recipe

5 Yummy Summer Cocktails

Kate Sloan

Summer is well and truly upon us, and my city is reopening after lockdown, meaning soon I’ll be able to return to my solo-date tradition of sitting on a cocktail bar patio with a good book and not a care in the world. Blissful!

To celebrate, here are the recipes for cocktails I love to sip in summer, incase you, too, are craving refreshing libations. (Be sure to also check out my previous post of cocktail recipes to learn about the Southside, possibly my all-time favorite summer drink.)

Margarita

As a white lady, I won’t claim to be any kind of margarita expert. Really, the thing to do is go to the best Mexican restaurant in your city/town and order their margarita – just the basic/traditional version, nothing fancy. (Try as I might, I can’t seem to make a margarita as delicious as the giant ones served at Toronto’s El Catrin.)

That said, this drink is so classically summery that I appreciate being able to make one at home if I feel like it. Here’s the specs I use…

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 oz tequila
  • 0.75 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
  • 0.75 oz Cointreau
  • 0.25 oz agave syrup (or simple syrup if you don’t have it)

Run the juicy part of a lemon slice around the rim of a glass to get it sticky, and then gently roll the lemony rim against a pile of salt on a plate until you get your glass as salt-rimmed as you want it. Then, combine all above ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add ice, and shake until well-chilled. Strain into glass over ice (or sans ice if you prefer).

Black Walnut

This is one of the house drinks at Northwood, a local bar I like very much. I have no idea what their actual recipe is, but this version was devised by my partner Matt when I told them I missed being able to sip this drink. They did a bunch of research on it and messaged with one of our bartender friends to try to figure out an approximation of the Black Walnut as served at Northwood, and I think it tastes very close to the real thing!

Ingredients:

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into glass over a big ice cube. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

*To make cinnamon demerara syrup: Bring 2 cups of water to a boil on the stovetop, then reduce heat to medium-low and add 1 cup of demerara sugar + a few crumbled cinnamon sticks. Stir continuously until all the sugar is dissolved. For maximum cinnamon flavor, let steep for anywhere from 1 hour to overnight. Then, strain mixture into a bottle.

**To make walnut tea-infused rum: Add ~2 tablespoons of black walnut tea to a bottle of white rum (I like Bacardi’s). Shake vigorously. Let infuse for at least 2 hours, then strain and return to bottle.

Daiquiri #2

This is a fruitier, even more summery take on the classic daiquiri, which traditionally contains just lime juice, rum, and a little sugar. I like this orange-centric version because it reminds me of tropical vacations.

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz white rum
  • 0.75 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
  • 0.5 oz simple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon fresh-squeezed orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon curaçao

Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled. Double-strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Jungle Bird

My spouse introduced me to this formidable drink. It feels like a super grown-up cocktail due to the way it balances sweetness with bitterness so well, especially compared to other fruity drinks.

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 oz dark rum
  • 1.5 oz pineapple juice
  • 0.75 oz Campari
  • 0.5 oz lime juice
  • 0.5 oz simple syrup

Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into an old-fashioned glass over a big ice cube. Garnish with a pineapple frond and/or orange slice.

Jasmine

This drink, too, is a nice interplay between sweetness and bitterness. I first had it when my partner and I decided to watch the movie Blue Jasmine together and wanted a thematically appropriate cocktail to sip during the film. Cate Blanchett’s character in that movie, Jasmine, probably would have liked this drink – it’s bright, refined, and a little quirky.

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 oz gin (ideally a London dry gin like Tanqueray or Bombay Sapphire)
  • 0.75 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 oz Cointreau
  • 0.5 oz Campari

Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

What have you been sipping lately?

