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Cocktail Recipes
NEW ACHIEVEMENT! “You Actually Read The Recipe”
Congratulations! You have successfully located the cocktail recipes from the Meet & Greet Mixology event. Read them in their entirety and god help you if you attempt to freestyle the absinthe measurements. This puts you ahead of an estimated 73% of party guests, most of whom may be happy enough to drink something unidentified out of a mason jar, but not you!
Reward: +15 Sophistication (temporary, expires at 1am)
Corpse Reviver No. 2
Glass:
A chilled coupe or cocktail glass.
Ingredients:
- Absinthe (see options below)
- 3/4 oz gin
- 3/4 oz Lillet blanc
- 3/4 oz orange liqueur (such as Cointreau)
- 3/4 oz lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Absinthe Options
Option A: Rinse (the traditional method)
Pour a small amount of absinthe into a chilled coupe glass, swirl it around to coat the interior completely, then discard the excess. This leaves only a light absinthe film on the glass rather than a full dose in the drink. This is the historically correct method for this cocktail and produces a subtler, more aromatic absinthe presence; you smell it on every sip more than you taste it.
Option B: Mixed in
Add a small amount (roughly 1/4 oz) of absinthe directly into the shaker along with the other four ingredients. This gives a stronger, more assertive anise flavor that runs through the whole drink rather than just the top note.
How to choose: if you want the classic, more balanced version where the citrus and Lillet lead and the absinthe is a background aromatic, use the rinse. If you want the absinthe to be a noticeable flavor throughout, mix it in. Neither is “more correct” at this point; the rinse is the original 1930s method, but the mixed in version has become common in modern bars for people who like a stronger licorice note.
Method:
- Prepare the glass using whichever absinthe option you chose.
- Add the gin, Lillet blanc, orange liqueur, and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
- Shake hard for 10 to 15 seconds, until the shaker is very cold to the touch.
- Double strain (through the shaker’s built-in strainer and a fine mesh strainer) into the prepared glass.
- No garnish is traditional, though an orange peel and/or a brandied cherry both work.
Serving suggestion: this one drinks fast and hits like a suppressed memory of absolute joy. Food pairings? No thank you, distractions are for suckers. Just you, the glass, and a decision you made about the absinthe ten minutes ago.
Someone always asks this. It is inevitable. It is written into the fabric of cocktail nights and someone will probably ask right as you’re mid-pour, garnish knife still in hand, orange peel dangling off the blade like you meant to do that.
Here’s your answer: No. 1 exists. Harry Craddock, famous turn of the last century mixology guy, crafted it back in 1930, brandy based, tagged as a hangover cure. But Brandy is a Tier 1 starter item. Everybody equips it in the tutorial, nobody’s still carrying it by the cocktail endgame.
No. 2 is the one that ditched the brandy, added the gin, and became the version people actually order in the post meridiem hours like normal, functioning adults. Set the knife down. Hand them the glass. You’re done here. Quest complete.
Elderfashioned
Glass:
Rocks glass (old fashioned glass)
Ingredients:
- 2 oz Empress gin (don’t substitute)
- 0.5 oz elderflower liqueur
- 2 dashes orange bitters
- Grapefruit peel, for expressing and garnish
Method:
- Add the gin, elderflower liqueur, and orange bitters directly to a rocks glass filled with a large ice cube.
- Stir with a bar spoon using about 60 rotations around the inside of the glass. This is a gentle, unhurried stir, not a shake, so the drink dilutes and chills without clouding.
- Hold a swath of grapefruit peel over the glass, skin side down, and give it a firm pinch or twist to spray its citrus oils across the surface of the drink.
- Rub the peel around the glass rim, then drop it in or perch it on the rim as garnish.
Pro Tips: a single large ice cube is preferable to smaller cubes for the stir; it dilutes more slowly over 60 rotations. Use only the colored zest side of the grapefruit peel when expressing, avoiding the bitter white pith.
Serving suggestion: pour over a single, comically oversized ice cube in the glass. If you’re extra fancy and have a clear ice maker, impress the daylights out of your friends and neighbors by putting on a big show of adding it to the glass. This is a “hold it, don’t gulp it” drink. Good before dinner, good after dinner, good at the exact moment someone asks if you’re having fun and you realize you are.
