Oscars party guest list? Check! Snacks? Ready! Predictions list? Done! Now, check your liquor cabinet to see if you have the essentials, and if not, stock up! Here, Us Weekly has gathered three recipes for tasty cocktails that will make your Academy Awards party a glamorous hit with your friends.
Get the ingredients prepped, then tune in to the big show at 8 p.m. ET Sunday, March 4, on ABC!
Jitney Negroni (pictured above)
“I can’t think of a more perfect cocktail to celebrate the Oscars with than with one themed around Campari’s star-studded short mystery film, The Legend of Red Hand starring Zoe Saldana,” Leo Robitschek, bartender at NYC’s The NoMad, tells Us of the beverage he created. “If you like Negronis but want a little something extra, this drink offers smoky notes to make compelling.”
Ingredients:
- 3/4 oz Campari
- 3/4 oz Sombra mezcal
- 1/2 oz Cizano extra dry vermouth infused with coffee*
- 1/2 oz Cizano Bianco vermouth
- 2 dashes of absinthe
- Grapefruit twist, for garnish
Instructions:
*For the coffee-infused vermouth: Macerate 5 oz of course ground coffee in 750 ml vermouth for 10 minutes. Strain and refrigerate.
Cocktail:
- Combine all the ingredients in a mixing glass.
- Add ice.
- Stir and strain into a rocks glass with a large ice cube.
- Garnish with a grapefruit twist.
Darkest Hour
“The film Darkest Hour is nominated for six Oscars, so we made a dark-colored cocktail to fit,” Carlos Uribe, Director of Operations at Liquor Lab in NYC, tells Us. “While the movie’s topic is heavy and dark, the push for peace is uplifting and sweet – not bitter – so we made a drink that reflected that.”
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz Monkey Shoulder scotch whisky
- 3/4 oz Ube infusion
- 1 oz acidulated pineapple
- Pineapple slice, for garnish
Instructions:
- Combine the ingredients and shake.
- Strain into a rocks glass.
- Garnish with a slice of pineapple
La Margarita
“Crisp, fun and fresh! La Margarita, contender for Patrón’s 2018 Margarita of the Year Competition, is the perfect cocktail to bring people together this Oscar season!” the drink’s creator, L.A. bartender Jorge Ortega, tells Us. “It’s the perfect cocktail to represent diversity and culture and is bound to bring everyone together with its fun and fresh taste!”
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz Patron Reposado
- 3/4 oz Patron Citronage Orange
- 1 oz lime juice
- 1/2 oz lychee syrup*
- 1/2 oz ginger syrup (such as Monin or Ginger Real)
- Whole lychee, for garnish
- Sprinkle of chia seeds and salt, for rim
Instructions:
*Lychee syrup: Empty the complete contents of a can of peeled and pitted lychees into a blender. Blend until completely liquified, then strain through a mess strainer to remove solids.
Cocktail:
- Combine liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake with ice to chill.
- Strain into fresh ice in a glass rimmed with a 50-50 blend of chia seeds and kosher salt.
- Garnish with lychee.