My Top 5 Favorite Cocktails, & How to Make Them

Kate Sloan

You know… sometimes I refer to this website as a sex blog, but other times, I just think of it as a place where I celebrate my favorite things, many of which happen to be sex-related. Today I feel like talking about cocktails. Let’s dive in and drink up! (Unless you don’t drink, which is totally cool! My drinks-savvy partner recommends this book of mocktail recipes, and I’ve also tried Seedlip non-alcoholic spirits and think they are delicious.)

Gin Martini, Extra Dirty

I’ve had a lot of different martinis, and after much experimentation, this is my favorite one. Some people prefer a vodka martini, but I find gin more flavorful and more pleasant. Some people prefer a martini without vermouth, but (whispers conspiratorially) that’s not actually a martini, it’s just a chilled glass of gin or vodka. Finally, some people prefer their martinis with a lemon twist instead of olives, and with no brine, but I am a filthy girl with filthy tastes. Dirty gin martini it is! I love how the saltiness of the brine balances with the florality of the gin in this classic drink.

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz London dry gin (I like Bombay Sapphire)
  • 1 oz dry vermouth
  • 0.5 oz olive brine (or more, to taste)
  • 3 olives

Stir ingredients over ice in a mixing glass until very cold. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with olives on a cocktail pick.

Southside

I can’t think of a more refreshing cocktail than this one. It’s considered a classic, though it’s nonetheless obscure enough that many bartenders won’t know what the hell you’re talking about when you order it. However, luckily, it’s fairly easy to make at home.

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz London dry gin
  • 1 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
  • 0.75 oz simple syrup
  • 8-12 mint leaves

Put the mint leaves and simple syrup into the bottom of a cocktail shaker and gently muddle them with a muddler, wooden spoon, or similar. Add gin, lime juice, and ice. Shake vigorously until the outside of the shaker is uncomfortably cold, and then double-strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with additional mint leaves.

Manhattan

Another classic. I like this one as an after-dinner drink to wind down the evening; it also pairs excellently with steak! I really like how the spices in the Angostura bitters add a satisfying richness to this boozy drink.

Please note that your vermouth needs to be fresh – many people don’t know that vermouth goes bad after a few months, so they keep using the same old bottle and then wonder why their drinks taste terrible. Toss that old bottle and get a fresh one!

Ingredients:

Add bourbon/rye, vermouth, bitters, and ice to a mixing glass. Stir until cold. Strain into a glass of your choosing, and garnish with the cherry on a cocktail pick.

Negroni

This is a refreshing, summery drink often associated with Italy. I can imagine sitting in a piazza somewhere, sipping this during an animated conversation over burrata and cacio e pepe. Yum.

My partner and I have also experimented with subbing in fino sherry for the sweet vermouth, which gives the drink a slightly nuttier, drier flavor. It’s delicious both ways!

Ingredients:

  • 1 oz gin
  • 1 oz Campari
  • 1 oz sweet vermouth
  • A twist of orange peel

Stir or shake the gin, Campari, and vermouth over ice. Serve on the rocks. Squeeze the orange peel over the drink to express the citrus oils, and then run it around the edge of the glass to add extra aromatics before dropping it into the drink as a garnish.

London Calling

This one’s a bit more unusual than the others on this list… Once I went to Civil Liberties and asked the bartender, Nick, if he had any limoncello. He didn’t, but he told me he would make me something that tasted kind of like limoncello. He came back a few minutes later with a London Calling and I immediately fell in love. The bright, tart fruitiness of the lemon juice blends beautifully with the dryness and minerality of the sherry. It’s a refreshing drink with a backbone.

Ingredients (according to Nick’s recipe; opinions vary on this):

  • 1.75 oz gin
  • 1 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
  • 0.75 oz simple syrup
  • 0.75 oz fino sherry
  • 4 dashes orange bitters
  • A twist of citrus peel

Shake gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and sherry in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a glass. Garnish with a twist of citrus peel (Nick suggests grapefruit).

What drinks are you enjoying lately?

