Home Bar Cocktails for the Mixologist at Home

Over on ICONIC HOUR’s AT HOME podcast series, we have been thinking about you, so, each week we are creating new content to engage our readers and listeners and keep you inspired while stuck inside; from a guided meditation from our features editor (oh, that’s me) to culinary discussions with industry experts. For an even sweeter indulgence, we have garnered some of the best cocktails to make at home to elevate your listening experience—and making for a grand addition to entertaining yourselves at home.

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Enter the “Quarantini” era, where we bring the bar to you with a coconut rum cooler or a spicy and smoky mezcal cocktail to indulge in all while channeling your favorite bartender, who you probably haven’t seen in weeks. Plus, all of these mentioned spirits, including high-end alcohol and a non-alcoholic spirit, can easily be purchased online. Supporting your local distillers and their brands is great when you can, while shopping your own home bar to use what liquors you already have is just fine, too.

Whether you are an avid craft beer drinker or more likely to be seen with a fruit-infused cocktail, we believe happy hour should not take a break during these uncertain times. If you are looking for new recipes, peruse our selection of superfood cocktails for a healthier take on classic drinks or keep reading here for a hand-selected, and mixologist-approved, list of the best cocktails to make at home. These creative yet accessible drinks, including a herbaceous non-alcoholic mock-tail, includes a gorgeously floral creation from our whiskey-crafting friends over at Colorado’s Old Elk Distillery and a heavenly-pink Paloma from the agave disruptor’s at Tequila Enemigo.

Get your shaker, favorite glassware and maybe your Zoom link ready for a memorable happy hour—quarantine-style.

Cheers!

Method
Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain over large ice cubes in a glass rimmed with Tajin and sesame seeds.

And if you have leftover grapefruit juice from the tequila Paloma noted above, you can use that in your oak-and-cascarilla-infused PaNoma recipe.
This is your reminder that raising a glass is not exclusive to those with liquor in their cups.

Ingredients
2 ounces Seedlip Grove 42
½ ounce cascara syrup
Soda
Hibiscus flowers

Method
Fill a rocks glass with ice, add the non-alcoholic Seedlip beverage and cascara syrup. Top with soda and garnish with the flower.

Spice 94 PaNoma

Ingredients
2 ounces of Seedlip Spice 94
1 ounce of fresh grapefruit
½ ounce of simple syrup
Fever-Tree soda water

Method
Combine all ingredients, except soda water, in a shaker. Shake well and strain over ice in a highball glass. Top with soda water, stir and garnish with a grapefruit peel.

Mount Gay Rum

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MOUNT GAY RUM | Coconut Cooler
Paradise, on the rocks. Coconut water, Mount Gay rum and bitters is all it takes to transport you to your last vacation by the sea. Fresh coconuts may be hard to come by during quarantine, so it’s a good thing this beachy cocktail only requires coconut water and bitters that pair perfectly with the already fruity flavors of the rum to make one of the best cocktails at home. Consider putting on a Caribbean-inspired music playlist, catching some sunshine if it allows, and letting your imagination whisk you away to the breezy seaside—cocktail in hand.

Ingredients
2 ounces of Mount Gay Black Barrel rum
4 ounces coconut water
Angostura bitters

Method
Add rum to highball glass, fill glass with ice, top with coconut water, garnish with lime or pineapple and a dash of Angostura bitters.

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Tequila Enemigo

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TEQUILA ENEMIGO | Paloma 89
“While on lockdown, we have taken this time to experiment at home and that is one of the great joys with unique spirits like ours. Enemigo 89 has a very complex flavor profile, so when it is combined with different ingredients you can detect different notes, and it’s all about finding what you like—as you can see from our twist on a classic Paloma,” says Sebastian Gonzalez Oertel, co-founder of Tequila Enemigo. This tequila-based drink is one of the best cocktails to make at home and features the celebrated high-end alcohol crafted by the agave disruptors at Enemigo. Their exceptionally smooth tequila paired with grapefruit and elderflower creates the ultimate spring-time libation to savor at the end of yet another day indoors.

Ingredients
4 ounces Enemigo 89 Anejo Cristalino
2 fluid ounces pink grapefruit juice
1 ounce elderflower cordial
1 ounce of lime juice

Method
For two servings: Combine Enemigo 89 Anejo Cristalino, pink grapefruit juice, elderflower cordial and lime juice. Top off with Club Soda and garnish with anything suitable you have available.

Westland Distillery

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WESTLAND DISTILLERY | Stateside Manhattan
For one of the best cocktails to make at home, try this decadent cocktail for those of you in colder climates who crave a whiskey-infused drink fireside. Made with Westland’s American single malt, this classic—and strong—cocktail will quickly take the edge off. Served straight-up (hold the ice), this Manhattan can be elevated with a cherry garnish to impress your friends that you may be toasting digitally, from near and far.

Ingredients
2 ounces Westland American Oak Whiskey
1 ounce sweet vermouth
4 dashes of Angostura bitters

Method
Stir all ingredients over ice, pour into a chilled cocktail coupe and, if you happen to have a stash of cherries, garnish as you like.

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Old Elk

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OLD ELK DISTILLERY | Colorado Bramble for Two
We are loving this floral-infused bourbon cocktail from Old Elk. Their remarkably smooth spirit is complimented with cherry, fresh lemon and a surprising touch of fig jam for those seeking an impactful whiskey flavor with a fruity finish. Edible flowers purchased at your local grocer’s or picked from the garden, make this the most Instagram-worthy cocktail on the menu.

Ingredients
3 ounces Old Elk Bourbon
½ ounce Cherry liqueur
½ ounce brandy
½ ounce simple syrup
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp fig jam

Method
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously for 20 second then strain into two rocks glasses over a large cube of ice. Garnish with edible flowers.