r/cocktails • • 26d ago

🍸 Monthly Competition Original Cocktail Competition - October 2026 - Basil & Fruit Schnapps

7 Upvotes

This month's ingredients: Basil & Fruit Schnapps Clarification: Define schnapps as high-proof (typically above 40% ABV) clear spirits fermented or distilled entirely from fruit mashes. That is, using the European definition, not the American definition, which is way too broad.


Next month's ingredients: Wine & tonic
Clarification: Grape wines only. Products derived grape wines (e.g. vermouth) are also permitted.


RULES

Hello mixologists and liquor enthusiasts. Welcome to the monthly original cocktail competition.

For those looking to participate, here are the rules and guidelines. Any violations of these rules will result in disqualification from this month's competition.

  1. You must use both of the listed ingredients, but you can use them in absolutely any way or form (e.g. a liqueur, infusion, syrup, ice, smoke, etc.) you want and in whatever quantities you want. You do not have to make ingredients from scratch. You may also use any other ingredients you want.

  2. Your entry must be an original cocktail. Alterations of established cocktails are permitted within reason.

  3. You are limited to one entry per account.

  4. Your entry must be made in the form of a post to r/Cocktails with the "Competition Entry" post flair (it's purple). Then copy a link to that post and the text body of that post in a comment here. Example Post & Example Comment.

  5. Your entry must include a name for your cocktail, a photograph of the cocktail, a description of the scent, flavors, and mouthfeel of the cocktail, and most importantly a list of ingredients with measurements and directions as needed for someone else to faithfully recreate your cocktail. You may optionally include other information such as ABV, sugar content, calories, a backstory, etc.

  6. All recipes must have been invented after the announcement of the required ingredients.

  7. No AI-generated recipes or images are allowed. This is a competition of human creativity.

As the only reward for winning is subreddit flair, there is no reason to cheat. Please participate with honor to keep it fun for everyone.


COMMENTS

Please only make top-level comments if you are making an entry. Doing otherwise would possibly result in flooding the comments section. To accommodate the need for a comments section unrelated to any specific entry, I have made a single top-level comment that you can reply to for general discussion. You may, of course, reply to any existing comment.


VOTING

Do not downvote entries

How you upvote is entirely up to you. You are absolutely encouraged to recreate the shared drinks, but this may not always be possible or viable and so should not be considered as a requirement. You can vote based on the list of ingredients and how the drink is described, the photograph, or anything else you like.

Winners will be final at the end of the month and will be recorded with links to their entries in this post. You may continue voting after that, but the results will not change. The ranking of each entry is determined by the sum of the votes on the entry comment with the post it is linked to. There are 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place positions. 2nd place and 3rd place may receive ties, but in the event of a 1st place tie, I will act as a tie-breaker. I will otherwise withhold from voting. Should there be a tie for 2nd place, there will be no 3rd place. Winners are awarded flair that appears next to their username on this subreddit.


Last Month's Competition

Last Month's Winner


r/cocktails • • 13h ago

I made this Sea Witch 🌊🧙‍♀️

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485 Upvotes

Halloween drink number one 👀

This one is a black, salty 50/50 martini with nori-infused vodka, anchovy-infused vermouth and squid ink.

🌊 Nori-infused vodka
Add a couple of nori sheets to vodka and leave to infuse for around 2 hours, then strain.

🌊 Anchovy vermouth
Add a few anchovy fillets to dry vermouth and leave for around 2 hours, then strain.

🌊 For the martini
60ml nori-infused vodka
60ml anchovy-infused dry vermouth
Pea-sized drop of squid ink
Add everything to a mixing glass with plenty of ice and stir until freezing cold.
Strain into a frozen glass and garnish with sea grapes.

Salty, briny, super savoury and slightly sinister.

I’m playing around with a different Halloween drink every day this week and I’m SO excited about some of the ideas I’ve got coming up!!

More weird savoury drinks here if anyone’s interested:
bethanweston


r/cocktails • • 5h ago

I made this Isaac's Apple

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34 Upvotes

ISAAC'S APPLE: an original fall cocktail, utilizing Anders Erickson's apple cider syrup. The base spirit here is Laird's Applejack 86. I actually prefer it over Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy in this cocktail. I know; go figure. Cinnamon demerara syrup and two carefully chosen bitters compliment the apple cider syrup and the Applejack. A splash of soda lengthens it and adds a little sparkle.