The Choc-Block: An Erotic Chocolate Cocktail

Kate Sloan

I recently received a Valentine’s-themed “care package” from a sex toy company I sometimes work with. Among its contents was a bottle of Shunga chocolate body paint, an “aphrodisiac” product made for the type of light food-play often recommended by Cosmopolitan et al. (Do vanilla people know that when they smear each other with whipped cream like these magazines suggest, they are engaging in sploshing?!)

I’m not exactly a food-play aficionado (I think the closest I’ve come to a sploshing scene, other than that one cakesitting party, was the time I ate an M&M that had become fused to my skin after I accidentally had sex on top of it), but when my friend Dick joked on Twitter that he’d happily try out this “body paint” on top of some ice cream, a lightbulb went on over my head: why not make a cocktail with this stuff?

I happened to have a smoky scotch on hand (Johnnie Walker Red is my fave at a low price point, and I wouldn’t dare mix something as pricey as, say, Laphroaig with a cheap-ass sex sauce), and thought the peppery flavor would go well with chocolate. I threw in some ginger bitters to round out the spicy flavor profile, although I bet this would also be delicious with orange or chocolate bitters. I didn’t add a garnish because I didn’t have any (FOR SHAME), but an orange peel – or even a little chocolate truffle skewered on a cocktail pick – would be excellent here.

An important note: as far as I can tell, this body paint – like other “edible” “novelty” sex items of its ilk – is not officially meant for consumption, and has not undergone the rigorous safety testing it would legally have to if it were advertised as a food product. I’ve been sipping this drink for a few minutes and haven’t died yet, but… partake at your own risk, okay?

With that out of the way, here’s the cocktail recipe I came up with, The Choc-Block (which is, yes, a tongue-in-cheek cockblocking reference in the name of this drink made with an… “aphrodisiac” product):

Mix well over ice (like, seriously, mix well – the chocolate is viscous and takes some time to incorporate). Strain into a glass over a big ice cube. Garnish if desired.

To my tongue, this drink mostly just tastes like a slightly mellower, sweeter version of the scotch I already enjoy. I might return to this recipe in the future if I want something boozy without the burn, or if I’m just looking for a refreshing dessert-y nightcap.

By the way, Shunga didn’t sponsor this post… I am just a fucking weirdo who likes to do strange stuff like this. I hope you enjoy this bev if you decide to make it yourself!

Fancy a Girly Juice Cocktail?

Kate Sloan

I should’ve known, when I started dating a cocktails aficionado, that eventually he would invent a drink called the Girly Juice.

Truth be told, given that the name of my blog was originally yoinked from an ex-lover who used to refer to my vaginal fluids as such, ideally this drink would include a splash o’ vag. But I’ll leave genital imbibement to bukkake enthusiasts and the author of Semenology.

If anything, I wanted my blog’s namesake beverage to include ingredients I adore – and since my partner has ample experience ordering for me at restaurants, he’s very aware of what those ingredients are. I love bright, sweet drinks made with citrusy juices (see, for example, the Southside or the London Calling), and I love warm spices like cinnamon and ginger.

Obviously a drink inspired by me and my blog should also have, at the very least, a pinkish tinge, because I’m a feminine femme through and through.

So, without further ado… here’s how to make the ~official~ Girly Juice cocktail!

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz London dry gin (we used Tanqueray but my partner also recommends Sipsmith)
  • 1 to 1.5 oz pink grapefruit juice (more if you like a fruitier flavor, less if you like a boozier flavor)
  • ¾ oz cinnamon syrup
  • 2 dashes ginger bitters or cinnamon bitters (we used Dillon’s ginger bitters)

Pour all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice, and shake. Strain and serve in a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and/or a grapefruit peel twist.

Health note: grapefruit juice is known to interact poorly with certain medications, so do some research and make sure it’s safe for you to consume before partaking of this drink! If you want a suitable replacement, my beau suggests an equivalent amount of orange or blood orange juice.

If you try this cocktail, let us know what you think!