Why bother with cocktails when camping?

To start with, why try to make a cocktail when you’re out in the boondocks? Personally, I like eating and drinking well on trips, and I find that taking the time to make a nice pre or post dinner drink is well worth it. I’m all for beer at the end of the day or wine with dinner or a nice pour of whiskey around a fire. A cocktail in camp can feel a bit more special, though. It’s something a little more unexpected. Sure, it’s fancy and a bit excessive, but that’s part of the charm, and it doesn’t have to be complicated to feel “fancy”.

Beyond making a cocktail because you want to, or to show off to your friends, liquor is a good solution in camp because it’s lighter and more compact than beer or wine. Nobody wants to haul a cooler full of beer when portaging your canoe a mile or two. A single bottle of whiskey or gin is far easier to justify, though. Of course, you could eschew alcohol in camp altogether, but let’s set that aside as bad advice for now. There’s nothing wrong with the single-bottle approach, but let me suggest some ways to expand it a bit and give you more options than neat whiskey around a fire without adding much weight. You can even build on that to having your own tailored camp bar if you’re in a situation where weight is less of a concern.

Making a good cocktail in camp is different than making the same thing at home. It’s not only avoiding carrying a ton of supplies. Ice is often in short supply as well, and most cocktails rely heavily on ice for dilution as well as temperature. Also, as any cocktail nerd knows, you often wind up needing a long laundry list of ingredients to make what folks expect. You’ll have limited space and can carry only so much weight (even for car camping, space matters a lot). Finding the right approach to balance all of these challenges can be fun. It’s great to be able to surprise folks with unexpectedly nice drinks in camp and you get to set up your own idea of what a camp bar should be.

This is oriented at heavier camping styles. Car camping (call it overlanding if you want), boating, “van-life” camping, and RV camping are where making an actual cocktail in camp is most feasible. Even for these, weight and space are still considerations. No one is going to haul around a bar’s worth of glass bottles. A lot of the creativity is in showing what you can do in a small and (relatively) light set of ingredients. The ideas here are also very applicable to canoe camping or “heavyweight” backpacking, just not anything remotely close to “ultralight”.

If you don’t want to read all of the details, here are the points that I think are the most relevant:

• Ice is precious and rare when camping. Replacing ice is the biggest challenge to camp cocktails.
• Dilution is key, especially when you don’t have ice. Get things as cold as possible and add water (club soda is great for this).
• Reportion all ingredients into smaller bottles. Avoid glass. HDPE scientific bottles are your friend! (Yes, HDPE is safe and won’t taste like plastic.)
• Leave the glassware and bar tools at home. Whatever you’re using for other drinks will work fine for cocktails. Bar spoons, shaker tins, and strainers aren’t useful without ice.
• There are roughly three main approaches to cocktails in camp:
  • Single-bottle (Gin & tonic or rum & coke, sure, but also think of a martini bar or an old fashioned bar.)
  • Batched (Mix ahead. Best option for tiki. Good for planned dinner pairings)
  • The camp bar (Pick a few core things, repackage into small bottles, and know what you can make to order. Assumes you already have a well-stocked bar at home.)

How should I store things?

A key preparation “trick” is to take all your food/etc out of the boxes or other bulky packaging it came in and repackage it as only what you need. Pre-measure flour or rice into bags. Bring a hot sauce packet instead of the bottle. Leave the box and just bring the instant oatmeal packs. The same applies to a camp bar. You can bring a good variety of spirits if you repackage into right-sized bottles.

Avoid glass. Yes, it guarantees no off-flavors, but it’s easily breakable, heavy, and tends to damage other things it repeatedly bumps into. If you want to bring a single bottle or two, it’s manageable. If you want to bring several, it’s not. Secure screw tops are necessary, as well. Things will wind up on their side, and stoppers in spirit bottles aren’t meant for that. Mason jars are tempting, but are heavy, hard to pour from, and break easily. Plastic (specifically HDPE - avoid most clear plastics) is your friend. It’s very important to check what type of bottle you’re buying. Not all plastics are the same or even similar in this regard. HDPE (opaque-ish, durable, not flexible) is common and is quite safe for spirits. There’s a good chance whatever spirit you’re drinking was already in contact with HDPE at some point in its production process. It’s also dishwasher safe (top shelf - it will melt if it’s against the heating element). I’ve never noticed any off flavors, but you may get some aromas left behind. I’m not sure I’d store things for years in HDPE, but for a camping trip or even a summer, it really is fine. If you’re concerned about avoiding plastics and have an infinite budget, stainless steel or aluminum bottles and flasks can certainly be found. The sizes are limited and they’re excessively pricey, though.

