Four Seasons Book of Cocktails

In a word, lush

2½ ounces bourbon

1 ounce Cointreau

2 teaspoons Hiram Walker peach brandy

2 teaspoons maraschino liqueur

2 ounces heavy cream

3 or 4 dashes maraschino cherry juice

Combine ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice, shake, and strain into glass.

Serve straight up or on the rocks

2½ ounces bourbon

1 ounce fresh sour mix

2 dashes bitters of choice

Combine ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice and shake. Strain into sour glass or pour with ice into rocks glass.

Inspired by the nearby good address

3 ounces Very Old Barton bourbon

1 ounce Southern Comfort

2 dashes orange bitters

Combine ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice, stir to chill, and strain into glass.

Bourbon with a bit of fizz

2½ ounces bourbon

1 ounce club soda

Pour bourbon and club soda into ice-filled rocks glass and stir.

Fizz plus lemon-lime

2½ ounces bourbon

1 ounce Sprite

Lime slice for garnish

Pour bourbon and soft drink into ice-filled rocks glass. Stir and garnish.

Rustling the bluegrass

2 ounces bourbon

½ ounce blue curaçao

1 ounce lemon juice

Combine ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice, stir to chill, and pour with ice into glass.

No ice cream, but still delish

2 ounces bourbon

2 ounces Godiva chocolate liqueur

½ ounce heavy cream

Pour bourbon into martini glass and float liqueur and cream on top.

A low-alcohol drink with the slightest hint of fruit. Take your pick of juice: citrus; apple or pear; tropical fruits; berry; or anything else that strikes your fancy.

1 ounce bourbon

1 splash fruit juice

Club soda

Pineapple spear for garnish

Pour bourbon into ice-filled rocks glass and add juice. Top with club soda to taste and garnish.

The Don tries on a southern accent.

2½ ounces bourbon

½ ounce amaretto

Pour bourbon and liqueur into ice-filled rocks glass and stir.

Another drink named John Collins calls for Scotch

2 ounces bourbon

1 ounce fresh sour mix

Club soda

Orange slice for garnish

Pour bourbon and sour mix into ice-filled highball glass. Top with club soda to taste and garnish.

For the chocoholic. The “cacao” in the crème de cacao is cocoa.

2 ounces bourbon

½ ounce dark crème de cacao

½ ounce white crème de cacao

Combine ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice, stir to chill, and strain into glass.

Alias the Bourbon Chocolate Martini

1½ ounces bourbon

½ ounce dark crème de cacao

½ ounce Godiva chocolate liqueur

Combine ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice, stir to chill, and strain into glass.

Lime juice–and–club soda cocktails are traditionally called rickeys.

2½ ounces bourbon

½ ounce lime juice

Club soda

Lime peel spiral for garnish

Pour bourbon and juice into ice-filled rocks glass. Top with club soda to taste and garnish.

NYC meets Bourbon County, KY

3½ ounces bourbon

½ ounce dry vermouth

Maraschino cherry for garnish

Combine bourbon and vermouth in mixing glass. Add ice and shake. Strain into glass and garnish.

With a touch of cinnamon

2 ounces bourbon

2 ounces whole milk

1 teaspoon superfine sugar

teaspoon cinnamon

Cinnamon for sprinkling

Combine bourbon, milk, sugar, and teaspoon cinnamon in mixing glass. Add ice and shake. Pour into glass and sprinkle with more cinnamon.

Bourbon, ice, and more ice

Crushed ice

3½ ounces Ten High bourbon

Fill rocks glass with crushed ice and add bourbon. As ice settles, top up glass with more ice.

A classic cocktail heads south

1 teaspoon superfine sugar

Orange slice

Maraschino cherry

3 dashes Angostura bitters

2½ ounces Maker’s Mark bourbon

1 ounce club soda

Muddle sugar, orange, cherry, and bitters in bottom of rocks glass. Add ice, pour in bourbon, and top with club soda.

Tempting and rich

1 ounce bourbon

½ ounce dark crème de cacao

½ ounce crème de banane

½ ounce whole milk

Combine ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice, stir to chill, and strain into glass.

