Same drinks, new names.
The old version of this post named eight cocktails after characters from a children’s franchise, under a tagline lifted from the same franchise. Which was a strange thing to hang an alcohol post on, and wasn’t ours to borrow in the first place.
It also spent a fair amount of its word count encouraging you to get loaded and then go walk around outside staring at a phone, in a post that simultaneously linked to news stories about people getting hit by cars doing exactly that. We have removed that too, and we’d rather not explain why.
What’s left is the reason the list worked at all. These are bright, layered, and built to look like something across a table. Color is the whole brief. Nobody has ever ordered one of these quietly.
1. Blue Coconut Shot
Combine and shoot:
1/3 shot spiced rum
1/3 shot coconut rum
1/3 shot blue curaçao
Chase with pineapple juice (optional)
2. The Fire Breather
Combine in a glass:
2 oz Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey
2 splashes of grenadine
1.5 oz overproof rum
Fill with ginger beer
A note on the rum. The original called for Bacardi 151, which was discontinued in 2016 and is not coming back. Any overproof rum in the 100 to 130 proof range does the same job here. Use less of it than you think, because the ginger beer hides it completely and that is the entire problem with this drink.
3. The Mango Sunrise
3 oz mango purée
3 oz mango vodka
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz grenadine
Mango and cherry for garnish
Fill your martini glass with ice water to chill. Mix the mango purée with the vodka and ice. Shake until cold. Empty the glass and strain the mixture in. Top with Campari and grenadine, then garnish. The Campari and grenadine sink, which is the whole point.
4. Green Fizz
2 oz gin
1 tsp green crème de menthe
1 oz lemon juice
1 egg white
1 tsp superfine sugar
Club soda
Lime twist
Add the gin, crème de menthe, lemon juice, sugar and egg white to a shaker with ice. Shake. Shake a little longer. Put it down, add ice to the glass, pour the well-shaken mixture in, and top with club soda. Garnish with the lime twist.
Adapted from The Drink Blog.
5. Strawberry Piña Colada
1/2 fresh pineapple, peeled, cut into 1.5-inch pieces
6 oz sweetened cream of coconut
2 oz unsweetened coconut milk
8 oz white rum
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 packages fresh strawberries
Orange juice
Put the pineapple pieces in a freezer bag, lay flat, and freeze solid, at least 3 hours. This is the step people skip and it is the step that matters. Shake the cream of coconut and coconut milk in their cans before measuring. Purée the pineapple, cream of coconut, coconut milk, rum, lime juice and about 15 oz of ice in a blender until smooth. Transfer the blender cup to the freezer until the mixture thickens to milkshake consistency, 25 to 35 minutes. Blend again. Divide into glasses and rinse the blender.
For the swirl: blend 2 cups chopped strawberries with 1/2 cup orange juice, adding more juice if it needs it. Spoon over the top and swirl.
6. The Purple Reign
1 oz blue curaçao
1 oz sweet and sour mix
1 oz grenadine
1 oz cranberry juice
Combine in a shaker with ice, shake until well blended, strain over fresh ice in a pint glass.
7. Horchata White Russian
1.5 oz vodka
1.5 oz Kahlúa or coffee liqueur
3 oz horchata
Ground cinnamon
Fill a glass with ice. Pour in the vodka and Kahlúa, top with horchata, garnish with cinnamon.
For the horchata:
1/2 cup long grain white rice, rinsed
1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
1/4 cup sugar
Add the rice and cinnamon stick to a blender with 2 cups water and pulse to coarsely grind. Transfer to a large bowl, add another 2 cups water, and soak at room temperature for at least 3 hours. Purée in batches until smooth. Strain through cheesecloth into a container. Mix in the sugar and chill. Stir before serving.
Adapted from Le Petit Eats.
What’s available depends on your address. Enter it and we’ll show you what’s in stock nearby. Alcohol is 21 and up. ID at the door, every time, no exceptions and no negotiating with the driver.