Collapsible containers are nice for larger volumes. For example, wine, base spirits you go through a lot of, or batched cocktails all benefit from being in a collapsable container. Cascade Designs makes a food-safe 750ml “platypreserve” model meant for wine and booze that I find especially useful. It’s effectively the same as their regular Platypus soft bottles, but with the spot at an angle that makes pouring a bit easier. It’s still harder to pour from than a glass bottle, but it has the advantage of taking up almost no space or weight when empty and packing down smaller as you use the booze inside it. I’ve had some for about fifteen years now that are still going strong with no leaks and no weird mildew/etc. It is hard to get these perfectly cleaned inside and you will have some lingering aromas just because you can’t clean them well. I recommend separating the ones you use for wine from the ones you use for batched cocktails and separating containers by “has stored spirits” vs not, but I happily use my generic “rye/bourbon” one for whiskey-based batch cocktails. If I were storing an expensive bourbon/scotch/etc, I’d probably think twice about reusing my batch cocktail container, but for rye used in mixing, it’s fine. I’ll throw a negroni in the same one without a second thought. There are other products in this general category and you shouldn’t feel beholden to one product, but find something that isn’t too heavy and be sure it’s safe for short-term storage of high-proof spirits.

The biggest gain, in my opinion, comes from using several small bottles to allow bringing a few oz each of several liqueurs and other non-base spirits. This lets you mix a large variety of drink options without too much weight. You can find a variety of sizes (1oz to 32oz and larger) of food-and-alcohol-safe plastic HDPE bottles from many outdoor retailers (e.g. Campmor is a favorite of mine for this - not sponsored) and scientific equipment suppliers (check out US Plastics, again not-sponsored). There are many manufacturers, but if you search for “Thermo Scientific Nalgene”, you’ll quickly find lots of options. You’ll want a funnel to fill bottles as well if you don’t already have one.

A key advantage of HDPE bottles is the relatively low cost (a few dollars a bottle) and wide variety of sizes available. Being able to bring along a few 2oz or 4oz bottles of “modifiers” like orange curacao or Benedictine lets you open up a lot of fun options. Similarly, they’re great for syrups, and you can have more options than simple syrup with you fairly easily. They let you bring along, say 8oz of sweet vermouth and 4oz of dry vermouth if you suspect you’ll go through a lot more of one than the other. The 1oz size can be great for bitters or spirits you’ll use sparingly (e.g. absinthe). There are dropper and squeeze bottles that could be used for bitters, but dashes are very different from drops. I prefer using small capfuls as a measurement when I don’t take a dasher bottle. It’s easier to approximate dashes with a partial capful than counting drops.

However, consider reusing bottles for the same general category of spirits each time and permanently marking each bottle. They will discolor over time with darker spirits (e.g. vermouth) and you can have some aromas linger with small-mouth HDPE bottles because they’re hard to clean inside (but easier to pour out of). The lingering odors are very minimal and I honestly can’t ever tell a taste difference. But if you’re concerned about it, keeping the same categories of spirits in the same bottles helps a ton. The main advantage of these is “right-sizing” along with being leak-proof/shatter-proof. As with many things involved in planning camping trips, re-packaging things into “right-sized” containers is critical for maximizing space/weight constraints, and a selection of small, durable, screw-cap plastic bottles is very handy.

Dilution

You might not expect it, but proper dilution is probably the biggest challenge of making cocktails while camping. Ice is a rarity. If you’re using a cooler with ice, you really don’t want to use your cooler ice in drinks. Keeping ice in a zip-loc bag or similar is a good solution, but you’ll still find it limited. A lot of folks (myself included) have moved to electric coolers for car camping. Those make ice even more of a rarity. There are dual zone options, and for those doing “ice cream camping” you can easily reserve some space in the freezer side for ice. For a lot of folks, though, even folks with electric coolers, ice is likely to be a “first night” treat. If you can keep ice for drinks and not for floating around in your cooler water, definitely do. However, you’ll often need to think about how to handle dilution and chilling without ice. It’s not going to give exactly the same experience without ice for many things, but you need dilution to get the taste you’re expecting in almost all cases.

