original cocktails

Copa de Oro

/ Dani DeLuna / 2 Comments

Copa-de-Oro-1

My love of Calvados continues here at Home Bar Girl with a stirred Aperitif cocktail. We named it Copa de Oro after my girlfriend suggested that the drink resembled a California Poppy.

California Poppy Copa de Oro Cup of Gold

“Poppies, poppies will put you to sleep, sleeeeep, now they’ll sleep.” -The Wicked Witch of the West

ummmmmmmm. Perhaps we shouldn’t have named the drink after Poppies. This is not a sleepy drink, it’s a before dinner/start the night out kind of drink! Don’t listen to that Wicked Witch!

Copa de Oro

  • 2 oz Calvados
  • 1 oz Cocchi Americano
  • 1/4 oz Cynar
  • 2 Dashes Angostura
  • Orange Peel

In tin, combine ingredients and stir over cracked ice. Strain into coupe. Express Orange Peel and garnish.

Cheers to you all!

Volver

/ Dani DeLuna / 3 Comments

Volver-1

Feliz Cinco de Mayo 2016 y’all! I’ve decided to post this drink from a couple of years ago cause it’s one of my faves. Salud!

…

Yes. Yes! YEAAAAAASSS! I’ve been waiting for a post like this. This is the post where I get to talk about Penélope Cruz and my own personal Tequila Challenge.

First, the Tequila Challenge. Well, here I am, a California Mexican American living in New York City and let me tell y’all, people don’t take Tequila seriously here. In fact, most of my friends usually shudder at the mention of Tequila. “Ohhhhh, I can’t have Tequila, it makes me act crazy.” “Noooooo, I’ll never have Tequila again, last time I did, I blacked out and got into a huge fight at a bar in the LES.” Sure, sure you did sweetie. Honestly, for a city that loves to drink obscene amounts of whiskey and rum, people seem to get week in the knees as soon as I suggest having a drink with Tequila.

Well you know what? Tequila doesn’t really affect you any differently than Vodka, Gin, Rum or even Whiskey. You’ve just had awful Tequila or you just take SHOTS. In fact, I’m sure you’ve had so many “shots” of José or Patrón and after having all these SHOTS of Tequila, you felt a little bit crazy. You probably felt a little bit violent. You maybe even blacked out.

You’ve been drinking Tequila wrong.

My Tequila Challenge is to encourage us Home Bar Girls and Dudes to enjoy Tequila served “up”, “short”, “neat” and “on the rocks” in the same way we’d drink Gin, Whiskey, or even Aged Rum. Good Tequila is delicious, flavourful and much more fun to mix with than something bland and boring like Vodka. We should consider making cocktails with Tequila to be an art form, not some lame excuse to get drunk as quickly as possible. Sip Tequila, don’t shoot it.

Second, Penélope Cruz. There isn’t really much to say, she’s like the sexiest lady who has lived in the past 40 years and she seems like she’d be a helluva lot of fun to have Tequila cocktails with. When I made this drink for my girlfriend, she tasted it, I asked her what we should name it and she said, “SOMETHING TO DO WITH PENÉLOPE CRUZ.” Ok, you got it babe. We decided to name the drink Volver porque nosotros amamos Pedro Almodóvar y Penélope Cruz para siempre.

Volver-2

Volver

  • 1 oz Reposado Tequila (I love to mix with Espolón Tequila)
  • 1/4 – 1/2 oz Ancho Chile infused Reposado Tequila*, depends on how spicy you like it 🙂
  • 1/2 oz St-Germain
  • 1/2 oz Punt e Mes
  • 2 Dashes Orange Bitters
  • 2 Pineapple Chunks

In tin, muddle pineapple and add remaining ingredients. Shake, shake, shake over cracked ice. Double Strain into rocks glass over one big rock. Salud!

*For the Ancho Chile infused Tequila: place one dried Ancho Chile Pepper into a Medium sized Mason Jar, fill with Reposado Tequila and let steep for approximately two hours. Strain. Seriously Nice Spice.

Home Bar Gurls: Rio del Oro

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This is Home Bar Gurls, the segment where another Home Bar Girl or Dude sends a recipe!

Rio del Oro

Today’s recipe comes from Eleni Crush, a fellow Californian, trendsetter and writer living in Brooklyn, NY. Eleni likes wine, Greek food and delicious cocktails! Don’t we all?

Rio del Oro

  • 2 oz Bourbon
  • 3/4 oz Lemon Juice
  • 3/4 oz Agave Nectar
  • 2 dashes of Scrappy’s Aromatic Bitters
  • Rosemary Sprig

Combine ingredients in tin. Shake and strain, serve on the rocks with Rosemary Sprig.

Have a recipe you’d like to be featured? Please send a recipe, cocktail photo and a bit about yourself to homebargirl@gmail.com.

“The Lord’s Been Good To Me”

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The-Lord's-Been-Good-To-Me

You may be thinking, “ummm, this Home Bar Girl is a little obsessed with Bourbon.” Well, now that it’s Autumn I sort of can’t help myself! I want to use bourbon all the time, errrry day, errrry night.

The name for this drink is from a song in Johnny Appleseed, a Disney animated short released in 1948. As a child, I watched Johnny Appleseed countless times and loved to sing along to this song. Upon taking the first sip of the cocktail and tasting the apple notes, the cartoon rushed back to me. Ah, memories.

“The Lord’s Been Good To Me”

  • 1 oz Calvados
  • 1 oz Bourbon
  • 1/2 oz Honey Syrup
  • 1/4 oz Cynar
  • 2 dashes of Orange Bitters
  • Maraschino Cherry

In tin, combine Calvados, Bourbon, Honey Syrup, Cynar and bitters. Stir and strain into chilled coupe. Garnish with Maraschino Cherry.

