There’s nothing quite like being stuck at home with bars and restaurants closed for business. Many of the bars and restaurants in Durango and the surrounding areas were, early on into the pandemic, offering takeout and to-go cocktails to keep the doors open. Now that we’re more than 9 months into the pandemic, the number has dwindled significantly.
That has left us with few options for getting our cocktail fixes at home. We still have a few options — Bookcase and Barber and a few other bars and restaurants occasionally offer to-go cocktails — but if we want to drink something off the menu, it looks like we’re going to have to make it ourselves.
Luckily, that isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Sure, it won’t look as pretty as some of the drinks that come out of the professional’s shakers, but they’ll do for now. It’s better than nothing (or cocktails in a can), right?
So, grab those bottles of booze from your liquor cabinet and get to mixing. Practice makes perfect. And if not, you can just drink enough of the screw-ups that you won’t notice anyway.
Rum drinksDaiquiri
1 ½ ounces light rum
¾ ounce lime juice
¾ ounce simple syrup
Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes and shake well. Strain into a prepared cocktail glass. Though traditional daiquiris are not served with a garnish, the flavored or frozen varieties often include a lime wedge.
Cafe Caribbean1 ounce rum
½ ounce almond liqueur
6 ounces coffee, or enough to fill
Pour rum and amaretto into a coffee mug or thermos. Fill with coffee. Garnish with whipped cream and shaved almonds. Add a splash of RumChata for creamer.
Dark and Stormy2 ounces dark rum
½ ounce lime juice
4 ounces ginger beer
Pour rum and lime juice into a copper or stainless steel mug or collins glass filled with ice cubes. Top with ginger beer and garnish with a lime wedge.
Mojito2 teaspoons sugar
Fresh mint leaves
3 ounces club soda, divided
1 lime, cut in half
2 ounces light rum
Add sugar, mint leaves and a small splash of club soda to a highball glass. Muddle to dissolve the sugar and release some mint flavor, then squeeze the juice from both halves of lime into the glass. Drop one of the squeezed halves into the glass, add rum and stir well. Fill the glass with ice cubes and top with club soda.
Whiskey drinksIrish Coffee
1 teaspoon sugar
6-8 ounces hot coffee
2 ounces Irish whiskey
Place sugar in a coffee mug. Pour hot coffee and whiskey into the mug and stir to dissolve sugar. Top with whipped cream. Side note: Colorado Honey Whiskey from Honeyville Distillery is delicious with tea.
Highball2 ounces whiskey
6 ounces ginger ale
Fill a highball glass with ice. Add whiskey and top with ginger ale to craft a classic highball.
Old-Fashioned½ teaspoon sugar
2 dashes of bitters
2 ounces whiskey
Place sugar in the bottom of a rocks glass and muddle ingredients, dissolving the sugar. Add the whiskey and stir until mixed. Take a fresh orange peel and twist it over the drink, run the peel around the rim and then drop it into the glass. Add one large ice cube or enough ice cubes to fill up the glass.
Whiskey Sour
2 ounces whiskey
¾ ounce lemon juice
½ to ¾ ounce simple syrup
Add whiskey, lemon juice and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes and shake well. Strain into a chilled glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a cherry or lemon peel.
Vodka Drinks
Screwdriver
1 ½ ounces vodka
6 to 8 ounces orange juice
Fill highball glass with ice. Add vodka and top with orange juice to fill. Garnish with an orange slice.
White Russian2 ounces vodka
1 ounce coffee liqueur
1 splash heavy cream
Fill a lowball glass with ice. Pour vodka and coffee liqueur over ice and add a splash of heavy cream.
Moscow Mule2 ounces vodka
½ ounce lime juice
4 ounces ginger beer
Pour vodka and lime juice into a copper or stainless steel mug, or collins glass filled with ice cubes. Top with ginger beer and garnish with a lime wedge.
Vodka Sour2 ounces vodka
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 ounce simple syrup
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Combine ingredients in the shaker and shake for between 15 and 20 seconds. Strain into a cocktail or martini glass.
Tequila drinksMargarita1 ½ ounces tequila
1 ounce orange liqueur
¾ ounce lime juice
Chill a cocktail or margarita glass. If desired, wet rim and dip in salt or sugar. Add tequila, lime juice and orange liqueur into a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes. Shake well, then strain into the glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.
Paloma2 ounces tequila
½ ounce lime juice
4 ounces grapefruit soda
Fill a highball glass with ice cubes and add tequila. Add lime juice and top with grapefruit soda.
Tequila Sunrise2 ounces tequila
4 ounces orange juice
½ ounce grenadine
Pour tequila and orange juice into a highball glass filled with ice cubes and stir until mixed. Pour the grenadine slowly around the inside of the glass. It will sink and gradually rise to mix with the other ingredients. Garnish with an orange slice and a cherry.
Tequila Sour2 ounces vodka
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
4 ice cubes
Place ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake to combine. Strain into glass and garnish with an orange peel.
More classic cocktailsMimosa½ ounce orange liqueur
1 ½ ounces orange juice
Champagne chilled
Add orange liqueur and orange juice to a tall flute-shaped glass. Top with champagne to fill and garnish with an orange slice.
Gin and Tonic
2 ounces gin
5 ounces tonic water
Fill a highball glass with ice cubes. Add gin and top with tonic water to fill. Gently stir to combine, but not so much that you lose carbonation. Garnish with a lime wedge.
Cosmopolitan2 ounces vodka
1 ounce cranberry juice
¾ ounce fresh lime juice
¾ ounce orange liqueur
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes. Shake vigorously, until the outside of the shaker feels cold, about 20 seconds. Strain into a cocktail or martini glass. Garnish with an orange peel.
Long Island Iced Tea½ ounce vodka
½ ounce rum
½ ounce gin
½ ounce tequila
½ ounce orange liqueur
1 ounce sweet and sour mix
2 ounces Cola or to taste
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Add vodka, rum, gin, tequila, orange liqueur and sweet and sour mix. Shake briefly and pour into a collins glass and top with cola for color and taste.
Bloody Mary1 ½ ounces vodka
3 ounces tomato juice
½ ounce lemon juice
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
1 pinch celery salt
1 pinch ground pepper
Hot sauce to taste
Fill a highball glass with ice cubes. Pour vodka and tomato juice over the ice and add lemon juice and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Add celery salt, pepper and hot sauce, stir to combine well. Adjust seasoning to taste and garnish with any number of goodies from celery stalk to olives.
Hunter Harrell
