Whether you’re in love or you’re drowning your sorrows with your friends, Valentine’s Day is a holiday tailor-made for booze (and lots of it). Maybe you’re toasting champagne to your one true love, you’re sharing a cocktail with a Tinder date, or perhaps you’re throwing back drinks with your single friends. Either way, on top of the obvious chocolate that blankets shelves on V-Day, you’re going to need a few cocktails to either get through the day or celebrate it.
The best way to show that special someone that you love them, or pleasantly surprise your single buddies is to shake up a delicious, Valentines Day-themed cocktail. That’s why we found cocktail recipes from bartenders from New York to Miami that are sure to please those in relationships, always singles, and recently dumped alike. So, drink up!
Golden Sbagliato
From Naren Young, bartender at Dante NYC
Ingredients:
- 1 oz. Martini & Rossi Rosso
- 1 oz. Martini & Rossi Riserva Speciale Bitter
Preparation: Build on 3 ice cubes and top with Martini & Rossi Prosecco into a Stemmed Goblet. Garnish with orange wedge on skewer + edible gold
Evolution of Love
From Mixologist Nathaniel Smith
Ingredients:
- 1.5 Bombay Sapphire Gin
- .5 St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur
- .5 Martini & Rossi Rose
- .25 Coconut Milk
- 5 drops Bittercube Orange Bitters
- Carbonated Water in soda bottle
Preparation: Both tall glasses filled with Campari ice cubes, crack both bottles and pour into pre-garnished glasses. Will evolve and change as ice cubes melt.
Love on the Rocks
From Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar and Grill at Plymouth Miami Beach
Ingredients:
- 1 oz Well Bourbon
- .5 oz Creme de Cassis
- .5 oz Aperol
- .5 oz Lemon juice
- 2 Dash Reagans’ Orange Bitters
Preparations: Combine all ingredients over ice and shake. Strain over fresh ice and top with Cava (for
those locations that have large cubes, large cubes will not be used for this cocktail)
The Hot Date
From Mixologist Justin Lavenue
Ingredients:
- 1.5 oz Bombay Sapphire East Gin
- .5 oz Blanco Tequila
- .5 oz Date syrup
- 4 dashes Blue Lotus tincture
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- X dashes Capsaicin Tincture
Preparation: Stir well without ice, Serve neat in a Brandy Snifter over a candle flame, Garnish with 1 spray of Rose water.
*1-10 dashes depending heart’s desire (d spice level) – 1 dash if you have a crush; 5 dashes if you think you’re in love; and 10 in you have a fire in your eyes.
Blushing Pear
From Basil Hayden’s
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ parts Basil Hayden’s® Bourbon
- 1/2 part Tawny Port
- 3/4 part Simple Syrup
- 3/4 part Lemon Juice
- 5 Pear Slices (2 for garnish)
- 2 Rosemary Sprigs
Preparation: Add 3 pear slices and 1 sprig of rosemary to a cocktail shaker and muddle, combine all remaining ingredients in the cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled rocks glass with ice, and garnish with a sprig of rosemary and 2 pear slices.