Perfect for sitting around the fire pit on a cool autumn evening.

2 oz Applejack 86 (Laird's)

1 oz apple cider syrup (Anders Erickson recipe)*

1 oz lemon juice (fresh squeezed)

1/4 oz cinnamon demerara syrup (homemade)

1 dash cherry bark vanilla bitters

1 dash black walnut bitters

Club soda to top

Shake all except club soda with ice. Strain over fresh ice in a collins glass. Top with club soda. Churn briefly to incorporate soda. Garnish with an apple slice (fresh or dried).

* Anders Erickson's apple cider syrup:

4 cups unfiltered apple cider

1 cinnamon stick

Pinch of salt

Bring cider to a low boil, add cinnamon stick and allow to reduce to 1 cup (60-90 minutes). Add pinch of salt, remove from heat and remove cinnamon stick. Allow to cool and bottle.

.

#mixology #drinkstagram #homebartender #homemixology #fallcocktails


r/cocktails • • 7h ago

I made this My first clarified milk punch: turned rum, port, Earl Grey, and curdled milk into this ruby-red cocktail

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44 Upvotes

This was my first attempt at making clarified milk punch, and I had a lot of fun experimenting with the recipe and watching the clarification process. I was inspired by Benjamin Franklin's Recipe and variations of Alton Brown's recipe.

I wanted something with warm fall spices, citrus, and Earl Grey, but with a beautiful ruby-red color. I ended up combining spiced Barbados rum, port, earl grey tea, and citrus, then clarifying everything with milk and filtration.

Recipe:

- 1¾ cups water, brewed with 8 Earl Grey tea bags

- 1 cup Serra Mission Port

- ½ cup Mount Gay Eclipse rum

- ¼ cup spice-infused Mount Gay rum

- 3 oz London Fog concentrate for sweetness (Trader Joe's)

- 1½ oz freshly squeezed blood orange juice

- 1½ oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

- 1 tbsp allspice, ginger, and lime syrup

- 1 cup whole A2 milk

Spice infusion: I infused a portion of the rum with cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, clove, star anise, and blood orange peel.

Clarification process:

  1. Brew the tea and prepare the spiced rum infusion by making a DIY tea bag of the spices, then let everything cool.

  2. Combine the cocktail ingredients, except the milk.

  3. Slowly pour the cocktail into the milk and allow it to curdle.

  4. Let the mixture settle, then refrigerate overnight.

  5. Strain out the larger curds and slowly filter through coffee filters.

  6. Pour the initially cloudy liquid back through the established curd layer, taking care not to disturb it.

  7. Continue filtering as needed until clear, then bottle and refrigerate.

I'd love to hear what other flavor combinations people have tried for clarified milk punch!


r/cocktails • • 7h ago

I made this The Apple Old Fashioned

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35 Upvotes

r/cocktails • • 3h ago

I made this Persimi-cilli-rita

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10 Upvotes

Something weird that came together at home, born from having too much of Persimmon-clove syrup. A lot of strong flavors in a cup, not balanced enough in its current state to serve in a professional capacity, but pretty tasty to knock back at home. Recipe in comments


r/cocktails • • 6h ago

I made this Banana Daquiri Double

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15 Upvotes

0.5oz Barbancourt 8
1oz Smith and Cross
1oz Circle Hook Original
1.5oz El Dorado 3
1.5oz Giffard Banane Du Bresil
2oz Fresh Lime Juice

Tart and just a hint of banana. I don’t like overly sweet drinks so I opted out of simple. This angle doesn’t really do that oversized coupe justice but it’s holding about an 8oz drink after dilution.


r/cocktails • • 7h ago

I made this Million Dollar

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13 Upvotes

45ml Bols 100% Malt Genever

15ml Cherry Heering

60ml pineapple juice

15ml egg white

I cheat and use a milk foamer to get almost meringue before shaking with ice. Double strained into my prettiest non level glass. Garnished with a pineapple frond we grew ourselves and stored in the freezer (thanks for the ide, Anders!).