Tart but pleasing, whether straight up or on the rocks

3 ounces bourbon

1 ounce fresh sour mix

Orange slice for garnish

Maraschino cherry for garnish

Combine bourbon and sour mix in mixing glass. Add ice and shake. Strain into sour glass or pour with ice into rocks glass and garnish.

Pre-dinner treat with a touch of something Italian

3½ ounces bourbon

½ ounce Campari

Lemon slice for garnish

Pour bourbon and Campari into ice-filled rocks glass. Stir and garnish.

Does battle with boredom

½ ounce Jim Beam bourbon

½ ounce grenadine

1 ounce lemon juice

3 dashes bitters of choice

Lemon wedge for garnish

Pour liquid ingredients into ice-filled rocks glass. Stir and garnish.

Bartender Charles shares a recipe long kept on the down low.

2½ ounces bourbon

½ ounce sweet vermouth

½ ounce lemon juice

Pour ingredients into ice-filled rocks glass and stir.

White or red? Your pick.

3 ounces bourbon

½ ounce Dubonnet Blanc or Rouge

½ ounce dry vermouth

Combine ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice, shake, and strain into glass.

A bourbon stinger

2 ounces bourbon

½ ounce Cognac

½ ounce white crème de menthe

Pour ingredients into ice-filled rocks glass and stir.

“Dessert” after a big meal

2 ounces bourbon

½ ounce white crème de menthe

3 dashes Grand Marnier

Combine ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice, shake, and strain into glass.

Avec deux liqueurs française

1½ ounces bourbon

½ ounce Pernod

½ ounce dark crème de cacao

1 ounce heavy cream

Nutmeg for sprinkling

Combine liquid ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice and shake. Strain into glass and sprinkle with nutmeg.

A WORD FROM THE BARTENDERS

When mixing a drink that calls for shaking or stirring, we pour the ingredients into the mixing glass of the shaker before filling it with ice. Adding the ice afterward has two advantages: First, an empty mixing glass allows us to eye the level of spirits and mixers more easily as we pour; second, the ice won't start diluting the drink from the get-go.

Grabs joy from the jaws of defeat

2 ounces bourbon

2 ounces brandy

½ ounce triple sec

Ginger ale

Orange slice for garnish

Pour bourbon, brandy, and liqueur into ice-filled highball glass. Top with ginger ale to taste and garnish.

Kentucky riff on the Headless Horseman cocktail

2 ounces bourbon

1 dash bitters of choice

Ginger ale

Pour bourbon and bitters into ice-filled rocks glass. Top with ginger ale to taste.

Simple and smooth

2 ounces bourbon

4 ounces apricot nectar

Pour ingredients into ice-filled highball glass and stir.

Pinpointed pleasure

2 ounces bourbon

1 ounce Drambuie

1 ounce peppermint schnapps

Club soda

Combine bourbon, liqueur, and schnapps in mixing glass. Add ice and shake. Pour with ice into glass and top with club soda to taste.

Step up to the plate and sip.

1½ ounces bourbon

½ ounce orange juice

½ ounce pineapple juice

Club soda

Pour bourbon and juices into ice-filled rocks glass and top with club soda.

Specialty of a Kentucky “hostess with the mostest”

2 ounces bourbon

2 ounces light rum

½ ounce fresh sour mix

3 dashes bitters of choice

Club soda

Maraschino cherry for garnish

Combine bourbon, rum, sour mix, and bitters in mixing glass. Add ice and shake. Pour with ice into rocks glass, top with club soda to taste, and garnish.

A little bit country, a little bit man-about-town

2½ ounces Maker’s Mark bourbon

½ ounce Southern Comfort

½ ounce orange juice

½ ounce lemon juice

Orange twist for garnish

Pour liquid ingredients into ice-filled rocks glass. Stir and garnish.

Named for our very large neighborhood

1 ounce bourbon

½ ounce Harvey’s Bristol Cream sherry

½ ounce Grand Marnier

Combine ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice, shake, and strain into glass.

But well worth undertaking

3 ounces bourbon

½ ounce lemon juice

1 dash bitters of choice

½ ounce still water

Lime slice for garnish

Combine liquid ingredients in mixing glass. Add ice and shake. Strain into glass and garnish.