If you’re batching cocktails, this is relatively easy to handle up-front. Adding ~20% of water by volume to the pre-mixed cocktail should get you close and you can taste and add more if needed. The exact amount will depend on personal preference as much as it does the cocktail. Shaken cocktails need more (I’d start at 25% for those and then dilute further to taste) and cocktails usually served up usually use less. I personally find it depends on the weather as well. I like more dilution when it’s hotter. With that said, the number of “20%” here will sound high compared to what you’ll see online. That’s because I’m assuming you’re not going to be serving these over ice. I’m also assuming you might be a bit thirsty and find a slightly more diluted cocktail to be a better fit. For me, 20% dilution is usually about the lowest I like in an outdoor setting. If starting at 20% is too high for your tastes, then feel free to drop it! You can always dilute a little more to taste if needed.

If you’re not batching cocktails ahead of time, it’s perfectly fine to just eyeball it for the purposes we’re discussing here. Get your ingredients cold if you can (e.g. as space opens up in your cooler) and add a splash of water to the glass as you’re making each cocktail. The dilution is key for things to turn out right, so don’t skip it unless you know you want an overly strong result. I’ve included a section on recipes for the “camp bar” portion that have detailed dilution recommendations if you’d like. At the end of the day, it’s personal preference, and there’s no right or wrong when it comes to how much to dilute your drink. A splash of water quickly eyeballed is fine in a lot of cases.

Soda water can be an interesting and very different way to dilute a cocktail. It adds weight, for sure, but a few cans of soda water are a nice addition if you can carry them. Electric coolers mean you can carry them hot and throw a can in the cooler in the morning for cocktails in the evening. I love a good highball, and having soda water gives you a few “automatic” cocktails with a single spirit (e.g. ranch water, gin rickey, whiskey highball, etc).

However, club soda is very useful outside of highballs. Even for batched cocktails, I’ll sometimes deliberately leave them at full strength and add a splash of soda water when serving instead of pre-diluting. A slightly lighter and more refreshing cocktail is often welcome in camp. A lot of cocktails work well as a “long” drink, even if they aren’t normally made that way. Ever heard of a Boothby? (If you haven’t, it’s a Manhattan topped with champagne.) Try topping your manhattan with cold soda water instead of stirring over ice. A margarita made this way is deliciously refreshing, as is a negroni. They’re different drinks, certainly, but this is the kind of adaptation that can work really well in the backcountry.

If you can’t chill your spirits (don’t rule out putting bottles in a cold stream), you’re going to want to dilute a lot more heavily. Similarly, hot weather in general often calls for more dilution. If you don’t have ice, the ice won’t slowly melt and further dilute things. Add splashes of water until you find a balance you like. You may be surprised at how much you need to dilute a cocktail when you’re not making something with ice. While we’re on the topic, another advantage of having small bottles of spirits is that you can put them in the cooler once space opens up, especially if you have an electric cooler. Getting things cold to begin with really helps with this entire process and allows you to make a very satisfying cocktail with no ice at all.

Bar tools

Don’t bother with bringing most bar tools. You will want a jigger. Ideally, choose something that can also double as a small measuring cup for those cases where you need it. However, in a pinch, most cocktails are about ratios, so nearly anything (e.g. a jar lid) will work in a pinch. Some common things you can easily eyeball (e.g. an old fashioned), but measuring ratios is pretty key for the right balance in most cocktails. A jigger is the only bar tool you really need. I love a good bar spoon, but that’s gear that isn’t very useful for anything else. Ditto for stirring and then pouring. Leave the bar spoon and mixing glass at home. A chopstick or a spoon handle works great if you are stirring over ice. Build drinks in the cup. A spoon is a good enough muddler, and when it’s not, a stick works in a pinch. You’re most likely not going to be making anything shaken, but if you are, a Boston shaker is two cups, at the end of the day. If you bring it, use it to hold a drink as well and save yourself some dishes.

