No-fuss cocktail mixes will bring a toast to the host
The house is decorated. The music is on. And the hors d’oeuvres are in the oven. The doorbell rings and your guests go straight to the kitchen for a drink.
Cocktail party season is back, and the goal in the kitchen is to keep it simple: roughly three ingredients per drink.
You might have noticed a proliferation of new cocktail mixers and syrups on the shelves of your local liquor store. I bought and tasted almost 30 of these products from nearly a dozen brands. Many were terrible. (I could make a better drink with NyQuil.) Some were just strange. A few were good but required five or six (or more!) additional ingredients to make any of their recommended recipes, which defeats the point.
After tasting far too many recipes, a few brands bubbled to the top: Proof Syrups, Woodford Reserve, Runamuk Maple, Liber & Co. and Shaker & Spoon.
The following two- and three-ingredient* cocktails taste like they were made by expert mixologists.
(*The drinks from Shaker & Spoon actually require several ingredients, but their kits arrive with everything you need except alcohol premeasured, including garnishes, so the recipes are incredibly quick and effortless.)
Leather & Velvet
THE MIXER » Runamok Smoked Maple Syrup (8.5 ounces, $18)
HOW TO MAKE IT » Pour ¼ ounce of smoked maple syrup and 2 ounces of whiskey into a rocks glass. Add an extra-large ice cube and stir for at least 10 seconds. Garnish with a dehydrated orange or lemon wheel. BUY ONLINE » runamukmaple.com
Old Fashioned
THE MIXER » Woodford Reserve Old Fashioned Cocktail Syrup (16 ounces, $22) HOW TO MAKE IT » Pour 1/3 ounce of cocktail syrup and 1 ½ ounces of bourbon into a rocks glass. Add an extra-large ice cube and stir for 10 seconds. Garnish with orange peel.
BUY ONLINE » Amazon.com
Champagne cocktail
THE MIXER » Proof Orange Syrup (16 ounces, $33)
HOW TO MAKE IT » Pour ½ ounce of orange syrup into a flute. Fill with sparkling wine. Garnish with a cherry or orange peel (or both).
BUY ONLINE » proofsyrup.com
Shimmering Champagne cocktail
THE MIXERS » Sparkle Syrup (8 ounces, $18) and Maple Orange Bitters (3.4 ounces, $12) from Runamuk Maple
HOW TO MAKE IT » Pour a teaspoon of sparkle syrup into a flute. Add 2 dashes of maple orange bitters. Fill with sparkling wine. Garnish with a crab apple (or lemon twist). BUY ONLINE » runamukmaple.com
Coconut daiquiri
THE MIXER » Liber & Co. Toasted Coconut Syrup (9.5 ounces, $11)
HOW TO MAKE IT » Add ¾ ounce of coconut syrup, 2 ounces light rum and 1 ounce of lime juice to a shaker. Fill with ice and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lime. BUY ONLINE » liberandcompany.com
Brush of the Bush
THE MIXER » Shaker & Spoon Brush of the Bush kit ($12, makes 2 drinks)
HOW TO MAKE IT » Combine 2 ounces of reposado mezcal or tequila with the supplied sage-agave syrup and cherryvanilla bitters, and shake with ice until cold. Strain into rocks glass over fresh ice. Spritz with the supplied white-sage hydrosol. Garnish with sage leaf.
BUY ONLINE » shakerandspoon.com