THE BEST Cocktails

Not every drink needs to knock you on your ass. Author Kat Odell’s cocktail book offers up 50 recipes for festive drinks that taste delicious but are light on the alcohol. They’re perfect for a daytime party, a day at the beach, or just when you want something mellow and not too potent.

Park City, Utah’s High West Distillery makes some of our favorite bourbon and rye. Now they’ve turned their attention to pre-mixed Manhattans and Old Fashioneds, which spent time in rye whiskey barrels for added depth and flavor. Each 750ml bottle pours 12 cocktails, lasts for 3 years on the shelf, and 30 days once opened.

Last time we checked in with musician Mezerg, he was playing the watermelon. This time, he performs on a more conventional instrument – though Voël Martin rigged up this upright piano with an electronic circuit and pumps that dispense a variety of juices and liquor to make a custom cocktail based on the notes he plays.

The #1 bar in Victoria, BC and one of Canada’s 50 best, the gorgeous Q Bar at the iconic Fairmont Empress is a wowser. Equally stunning is its magical signature drink which changes colors from bold indigo to soft pink. Canada’s oldest craft distillery, Victoria Distillers, created indigo Empress 1908 Gin to do the trick.

Pop Chart’s “Spirited Schematic of Mixed Drinks” is a wonderful piece of wall art for any home bar. It’s packed with illustrations of 120 cocktails, with each one visually broken down to its ingredients and quantities. The print measures 24″ x 36″, and is also available mounted on a birch plywood panel.

Cocktail expert Robert Simonson’s book offers up 75 recipes for delicious beverages you can make with a simple trio of ingredients. From classics like the Bee’s Knees to modern drinks like Remember the Alimony, there’s something for every taste in this 2018 James Beard Foundation book award finalist.

When it’s hot and sunny out, you should be drinking some appropriately sunshiney drinks. Davis Adams’ cocktail book is packed with delicious combinations of rum, fruit juice, and other staples of the tiki scene. And if you’re looking for some glasses to serve your conconctions, we highly recommend Geeki Tikis.

Gold-medal winning Woodford Reserve straight bourbon whisky is full of flavor, with hints of sweet aromatics, spice, fruit, flowers, grains and wood. Just the ticket for refreshing bourbon cocktails like the Old Fashioned, Mint Julep, and the summery Porch Swing cocktail, characterized by its use of lemon, honey and peach tea.

If those fancy Asprey cocktail shakers are too rich for your bank account, here’s a great alternative for rocket lovers on a budget. Viski’s stainless steel cocktail shaker has a great retro look and is perfect for making drinks like a Skylab Fallout, a Cosmonaut, or a Planetary Punch. It holds 24 oz. and has a built-in strainer.

Colorado’s Strongwater creates award-winning bitters from ingredients like turmeric, cinnamon, orange peel, clove, cherries, and lavender. They’ll give your next cocktail added dimension, flavor, and aroma. The set of five 3oz bottles is on sale for a limited time from Touch of Modern. Strongwater also makes a 1/2oz sampler.

What do we want? Drinks! When do we want them? NOW! Fred’s clever cocktail picks let you protest your desire for booze with amusing slogans like “Garnish Drinks Not Wages” and “Four More Beers!” Sold in a set of 24, with two of each design.

This fun gift for drink enthusiasts includes eight mini notebooks, each dedicated to a single core spirit: whisky, rum, gin, vodka, tequila, champagne, sherry, and amaro, along with cocktail recipes and room to jot down your own concoctions. Includes 100 total drink ideas.

While a Moscow mule is made simply with ginger beer, lime juice, and vodka, there are tons of variations these days. Thoughtfully’s gift set for drink lovers includes seven different mule mixers, each in a 2.3 ounce bottle. We suggest grabbing a bottle of good vodka and some copper mugs to round out your gift.

This cheeky tiki mug is the first collab between famed Polynesian kitsch carver Danny “Tiki Diablo” Gallardo and cocktail historian Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, proprietor of Latitude 29 in New Orleans, named one of the Top 50 bars the country. The Bora Bora Bum Mug holds 16 ounces and comes in blue, green or orange.

Emma Stokes’ book of cocktail recipes organizes the drinks by their chemical composition – or at least what their primary liquor component is. Perfect for science geeks who like their booze, there’s also a version for oenophiles by wine expert Sara Rowlands.

Add a touch of class to your high-balls and tiki drinks with these copper-plated stainless steel drinking straws from Izola. You’ll get a set of four 8.5″ long metal straws, a canvas storage pouch, and a cleaning brush so you can use them indefinitely.

A 1930s art deco classic, this dapper, bow-tied penguin cocktail shaker stands at the ready to serve all your drink-mixing needs. Made from stainless steel and holds up to 18 oz of liquid.

OXO’s cocktail shaker lets you make your drinks and keeps them ice cold thanks to its double-wall insulation, which also keeps your hands from freezing while shaking it. Its self-straining lid can pours only when you press the button on top, and features a leakproof seal.

Asprey makes fantastically extravagant barware from sterling silver. Our favorite pieces are the retro style rocket ship and aeroplane cocktail shakers, with their colorful enamel inlays. Their sterling combination safe is perhaps even more incredible.

Want to expand your cocktail repertoire? Shaker & Spoon has got you covered. Each month, they prepare a box filled with unique and flavorful ingredients, along with three specialty recipes, and enough mixers for 12 drinks. Just add spirits.

The Gentleman and Scholar old fashioned cocktail kit is the perfect gift for whiskey or brandy lover in your life. Includes two double old fashioned glassses, two bitters, a stainless steel muddler, an ice sphere mold, and a cocktail garnishing tool.

Cocktail Chemistry Lab walks us through the rather involved process of making this unique whiskey drink, whose centerpiece is an ice orb filled with smoke, which is cracked open at serving time. Ice ball instructions here.

Why is a rocks glass a rocks glass? And why do foo-foo drinks go in a V-shaped martini glass? Mike Rugnetta of PBS Idea Channel stops by Brooklyn cocktail bar Leyenda to get the skinny on the reasoning behind glassware selection from award winning bartender Ivy Mix.

While serving fancy ice spheres and cubes in cocktails is a pretty popular trend these days, this is the first time we’ve seen a cocktail served from inside an ice sphere. Cocktail Chemistry shows us how to prepare this very special drink.

Inertia Labs’ cheeky entry into this year’s BarBot competition can pour and shake any three-ingredient cocktail you’d like. Drink up – assuming you can get past its unusual dispensing mechanism.

The perfect complement to that bottle of bacon syrup, Torani has outed this unusual flavor to top off your cocktails, coffees and sauces with the heavenly combo of fried chicken and waffles.