Glassware

If you want my advice, skip all glassware. It breaks way too often. If a nice glass brings you joy, then go for it! But your ultralight titanium coffee mug works great for cocktails too. Personally, I use a lot of stainless steel cups and enamelware. I do like having a separate larger pint-glass-like stainless steel or similar cup separate from my coffee mug for larger volume drinks, but I use a metal coffee mug for an awful lot of things. It’s your soup scoop, your old fashioned glass, your measuring cup, and holds your afternoon tea. Just be sure to wash things in between! On the other hand, if you really like proper glassware, or want a set of stainless steel tumblers just for cocktails, go for it. I just find space too precious for single-purpose glasses.

Garnish

There are some garnishes that really add a lot to a cocktail. Sometimes it’s just expressing a bit of orange peel or adding a lemon twist that makes a big difference. Those are the sorts of garnishes that are worthwhile in camp. Citrus, in particular, is great to use for a garnish because you’re likely to already be cooking with it. I often leave oranges at home, but have mandarins or similarly easily-peelable varieties around for lunches. Keep some of those peels if you want some orange peel with your old fashioned. It’s not worth bringing a dedicated orange just for garnish, and mandarin is close enough. If there are other garnishes you’d really like, consider repackaging them in smaller containers and taking only roughly what you’ll use. They make wide-mouth versions of the HDPE bottles mentioned earlier and those are fantastic for cocktail onions or cherries or olives. It’s probably best to skip all cosmetic garnishes unless you’re just trying to impress folks. However, if you are, consider garnishing with what’s already around. Pine needles make a neat garnish and go great with gin. You might be bringing fresh thyme or rosemary for cooking already, and those are a fantastic garnish for an old fashioned or many things you might not expect.

What Booze Should I Bring?

There are many different ways you can approach this. Depending on your preferred cocktails, you’ll probably choose different options. Overall, I think most approaches fall into three groups, though:

• Single-bottle or single-cocktail
• Batched
• The camp bar (small bottles of many ingredients)

Lots of folks already take the “single bottle” approach. For example, you might always bring a nice bottle of whiskey along to sip around the campfire. That’s great, and you don’t need to stop doing it! However, you can add a couple of ingredients to give a bit more variety without a lot of fuss. If gin is your thing, then maybe you’re already sipping gin and tonics. Try bringing along some simple syrup and using those limes you had with the tonic to make a gimlet for a change of pace. If you’re a rum and coke person, go for it, but also maybe think about making some “batter” ahead of time for hot buttered rum around the campfire. If you’re a cocktail nerd, don’t discount throwing whatever you have around into lemonade, or tang, or hot chocolate (well, maybe not the gin for that last one). If you’re not a cocktail nerd, you’re probably already doing that – keep up the good work! The key point is that this can be fun and simple and doesn’t have to involve too much extra ingredients. A few small changes can give you a lot of options to explore.

This general approach adapts easily into single-cocktail-style bars. The easiest example is an old-fashioned bar. You could bring bourbon/rye, simple syrup or sugar cubes, a couple types of bitters, an orange, and some cherries. If martinis are more of your thing, then maybe you go with gin or vodka, dry vermouth, lemons (for twists), olives, orange bitters, and cocktail onions. It’s the same idea as the single-bottle bar, but you can quickly class it up and make something that feels a bit luxurious. For any of these, though, I think repackaging anything that you’re not going to use all of into a smaller (preferably non-glass) jar is very key. That’s going to be a recurring theme.

The single-cocktail theme quickly becomes a gateway to something more flexible: A camp bar. For example, let’s say you also want a Manhattan and you’ve already brought things for an old fashioned (e.g. simple syrup/sugar and some bitters). Get a small bottle (e.g. a 2 to 8 oz HDPE screw cap, as discussed earlier) and fill it with some sweet vermouth. That gives you a few different options (don’t dismiss vermouth with some soda water!), but you could also add in a similar small bottle of campari and maybe a small bottle of gin. Suddenly you can start going in a lot of different directions. In addition to your old fashioned, you’ve got a Boulevardier, a Negroni, an Americano, a Whiskey highball, Vermut preparado, pink gin, you get the idea. Add a lime or lemon from the fish you were already planning to cook and you’ve got options for a whiskey sour, a gin gimlet, and many other similar things. It’s not that much extra space, but it lets you have a lot of choices and lets you be a little spontaneous with what you choose to drink. This is where it gets fun, and choosing a small set of ingredients that lets you make the range of drinks you want is what this is all about

