Recent discussions on Difford’s Guide

Given the Triple Sec moniker, I was a little worried this was closer to Cointreau than it actually is.
Ferrand is a great Curaçao and a worthy addition to any bar cabinet.

We do a variant of this delicious cocktail that we call a "Grapparita"...substituting 20ml il Moscato di Nonino Grappa for the sherry...but retaining the sherry notes via just 2.5ml of aged dry flor.

Incidentally, we really love the fact that mixologists and bartenders appear to be bringing grappa into the fold of serious cocktail base spirits (technically, maybe it's not a spirit). And makers such as Nonino can take a bow as well, we suppose. Anyway, anywhere there's grappa in a cocktail that's where you'll find us.

Follow up with 4 pillars gin, 15mL homemade Yvette, no sugar syrup, 7.5mL lemon juice was the business.

Made with homemade crème Yvette that a friend gave me for my birthday - a lovely and very delicate aviation. No artificial colour added so the finished colour was more yellowy. I only had strawberries on hand for the garnish but they rather overpowered the Yvette. Botanist gin likewise - will use 4 pillars or similar less juniper next time.

Quite sour, surprisingly so. The gin was missing, so I prefer the London Calling to this, though this is admittedly, a good low ABV option.

Resoundingly balanced and complex. Nutty, savoury sherry and herbaceousness of the dry vermouth make it a wonderful dance of earthiness and herbaceousness. The added spoon of sugar just rounds it out so wonderfully. What a stroke of genius from Joaquin Simo!

Not bad. Pretty good, but I loved the clean nature of the Difford's Guide version of the Alaska. That should be the one getting 5*.

Juicy orange up front, some other citrus notes, dark depth from the Montenegro, and nice spice notes from the bitters throughout. I like this one! By the way, swap the gin out for Jägermeister and the drink becomes a Precision Timepiece (also from Sother Teague).

Indeed. Similar cocktails. I've linked the two as variants.

Conclusion: No regal shake. No lime zest. It overpowers the elderflower and pisco flavors with bitterness. Magical with good lime juice!

Bright and rich. Bourbon was definitely the right choice and my gut feeling would be to avoid ryes, scotchs, and single malts. I recommend an essence of lemon on the rim of the glass

Nice, but a bit sweet....anyone have an idea for a small adjustment?

Absolutely fantastic. Rich, complex, and easy to drink. I used a vanilla extract wash instead of Monin vanilla syrup, I don't know if that significantly changed the drink. Highly recommend.

A Brighter, more lively version of cocktails in the negroni realm. Grapefruit shines over the red bitter. Combined with the velvety effect of the egg white, this goes into the favourites file.

This is good but if don't like fernets you won't like it. Has a frontal liquorice taste from the fernets followed by fruit taste from the with a minty taste near the end. The rum and apricot are there but seem to just be an overall undertone. Overall not for me but worth tweaking and having fun with it.

Conveniently enough, this was the cocktail of the day (12/28/25) when I was craving a martini, so I decided to try this blend. On the sweet side, it was just what the doctor ordered today. Not my typical martini, which is far drier, this is one I'll come back to on occasion.

A bit sweet, a bit tart, and good for guests who like a more mild cocktail. Tempted to swap the cognac for armagnac or calvados, or the falernum for allspice dram— just to see what happens..

I loved Elf on the Shelf, which also makes use of fino ad St. Germain, but this Dutch Master doesn't work for me. It may be that vodka is the wrong spirit, compared to tequila. It may also happen that tonic water fails to bring flavours together, whereas grenadine ad triple sec worked wonderfully in EotS. In any case, I won't repeat this one.

can't believe this isn't listed in with the Christmas cocktails as it definitely has a Christmas feel to it. Proportions work perfectly.

3rd time making this and I'm warming up to it more and more. Specific ingredients used will matter - I'm using amaro Montenegro and Los Siete Misterios Doba Yej.

The smoke might be stronger than other flavours to me. I thought perhaps too smoky - but I'm beginning to warm up to the recipe as is.

Definitely worth trying and experimenting.

Looks like an update/ variant of the Sparkling Perry (yours, from 2002)?
https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/1851/sparkling-perry

Nice festive tipple. Was a bit naughty and swapped in Pineapple rum to crank the funk up to 11 but who cares, it’s Christmas…

Swapped Vodka for Bokma Oude, and it fixed the whole cocktail. The slightly oily mouth feel, the slightly nutty taste and aftertaste the oude jenever brings are all upgrades to the vodka in my opinion