6 Sophisticated Libations for Father’s Day

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Father's Day is just around the corner which means if you're looking for gift ideas you're already late. My dad likes to spend special days at home, where we can cook out, sit on the porch, sip drinks, and enjoy each other's company – hence the idea for this blog was born. If you want an easy, refreshing, and enjoyable way to show dad some love, jump behind the bar (or the kitchen counter) and re-create some craft cocktails that were sought out with a father's taste in mind.

1. Moscow Mule

Dad's fresh from the golf course and in search of something sturdy, icy cold, and refreshingly fizzy? Grab a copper mug and start pouring.

Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces vodka
  • ½ lime – squeezed
  • Dash of simple syrup
  • Ginger beer to top

Directions:

  1. Pour vodka into mug
  2. Squeeze lime half into the mug
  3. Add a dash of simple syrup
  4. Fill mug with ice
  5. Fill to the top with ginger beer
  6. Squeeze lime half for garnish

2. Old Fashioned

No classic cocktail glistens with masculinity quite the way an Old-Fashioned does – a whiskey drink that goes down easy and never disappoints.  

Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces of rye whiskey or bourbon
  • 1 sugar cube
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
  • Orange peel
  • Big ice cube
  • 1 Luxardo cherry for garnish (optional)

Directions:

  1. Place sugar cube in a proper glass (Old-Fashioned glass or rocks glass)
  2. Add 2 dashes of bitters
  3. Splash the tiniest amount of water you can manage into the glass – (this will help dissolve the sugar)
  4. Muddle bitters, water, and sugar together
  5. Pour rye or bourbon into the glass
  6. Take orange peel and twist over the drink
  7. Run orange peel around rim
  8. Add ice cube
  9. Add orange peel

*Optional: Add Luxardo cherry for garnish

3. Negroni

A bittersweet apéritif that almost pours itself – Negroni Week may have just ended in Fort Worth, but that doesn't mean Dad has to go without.

Ingredients: 

  • 1 ½ ounces gin
  • ¾ ounce sweet vermouth
  • ¾ ounce Campari
  • Big ice cube
  • Orange peel

Directions:

  1. Grab an Old-Fashioned or rocks glass
  2. Add gin, sweet vermouth, Campari
  3. Twist orange peel over glass
  4. Run orange peel around rim
  5. Add large ice cube
  6. Add orange peel for garnish

4. Sazerac

Make sure Dad is sitting down ready to relax when it is time for him to savor each utterly satisfying, lightly licorice laced sip of the New Orleans-born Sazerac.

Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces rye whiskey (do NOT use bourbon)
  • 1 sugar cube
  • 3-4 dashes Peychaud's bitters
  • Absinthe
  • Lemon peel

Instructions:

  1. Place sugar cube in cocktail shaker.
  2. Add 3-4 dashes bitters
  3. Add tiny splash of water
  4. Muddle
  5. Coat a small, chilled glass (we used a Manhattan glass, but some use rocks, others use a larger Old-Fashioned glass) with a little bit of the absinthe.
  6. Slowly twist over sink in order to let the absinthe pour out while also coating the inside of the glass.
  7. Now that the glass is ready, add ice to cocktail shaker.
  8. Stir contents of shaker – do not shake – until very cold
  9. Strain into glass
  10. Garnish with lemon peel

5. The White Lady

Who is The White Lady? Well, she happens to be the gin-based sister of the brandy Sidecar,  with a little added protein. If Dad wants a simple and light lemony libation, here is the one.

Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces gin
  • ¾ ounce Cointreau
  • 1 egg white
  • ½ lemon, squeezed
  • Lemon peel

Directions:

  1. Pour gin and Cointreau into cocktail shaker
  2. Squeeze ½ the lemon (use a lemon squeezer to avoid seeds) into shaker
  3. Add egg white
  4. Add ice
  5. Shake until very cold.
  6. Strain drink into cup, remove ice from shaker
  7. Add drink back into shaker
  8. Shake without ice for 60 seconds
  9. Strain into chilled coupe glass
  10. Add lemon peel for garnish

* note: after a couple of cocktails, we didn't realize at the time that the glass pictured in the “What We Used” photograph was actually an Old-Fashioned glass. The Old-Fashioned glass may be just a bit too big for the actual cocktail. The glass pictured in the photograph of the finished cocktail is a Coupe glass – this works perfectly. A martini glass should work as well. *

6. Manhattan

Last, but absolutely not the least, is the Manhattan. A seductively smooth and simple concoction of rye, vermouth, and bitters – the richness of this cocktail will undoubtedly be a hit.

Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces rye whiskey
  • ½ ounce sweet vermouth
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
  • Orange peel
  • Luxardo cherry

Directions:

  1. Pour rye, vermouth, and bitters into shaker.
  2. Add ice.
  3. Stir – do not shake – until very cold
  4. Strain into martin glass
  5. Add orange peel
  6. Add Luxardo cherry (the cherry enhances the flavor of this particular cocktail, don't miss out!)

With every cocktail, we showed you our ingredients of choice. But we thought, in case you were wondering or if you are new to mixology, we should show you our bar tools. 

  • Cocktail shaker
  • Muddler
  • Jigger
  • Strainer
  • Cocktail Stirrer
  • Lemon peeler/zester
  • Martini glass
  • Coupe glass
  • Manhattan glass
  • Old-fashioned glass

Now that you have recipes, the tools, and the knowledge, let thirst be your guide. While the Rangers are playing, the grill is going, and the sun is setting – mix up something special for Dad. He'll be sure to love it.

BARTENDER – Grayson Rains

PHOTO CREDIT – Paige Harrison