Rainy Weather Cocktails – The Fresh Toast

It’s official, it’s fall. Time for pumpkin spice, Christmas shopping months early, football and the start of cuffing season. Long work days and wet nights mean you might need a special cocktail (or two) to get you through this time of year. And here are some great rainy weather cocktails.

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Dark and stormy

What says fall weather more than the classic dark and stormy. Something that suits the weather outside but makes you happy indoors!

Mix one part dark rum – the darker the better – with four parts ginger beer. Pour over ice and garnish with lime. It is gentle, spicy and refreshingly cool.

Long Island Iced Tea

Fall is all about harvest and abundance, and nothing is more generous than the alcohol in a Long Island Ice Tea. Perfect for football, long evenings and day drinking. A Long Island Iced Tea is equal parts gin, tequila, vodka, rum and triple sec. You can add some oomph by adding Coke/Diet Coke, which also serves to make it not particularly strong.

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Blood orange margarita

Fall gets us thinking about travel, including ski trips and warm destinations. Start with this blood orange margarita. Start by juicing a blood orange and mixing the juice with two ounces of silver tequila and a teaspoon of agave nectar or sugar. Pour into a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake for 30 seconds, then strain. It is best served in a glass with a salt rim and garnished with a thin slice of blood orange.

Bourbon or whiskey

Likewise, bourbon and whiskey have specific flavor notes and flavor profiles that are perfect for cozying up by the fire, enjoying your favorite foods, and staying indoors while watching the leaves and then the snow fall. Serve and enjoy with or without ice cream.

Whiskey Sour

A traditional whiskey sour is made from whiskey, lemon juice, sugar and egg whites. The egg whites give the top a creamy, rich flavor and frothy texture that’s fun to drink. Nowadays it is becoming more and more common to find bars where whiskey sours are served without protein. But if you want to try the original incarnation of the drink and add a little protein to your body, give it a try.

If using egg whites, you should do a “dry shake,” meaning shaking all ingredients without ice, before shaking again with fresh ice. This brings the ingredients together while aerating the egg, similar to making a meringue. This creates a full-bodied drink with a more luxurious mouthfeel.

The equinox is just around the corner, so here are a few rainy-weather cocktails. I hope you “fall in love” with these fall drinks!