With that said, you’re probably already doing meal planning. You can’t always be spontaneous when you’re several hours up a trail from the nearest bar. Deciding exactly what cocktails you want to make ahead of time is also often a good idea. Pre-making batched cocktails and bringing them along lets you bring some more complex options than you’d want to build on-site. I think for most “real” tiki drinks, batching is your only option to make them in camp. Batching also lets you pre-dilute and then throw the mixed cocktail in your cooler the morning you plan to have it. It’s a great option that’s worth exploring. The only downside is that you can’t easily change your mind on the spot.

This guide won’t delve heavily into it, but minis (AKA airplane bottles) are another option. You can often find a good selection of interesting choices if you’re in a state where they’re sold (sorry Utah). They’re not all flavored vodka and bottom-shelf tequila. I’ve done several trips where I basically planned a cocktail meal pairing each night using minis. The downside is that they’re often glass, they are sometimes leaky, there’s a limited selection, and they can be a bit wasteful (single-use containers). I’m not opposed in any way to grabbing a few minis, especially if it lets you have that not-quite-sure-if-they’re-coming friend’s favorite drink on-hand in case they do actually show up. But I think repackaging spirits into mini-sized but more leakpoof, shatterproof, resealable, and reusable bottles on your own is a better option.

Jazzing up the Single Bottle

The easiest thing to do is bring a single bottle of your preferred booze and (optionally) a mixer. Alternatively, you might really like one cocktail and set things up around that. Both are easy, low-fuss, and we’ve all taken a similar route. However, you might find yourself wanting to expand a bit from what you currently do without going down the whole “bring the bar” rabbithole. This section is meant to show a few examples in increasingly fancy order that hopefully will give you a bit of inspiration. If you’re really into cocktails, you might find this section a bit on the obvious side, but I think there’s some interesting decisions to be made about what to make from a single (ish) bottle.

Old Fashioned Bar

A perennial favorite for drinking around a campfire or with a good sunset view is an Old Fashioned. What’s not to love?! It’s an easy thing to let everyone mix to their own desires, and it uses less ice than most, so a few cubes can go a long way if you have them. A lot of folks bring along things for Old Fashioneds, and a typical list might look something like:

• Bourbon (something kinda nice, but there are lots of good cheaper options)
• Simple syrup (or, if you prefer, sugar cubes or sugar packets)
• Angostura Bitters (and perhaps others)
• Maraschino Cherries (Consider reportioning into a smaller container)
• A couple of oranges (optional, but nice)

That’s a great list! Don’t feel like you have to change it. However, if you want to expand your options, you can get several very classic cocktails with just a few more ingredients. For example, if you add in a small bottle of sweet vermouth, then you have Manhattans for folks to try. You might also consider a tiny bit of absinthe and adding some Peychaud’s bitters. Sure, it’s two extra ingredients, but you can bring very small amounts of both if you repackage into smaller bottles. That gives you a Sazerac as well as different bitter options for a “normal” old fashioned. You also get a Waldorf cocktail (basically a Manhattan with a touch of Absinthe) with the sweet vermouth you brought for Manhattans. From there you can rapidly expand into the “camp bar” territory by adding a few more small bottles of ingredients if you want.

One final note: Never look down on throwing the spirit you have into the mixer you have. Whimsical X+Y drinks is an advantage of bringing spirits along on a trip instead of beer. Spike your hot chocolate, sure, but what about Tang? Or powered ice tea mix + whiskey? If you brought some jam packets for breakfast, throw that in with some lemon juice and whiskey and call it whatever you want. It’ll be tasty and it absolutely counts as a fancy cocktail when you’re outdoors. Also, if you have those instant apple cider mix packs, they go great with bourbon!

Rum and Coke

We all love a Cuba Libre. Maybe you prefer a Dark & Stormy? Either way, you can get both easily. Let’s start there, and then talk about how to add a few options.

