I’ll never forget my first cocktail. I was the house of a friend, Keely, a budding mixologist. She handed me a short glass filled with a mysterious brown liquid, gently fizzing through the ice.
“Try it,” she said.
I did. It was magical, a sweet blend of something familiar with something new.
“It’s Kahlua and Coke!” she exclaimed, not giving me a chance to guess. I wouldn’t have guessed Kahlua, though — I had no idea what it was.
From then on, though, it became my go-to drink for years, mostly because it was one of the few things I knew how to order. I learned some other common orders, such as the deceptively simple screwdriver and pretty much any combination of liquor and Coke.
As Keely got better at making drinks, she accumulated a large collection of liquors, cordials, and mixers. She hosted a lot of parties and was very generous with what I later learned were expensive ingredients. One concoction she introduced me to, a Grasshopper, became one of my instant favorites. I started wanting to have these drinks at bars, but I learned the hard way that many bartenders have no idea how to make dessert cocktails and that ordering a Bloody Mary at a bar will earn you a scornful laugh.
Over the years, I began experimenting with cocktail recipes. I occasionally had to instruct bartenders on my favorites. I expanded the Kahlua and Coke recipe to include Bailey’s, which absolutely horrified one bartender when I was ordering one for my mother. “It’s going to curdle,” he warned me, quickly following up with “No refunds.”
It didn’t curdle; the Bailey’s made lovely swirls through the Coke. My mother loved it.
Every year for Halloween, I’d spend most of my measly paycheck at the liquor store and open up my home bar. Every year, I made almost enough tips to pay myself back. I researched a lot of Halloween cocktail recipes, yet ended up inventing my own to match my current inventory or because I couldn’t afford some of the ingredients.
Although I had to pack up my home bar when I moved into my tiny apartment in Orlando, I kept a lot of the basic supplies close at hand. Now that Halloween’s approaching, I wanted to share with you the tips and tricks I learned over the…
