Mardi Gras Drinks For Island Time Radio

The good times will be rolling soon in New Orleans!   Here’s a few Mardi Gras cocktails by which you can celebrate at home!

French 75

This fizzy cocktail is named after the French 75mm field gun used in World War 2.

Ingredients

• 2 ounces gin
• 1 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Champagne or sparkling wine
• Garnish: long thin lemon spiral and cocktail cherry

Shake the gin, lemon juice, and sugar until chilled.  Strain into a chilled champagne flute.  Top with the champagne and garnish.

Sazerac

This is truly the king of New Orleans cocktails

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 or 4 dashes bitters
• a few drops water
• 2 ounces rye whiskey
• 1 teaspoon absinthe
• lemon peel

Pour the absinthe into a double old-fashioned glass, swirling it to coat the glass.  Discard the extra absinthe.    In a mixing glass, combine sugar, bitters, and a few drops of water. Mix until sugar is dissolved, and add rye. Add plenty of ice, and stir for about 30 seconds.  Strain the liquid from your mixing glass into the serving glass. Twist a piece of lemon peel over the drink. Indulge.

 

Hurricane

This cocktail, when made correctly, is fruity and tart, with a nice hit of fresh lemon and rich dark rum.  This is the classic method for this drink, not the mass-produced premix you get at many bars.

Ingredients

• 2 ounces dark Jamaican rum
• 1 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 1 ounce passion fruit syrup

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker and add plenty of crushed ice. Shake well and pour, unstrained, into old fashioned glass, tiki mug or Hurricane glass. Garnish with orange slice and a cherry.