The Eastern Sour Cocktail

A bourbon-fueled Tiki classic from Trader Vic

It’s a new year, so time to discover a new drink. Allow us to present the Eastern Sour Cocktail.

This one is a tasty mix of bourbon, orange juice, lemon juice, and orgeat syrup. Which makes it perfect for winter, we think. All that citrus has to be great for combating colds and flu.

To your health!

The Royal Hawaiian Cocktail

Named after the historic Waikiki Beach hotel

We’re back from a cruise that took us from Hawaii to Tahiti. But our heads remain in vacation mode, so we’re still craving beach drinks.

Royal Hawaiian Cocktail to the rescue! It features tongue-tingling dry gin and lemon, plus pineapple juice for that tropical touch.

Aloha.

The Harvest Moon Cocktail

A forgotten classic

Autumn is important for us eaters (and drinkers). That’s when farmers rush to harvest crops before the first frost. Then they take those crops to market—which is how the rest of us get fed.

Earth’s natural satellite (aka the moon) even helps celebrate the harvest: Every autumn we enjoy a particularly notable full moon called the “Harvest Moon” (more on that in the Notes).

Here in the US, some of autumn’s bounty traditionally has been distilled into applejack—a hard cider made from North American apples. And applejack just happens to be used in a classic cocktail called the Harvest Moon. Appropriate, don't you think?

Many of today’s imbibers have never tasted a Harvest Moon Cocktail. If you’re among them, get ready for a treat. Just mix up one of these gems, and you may be dancing by the light of the moon.

The Scorpion Cocktail

A party-perfect Tiki drink from Trader Vic

The Scorpion Cocktail is legendary.  Multi-legendary, in fact — there are so many “authentic” versions of this drink that no one really knows which was the original.

But we do know that it became one of Trader Vic’s best-selling Tiki drinks, along with the Mai Tai and Fog Cutter.

The Scorpion (aka the Scorpion Bowl) was typically mixed in quantities large enough to serve several people — and it made a memorable impact. It showed up in a communal ceramic bowl with “feet” that looked like topless Tahitian babes. A gardenia floated serenely on top. Drinkers would use long straws to sip from the bowl while admiring the botanical feature.

My Scorpion recipe is meant for one. But if you want to serve this drink in quantity, don’t fret. In the Notes, I provide a scaled-up version that’s fit for a crowd. You’ll need to source your own gardenias though.

Mai Tai Cocktail

World’s Best Umbrella Drink?

The Mai Tai is perfect as a summer cocktail: sultry, yet cooling and refreshing at the same time.

And to answer the question posed above: Yes, the Mai Tai is the world’s best umbrella drink. No doubt about that.

But I know that many people scorn the whole concept of umbrella drinks — usually because they’ve had bad experiences with versions that are over-the-top frou-frou or so full of fruit they are sickeningly sweet. So, lest you harbor suspicions about the Mai Tai because of its parasol persuasion, let me hasten to add that this is arguably one of the world’s top ten drinks.

In fact, I’d say there’s really no “arguably” about it.