Your Election-Night Cocktail Guide
Elections have consequences, and this year’s hotly contested presidential race feels particularly fraught. No matter which way you vote, we know you’ll be watching intently on election night. Here’s a suggestion for how to take the edge off your stress: Make it a political party. Whether you plan to invite some like-minded friends over or hunker down in front of the TV solo with a stiff drink, you might as well sip on a creative cocktail while you digest the exit polling.
As usual, a handful of swing states are likely to decide the outcome. Let’s drink to them! To make it easy, we chose six states where the voting could be tight and picked a cocktail that best represents each, with recipes for all. Plus, we asked one of our favorite bartenders to create a new cocktail just for the occasion. It’s got an extra kick of caffeine to help you power through what could be a long night. Hosting a watch party? Looking to take the edge off a stressful evening? We’ve got drink recipes to celebrate your favorite swing states.
Wisconsin
BRANDY OLD-FASHIONED
Right after World War II, when much of the country was drinking paint thinner due to a shortage of good bourbon, some opportunistic Wisconsinites bought up a big store of quality brandy. Thus was born the brandy old- fashioned, which was recently made the state’s official cocktail. Try it with cheese curds.
INGREDIENTS
2 oz brandy
3 dashes Angostura bitters
2 orange slices
2 maraschino cherries
1 tsp sugar
Club soda
DIRECTIONS
Add bitters, orange slices, cherries, and sugar to a glass and muddle. Add ice to fill the glass. Stir in brandy and top with the club soda. Garnish with a skewered cherry or an orange slice.
Pennsylvania
FISH HOUSE PUNCH
Invented at a fishing club in Philadelphia in 1732, Fish House Punch was rumored to have been one of George Washington’s favorite cocktails. Think of it as a sweet, boozy drink to help you plot your own political revolution.
INGREDIENTS
2 qt water, plus more for syrup
1 2⁄3 cups loaf sugar
1 qt lemon juice
2 qt Jamaican rum
1 qt cognac brandy
5 oz peach brandy
DIRECTIONS
A day prior, fill a 2-quart bowl with water and freeze. Separately, make a simple syrup by adding lemon juice to equal parts sugar and warm water until the sugar is dissolved. Once cooled, add the syrup, Jamaican rum, cognac, and peach brandy to a large punch bowl and stir. To serve, add the ice block and garnish liberally with lemon slices.
Arizona
TEQUILA SUNRISE
Like the Dude, you may hate the Eagles, who named a hit song after it. But you can’t dislike this simple yet iconic drink. This classic sweet and tart tequila cocktail was created at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix around 90 years ago. We think you’ll find that it really ties your party together.
INGREDIENTS
2 oz blanco tequila
4 oz orange juice, freshly squeezed
1⁄4 oz grenadine
DIRECTIONS
Combine tequila, orange juice, and ice in a highball glass and stir. Pour in the grenadine on the sides of the glass, which will create a color gradient. Garnish with an orange slice or a cherry.
Georgia
SCARLETT O'HARA
Frankly, we do give a damn about this light and simple cocktail. Named after the fiery female lead in Gone with the Wind, it highlights the use of Southern Comfort, a sweet spiced whiskey. Sip on it while you ponder whether Trump will get his extra 11,780 votes this time.
INGREDIENTS
2 oz Southern Comfort
1⁄2 oz lime juice
3 oz cranberry juice, or to taste
DIRECTIONS
Combine the liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a glass and garnish with a lime wedge.
Michigan
THE HUMMER
Well before the tank-like SUV of the same name was invented came this delicious concoction. Bartender Jerome Adams is often credited with creating the Hummer, which drinks like a spiked milkshake, at Detroit’s Bayview Yacht Club in the late 1960s.
INGREDIENTS
1 1⁄2 oz white rum
1 1⁄2 oz Kahlúa
2 scoops vanilla ice cream
DIRECTIONS
Place all ingredients in a blender with 2 or 3 ice cubes. Blend and pour into a milkshake glass.
Nevada
PICON PUNCH
Cocktail aficionados of the West Coast all have their favorite ways of enjoying a Picon Punch, a drink of Basque American origins. In Nevada, the grenadine- forward cocktail is often served in highball or specialty stemmed glasses.
INGREDIENTS
2 oz Torani Amer or variation of Amer Picon
1⁄4 oz grenadine
1⁄8 oz lemon juice
1 oz soda water
1⁄2 oz brandy
DIRECTIONS
Stir ingredients in a glass with ice. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Esquire Introduces a New Instant Classic:
American Trinity
If swing-state cocktails don’t strike your fancy, here’s another option. We asked bartender Alex Dominguez, from Bar Calico in New York, to invent a new drink for election night. The recipe he created is a nod to what he calls the “quintessential American cocktail”—the old- fashioned. To give it an extra boost, he brews drip coffee infused with allspice and makes it into a simple syrup. (You can sub in regular drip coffee with sugar.) The use of allspice, capsicum (the bitters), and vanilla (a flavor note found in bourbon), says Dominguez, also highlights another American set of three: the spices most associated with the New World.
INGREDIENTS
1 oz Michter's Rye
1 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon
1/2 oz Dunkin' Donuts allspice-infused drip-coffee syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes fire bitters
DIRECTIONS
Pour all ingredients into a rocks glass with ice and stir 7 or 8 times to mix ingredients but not over-dilute. Garnish with orange and lemon peels expressed over the drink.
Elections have consequences, and this year’s hotly contested presidential race feels particularly fraught. No matter which way you vote, we know you’ll be watching intently on election night. Here’s a suggestion for how to take the edge off your stress: Make it a political party. Whether you plan to invite some like-minded friends over or hunker down in front of the TV solo with a stiff drink, you might as well sip on a creative cocktail while you digest the exit polling.
As usual, a handful of swing states are likely to decide the outcome. Let’s drink to them! To make it easy, we chose six states where the voting could be tight and picked a cocktail that best represents each, with recipes for all. Plus, we asked one of our favorite bartenders to create a new cocktail just for the occasion. It’s got an extra kick of caffeine to help you power through what could be a long night. Hosting a watch party? Looking to take the edge off a stressful evening? We’ve got drink recipes to celebrate your favorite swing states.
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