- It has a lot of tequila
in it though, so be careful.
- Priya, this might be your best work!
[Priya laughs]
It is truly good!
[percussion music]
[blender grinds]
[laughing]
- We're here in the Test Kitchen,
and we are making our favorite cocktails.
[percussion music]
I am going to make a
cocktail that's called
The Lil' Ripper.
I invented the Lil' Ripper,
so don't anyone on the internet,
try and steal this from me.
I'm doing dry January right now
so I can't drink this,
which is pretty [beep] up.
The Lil' Ripper is kind of
a play on Amaro and soda.
It's kind of a play on an Americano.
I call it the literally anytime drink.
It's super simple.
It takes you like two minutes to make,
and it's low ABV, so you
can drink about 48 of them.
It kinda tastes like,
if you took flat root
beer, and flat Coca Cola,
and injected it with a
little bit more bitterness
and some heavy like kind of honey,
and brown sugar sweetness.
Soda, Amaro, lemon, olive, ice that's it.
I'm using Averna.
Averna is like for me,
kind of the all purpose.
Averna and China are my
two all purpose dark Amari.
I'm also very particular about my ice,
just stacking ice cubes like
this, in a Collins glass,
is my ultimate pet peeve.
I hate it, I think it just looks terrible.
When I make this at
home, I take ice cubes,
and I just crack them up a little bit
with the back of a spoon.
The ratio of what you put
in here is super simple.
So I'm doing three ounces of soda,
two ounces of a Averna,
and that is beautiful.
I love watching the Amaro
move down through the side,
I think it's hypnotizing.
So then a little bit of lemon peel,
and then, we're gonna spritz
a little bit of juice on top.
This along with club soda
kind of brightens the whole thing up.
And then I'm gonna do two olives that act
just like a little bit of salt,
a little bit of brininess.
You know what?
Living on the edge, I'm not drinking this,
so we're doing three olives.
And also it gives you
a snack at the bottom.
So then colorful side out,
you wanna put your fingers like that.
Gently crimp it over the top of the glass,
rub it on the rim.
This just releases the oils in the citrus,
and that kind of like perfumes
the top of your glass,
so when you pull your cocktail up,
you're smelling like this
bright, wonderful lemony drink.
I will always go diagonally,
with the glass little bit
peeking above the rim.
And that is the Lil' Ripper.
Pre-dinner, after dinner.
Pre-lunch, after lunch, rip
it whenever you wanna rip it.
- [Man] I wanna drink
that so bad. [laughs]
[percussion music]
- I'm gonna make my favorite cocktail.
An Old Fashioned, a Rye
Old-Fashioned, that's the key.
This is the cocktail I make
most nights, after work,
to drown my sorrows in,
and it does a good job.
I like these raw sugar cubes,
just 'cause they have a
little molasses flavor.
It is typically two ounces of whiskey,
and a couple dashes of bitters,
but I like a lot of bitters.
I like to soak my cube,
like really get in there.
I'm gonna muddle the cube.
Some people put fruit in
here, but I just want bitters.
The key to a good Old Fashioned,
is you wanna muddle the sugar
in the glass, you're gonna drink it out of
instead of doing it in a mixing glass,
'cause you really want like a little bit
of sugar residue at the bottom.
That's kind of like the
signature of the drink.
And then pour in as much
whiskey as you feel good about.
That feels good to me, right?
It's after five, is it after five?
It's almost after five. [laughing]
You need a giant ice cube,
'cause it makes you
feel like you're fancy,
and you wanna stir it until you feel
the glass has become cold.
And I like to finish it
with a really fat twist
and you really want it to be pretty thick.
So you get nice spurts.
We did it.
This is what keeps me warm at night.
So, I really like this more
than regular Old Fashioned,
which is usually bourbon,
'cause the Rittenhouse Rye's really spicy,
it's spicier than the average Rye even.
So it can really hold
up to that sugar cube.
So this still has a really nice kick.
It's perfect, it's the best drink.
I'm gonna drink this whole thing.
Are we done?
[percussion music]
- A year, or so ago,
I started to make my own
Old Fashions at home.
I'm not really a cocktail person.