Tasted and felt like a stout.


r/cocktails • • 21h ago

I made this Halloween inspired cocktail

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134 Upvotes

• 30 ml The Botanist gin
• 15 ml tequila
• 10 ml Averna
• 7.5 ml Campari
• 7.5 ml elderflower liqueur

Shake everything with ice for 10s, then strain into a glass

It’s pretty herb-forward, so if that’s not your thing, try swapping the gin and tequila amounts.

Just dug out my skull decoration from last Halloween haha, already getting excited for this year


r/cocktails • • 36m ago

I made this The Orange Piranha

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• Upvotes

r/cocktails • • 2h ago

I made this Made far too much Pear Simple Syrup trying to recreate a cocktail, suggestions on how to use it?

3 Upvotes

Had a really nice pear-based riff on a whiskey sour out with friends recently, and decided I wanted to try and replicate it at home. Very roughly, it's:

1.5oz Rye

0.5oz Golden Pear Liqueur

0.5oz Pear Simple Syrup

0.75oz Lemon Juice

3 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake over ice, strain over a big rock.

It's not complicated, but it's a dang good fall-flavoured cocktail.

Problem is, I made like 20oz of pear syrup trying to dial in the flavour/sweetness, and now it's just in my fridge. I've put some in coffee and it wasn't great, though it absolutely slapped in an iced matcha. I'd love to find some other cocktails to get some value out of it though, any ideas?


r/cocktails • • 15h ago

I made this Straverna Hold

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26 Upvotes

This is a recipe based on a video by Leandro over at Educated Barfly. His idea was to replace different amari in amaro-forward cocktails. Having failed to procure Cynar so far along in my cocktail journey, I have decided to sub it for Averna in the modern classic Artichoke Hold.

- 3/4 oz Amaro Averna

- 1/2 oz Orgeat (I used homemade)

- 3/4oz Jamaican Rum (I used S&C)

- 1/2 oz Elderflower Liqueur

- 3/4oz (22ml) Lime Juice

Shake well with crushed ice, open pour into a chilled low ball, top with crushed ice. Garnish with mint.

Impression: it was quite nice, pretty similar to other tiki drinks. Naturally the S&C takes over. I have no idea how it would be like with the original Cynar though.


r/cocktails • • 17h ago

I made this Tried the Shanghai Gin

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35 Upvotes

I saw this recipe on YouTube and figured I'd give it a try. First time trying Yellow Chartreuse in a cocktail. I really enjoyed all the flavors in this. I used Gray Whale for my Gin in this cocktail to lean even more into the lemon and citrus.

Shanghai Gin

3/4oz (22ml) Gin

3/4oz (22ml) Benedictine

3/4oz (22ml) Yellow Chartreuse

3/4oz (22ml) Lemon Juice

Lemon Wheel Garnish

Shaken 12-15 seconds and double strained into my chilled coupe glass. I did have a small change with the garnish, which is a dehydrated lime wheel in my picture. The recipe calls for a lemon wheel but I miss calculated and didn't have enough left to use lemon so I substituted. This work well though.


r/cocktails • • 16h ago

I made this Pumpkin Alexander | My fall riff on the classic Brandy Alexander

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26 Upvotes

Made a seasonal variation of the Brandy Alexander using homemade pumpkin spice syrup.

It's like Pumpkin Pie in a glass! Really good if you like Alexanders and creamy dessert cocktails.

Recipe:

Method:

Combine everything in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until well chilled, then strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup:

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2–4 tbsp pumpkin purée
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp ground allspice
  • Pinch of ground cloves
  • Pinch of salt
  1. Combine the water, sugar, pumpkin purée, spices, and salt in a saucepan.
  2. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 5–10 minutes to develop the flavours.
  3. Remove from heat and strain through a fine-mesh strainer and nut milk bag (or cheese cloth)
  4. Allow to cool, bottle, and refrigerate.

