- First, have you entered our Reader Survey yet? You could win a $50 gift card to Cocktail Kingdom just for telling us about yourself!
- We’ve got lots of Thanksgiving ideas for your week! Like how to dress up your bar cart.
- Here’s a Cranberry and Black Pepper Shrub
- Cranberry and Sherry are a fine match
- If you’re at your in-laws and you just have one bottle to work with, get the One Bottle Cocktail book!
- Serving wine and have NO IDEA what glasses to use. Check out this guide from Wine Enthusiast.
- Here’s some appetizer ideas to pair with wine for the day after Thanksgiving...
- If you have guests staying with you this week, make them happy with some Bourbon Salted Caramels. It’s easy to make. Promise!
- Flying out of town? Here’s how airlines are upping their beverage program.
- And finally, if you really want to be lazy and still have drinks for guests this week, just make some punch.
This post was made in partnership with Master of Mixes. Recipes and ideas are my own.
Yes, I love the spooks and the change of season, but free candy always topped the list of reasons why October 31st was THE BEST. Now, as an adult, I can hop in my car, or rather, have Instacart deliver, all the candy my heart desires. At any time of year. But I’ve learned restraint and I don’t usually buy any until the week before Halloween when stores start having candy sales. And then again the day before Halloween because I’ve eaten it all the past week.
Lastly, Almond Joy bars in my opinion are far superior to a Mounds bar. Because… almonds!! When I think coconut cocktails, I think Piña Coladas, and Master of Mixes has a perfectly balanced 
So grab some extra candy this year, a couple of Master of Mixes bottles, and let’s plan a sweet Halloween party!
The Whiskey Sour cocktail is an easy drinking, very delicious cocktail; it is a cocktail that is also very riffable. For awhile my favorite was the 
Lately I’ve been trying to get more quick recipes up on the site to balance out the more “complicated” or multi-step drinks. Both have their place, but these cocktails are ready to be whipped up in a flash. And bonus, this recipe qualifies as a brunch cocktail too!
Why add in the marmalade? Orange marmalade gives the drink a bitter punch and a more floral aroma. It also adds another flavor of sweetness to just the straight sugar. My preference here is to not double strain, as I like a peel or two in the final drink, but you can double strain if you don’t want them floating around. If you’re really into peels you can always add in an extra 1/2 teaspoon of jam. Keep in mind it will alter the final sweetness of the drink.
Orange Marmalade Whiskey Sour
This post was made in partnership with The House of Angostura. Recipe and ideas are my own.
Well, I don’t know whether to chalk these scorching summer days up to climate change or just admit that Los Angeles is the desert and this is part of the package you get when you move here. Sure, you get warm, sunny days in January, but then you have to take those 100+° days in the summer (and early Fall). To help ease these heat-aches, I partnered with 
Ready to dive into your own float? Let’s make one!
Cocktails that stick with me tend to fall into two categories: those that tasted amazing and those that appealed to me visually. For example, I can tell you the first time I tasted bell pepper in a cocktail and fell in love with a whole new world of savory cocktails (Las Perlas in downtown L.A.). I can’t recall what it looked like, but I can remember how it tasted. I’ve gone to that flavor combination many times (and a few cocktail riffs have shown up on this website too).
And then there are those cocktails that, visually, wowed the pants off me. When I was in Chicago years ago for a trip I decided to pop over to 
Today I’m hoping to bridge that gap for you all with this newest cocktail. With flavors both familiar and a little outside the box, and a touch of theatrics in the garnish, this cocktail, which I’m calling The Purple Halo (that will make more sense later) is both tasty and a stunner to look at.
I’ve partnered again this week with 
While delicious on its own, I wanted you to also remember this visually, and that’s where butterfly pea flower tea comes in. If you’ve come across those color changing cocktails on Instagram, this is where they are getting their magic from. You don’t need to be a cocktail wizard to pull this trick off; you just need to be able to order online and make a cup of tea. I was introduced to this tea a few years back when I was still making cocktails with the local Los Angeles pop up The Coconut Club. We made a welcome Ti’ Punch that changed color before the guests’ eyes. They got a kick out of it; we got written up in the local paper. And now your guests will remember your drinks and talk about it for years to come (I cannot guarantee this). The tea changes color, from a dark cobalt to purple or pink, depending on the pH of the liquid you add to it. In this cocktail, the lime juice will start that color change as the ice cube of tea melts into the drink, creating rings of color in the glass.
The butterfly pea flower tea is very, very mild and with the slow dilution does not contribute significantly to the overall flavor of the drink… but it does look cool! So, if you don’t want another box of tea bags taking up real estate in your pantry, you can leave this out and enjoy the cocktail as is.
The Purple Halo