If you know me, you know I
usually go for wine or beer.
I came up with this
special way of doing it,
with other ingredients.
Little that I knew, I
showed up here the next day.
And I told Card Bee, one
of our dear co-workers,
that I made these drink with
lemon, ginger and honey,
and she is like, "That called Penicillin."
And I didn't know. [chuckles]
So will help you kill
your heart, and the flu.
- [Man] So, what do you call it?
- Gaby Feel Better Drink. [laughing]
So the first thing I do is I get a lemon
and do a big, as long as
I can, for my garnish,
then I'm gonna cut this in
half, cut this guy in pieces.
Then I get a nice enough of
ginger, wash it, done peeling,
two ounces of water,
that I already mentioned.
A good amount of honey,
you'll be the judge.
And then I put two ounces of whisky.
So now, you can get the strongest person
around you to do this job.
Smells good.
'Cause I believe that for an Old Fashion,
you need just one ice cube,
you don't need more than that.
This is already muddled, I'm
gonna put the whiskey in.
Don't laugh of me shaking
skills. [laughing]
Oh, the honey bear.
So I'm gonna put a
little bit in the bottom,
then I'm gonna squeeze a
little more lemon in there.
There comes a big ice cube.
I like to use the strainer,
but I like to pretend that
I know what I'm doing.
Be careful, don't poke your finger.
So this is candy ginger.
I just wanted to dress it up.
That's it, Gaby Feel Better Drink.
Bon Appetit.
[percussion music]
- So, Shikanji is a drink
that I grew up having,
and it's basically just like
a salt and pepper limeade.
My dad grew up having it in really,
really scorching hot Indian summers.
It kind of has this electrolyte-y jolt,
that you get from Gatorade.
It makes a really, really, good
large batch summer cocktail,
which we're gonna to make in January.
So we're not really measures,
in the Krishna family.
We're more like pourers,
just pour enough tequila,
in accordance to what kind
of party you wanna have.
Let's just let's do something,
maybe a little squash mark.
Maybe that's a lot of tequila.
I'm just gonna, 2:00 p.m. on a work day.
- Okay, pour the party back in,
then you're gonna add the
juice of like six limes,
two cups of water, quarter cup of sugar.
This is sugar, right?
- Yes.
- Some salt,
and about three quarter
teaspoon of black pepper.
The pepper is kind of
what brings this to life,
and then, our ice.
Wow, that is potent.
[blender grinds]
You're just looking for it to froth up.
It's nice.
No joke, my dad drinks
us out of beer steins.
And you can totally do that if you want,
but I'm choosing a more reasonable option
and then you're just gonna
garnish it with a little pepper.
And just like that Spiked Shikanji.
That's the good stuff.
It's like everything I
want a sports drink to be,
maybe I should just be
putting pepper in my Gatorade.
Sohla, you wanna try a
sip of my Spiked Shikanji?
- All right, this is,
seems like so crazy to me,
so very excited--
- Its really good.
- It's really frothy and pretty though.
- It has a lot of tequila
in it though, so be careful.
- Priya, this might be your best work.
[Priya laughs]
This is really good, I like
all that pepper in there.
Yeah, and you know, you
don't even know feel bad
about the tequila 'cause,
the pepper's like cleansing.
- That's so true, why wasn't
it in our healthy issue?
- Thank you.
- It's a pepper cleanser.
[percussion music]
- I am going to be making a White Negroni.
It's one of the easiest
cocktails to make of all time,
because it is, there's
nothing really to remember.
It's just a one, to one, to one ratio.
The first ingredient is gin.
Today we're using Tanqueray,
which is a London dry gin,
which is the purest form
of gin you can find.
And this is Billet, it's
made from white grapes,
and it has these really great like,
warm honey and citrusy notes to it.
It's also very sweet.
The last ingredient is Suze,
which is extremely potent,
it is very medicinal.
So we're just gonna
use a tiny bit of this,
and it's gonna anchor the drink,
and give it this like backbone.
I have my shaker, just gonna
dump some ice right to the top.
I'm gonna do one and a half ounces of gin,
an equal part of Lullet.
And then I'm just gonna
do a half ounce of Suze.