Anyone else experimented with seasonal variations of the Brandy Alexander?


r/cocktails • • 18h ago

Recipe Request Looking for a signature Thanksgiving cocktail/mocktail

10 Upvotes

I'm hosting for Thanksgiving for the first time and I think it would be really fun to have a signature fall/thanksgiving themed cocktail to serve at the party. I also want it to be something that would be enjoyable to drink alcohol free as well for my sober friends. Ideally this would also be something that is able to be batched beforehand, but if not it's not the end of the world.


r/cocktails • • 1d ago

I made this The Epicurean

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113 Upvotes

r/cocktails • • 1d ago

Question Alton Brown Aged Eggnog - a couple questions from folks who have made it

26 Upvotes

It's that time of year... where i realize yet again that the recipe I've wanted to try for holiday eggnog for years should have been started a month ago.

Anyone made this with 60 total days aging rather than 90+?

If so, how was it?

Any sage tips otherwise?

Cheers and thanks!


r/cocktails • • 1d ago

I made this Couple of margaritas I made today

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104 Upvotes

First is a spicy margarita

Ingredients:

2 oz patron

1 oz cointreau

1 oz fresh lime

1 oz simple syrup

Jalapeno

Dehydrated chillie amd lime

Muddle 3 slices of jalapeno in mixer add alcohol and ice to Shaker and mix til chilled. Rim the edge with tajin and pour alcohol over ice.

Second is a guava margarita

Ingredients:

2 oz patron

1 oz cointreau

1/2 fresh lime

1/2 simple syrup

1 oz guava nectar

Dehydrated orange + usually like adding freshly cut up strawberries

Add all Ingredients and ice to shaker except dehydrated orange and strawberries, add ice and shake till chilled. Rim the edge with a 50/50 mix of salt and sugar.

Pour Shaker contents over ice, add dehydrated orange and thinly sliced strawberries.


r/cocktails • • 14h ago

Techniques clarifying without citrus

2 Upvotes

Wondering if anyone has any good methods they’ve used for clarifying something like a white russian? I have an idea for a cocktail and I think it would work best clarified. I know some people hate it but i think it has a time and place. I do have citric, malic, and lactic acid and the lactic i use to make lactic syrups to mimic the creamy flavor. Does anyone have any tips or any recipes they’ve had work out well? A negroni variation i would use OJ but something like a variation of a white russian i don’t want it to be too citric. should i skip the cream and use lactic acid again? let me know what you think! thank you!!


r/cocktails • • 1d ago

I made this French 75 riff

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37 Upvotes

- 2oz Torres 10 Spanish Brandy
- 1oz fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 oz 1:1 honey syrup
- Stella Artois beer (about 8oz or so)
- lemon peel for expressing/garnish

(shook together everything with ice but the beer, then double strained into a tall, chilled glass and topped with the beer. expressed a lemon peel on top)

i didnt have any prosecco on hand so i gave this a shot and i love it. the foam on top tasted almost like a lemon meringue pie which i assume using honey and beer as well as the toffee/baking-spice profile of the brandy added to… i know traditionally a french 75 used cognac and then became popular with gin; i’ve only ever made em with gin. Torres 10 being a brandy is close enough to cognac ofc and is my go-to budget brandy for sipping or mixing. this was really good! i think i like it even more than the typical version.


r/cocktails • • 1d ago

Mod Post Clarification on self-promotion in /r/cocktails

64 Upvotes

We've had a lot of reports lately, pointing out "advertisement" or self-promotion. While these are sometimes helpful, recently these reports have been mostly missing the point. Somebody including a link to their blog/instagram/etsy/etc is not against the rules of this community as long as they follow all the other rules and appear to be engaging in good faith (for example, occasionally commenting on other posts or replying to comments on their own post). Here's some examples:

- Is a post hiding their recipe behind a link or is the recipe hidden inside a video? Those aren't following our recipe requirements.

- Are they just replying to comment questions by telling them to follow the link? That's not encouraging discussion.

- Is their post only tangentially cocktail related and doesn't include a drink and/or recipe? That's going against the intent of our recipe rule, which is trying to keep the focus of the community on MAKING cocktails and not just consuming them.

All of these are good reasons to drop a report, and that's super helpful. What's not helpful is if you drop a report when:

- They post a full recipe + drink picture, and they just happen to drop a link to an instagram/youtube/etc at the end of the post or in a comment.

- The recipe is available in text in the post or a comment, but the post also includes a short-form video of the recipe or of the drink being made.