• Rum (something you like, maybe even a blend of multiple rums)
• Limes
• Coke and/or Ginger Beer

There are many cocktail directions that are easy to go in. Add in some simple syrup, and with the limes you already have, you’ve got daiquiris on hand easily. Juicing limes without a firm counter to press on can be a bit of a pain, though, so you might consider pre-mixing the limes and simple in a 1:1 ratio to have sour mix on-hand instead if you want that option. I’d strongly recommend that over preserved lime juice, anyway. It makes for an easy daiquiri (be sure to add some water to dilute if you don’t have ice), and also gives you easy high-quality limeade for other folks. Club soda can be a nice touch to dilute, and if you want to add mint to that, you’ve got a Mojito as well.

Rather than go off the deep end with rum cocktails, I’m going to suggest making an additional ingredient that you can use in cooking as well: Hot buttered rum batter. It’s basically a compound butter, and compound butters are a great trick for camp cooking already. In addition to the namesake drink, use it to top baked sweet potatoes, make fried apples, add to pancakes, etc. With that said, I think hot buttered rum is an incredibly satisfying fireside cocktail that folks too often overlook. The recipe below does not need to be followed closely, and you should feel free to use whatever spices you’d like and adjust the butter to sugar ratio as desired. Many will call for equal parts butter and sugar, but I prefer less butter than that. Definitely make this ahead of time, though. This will make quite a bit (too much for cocktails on one trip) and assumes you’re using it when cooking too.

• 1 stick (8 oz) of butter, preferably salted, softened
• 1 scant cup of brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon each of cinnamon, allspice, clove, and nutmeg (or apple pie spice)
• Other spices as desired (e.g. try vanilla, lemon zest, or black pepper)

Cream sugar, butter, and spices together. Roll into a log with wax paper. Chill to harden and package in a plastic bag. Cut off rounds (1-2 tablespoons) as needed. Add a round to a mug, pour some hot water in, stir to dissolve, add ~2 oz rum, then top with more hot water.

Wisconsin Old Fashioned Bar

I lived in WI for a fair stretch and I have a soft spot for a proper brandy old fashioned. You definitely want Korbel or other cheap brandy for this. Don’t bother with cognac (which I dearly love otherwise). Korbel also already comes in a plastic bottle, so no need to repackage.

• Korbel Brandy (or keep it cheap, anyway)
• Sugar packets, sugar cubes, or simple syrup (I opt for the latter)
• Neon red cheap maraschino cherries (repackage if needed)
• Oranges. Can’t really skip them here.
• Angostura bitters. (recommend repackaging into 1oz bottle)
• Key sodas to top with (“I’ll have a brandy old fashioned X”):
  • Sprite/7up (“sweet”)
  • Squirt (“sour”)
  • Club soda (“soda”)
  • Sparkling wine in cans (this variety of WI old fashioned has a name, but I can’t remember it)
  • The internet tells me that “press” is a thing, but I have never heard that in real life.

You know how to make this! If you don’t, read up. You don’t have to muddle too properly and a spoon will work just fine. Due to the topper and often lower ABV of brandy, it’s easy to skip ice in these.

I think you can add to this pretty easily without upping the ingredients too much. Add a small amount of an orange liqueur to the list (Dry curacao, gran marnier, or if you must, triple sec). Some dry curacao lets you make a Chicago, assuming you opted for some sparkling wine. It’s basically a brandy old fashioned topped with champagne with a touch of orange liqueur. Similarly, if you have a lemon around with that list, you get a sidecar for free. Don’t forget that brandy is great in a lot of standard campfire drinks like tang, hot cider, hot chocolate, and works well in a hot buttered form too.

Martini Bar

This one is definitely a classic, but I don’t see too many folks try this option. One advantage over batching a martini is it lets everyone adjust to their preferred wet/dry preference on vermouth ratio. Don’t forget to dilute because you probably won’t have ice! Measuring a ¼ or ⅓ oz can be hard, so try a teaspoon of water (technically ⅙ oz) for a ~2.5 oz martini and go up from there (I like more). If you like things dry, measure your vermouth in teaspoons too.

