See also: The black stripe and the blue blazer.

1 orange, studded with a dozen cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 t allspice
2 C water
1 bottle ruby port
1 C brandy

Bake the orange in the oven at 300 F for 30 minutes. In a saucepan, combine the cinnamon sticks, allspice, and water and bring to a boil. Boil until it is reduced by half.

In another saucepan, heat the port to a temperature just below boiling. Place the orange into a large, heated punchbowl, then add the reduction, port, and brandy. Best served in heated mugs.

5 maraschino cherries
1 t honey
2 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
2 oz good dark rum

In a heated mug, crush 4 of the cherries with the honey. Drop in the cloves. Add boiling water halfway up the mug and stir well with the cinnamon stick. Add the rum. Garnish with the cinnamon stick with a cherry impaled on it.

Combine all ingredients in blender. To serve, stir in some sparkling water or soda and garnish with a lemon or orange slice on the rim. Put a spoonful of frozen berries in each glass.
Serves 4.

For alternative sangria recipes, see:
Schulte Sangria
Cynthia’s Sangria

1 t sugar
2 oz boiling water
2 oz Scotch, heated
Cinnamon
Lemon twist

Heat two large mugs. In one, dissolve the sugar in the boiling water. In the other, place the heated Scotch and (carefully!) ignite with a match. Dim the lights and pour the contents back and forth between the mugs to create a stream of blue flame between them. Once the flames die out, add a twist of lemon and a dash of cinnamon.

Combine and serve over ice.

1 lime
1 T sugar
1 shot cachaça (the ones in Brazil were so strong, I suspect a “shot” means about 4 ounces!)
Ice

Cut the lime into 4 quarters. Reserve one for a garnish and cut the remaining 3 in half, giving you 6 small wedges. Put them in the bottom of a shaker with the sugar and mash well with the handle of a wooden spoon. Pour in the cachaça, add a handful of ice, and shake. Pour into a glass and garnish with the reserved lime wedge.

Cachaça is common and cheap in Brazil, but expensive and rare in the U.S. You can substitute vodka, and the resulting drink is called a “caipiroshka.” Another choice is to substitute light rum and make a “caipirissima.” I’ve also read that a mixture of half light tequila and half light rum is the closest taste equivalent to cachaça.

Somewhere, I read that the caipirinha was one of Martha Stewart’s favorite cocktails. Who’da thunk it?

This is one of those synergistic things, where you can’t tell what the individual liquors are (you’d never guess the Creme de Menthe is there), just that the result is unbelievably good. When we introduced our friend Will to this recipe, he said, “it’s like the Long Island Iced Tea of coffee drinks!”

In a large, heated mug, pour:
4 parts Amaretto (2 T or 1 shot)
2 parts clear Creme de Cocoa (1 T or 1/2 shot)
2 parts orange liqueur (Triple Sec, Curacao, or Grand Marnier) (1 T or 1/2 shot)
1 part clear Creme de Menthe (1-1/2 t or a large splash)
Whipped cream in a pressurized can (we’ve used both regular and chocolate for effect)

Combine liqueurs in a coffee mug or cup, fill with strong coffee (from personal experience, Barry recommends decaf…that was one miserable sleepless night!), and top with whipped cream.

If you are making these for a group, it’s easier to combine the liqueurs in a small pitcher first. For eight moderate servings, use the following proportions:1 C Amaretto
1/2 C  orange liqueur
1/2 C Creme de cacao
1/4 C Creme de menthe
40-48 oz coffee
1 can whipped cream

Christmas 2005 note: We just tried this recipe with hot chocolate, too. It was SWEEEEEEET — and the folks with super-sweet tooths were deliriously happy.

Here’s another classic overkill recipe from Bill Brown: Killer Oatmeal

Serve this at your next Cinco de Mayo party.

1 can mandarin orange segments
1 can pineapple chunks
Several cups of fun, fruity juice, like pineapple passion fruit
Red wine
In a large pitcher, dump the two cans of undrained fruit. Add the juice and then fill the pitcher with red wine. Rather than worrying about the fruit while you are drinking the sangria, let it sit on the bottom of the pitcher until you’re done. Then serve it in bowls with spoons (or fingers) to eat it.

1 shot lemon vodka
1/2 shot triple sec
1/2 shot peach schnapps
Splash of amaretto
2 oz pineapple juice

Combine and serve garnished with pineapple.

This would also be good with selzer, for a fizzy version.

1-1/2 oz vanilla vodka
1-1/2 oz Frangelico or hazelnut liqueur
1 T butterscotch schnapps
4 oz ginger beer
Extra-dark rum

Shake the vodka, Frangelico, and schnapps together with ice. Strain into an 8-oz glass filled with ice and add the ginger beer. Float a tiny bit of the rum on top.

At the Blue Bee, they serve this from plastic 1-gallon containers (similar to milk jugs). The recipe below, which is not the original but is smooth and strong and pretty authentic, makes one quart. Multiply the recipe by 4 to make a gallon for a party.

16 oz pineapple-orange juice
6 oz rum
8 oz Malibu coconut rum
2 oz apricot brandy

Shake well, serve over lots of ice.

For Barry’s 40th birthday party, a pirate-themed costume event, we made a variation of this and called it “grog.” Instead of 16 oz pineapple-orange juice, we used 8 oz orange juice and 8 oz mango-pineapple Hawaiian punch.

For that occasion, we multiplied the recipe by 16, and served it from 4 one-gallon milk-jugs, just as they do in Miss Emily’s.

2 oz Cruzan blackstrap rum
1 oz amaretto
Dash of anisette
6 oz apple juice or cider

Traditional hot buttered rum
Add one shot of rum and either:
- A pinch of cloves and cinnamon
- A lemon twist

Mango hot buttered rum (thanks to Ivar’s for this idea)
Add one shot of mango-flavored rum and a splash of Southern Comfort

Coconut hot buttered rum
Add one shot of coconut-flavored rum and a splash of Southern Comfort

Maple hot buttered rum
Add one half shot of rum, one half shot of maple liqueur, and a twist of lemon

Mix all ingredients together well. For each serving, put a heaping tablespoon of the mix in a mug. Fill halfway with boiling water and stir. Add a shot of rum and stir again. Top with a dollop of whipped cream or drop in a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

8 oz orange curação
8 oz orgeat syrup
8 oz Rose’s lime juice
32-oz can unsweetened pineapple juice
1/3 gallon (about 43 oz) orange juice

Combine ingredients in a pitcher. To make a Mai Tai, pour a shot of light rum or mango-flavored rum over ice in a tall glass. Fill with Mai Tai Mix and float a little bit of super-dark Cruzan blackstrap or Hanabay rum on the top.

For true effect, stir with a plastic Playboy bunny swizzle stick.