Awesome Drinks

Toast your seasonal reunions with Cocktail Courier’s limited-edition “Home for the Holidays” cocktail kit featuring St-Rémy Signature, the only French brandy that features a double aging process: first in charred new oak casks, then seasoned in brandy oak casks. The kit has everything needed for a brandy twist on a classic Old Fashioned.

Since 1865, Don Q has consistently delivered great rums. Don Q Reserva 7 is a robust Puerto Rican blend of rums aged in American white oak barrels for seven years. Rich in flavor, it’s just the ticket for seasonal hot drinks like Hot Buttered Rum and many other tasty cocktails.

Made in Scotland with infusions of rose and cucumber, Hendrick’s Gin is unusually smooth and much more than just juniper berry flavored. Hendrick’s 10 other botanicals are chamomile, elderflower, lemon peel, orange peel, caraway, coriander, cubeb berries, angelica root, yarrow root, and orris root. To make one gin, they actually make two.

Two of Mexico’s very best — Patrón Tequila and Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Driver Checo Pérez — teamed up for the 2023 edition of Patron’s Mexican Heritage Tin. Debuting at the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, the 8th annual edition of the tin features symbols inspired by Checo’s life on and off the racetrack.

Decorate your Christmas tree with booze when you pick up these clever cocktail ornaments from Brooklyn’s Love & Victory. The hand-blown glass ornaments come in martini, margarita, Mai Tai, old-fashioned, spritz, Negroni, Bloody Mary, and straight whiskey versions. They also have a web-exclusive set of ice cube ornaments to keep your bar-tree cool.

Mezcal is a unique and multi-faceted spirit with a storied past and a bright future. Distilled to be served neat, on the rocks or in cocktails, sweet and smoky Mezcal Unión Uno is blended from two types of agave Espadin (taking 6-8 years to reach maturity) and Curial (8 to 20 years to maturity).

Trick or treating is for kids, but these decadent Halloween treats are not. For its limited-edition Kraken Dark Donuts, NYC’s Dough Donuts spiked its cream filling with Kraken Black Spiced Rum, and decorated the dark chocolate icing with a purple beast from the deep. Available through October 31 at Dough Donuts locations and via Goldbelly shipments.

There’s more to Greek spirits than anise-forward ouzo. Metaxa 12 Stars is a classic Greek liqueur made of muscat wine, fine wine distillates, and Mediterranean botanicals. The sweet, amber elixir is the star of the My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 limited edition cocktail kit from Cocktail Courier, available until 9/28/23.

Upgrade your old fashioneds, cosmos, and tequila sunrises with these tasty candied orange twists from Italy. Balancing the tartness of real orange peel with sugar syrup, they add the right citrus accent to many drinks. For special manhattans and mules, grab a jar of Collins Spicy Amarena Cherries.

Cocktail Courier’s latest kit celebrate’s Aperol’s partnership with the U.S. Open. The Perfect Serve Kit has everything needed to mix and serve up to 16 perfect Aperol Spritz cocktails: a 750 ml bottle of Aperol, Cinzano Prosecco, Q Mixers club soda, and oranges plus a colorful Aperol Visor for match day.

Beer has been around for thousands of years, and it’s been a social lubricant for everyone from frat boys to world leaders. Weird History Food explores a few interesting facts about the bubbly brew from its origins in China and Mesopotamia through its spread around the globe to become the world’s most popular alcoholic beverage.

This unique backpack cooler has a built-in tap for dispensing drinks wherever your adventures take you. It holds up to three gallons of liquid, a dozen 12 oz. cans, or five wine bottles in its removable stainless steel liner. It can be carried on your back, like a bucket, or over your shoulder with an optional strap.

Lalo Tequila was co-founded by Eduardo ‘Lalo’ González, the grandson of tequila pioneer Don Julio. Lalo uses a traditional cooking method and just three ingredients: hand-picked agave from the Jalisco highlands, yeast, and water. Unlike many tequila labels, Lalo distills the agave only twice, and doesn’t add sugar, artificial flavors or additives.

A tasty tequila has joined the Campari Group and (surprise!) it’s not an aged anejo. Mayenda Tequila is a rarity: a young blanco made to be equally good for sipping or mixing. How? Mayenda captures flavors of cooked agave by adding two extra steps before distillation: maceration and the addition of agave miel.

A multi-platinum star without a booze brand is like a day without sunshine. Or, in this case a day without a Tequila Sunrise. Not only does Bay Area hip-hop star E-40 have his own Blanco, Reposado and Anejo tequilas — he named them after himself: E. Cuarenta literally means E-40 in Spanish.

Seedlip developed the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirits. Each botanical ingredient is distilled separately in a six-week maceration, distillation, filtration, and blending process, which yields a zero-calorie drink without alcohol and sugar. The Seedlip Trio is an ideal sampler for sophisticated mocktails.

There are booze cruises, then there’s the 40-week, 60,000 nautical-mile voyage taken by American white oak barrels carrying what would become Goslings Spirited Seas Ocean Aged Rum. Goslings is the Official Rum of US Sailing, so the experiment kinda makes sense. Regardless, the Goslings Spirited Seas rum blend really floats our boat.

When Astral Tequila Blanco debuted, it was practically written in the stars that they’d eventually launch two more affordable offerings: Astral Tequila Reposado and Astral Tequila Añejo. For just a couple extra bucks, go for the Añejo, a mellow 100% Blue Weber agave spirit aged 12 months in single-use American Oak Bourbon barrels.

No self-respecting bartender mixes a mint julep, mojito, or stirred negroni without a strainer. Named for the head bartender at New Orleans’ Sazerac House, Cocktail Kingdom’s mixologist-approved, silver-plated Wilkinson Scalloped Julep Strainer was inspired by the collections of cocktail historian David Wondrich and Cocktail Kingdom owner Greg Boehm.

When a cocktail is this substantial, it’s easy to justify a liquid lunch. For the Taquito-rita, JAJA Tequila took a classic margarita, added muddled jalapeños, and garnished it with a stack of Delimex Taquitos. Genius. The celery stalk makes it a balanced meal in a glass, and Go Puff’s kit makes it easy.

Created nearly 140-years ago by Scotch Whisky pioneer James Buchanan, Buchanan’s whiskies helped establish the art of Scotch blending. The house of Buchanan’s is still at it, most recently blending their smoothest whiskies with the juicy pineapple. Buchanan’s Pineapple brings a touch of the tropics to the not-so-sunny land of the brave.

James Beard Award-winning mixologist Toby Maloney and the bartenders of Chicago’s The Violet Hour created this 320-page guide to the fundamentals of cocktail making. You’ll learn about balancing ingredients, getting the right textures, aromas, and temperatures, then advance to making your own concoctions.

The way life is today, you never know when a drinking emergency might come up. This fun gift set from Not Another Bill comes packed with vodka, bloody mary mix, Tabasco sauce, salt, pepper, and a cocktail shaker. The only thing missing are drinking glasses, but you can always use your coffee mug for that. They also make an emergency gin and tonic suitcase.