s when it was the preferred drink of the girls in the HBO TV show “Sex and the City”. The ingredients are shaken with cracked ice and strained into a large martini glass with a lemon twist as garnish.

The Old Fashioned was created in Louisville, Kentucky. It is made with bourbon or whiskey, fine sugar or a sugar cube, Angostura bitters, maraschino cherries, orange slices, and a splash of club soda or water. It is served in an old-fashioned glass.

Mai Tai is a popular cocktail with rum created in Oakland, California in 1944. In Tahitian, the name of the cocktail means “good”. It is a combination of rum, lime juice, orange syrup and orange liqueur, usually curacao. The ingredients are shaken with ice and strained in an old-fashioned glass. The cocktail is garnished with fruit like pineapple, orange, and cherries.

Tequila Sunrise is a cocktail that resembles a summer sunrise in a glass. It is made with tequila, orange juice, and grenadine syrup. It was created in Sausalito, California in the 1970s. The cocktail is served on the rocks in a tall Collins glass.

Margarita is the most famous tequila-based cocktail in the world. It is a combination of Cointreau, lime juice, and tequila. It can be served straight up (chilled with ice and strained), on the rocks, or frozen. Served in a margarita glass the rim is rubbed with lime or lemon and spun in salt.

Spirits

All of the spirits are made by many different companies in the alcohol beverage industry.

London Dry Gin is a specific gin variety. All the flavors have to be natural and added through distillation. For a distinct flavor juniper berries are added.

Scotch is a renowned whiskey from Scotland. It is made with the addition of grains and cereals. The original Scotch whiskey has to have a base of water and malted barley which is soaked and allowed to germinate. True whiskey is allowed to age for three years in oak casks.

Irish whiskey is only produced and matured in distilleries in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is made with malted cereals.

Bailey’s is a cream liqueur that is produced with a combination of Irish whiskey and cream and enriched with vanilla, cocoa, and caramel. It was created in Dublin in the 1970s and is one of the most prominent Irish brands. Bailey's can be served neat, over ice, or blended in coffee, hot chocolate, or cream-based cocktails.

Cointreau is a classic triple sec created by the Cointreau brothers. It is a distilled sweet liqueur. It is used as an ingredient is cocktails like Sidecar, Margarita, or Cosmopolitan.

Chartreuse is one of the oldest and most popular French liqueurs. It originated from an ancient manuscript sent to the Grande Chartreuse monastery at the beginning of the 18th century, The monks adapted the recipe in 1840 creating the original Green Chartreuse.

Cognac is a classic French brandy that is distilled from grapes then aged and blended. In 1936 cognac was regulated by the Appelation d'Origine Controlee AOC, which restricted its production to six different terroirs and the area that includes the entire department of the Charente-Maritime, most of the department of Charente, and small parts of the Deux-Sèvres and Dordogne.

Hennessy is the leading cognac producer founded in 1765. It can only be produced in the Cognac region with locally cultivated Ugni Blanc grapes. Once fermented the grapes are double distilled and oak aged. Aging requirements for Hennessy include VS (aged two years), VSOP (aged four years), XO or Napoleon (aged six years).

True Champagne comes from the Champagne region of France. It is produced by the process called methode Champenoise and involves a secondary fermentation in the bottle when yeast and rock sugar are added. Traditional grapes for the process are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier from this region. 

Limoncello is an Italian liqueur that includes lemon zest left to infuse in a neutral spirit. It is prepared with a mix of sugar and water and filtered after a rest period. This liqueur is associated with Sorrento, Amalfi Coast, and the island of Capri. It is known for its vibrant yellow color, and fresh, sweet, and aromatic flavor. It is usually enjoyed as an aperitif and served chilled. It can be used in cocktails, long drinks, and some desserts.

Campari is a vibrant, red, dry Italian liqueur. It is produced with a neutral alcohol base infused with an extract of various bitters and aromatics like pomegranate, ginseng, orange peel, the bark of cascarilla trees, and citrus oil. This liqueur was invented in 1867 by Gaspare Campari. It is served as an aperitif but can be added to soda water or prosecco. It is an ingredient in such classic cocktails as Negroni, Garibaldi, or Americano.

Amaretto is a classic liqueur that is a combination of neutral spirits, caramel, sweet or bitter almonds, various herbs, spices, and at times apricot kernel oil. It is served neat, over ice, with lemon juice or coffee and is included in amaretto-based cocktails like Godfather, Amaretto sour, Almond kiss, and Nutcracker Martini.

Vermouth is a European aperitif, a sweetened and fortified wine. It comes in red (sweet) and white (dry). The first official vermouth was produced in Turin by Antonio Benedetto Carpano who aromatized it with various herbs and spices. His red vermouth was first sold in 1786.

Sherry is a fortified white wine from Andalusia. It comes in a variety of styles from light dry wines to aromatic sweet varieties. Sherry is produced with Palomino grapes but sweet sherry wines can also include Pedro Ximenez and Moscatel grapes. 

Midori is a vibrant green melon-flavored liqueur. It is produced with a base spirit infused with yubari and musk melons, cultivated and sourced from Japan. The liqueur also includes sugar, brandy, and artificial coloring to give it its distinctive green color. It is a clear and sweet melon-flavored liqueur.

Mezcal is a smoky Mexican spirit that is produced from agaves. The main territory of mezcal production is in Oaxaca. It is traditionally prepared with agave hearts roasted in earthen pits and crushed to a pulp, later distilled. Officially it can be made in seven Mexican states and with more than thirty types of agave. The only agave that cannot be used is the blue Weber agave which is used to produce tequila.