3 cocktail recipes to try this spring

Welcome back, friends. It's Anders. Today we are making three cocktails that are perfect for spring. Honestly, these are great any time. I always say that. I always say this is for this season or this holiday. All of these drinks, you can really drink any time of year. And I know that if it's spring here, it's not spring on the other side of the earth, but they're still gonna taste just as good down there. Anyway, before I go off on a tangent about the earth, I've got a little announcement to make at the end, a merch announcement. If you watch closely, you'll know what it is before we even get there. If you're new to the channel, hit that subscribe button for more sips, tips, and recipes, and let's go make three spring cocktails to the bar. Onto the list. Number one is the Barback's Revenge. Now, this is an original of mine, a rum and coffee cocktail served cold. So before you start saying that sounds like a winter cocktail, which it could be, if you're like me, you drink coffee 12 months of the year, so it is perfect for spring. It's almost all booze. To make the Barback's Revenge in a mixing glass, start with one ounce of a dark rum. I'm using an eight-year Demerara rum because it's the best in this cocktail. To that, one ounce of Benedictine, then half an ounce of an Amontillado sherry. If you wanted, you could use an Oloroso sherry. And then one ounce of cold brew concentrate. Now, you can go out to the store and buy this if you want, or if you'd like, it is super easy to make at home. So I will leave a recipe down below. Now, we add ice and stir about 30 seconds or so, and then grab a beautifully chilled Lobal glass, drop in a jumbo ice cube, and strain off the cocktail over the ice. Express lemon oil across the top and discard. There we have the Barback's Revenge. Cheers. Good, strong coffee flavor, a little honey sweetness from the Benedictine. You obviously get a punch from the rum, and then that sherry gives you a nice, savory finish. Do I like it? Absolutely. I invented it. It is good. I would say give this a shot if you like an old-fashioned. It's a little less punchy and a little bit lighter. And there's a lot going on in the drink. Give it a shot and then try this next one. Number two, the Aviation. All right, the Aviation. The Aviation is a cocktail from Days of Yore. It's an old one. It's a classic. Gin-based cocktail. It's got creme de violette, which is a violet liqueur, so it has some herbal notes, but it is bright and refreshing, so that's why it's on the list. It's also purple. My controversial take on this cocktail is I stir it, even though there's citrus in it. A long time ago, we did a video on whether or not we should shake or stir the Aviation. If you dare, you can go watch that video, but things were different back then. I was a different person, and the videos have gotten better, I hope, since then. Anyway, we are stirring it because we want to maintain the nice purple hue in the cocktail. So, to make it. In a mixing glass, start with two ounces of a good dry gin. To that, add a quarter of an ounce of creme de violette. Just a little bit. Some people add more, but it is also kind of a strong flavor, so we don't want that to overpower everything in the drink. Now, add quarter of an ounce of maraschino liqueur and half an ounce of fresh lemon juice. Add ice and stir. Drop a cocktail cherry into your favorite chilled coupe and strain off the cocktail. Now, express some lemon oil across the top. Once again, throw that away. The lemon peel, not the drink. And there we have the Aviation. Cheers. Ooh, ooh. If that first one doesn't wake you up, this one will. I love the floral components in this drink. You get a lot from the gin as well, so you do want to have a nice gin. But, so really, pick a gin that you're gonna like. Two ounces, you're gonna taste it. All right, so here's the deal. If I had a quarter of an ounce more citrus, I would definitely shake this cocktail. I would then just give up on that purple color. So, if you want to shake it, feel free. Go ahead. You are gonna get an airier cocktail. It's gonna be lighter. It's not, it's gonna soften the flavors oh so subtly, but, but it is going to take away that purple color and it's gonna be more of a grayish hue. It's too gray. This is maybe nitpicky, but that's what you're here for, right? You want to hear why I do my wacky things. At least that's what I hope. On to the third and final. Number three, the Spring Forward. This is another original of mine. Spring Forward is kind of a think piece. I'm referring to daylight savings time. If you live in a country that does this, then you understand. This is the time of year we have to all change our clocks and spring forward. So, it's kind of fun in that we get to experience jet lag without going anywhere. This drink, we are going to be shaking up, but we are also gonna be doing a little muddling. So, in a small cheater tin, we're gonna muddle one strawberry. If you have really small strawberries, then two strawberries. This is up to you how strawberry-y you want it to be. Just mush that up into a strawberry paste. Now, add half an ounce of a semi-rich simple syrup. This is one and a half parts sugar to one part water. This sounds like a good amount of simple syrup, and it is, but we need that sweetness because we are gonna serve this over crushed ice, which gives us a lot of dilution. Now, set that aside and grab the larger shaking tin. To that, add one ounce of Pisco. For those wondering, I'm using a Peruvian Pisco, but a Chilean Pisco will be good as well. Half an ounce of a dry gin. I like Plymouth here. Three quarters of an ounce of Cokey Americano, then three quarters of an ounce of fresh lemon juice. Add ice and shake, add air, combine everything. Shake it up for about 10 seconds, then fill a Collins glass with crushed ice and double strain the cocktail into the glass. We do want to double strain to get all of the bits of strawberry. This may take a little time. Once it's all filtered into the glass, top with a little bit more crushed ice, and garnish with a nice big sprig of basil. And don't forget to wake it up. Give it a smack. I really like the basil with the strawberry. Add a straw, and there we have the Spring Forward. Cheers. What a happy looking cocktail. I really like that one. At first, you taste the strawberry and the brightness from the lemon. You think, oh, this is like a strawberry lemonade, but then it has all these other layers, and the Cokey Americano kind of dries it out a little bit. You've got this herbalness from the gin, and then this roundness from the Pisco. I do think that this is a lovely cocktail. I would say if you want, you could serve this one up, but I would cut back the simple syrup. It's perfect for the crushed ice application that we've got going on here, and I love the smell of the basil. That was good. That was great. It still is, but that brings us to the end of the list, and to the beginning of the announcement. Anders Eriksson fans, thank you for being here. Are there actually, like, what is it you like? The cocktails or the man behind them? Please, please say you like me. I am here to tell you that the Anders Eriksson store is growing once again. Maybe you noticed, these are custom branded glasses that have the Bitter Bear logo right on the front. If you have not noticed, the nose is a cocktail glass, because we make cocktails on the channel. I've said it before, there are three essential glasses that you should have behind your bar. The low ball, the high ball, and the up glass. And we, you know, try to keep it subtle. We don't want it too in your face. Look at this, that, that is subtle. So small, but that's not it. There is one more piece that is not small, and I'm gonna show you. I'm not meaning for there to be any innuendos here. We finally have a professional bar mat that says, to the bar, on it. And these little, I don't know what you call them, the track, are little cocktail glasses. This is great for building your drinks on. It's great to protect your surface. It also gives you grip. Look at this, look at that. I can't go anywhere. Also, if you have this at your house, your friends come over, they're gonna say, hey, you watch Anders Ericsson. And you can say, yes I do. Thank you, thank you for watching. Try these cocktails, make them, happy spring. That'll do, that'll do, pig. Thank you everyone, I will see you next time. Cheers.