And then I am gonna take
a long handed bar spoon.
You want the ice to
properly dilute the drink,
so it's not so strong and like burning.
The outside of it will frost
up, it'll just feel chilled.
I'm gonna use a large ice cube
to put into my rocks glass,
and then, I'm just gonna strain this.
Finally, traditional
Negroni you finish it off
with an orange peel.
For this one, I'm gonna
finish off some lemon.
The outside of the citrus peel
has all these really aromatic oils
that you can kind of
hold it a few inches away
from the glass, and
just give it a squeeze.
So drop it in and there
you go find White Negroni.
- Did you make it all for me?
- I made it all for you!
- Oh, that's so quick.
Never had a White Negroni.
- Are you fan of regular Negronis?
- Mmmh!
Tastes good!
- Yeah.
- I like the little, it's
like way more floral,
I feel like in the regular Negroni.
- Like everything's super botanical?
- Ah, yes.
- So it feels, you know, kind of like
you're drinking Negroni.
- Yeah, its like the Negroni
put on a nice pretty dress.
- Yeah, Negroni is going out tonight.
- All right, can I go back
and pound some meat now?
[percussion music]
- Okay folks, today I'm going
to make my favorite cocktail
in the whole wide world,
which is the Pina Colada.
This is about a half of a fresh pineapple
that's been cut up into
chunks, and then frozen.
Good to use a high-powered blender
if you have one because
the stuff's very hard.
This is six ounces of cream of coconut,
Cocoa Lopez, is the brand of
choice very, very, very sweet.
Also in this recipe, we have a couple
of ounces of unsweetened coconut milk,
a couple table spoons of fresh lime juice,
to cut through all of the sweetness,
six ounces of white rum.
Some ice, 'cause it
wouldn't be a recipe by me
if it didn't have a little salt in it.
[blender grinds]
Once you've blended all
of your ingredients,
you then throw the Pina
Colada back into the freezer,
in the blender so that it gets
super nice and cold again,
and can sort of recrystallize, come on.
Great Andy.
- And they went very well
when you whispered in the,
- I loved Pina Coladas,
it's the only kind of
frozen drink that I love.
- I mean FroMarg?
- No I don't do that.
- You just do frozen Margarita pie.
- I just don't do frozen
Margarita pie. [laughs]
I just want my Margarita on the rocks.
- Oh, yeah, same but occasionally.
Time to place, here's little lime juice.
So this has been in the
freezer for like 30 minutes,
and I'm gonna reblend, and
then we're gonna serve it up.
[blender grinding]
I'm gonna add some extra rum in here.
Are we rolling?
Right now, I don't know
like what's going on
and the most exciting part of all,
we have a hollowed out pineapple.
And in we go.
Some garnishes.
These are fancy maraschinos,
I guess we're fancy like that at BA.
And this is for whoever wants to join me.
I'm gonna do a flow of dark rum,
which is like a bit more
aged and more flavorful
than the white rum that's in it.
Double down on the booze.
Okay, I'm ready.
You can tell I'm so excited,
okay, now we're having a good time.
Here, everyone can have a straw.
Everyone's gonna go in
down at the same time,
I made us females.
You're so very welcome.
- Its very good.
- Delicious.
- One of the greatest
cocktails in the world!
[percussion music]
- I have a lot of favorite cocktails.
My favorite cocktail to
drink during the wintertime
is a classic Daiquiri.
That's really bright, and refreshing,
and makes me feel like the sun is shining.
It's my favorite sick day cocktail.
That's not a thing that most people have.
But I do have a sick day cocktail.
Any drink that has, is not
just booze has to be shaken.
So like a Martini you stir
because it's just booze on booze,
but because we have have lime juice
and rum in the same cocktail,
we're gonna shake it.
So we've got some white rum.
I'm gonna take two ounces of that.
I love these little mini
graduated measuring cups,
'cause it's so much easier than a jigger.
I'm not being paid to say this.
We're gonna juice some limes,
we need one ounce of lime juice.
Some people add a little bit
less, I like it pretty tart.
And then we're gonna add three quarters
of an ounce of simple syrup,
which is just one to one sugar to water.