It’s A Long Shot

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It's-A-Long-Shot

So, are you ready?  Are you ready for that “get up and go feeling”? Are you ready to run screaming out of the building?

The inspiration for this coffee cocktail comes from St. George NOLA Coffee Liqueur. It’s a phenomenal blend of chicory root, vanilla and dark coffee. Hands down the best coffee liqueur I’ve ever tasted. To this I added bourbon, espresso, half n half and a little dust of cinnamon. BOOM.

It’s A Long Shot

  • 1 1/2 oz Espresso
  • 1 oz St George NOLA Coffee Liqueur
  • 1/2 oz Bourbon
  • 1 oz Half n Half
  • Cinnamon

In tin combine Espresso, Coffee Liqueur, Bourbon, Half n Half and stir. Pour into rocks glass over ice. Dust cinnamon on top. Hold onto your hat!

Brunch Bonanza: Wandering Wasp

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Wandering Wasp

Welcome to Brunch Bonanza. The segment where we talk about brunch cocktails!

Happy Week-end to you all! May this bright and refreshing Bourbon cocktail bring even more joy to your brunching. The name of this drink comes from an incident where my girlfriend and I were trying to chase a wasp out of our apartment and the silly thing just would not leave! It kept wandering from room to room, meandering about. When we finally ejected the wasp through the bathroom window, we needed a drink! Wandering Wasp

  • 2 oz Bourbon
  • 3/4 oz Fresh Grapefruit Juice
  • 1/2 oz St-Germain
  • 1/2 oz Mint infused Simple Syrup
  • 2 dashes of Orange bitters
  • Lemon peel

Combine Bourbon, Grapefruit Juice, St-Germain, Mint Simple Syrup and Orange Bitters in tin with cracked ice. Shake and double strain into chilled Coupe. Express Lemon peel and use as garnish.

Maxime

/ Dani DeLuna / 1 Comment

Maxime

There are a wide array of botanicals and a touch of bitterness in Maxime and I’m in love. Does this make me an old lady with old lady taste buds? Am I actually Maxime? Are we all Maxime? Perhaps.

Dorothy Parker Gin and Calvados play well together along with Bonal and Dolin Rouge making this the perfect Aperitif Cocktail with an autumnal flair.

Maxime

  • 1 oz Dorothy Parker Gin
  • 1 oz Christian Drouin Calvados
  • 1/2 oz Bonal
  • 1/2 Dolin Rouge Vermouth
  • 1 dash Regans’ Orange Bitters
  • Orange peel

In tin combine Gin, Calvados, Bonal, Vermouth and bitters over cracked ice. Stir and strain into chilled coupe. Express orange peel and garnish.

Welcome to Home Bar Girl!

/ Dani DeLuna / 1 Comment

gin & orange

Hello everyone!

After months of peer pressure, strongly worded suggestions and tons of cocktails, I’m starting a blog.

Here at Home Bar Girl myself and some of my friends will share cocktail recipes for original cocktails, classic cocktails and craft cocktails made right here in my Brooklyn apartment! Occasionally, I will post videos of how to make drinks by fabulous bartenders from around the internet. On special occasions, I’ll take a field trip to a fancy cocktail bar and post reviews and photos of the drinks I sipped.

It’s gonna be fun, gonna be a tad ridiculous but most importantly, it’s gonna be delicious!

To get things started, I’m posting five original cocktail recipes for your tippling pleasure! If you’d like to know what’s in my bar, please head over to the (tl;dr) page My Home Bar.

xoxo,

Home Bar Girl

Bull Hill

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Bull-Hill-1

It’s fall y’all. A couple of weeks ago I took the train up to Cold Spring and hiked at Bull Hill. Excellent hiking with truly stunning views, like “oh my god so amazing, how is this view so amazing?” type of views. All of that Hudson Valley goodness, the changing leaves and fresh air really put a fire in my belly for some Pumpkin Ale.

Bull Hill

  • 1 oz Rye
  • 1 oz Applejack
  • 1/2 oz Domaine de Canton
  • 2 dashes Regans’ Orange Bitters
  • Pumpkin Ale float (I used Brooklyn Brewery’s Post Road and it was perfect)

Combine Rye, Applejack, Domaine de Canton and bitters in tin with cracked ice. Stir and strain into rocks glass with one big rock. Float Pumpkin Ale on top.

The Arlington

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The Arlington

I created this drink in January 2014 while skiing in Vermont*. My girlfriend, some friends and I were staying at a rather hilarious but picturesque AirBnB house in Arlington. We arrived late in the evening, unpacked our bags, I unpacked my traveling Home Bar and the friends asked me to make a drink. This was that drink.

Soon afterwards I posted it on BarNotes and its has become my most popular cocktail on the site! Enjoy!

The Arlington

  • 1 1/2 oz George Dickel Rye (Rittenhouse Rye would work well too)
  • 1 oz Laird’s Applejack
  • 1/2 oz Averna Amaro
  • 2 dashes of Regans’ Orange Bitters
  • Maraschino Cherry

Add ingredients to tin with cracked ice and stir. Strain into rocks glass and serve on the rocks. Maraschino Cherry garnish.

*Just a short word on Vermonty: I love Vermont, I love it so much that I usually just call it Vermonty. Its Green Mountains are stunning, its land-locked inhabitants are quiet, helpful and a bit reclusive, its Maple Syrup is abundant and its Skiing is thrilling!