In both of these cases, they are following our rules to the letter. Reports on these posts just because you think links shouldn't be allowed or because you don't like short-form-video content are unhelpful and verge on being report abuse (one of the primary examples reddit gives of report abuse is using the report button as a "super downvote").

______

As a sidenote, we DID change the recipe rule recently. While we have never required a picture of a cocktail, just a recipe, we ARE now also requiring a picture of a cocktail for tangential topics, such as bar setups, ice, art of cocktails, and accessories like non-edible garnishes. These posts are either prone to product promotion or can sometimes have little to do with the making of the cocktail itself, so the more stringent rule is to help keep them on topic. So for example, if you see a post about clear ice molds or countertop juicers with no cocktail included, a report would be helpful.

In general, though, thank you for everyone that submits reports. Reports are the only way to make our recipe rules work.


r/cocktails • • 1d ago

I made this Reese Cup Rye old fashioned

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35 Upvotes

Stolen from Greg at HTD, but was curious to try it. I started with a small batch just to see how it came out. 150 grams of Reese Cups in a mason jar overnight with 350 ml of Sazerac Rye 100. Double strained and then into the freezer so I could skim off any residual fats. The end result? It came it really well. It’s like if screwball was… good?

The drink is an old fashioned with 2 ounces of the Reese Rye, four dashes of black walnut bitters and 1/3 ounce of Demerara simple stirred over a big rock. I get a lot of peanut butter. Thinking maybe some chocolate bitters next time to bring a bit more of that chocolate out.

An aside but I also did a candy corn infused vodka if anyone has any ideas. It is… very candy corny.


r/cocktails • • 5h ago

I made this Wisconsin Old Fashioned (hot dog fat washed brandy)

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0 Upvotes

Wisconsin Old Fashioned
(with hotdog fat washed brandy)

Not necessarily for everyone. Especially Vegans.

Ingredients:

-cocktail cherry
-two orange slices
-4 dash Angostura bitters
-1/4-1/2 oz simple syrup
-2 oz Brandy (hotdog fat washed)
-Soda water

Steps:

  1. Muddle cherry, orange, bitters, simple syrup in glass
  2. Add Brandy
  3. Mix up slightly, and add crushed ice
  4. top with soda water
  5. Add garnish or cherry, orange, hotdog

  6. Wonder what you are doing with your life.

Fat Washed Brandy

  1. Render package of hotdogs of choice to get all fat from hotdogs
  2. Mix with brandy in 1 to 7 ratio. Hotdog fat to Brandy.
  3. Leave at room temp for 24 hours
  4. Put in Freezer to solidfy fat
  5. Strain from brandy through a coffee filter so no fat in brandy

r/cocktails • • 1d ago

I made this Negroni

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28 Upvotes

Originally made 4.2L of pre batched Negroni, measurements per glass should be as below..

30ml Haymans Royal Dock Gin
30ml Carpano Antica Formula
30ml Campari

2 dashes of angostura orange bitters.

Should have an orange peel but sometimes I enjoy it sloppy, fling it in a mixing glass with ice, fast stir and pour it into a posh vessel for imbibing!


r/cocktails • • 1d ago

I made this PUMPKIN EATER

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50 Upvotes

Run for your life, it’s the Pumpkin Eater!! A wicked and rich blend of Demerara and Jamaican potstill rum with spiced tea, bright citrus, pumpkin, and black walnut.

PUMPKIN EATER

  • 1 oz - El Dorado 8
  • 1 oz - Hamilton Potstill Black
  • 1/4 oz - velvet falernum (John D Taylor)
  • 1 oz - pumpkin spice rooibos tea*
  • 3/4 oz - orange juice
  • 1/2 oz - lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz - Réal pumpkin infused syrup
  • 2 dashes Fee Brothers black walnut bitters
  • 6 drops saline solution (20%)

Combine ingredients and flash blend with 4 oz pebble ice for 6-8 seconds. Open pour into a footed glass and top with additional pebble ice to fill. Garnish with a banana leaf and a dried orange wheel.

*Pumpkin Spice Rooibos Tea - Brew 3 Trader Joe’s pumpkin spice rooibos tea bags with 8 oz boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags and allow to cool completely before bottling.

Want to see more? Follow me on Instagram for more original tiki recipes: instagram.com/tiki.moderne