We're gonna add plenty
of ice to our shaker.
A lot of people serve it in a coupe,
I like it in a stemless glass,
so if you like it, wants to
be drinking kind of quickly.
That's a Daiquiri.
- [Man] Do you consider
yourself a big drinker.
- Is this an intervention?
Like are all my friends,
and family gonna come out?
Yeah, you know, I enjoy.
I enjoy alcoholic beverages
responsibly and often.
[percussion music]
- One of my absolute favorite cocktails,
which is an Americano.
You have to be careful when you order it,
because some bars, you could
go in and ask for an Americano,
and they think that you mean
the espresso and hot water.
Definitely got served
coffee once or twice.
It's very similar to
like a Campari and soda,
with something you would have like before,
maybe having a glass of
wine or getting into it.
It's a really easy cocktail,
because it's equal amounts
of a red bitter like Campari.
Today I'm using this Forthave spirit,
which is similar to Campari.
So it's got those bitter
kind of botanical qualities,
and it's a little bit sweet.
And then with that, you use equal amounts
of red vermouth or sweet vermouth.
So I'm just gonna eyeball,
the lines on the glass are really handy.
So you're getting like a
bitter, sweet kind of vibe,
and then it's this great color too.
This is the Antica Formula One,
but like a Dolan sweet vermouth,
or any sweet vermouth will work.
You could also do it in
like a big wineglass.
And normally it would
be more than one rock,
but these are such big rocks.
So let's just do that one
and then you top it off.
[laughs]
Classic, that is so like
classic, did any get in there?
A little bit, I just don't do that again.
Just top it off with a little spritz.
Little stirry stir, got a little orange.
Oh, she's pithy.
I like a little bit of green olive,
which sometimes you'll
get in like Aperol Spritz,
or Campari Spritz, I love that.
And that's the drink.
Mmh, mmh.
[percussion music]
- I love Mezcal, it's my favorite spirit.
I will drink it on its own, just sipped,
which is the proper way.
But I kind of do like
a little kind of paired
with some of my favorite ingredients.
So the first thing that I do
is kind of make the salt mixture.
I just use about like, equal parts,
I'm just gonna use my fingers.
Equal parts flaky salt, two Chilis,
and I just kind of make like a chili salt.
I'm gonna grab a mortar and pestle.
I just broke down the flaky
cell, and the chilies,
you saw I was like on the core
side, now it's quite fine.
That's actually probably
not only gonna help it stick
to the glass, but it's also
really kind of extracting
the oils from the chilies.
And then I'm gonna cut the grapefruit.
I just like to remove the center membrane.
And then from here, I kind
of go and make a few slices.
Now I'm just getting more
chili salt on the grapefruit,
and you could serve this on the side.
I like the glass of ice.
And then I'm gonna do
a nice pour of Mezcal,
I'd say about almost halfway.
What I'll do is I'll
take a sip just as is.
You don't, so delicious.
Just drinking it deep,
sometimes too much for me,
but drinking with a little bit of ice
and then kind of going and taking a bite
of the bitter grapefruit,
with the Chilean salt and
just like you get this rush
of flavor and my mouth
is starting to salivate.
Just try that.
- I don't actually drink
that many cocktails anymore.
Like my children have
sort of taken that part
of my life away.
Back in the day, Margarita was
my drink of choice, for sure.
There's just something about how simple,
and clean it is.
Anything frankly that
hues to that sour formula,
like that is my jam, just
like simple but bright.
You can use simple syrup,
you know for this recipe.
But you can also use Cointreau.
So Cointreau is a kind
of a sweet sour orange,
base liqueur for from France.
Then I'm gonna put ice in here first.
Three quarters of an ounce of lime juice.
Three quarters of an ounce of Cointreau.
I like to do the most
expensive alcohol last,
just because if you screw up,
one of the other ingredients,
we don't have to start over.
I like to do a half gram of salt.
Sometimes you're just
not feeling you know,
that much salt but it least
this gives you the option.
Boom.
Its damn good, it's a little sharp.
- Anyway that's all folks, thank you.
- Nice.
- Anybody want a one Pinea?
I got lots of Pineas!
