The best Easter cocktail for you is probably whatever cocktail you most enjoy when it’s not Easter. That said, if you’re like me and can’t ever decide on an absolute favorite for long, it’s fun to use the seasons and holidays as a way to guide your cocktail experimentation. For the great Easter cocktails below, I revisited some classic drinks, got ideas from industry professionals and tasted and tested, then tasted and tested again (as the cliché goes, “it’s tough work but somebody’s got to do it”).
Ultimately these cocktails were chosen for their brunch appropriateness (Easter meals tend to be earlier in the day), spring flavors (hard to define but I think we all know ‘em when we see ‘em) and finally for their thematic connections (rabbit and rebirth references earned a drink points). Take a look, and feel free to share your favorite Easter cocktails in the comments.
Corpse Revivor No. 2
Not only is this classic cocktail thematically appropriate thanks to its resurrection-inspired name, it also has bright and zesty flavors that are perfect for this time of year. Made with gin, Lillet Blanc, orange liquor, lemon juice and an absinthe rinse, this is the most popular of the “corpse revivor” cocktails meant as hangover cures, so that those who overindulged the night before would be “brought back to life.” No guarantees of rebirth but the Corpse Revivor No. 2 is perfect for day drinking.
Black Cherry Russian
This decadent cocktail from the team at Ballotin Whiskey is a chocolate-forward twist on a White Russian of which even The Dude would approve. Perfect for guests with a sweet tooth or looking for a fun and festive Spring drink. This Easter cocktail has a strong enough base in the form of Ballotin’s Chocolate Cherry Whiskey Cream that substitutions are easy — or you can drink that chocolate cherry whiskey on the rocks.
1 ½ oz Ballotin Chocolate Cherry Whiskey Cream
½ oz Vodka
½ oz Ballotin Original Chocolate Whiskey
½ oz Coffee Liqueur.
Shake with ice and pour over iced rocks glass
The French 75
The classic booze-forward alternative to a Mimosa was featured in the film Casablanca and is made with gin, champagne, lime juice and simple syrup upping the alcohol content over a Mimosa and bringing more serious cocktail vibes in the process. This is perfect for early morning or afternoon drinking. Here’s a recipe.
What’s Up Doc
Steve Bayusik, director of operations of Geronimo Hospitality Co., created this cocktail for Shell & Bones Oyster Bar and Grill in New Haven, Connecticut. The drink is carried by a homemade carrot ginger juice that is then mixed with vodka, lime juice and coconut cream. Bayusik told me via email that he loves it for spring because of its mix of earthy winter root vegetables with bright lime and coconut flavors serving as a reminder that summer is on the way. Those carrot-forward ingredients and cartoon rabbit-inspired name, also make it perfect for Easter.
1.5 oz Broken Shed Vodka
0.5 oz lime juice
0.75 oz Coco Lopez
1.5 oz Carrot Ginger Juice (see below)
Splash of water
Combine ingredients in a shaker and serve in a mason jar, then garnish with mint and carrot.
To make the carrot/ginger juice:
Wash carrots, peel and juice.
Wash ginger, peel and juice.Carrot/ginger juice batch recipe: yields 1 quart (32oz)27 oz Carrot Juice3 oz Agave2 oz Ginger Juice
The 1700
This bourbon-forward cocktail is a good one for those who enjoy the frothy head of a whiskey sour but are looking for something more unique. Uniqueness and more is what drinkers will find in the refreshing Spring flavors featured in this drink — thanks, in part, to the cherry juice and absinthe.
2 oz Jeptha Creed 4 Grain Bourbon
¼ oz Absinthe
½ oz Luxardo Cherry Juice
1 Egg White
½ oz Fresh Lemon Juice
Add all ingredients together over ice in a shaker. Shake and then remove ice by straining the liquid into one half of your tin. Shake again without ice (this is to create the foam). Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with nutmeg.
Smashing Sunshine
This cocktail from Chambord is perfect for Spring and a brunch meal (I mean, it even has “sunshine” in its name). If you can’t find all the ingredients don’t worry. I’ve made it without an Absinthe dash and it still worked.
1.5 oz Chambord
1 oz lemon juice
0.5 oz Ford’s Sloe Gin
0.5 oz simple syrup
1 dash Absinthe
0.5 strawberry
1 cucumber slice
Combine all ingredients in a mixing tin. Muddle, add ice, shake, and pour into an Old Fashioned Glass. Garnish with a cucumber ribbon.
Tully Honey Highball
A honey-powered take on a traditional Scotch (or whiskey) and soda built on Tullamore D.E.W. honey, an ultra-smooth, and pleasantly sweet version of the classic Irish whiskey. I like to use Topo-Chico instead of club soda and think of it as a spring version of Ranch Water. “The Tully Honey Highball has a silky texture with vanilla undertones,” the drink’s creator, Clodagh Mai O’Callaghan, Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey U.S. ambassador, told me via email. You can also swap in lemonade in place of the club soda to make the drink a little sweeter.
2 parts Tullamore D.E.W. Honey
4 parts club soda or lemonade
Fresh cubed ice
Build over cubed ice and garnish with a lemon wedge.
Jelly Beanz
This cocktail from the team behind Skrewball peanut butter whiskey might be too sweet for some but if you don’t mind getting the blender involved in your cocktail making, it’s a fun dessert drink that looks fantastic and is a wonderful option for your final course of Easter cocktails.
Ingredients:
1 ½ parts Skrewball
2 parts Coolwhip
1 ½ parts Raspberry Jelly
2 parts Lemon Lime Soda
5 parts ice
Blend all ingredients together. Pour through a strainer into a coupe glass and garnish with a few jelly beans.
Squeeze The Day
If you like the classic Screwdriver combo of orange juice and vodka, this more tart and slightly boozier variant from the team at Fierce & Kind Spirits might be just up your alley. Don’t stress if you can’t find the exact ingredients as the basic idea here will get the job done. While any vodka works, Fierce & Kind’s six-time distilled product is a great base for this drink and was a favorite in a recent blind taste test of four quality vodkas.
2 oz Fierce & Kind American Vodka
0.5 oz Pamplemousse Liqueur
0.75 oz Hibiscus Agave Syrup
0.75 oz Lime Juice
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and then strain before serving.
Espresso Martini
This an obvious choice for any brunch or midday meal as the espresso portion of this martini can help keep you awake. You can use a classic recipe like this one, or if the challenges of this drink, which is best with freshly made espresso, are too much for you to make at home, I’ve recently fallen in love with Straightaway Cocktails’ canned take. Powered by nitro carbonation (think Guinness) and Stumptown espresso, this drink is frothy and smooth as velvet — the rare canned cocktail that is actually better than most fresh variants of the drink.