PH factor: 9.0 Recipe Ingredients: Cocktail o 1 ½ ounces Jim Beam Bonded bourbon o ¾ ounce Boulard Calvados VSOP o ¾ ounce yellow Chartreuse Garnish o Tillen Farms Merry Maraschino cherry Method: 1. Stir cocktail ingredients over ice in a mixing glass. 2. Serve up in a cocktail glass. 3. Garnish with a cherry. Remarks: Created at the Lord Baltimore Hotel in the historic downtown area of Baltimore. It is named after the terrapins native to the brackish marshes on the coast of Maryland. Come on admit it. You thought it was named after the rattlesnake too. Didn't you? . . .

PH factor: 9.0 Recipe Ingredients: Cocktail o 1 ½ ounces Woodford Reserve bourbon o 2 ounces Lemonade, see: Syrups etc. o 1 ounce pomegranate juice Garnish o lemon wedge Method: 1. Shake cocktail ingredients over ice. 2. Strain into an ice-filled Old Fashioned glass. 3. Garnish with lemon wedge. Remarks: What are the odds the Belmont Jewel, named the official cocktail of the Belmont Stakes in 2012, will ever catch up with the Mint Julep, named the signature drink of the Kentucky Derby in 1939? That's quite a head start. . . .

PH factor: 8.0 Recipe Ingredients: Cocktail o 2 ounces Flor de Caña Extra Seco rum o ¾ ounce Honey Syrup, see: Syrups etc. o ¾ ounce fresh lime juice o ¾ ounce fresh orange juice o champagne Garnish o lime twist Method: 1. Shake cocktail ingredients except champagne over ice. 2. Strain into an ice-filled collins glass. 3. Top with champagne. 4. Garnish with lime twist. Remarks: Why honey syrup? Because it doesn't thicken like honey when cold. It makes shaking and stirring over ice easier than honey straight up. . . .

PH factor: 8.5 Recipe Ingredients: Cocktail o 2-3 pineapple chunks o 1 ounce Bombay Sapphire gin o 2 ounces cold brew coffee o 1 tablespoon agave syrup o Fever-Tree Premium Tonic Water or Club Soda Garnish o Tillen Farms Merry Maraschino cherry o pineapple spear Method: 1. Muddle pineapple in a cocktail shaker. 2. Add ice and remaining cocktail ingredients except soda, and shake. 3. Strain into an ice-filled hurricane or Tiki glass. 4. Top with tonic water or club soda. 5. Garnish with pineapple spear and cherry. Remarks: We used club soda when we rated this. We also found the taste improves as you reach the bottom of the glass where the gin and agave congregate. . . .

PH factor: 8.0 Recipe Ingredients: Cocktail o 2 ounces Bombay gin o ¾ ounce Lillet Rouge o ¼ ounce Lazzaroni Maraschino liqueur o 1 dash Hella Orange bitters or to taste Garnish o lemon twist Method: 1. Stir cocktail ingredients over ice in a mixing glass. 2. Serve up in a cocktail glass. 3. Garnish with lemon twist. Remarks: The martini precursor? Perhaps. A very good cocktail on its own? Definitely. . . .

PH factor: 8.5 Recipe Ingredients: Cocktail o ¾ ounce Campari o ¾ ounce sake o 1 dash Luxardo Maraschino liqueur o ½ ounce Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice o ¼ ounce Simple Syrup, see: Syrups etc. o champagne Garnish o 1 Tillen Farms Merry Maraschino cherry Method: 1. Shake cocktail ingredients except champagne over ice. 2. Strain into a chilled flute. 3. Top with champagne. 4. Garnish with a cherry. Remarks: The Campari, Maraschino, and Sake, Champagne Cocktail was the original name of this cocktail. Since we changed the recipe, we also changed the name and came up with a very Neo-cocktail. . . .

PH factor: 9.0 Recipe Ingredients: Cocktail o ¾ ounce Bénédictine D.O.M. o 1 dash Hella Orange bitters or to taste o champagne Garnish o lemon peel Method: 1. Pour Bénédictine and bitters into a champagne flute. 2. Top with champagne. 3. Garnish with a lemon peel. Remarks: Just Bénédictine and champagne alone would be sweeter but not as interesting. The bitters make this a cocktail. . . .

PH factor: 8.5 Recipe Ingredients: Cocktail o 1 ¾ ounces Licor 43, Cuarenta y Tres o 4 ounces Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Beer o ½ ounce fresh lime juice Garnish o lime wedge Method: 1. Stir cocktail ingredients over ice in a highball glass or copper mug. 2. Garnish with lime wedge. Remarks: This mule is packing a heavy load of ginger beer. It's necessary to balance the sweet vanilla flavor of the Cuarenta y Tres. The resultant cocktail is very different from its Russian cousin even when you clone the cousin’s copper mug. . . .

PH factor: 7.5 Recipe Ingredients: Cocktail o 2 ounces Lindemans Framboise lambic o champagne Garnish o raspberries (optional) Method: 1. Combine cocktail ingredients in a chilled champagne flute. 2. Garnish with raspberries if using. Remarks: This is a cocktail that is so easy to make it might just change the opinion that champagne is only for toasting on special occasions. . . .

PH factor: 8.5 Recipe Ingredients: Cocktail o 1 ounce Pimm’s No.1 Cup o 3 ounces Lemonade, see: Syrups etc. Garnish o mint sprig o orange wheel o cucumber slice Method: 1. Stir cocktail ingredients over ice in a collins glass. 2. Garnish with your choice of mint sprig, orange wheel, and cucumber slice. Remarks: A refreshing and fun cocktail if you opt for all of the garnishes. The lemonade determines the sweetness of the cocktail. Make your own, use ours or buy your favorite. . . .

PH factor: 9.0 Recipe Ingredients: Cocktail o kosher salt o 1 ½ ounces Ilegal mezcal o ½ ounce Luxardo Maraschino liqueur o ¾ ounce grapefruit juice o ½ ounce fresh lime juice Garnish o lime wheel Method: 1. Moisten the rim of a cocktail glass with lime and invert it into a shallow dish of kosher salt to coat the rim of the glass. 2. Shake remaining cocktail ingredients over ice. 3. Serve up in the prepared glass. 4. Garnish with lime wheel. Remarks: Originally this recipe called for adding sea salt to the cocktail and coating the rim with salt. We tried it and it seemed to us that the salt overpowered the citrus. To provide better balance our solution is to only coat the rim of the glass. . . .

PH factor: 8.5 Recipe Ingredients: Cocktail o 1 ½ ounces Heaven’s Door Straight Rye whiskey o 1 ½ ounces Lillet Rouge o 1 dash Lazzaroni Maraschino o 1 dash Fernet~Branca o 1 dash Hella Orange bitters Garnish o orange twist (optional) Method: 1. Stir cocktail ingredients over ice in a mixing glass. 2. Serve up in a cocktail glass. 3. Garnish with an orange twist if using. Remarks: The saying, you can never go home again, definitely applies to Brooklyn, the cocktail not the borough. The 1908 recipe by Jacob A. Grohusko’s called for sweet vermouth and Amer Picon which, due to a ban by the FDA, is not available here. Who said Prohibition was over? . . .