• Gin (Vodka if you must)
• Dry Vermouth
• Lemons for a twist (not so sure this is optional)
• Cocktail Onions (optional, repackage into a small wide-mouth jar.)
• Olives (optional, repackage into a small wide-mouth jar)
• Orange bitters (optional, but I like them)

It’s very easy to add on options here without too many extra ingredients. Tonic and some limes is an easy additional direction to go. I think it’s also worth having some club soda for martinis. With no ice, a martini with a splash of club soda is a bit nicer than plain water. That also gives you a gin rickey (potentially subbing lemon for lime) and a nice vermouth spritzer. If you want to venture out and add another spirit, really, take your pick of common liqueurs and you can find a martini variant that adds some. I’m partial to Benedictine. The number of martini variations out there is immense, though. If you want to stay more traditional but give some variety, bring a few ounces of Cocci Americano or Fino sherry, or other twist on the vermouth. And of course, gin goes great in lemonade, Tang, etc. As mentioned before, you don’t have to be fancy to feel fancy.

Batching it up

Anyone who’s thrown a party and offered a cocktail to folks has probably made a batched cocktail. The same applies to camping, and it’s an especially great approach if you’re expecting a larger group. It’s also your best option for things with many ingredients or bespoke syrups/shrubs/etc. I’m not going to do a deep dive into batched cocktails here (there are some excellent books for that), but I will give a few of my favorites and some general recommendations. I don’t make a ton of tiki cocktails, so I’m not including examples here, but if you want to do lakeside tiki, then batching is the way to do it. You can make some very impressive and delicious results, but honestly a lot of tiki assumes things are served over pebble ice/etc, and it’s just hard to get the right taste without elaborate measures for some drinks. Choose your tiki recipe to batch wisely.

As always, a key part is dilution, and batching lets you control that up-front. After that, you can throw the bottle straight into your cooler at lunch and have drinks at night (these will all happily withstand being at room temperature for a few days to save cooler space until you need them). I personally lean towards slightly heavier dilution than you may see recommended elsewhere. That’s partly personal preference, but it’s also the fact that things drink differently when you’ve been out in the dust all day and when ice isn’t readily available. If you are lucky enough to be serving these over ice, you can dial the dilution way back. Similarly, if you want to dilute when you pour (e.g. with soda water), then make things full strength and just remember to dilute. All of this guide will assume ice is scarce and you’re pre-diluting, though.

These recipes are sized to make 32 oz (plus or minus a tiny bit). For most drinks, that’s a rather generous 8 servings. That amount fits easily into a lot of common bottles (e.g. your old nalgene, though I’d really avoid using a wide mouth bottle because it’s hard to pour out of). The “750ml” PlatyPreserve bottles that I like to use hold more than 750 ml, but they won’t quite hold 32 oz. They’re officially 800 ml (27 oz), but I find they hold about 30 oz if you’re filling them with a funnel and can tilt them to fill the full amount. If you’re using those, pour yourself a cocktail with the mix before you fill the bottle and you should be spot on. Alternatively, cut the recipe by 15%.

If you’re considering batching cocktails to go with specific meals, 32 oz is probably a bit much unless you have a larger group. You can cut these recipes in half, but at some level it becomes easier just to take a single drink recipe and double/triple/quadruple it, then add a reasonable percentage of water. I’ve included dilution percentages for all of these if it’s helpful.

Hopefully these examples let you see how to take a drink you like and make a batched version suitable to serve with no ice out of it.

Negroni

The humble negroni shows up everywhere. I’ll recommend it in some of the “camp bar” lists later, but it’s also a good one to talk about for batching because most folks are familiar with it. Chances are you’ve made one (if not, go do that now). You probably know how you want it to taste, so you can use this as a starting point and tweak if needed. It’s also enough ingredients to be worthwhile to batch. Things like a Martini get much more touchy around ratios of vermouth to gin and can be hard to batch for a group. While lots of folks prefer the ratios of a negroni tweaked a bit, no one is going to be too unhappy with equal parts.

• 8.5 oz Gin
• 8.5 oz Campari
• 8.5 oz Sweet Vermouth
• 6.5 oz Water

If you’re curious, that’s about 25% dilution. That’s a good starting point for something that might not always be ice cold when served, but adjust if you want.

Margarita

Summertime camping requires margaritas. Fresh squeezed limes make all the difference, and this is one I always take the time to make ahead because squeezing limes in camp is a real pain. “Fresh” doesn’t have to be 5 minutes before the drink is served. The sour mix will hold just fine for up to a week. This is close to a Tommy’s Margarita, but I do like a splash of high quality orange liqueur (not triple sec) in mine.

