Already mastered the art of the martini, margarita or Manhattan at home? Bump your bartending cred to the next level—and give your guests a reason to come back— by shaking up these exotic cocktails.

The Cockentrice: El Diablo

The Cockentrice has a sensational new cocktail called El Diablo. Perfect for warm late-summer days, El Diablo is light and refreshing, a mix of ginger beer and a milder form of tequila, known as mezcal. “This cocktail is a play on the classic of the same name,” says bartender Cole Just. “However, I substitute mezcal for tequila, and I make a huckleberry-lime shrub (a fruity, flavored vinegar, which is often sweetened and cooked down into a syrup), with foraged huckleberries from the Pacific Northwest. I also use a housemade ginger beer that has a lot more bite because we juice the ginger before we bottle it. It’s one of our top sellers at the bar.”

EL DIABLO Makes 1 cocktail
1½ oz. Peloton mezcal
½ oz. Fresh-squeezed lime juice
¾ oz. Huckleberry-lime shrub
(see Google for help making a shrub)
Ginger beer to top
Garnish: Huckleberries
Combine all ingredients in a shaker, and give them a hard shake. Double strain into a Collins glass over ice cubes. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with huckleberries.

The Cockentrice
Krog Street Market
99 Krog Street NE,
30307
470.428.2733
thecockentrice.com

Cooks & Soldiers: Pale Green Things

Experimenting with unusual flavors can be very rewarding. At the Basque inspired Cooks & Soldiers, bartender Joe Gebhardt uses more than one rare ingredient to create Pale Green Things, a mix of gin, cucumber, Suze (a Swiss brand of bitters flavored with the roots of gentian, an herbal flowering plant normally served as an apéritif), Domaine de Canton (a high-proof ginger liqueur with an intense bite) and lemon.

PALE GREEN THINGS Makes 1 cocktail
1 oz. Gin
¾ oz. Cucumber juice
½ oz. Suze
½ oz. Domaine de Canton
¼ oz. Fresh lemon juice
Garnish: Peychaud bitters
Shake ingredients in a mixer and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a ring of Peychaud bitters.

Cooks & Soldiers
69 114th Street
NW, 30318
404.996.2623
cooksandsoldiers.com

STK: Skinny Dipper

Healthy eaters who favor lower-calorie cocktails will appreciate STK’s latest creation, the Skinny Dipper. It’s light and refreshing and contains aloe vera juice, which is packed with nutrients and powerful antioxidants that help balance metabolism. Bartender Doug Martin says, “I was going for a healthy, organic and antioxidant-rich summer drink.” It just so happens to taste good, too.

SKINNY DIPPER Makes 1 cocktail
Fresh blueberries
Fresh mint leaves
1½ oz. Stoli vodka
½ oz. St. Germain
1 oz. Aloe vera juice
½ oz. Fresh lemon juice
½ oz. Simple syrup (search Google for easy simple syrup recipes)
Muddle mint and blueberries in a cocktail mixer, then add above ingredients and shake. Strain over ice.

STK
1075 Peachtree Street NE, 30309
404.793.0144
togrp.com/restaurant/stk-atlanta

Lure: Shaolin Punch

Few cocktails have the power to transform a casual drink gathering into a party, but something about a boozy punch always does the trick. “We have a lychee punch bowl on the menu at Lure right now that I absolutely love,” says Manager Jennifer Min, describing the concoction of vodka, lychee liqueur, and grapefruit, lemon and lime juices. “It’s really tart and refreshing with a light floral note from the lychee,” a sweet and fragrant fruit that originated in China and is usually available during the summer months. You can easily whip this up at home using a few simple ingredients.

SHAOLIN PUNCH Makes 1 cocktail
1¼ oz. Vodka
¾ oz. Lychee-infused liquor (Lure uses Soho, which is distilled in France using natural Asian lychees )
½ oz. Fresh lime juice
½ oz. Fresh lemon juice
½ oz. Fresh grapefruit juice
½ oz. Simple syrup (search Google for easy simple syrup recipes)
1 oz. Sprite or a similar lemon-lime soda
Shake all ingredients in a shaker with ice, then strain into a rocks glass over ice and top with Sprite.

Lure
1106 Crescent
Ave NE, 30306
404.817.3650
lure-atlanta.com

STORY: Jessica Dauler