Rainy Weather Cocktails – The Fresh Toast

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

Dark and Stormy

What says fall weather more than the classic Dark and Stormy.  Something to match the weather outside but making you happy on the inside!

mix one part of dark rum – the darker, the better – with four parts of ginger beer. Pour over ice and garnish with lime. It’s smooth, spicy, and refreshingly cool.

Long Island Ice Tea

Autumn is all about harvest and bounty, and nothing is more bountiful than the booze in a Long Island Ice Tea.  Perfect for football, long evenings and day drinking. A Long Island Iced Tea is made with equal parts gin, tequila, vodka, rum, and triple sec.  You can add some pizzazz by adding in Coke/Diet Coke, which also serves the purpose of not making it extra strong.

RELATED: 4 Great Whiskeys For A Dinner Party

Blood Orange Margarita

Fall starts us thinking of travel including ski trips and warm destinations.  Get a start with this blood orange margarita. Start by juicing one blood orange and combining the juice with two ounces of silver tequila and a teaspoon of agave nectar or sugar. Combine in a cocktail shaker full of ice, shake for 30 seconds, and then strain. It’s best served in a salt-rimmed glass and garnished with a thin slice of blood orange.

Bourbon or Whiskey

Similarly, bourbon and whiskey boast specific tasting notes and flavor profiles that pair perfectly with cozying up by the fire, your favorite comfort foods, and staying indoors as you watch the leaves and then snow fall. Serve them with or without ice and enjoy.

Whiskey Sour

A traditional whiskey sour is made with whiskey, lemon juice, sugar, and an egg white. The egg white adds a creamy, rich flavor and a frothy texture to the surface, which is fun to drink. Today, it’s often more common to find bars serving Whiskey Sours without egg white. But if you want to taste the original incarnation of the drink, and put a little protein in your system, give it a try.

When using egg white, you’ll want to perform a “dry shake,” meaning to shake all the ingredients without ice before shaking again with fresh ice. This incorporates the ingredients together while aerating the egg, akin to making a meringue. It creates a fuller-bodied drink with a more luxurious mouthfeel.

The equinox is upon us, so here are some rainy weather cocktails. Hope you “fall” in love with these autumn drinks!