January is the darkest month and there has been some crazy weather. Escape it all with these sunny, refreshing drinks!

January tends to second darkest month of the year. December makes up for being the darkness with the holiday season. But no, it is back to work, crazy snow in the Deep South, bone chilling temperature and short days. If you are looking for a mental escape, here are the best cocktails to feel warm and sunny. Hey, it is happy hour somewhere.

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Iced Tea Lemon Vodka Cocktail

Nothing says hot weather like cool ice tea, a squeeze of lemony sun and an extra kick and you have a sip on summer in a glass. This easy cocktail can be made at home or made at a bar. Perfect for a wet, cold, dark day!

Ingredients

• 12 ounces sweet iced tea
• 2 ounces Citrus Vodka
• 1 Teaspoon of lemon juice
• Lemon slice

Create

1. Put ice in a tall glass
2. Pour tea, vodka and juice into glass and stir well
3. Garnish with lemon slice

Skinny Margarita

What better way to feel like summer than imbibing in some tequila while watching your weight for bathing suit season.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ ounces silver tequila
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 ½ tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 teaspoon light agave nectar (2 if you prefer it sweeter)
• Kosher salt & lime wedge, to rim the glass

Create

• Pour a thin layer of salt onto a small plate. Rub a lime wedge around the top edge of your glass to moisten it, then dip the glass into the salt so that it sticks, tapping all the way around.
• Fill the glass with ice and set aside.
• Fill a small cocktail shaker with additional ice.
• Add tequila, lime juice, orange juice, and agave
• Shake vigorously for at least 30 seconds
• Strain into the rimmed glass over the ice

Gold Rush Cocktail

The Gold Rush is like a whiskey sour but without the fuss of the egg. This bourbon cocktail is a great way to escape the chill.  Delicious, light and refreshing – it makes you feel like you are sitting on the deck of a boat enjoying a sunset.

Ingredients

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Painkiller

Back to work and in the office? Enduring some long meaningless meetings? Why not enjoy a painkiller and think of a tropical location?  While in the meeting, think about being a tiki hut with a creamy drink and hearing the sound of the beach. This refreshing mixture originated in the 1970s at the Soggy Dollar Bar in the British Virgin Islands. 

Ingredients

• 4 ounces pineapple juice
• 2 ounces dark rum 
• 1 ounce cream of coconut
• 1 ounce orange juice
• ice
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg

Create

1. Combine pineapple juice, rum, cream of coconut, and orange juice in shaker
2. Add ice, shake for 20 seconds
3. Pour over ice in a tall glass
4. Sprinkle nutmeg on top and serve

The first 3-day weekend of the year is a reason to kick back or have an adventure – and here are cocktails to accompany the ride!

The  year has started with a bang and now we are rolling into the first 3 Day weekend – ending in the presidential inauguration.  Skiing, hiking, travel, chilling or politics…what better way to compliment the activity than with something tasty. Here are the best cocktails for this winter 3 day weekend.

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Original Sin

What better way to start a 3 Day weekend and Inauguration weekend then with a little indulgence in with the original sin. The drink has multiple recipes – including one iwth absinthe, but this one should be easy, tasty and a perfect way to kick off the weekend.

Ingredients

• 2 ounces chilled champagne
• 1 ounce brandy
• Splash of triple sec
• Splash of grenadine
• Orange twist for garnish

Create

1. Combine ingredients in a brand snifter
2. Stir and add ice cube to chill to taste
3. Garnish with orange twist

The Americana Cocktail

Wha better way to celebrate Martin Luther King Day with an all American drink and a vision of a better tomorrow.  This drink is tasty and potent.

Ingredients

• 1 sugar cube (we prefer a demerara sugar cube)
• 4 dashes of Angostura bitters
• 1 ounce bourbon
• 2 ounces Brut Champagne
• Orange slice for garnish

Create

1. Coat the sugar cube well with the Angostura bitters – approximately 4 dashes
2. Drop the sugar cube into a chilled flute
3. Pour the bourbon over the sugar
4. Top up with the Champagne.
5. Garnish with an orange slice

Whiskey Smash

Why not try something different. You might not want to get smashed this weekend, but this cocktail can trace its origin back to the late 1800s. Tasty, refreshing and easy to make.  Great way to delight your taste buds.

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Frostbite

Weather skiing, hiking, road tripping or hanging out in DC – chances are the weather is going to be nippy. Why not lean into it and have this spicy frostbite to feel cozy and warm on the inside?

Ingredients

• 1 ounce tequila
• 1 ounce heavy cream
• 1 ounce white crème de cacao
• 1/2 ounce white crème de menthe
• Cocoa powder for garnish

Create

The new year is starting with a bang – here are some cocktails to take off the edge.

The new year is coming in hot – back to work policies, the LA fires, snowstorms and just having to work is killing the 2025 start buzz.  Now drinking your problems away isn’t a good or healthy solution, but sometimes a nip of something does help. January is already known as a bit of depressing month due to the post-holiday blues, cold weather, shorter daylight hours, and the potential for increased financial stress after the holiday spree. Here are the best cocktails to get you through the week.

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Paloma

What better way to start the year with a semi healthy drink. The Paloma with tequila and juice is somewhat healthy. Good tequila is low calorie, low body impact coupled with a big dose of vitamin C helps make the dark days a little brighter.

Ingredients

• 2 ounces tequila
• 1/2 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 4 ounces Grapefruit soda, chilled, to top
• Pinch of salt
• Garnish: lime wheel

Create

1. Add the tequila, lime juice, and pinch of salt to the glass, and fill with ice.
2. Top with grapefruit soda, and stir briefly and gently to combine.
3. Garnish with a lime wheel.

The Spaghett

While beer drinking is down as people switch to California sober, it is still highly popular. Why  now merge it with a favorite (Aperol Spritz and beer) for a refreshing and low alcohol treat?  Try it, you will like it.

Ingredients

• 12 ounces light beer, such as Miller High Life
• 1 ounce Campari

Create

1. Take a big sip of chilled beer, about 1 ounce
2. Pour campari into beer bottle
3. Enjoy

Cucumber Cleanse

While friends talk about Dry January, Damp January, winter arc, and more – you can brag you are doing a cleanse. The lemon and cayenne juice cleanse is popular, you are just adding a lpersonal twist so it fits into happy hour or a tailgate. For the ginger syrup add 4 oz peeled while making simply syrup ginger and let it steep for 30 minutes.  Strain and use.

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Dirty Shirley

Like the actress, the Shirley Temple cocktail was sweet, wholesome and popular.  But why not have the adult version of the beverage to start the year out breaking the norms?

Ingredients

• 2 ozs gin
• 1/2 oz orange juice
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon grenadine
• Orange slice

Create