I’m going to recommend something different here… Batch the sour mix and store it separately from the tequila.

Sour Mix

• 7 oz Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
• 8 oz 1:1 Simple Syrup
• 1 oz Dry Curaçao or Grand Marnier
• A pinch of salt

Tequila

• 16 oz Blanco Tequila (or Repasado - my personal preference if using Grand Marnier)

The reason to store the sour mix separately is that it gives you flexibility. Who doesn’t like limeade? Sure, the sour mix has a tiny bit of alcohol in it, but it’s very refreshing to have some limeade ready to go when you want it. Just add equal parts water and sour mix. Next, the traditional 2-1-1 ratio isn’t necessarily ideal. I like to go a bit heavy on the tequila compared to the lime and simple. Keeping things separate lets you adjust on the fly, and if you have some grapefruit soda around, you can vary things up with a paloma as well. This is what I usually do, which is heavy on the dilution, but you’re not serving over the rocks:

• 2 oz Tequila
• 1.5 oz Sour Mix
• 2 oz Water

I’d really recommend trying topping with a generous amount of cold club soda instead of water for a tall/sparkling version. It’s not at all traditional, but on a summer day with no ice in the glass, it really hits the spot.

Also, I often bring along separate small bottles of tequila and mezcal. I love a good mezcal marg, but sometimes pure mezcal is a bit much for everyone. Sotol is another favorite spirit of mine to bring instead of tequila for margaritas. If you don’t already know, sotol is a spirit native to Northern Mexico and West Texas made with the plant of the same name and much easier to find in Texas than outside of it. It’s more gin-like, but it’s delicious. If you ever do a trip though Big Bend (National or State Parks), I hereby require you to bring Sotol along and make margaritas with it! You’ll see plenty of the plant around, and it’s a perfectly themed drink for the trip.

Vieux Carré

This is a favorite cocktail of mine, but I never like bringing all the things to make it in camp. It’s one I reserve for batching.

• 7 oz Rye
• 7 oz Cognac
• 7 oz Sweet Vermouth
• 7 oz Water
• 3.5 oz Benedictine
• ¼ oz Angostura Bitters (or about 15 dashes)
• ¼ oz Peychaud’s Bitters (or about 15 dashes)

I do prefer mine slightly heavy on the Benedictine, and this recipe reflects that. If you’d like to dial it back, try 2 to 3 oz of Benedictine instead. As far as the dilution goes, I’ve tested it and I personally find I really do want that much dilution. I know it seems excessive for a cocktail that’s usually served stirred and neat. For those counting along, it’s 28% dilution. If you’re skeptical, feel free to dial it back (e.g. 6 oz or 5 oz), but those ratios work well for me. Also note that this is already a heavy hand with the bitters. They’ll come through stronger in something batched than they will in a made to order drink. Dial them back if you want, be careful about adding extra bitters.

Small bar examples

For all of these, let’s assume you have a few ingredients around already. We always want to reuse as many things as possible and not have single-purpose ingredients (unless it’s a steak). You’re probably going to be cooking something that involves lemons and/or limes, so let’s count those as “free”. If not, add some lemon-caper pasta or carnitas tacos to your planned meals!. Club soda is something a lot of us like to drink on its own, but as mentioned earlier in the dilution section, it’s standing in for ice here and makes for enough highball options to be worth always having on hand. You might consider bringing small cans/bottles if you don’t think you’ll be using a whole 12 oz can at once. If you’re canoeing or heavyweight backpacking, club soda can easily be skipped. Next, simple syrup is certainly a cocktail ingredient, but one that doubles in a lot of things. It’s obviously great in coffee and tea, but it can be a pancake syrup in a pinch too. Finally, let’s add the two most common bitters: Angostura bitters and orange bitters. You can find some bitters in very small bottles, and that’s a good solution if you’d prefer. It has the advantage of having a built-in dasher. However, glass is still risky, and using a different small bottle gives you more options because you’re not limited to bitters that come in ~30ml/1oz sizes. I personally really like the square 30ml/1oz HDPE screwcap bottles for bitters, but use whatever you’d like. Just make dead sure it won’t leak, because Ango bitters stain like crazy!

So, in summary, we’re going to count the following items as already “on-hand”:

• Lemons
• Limes
• Simple Syrup (recipes will assume 1:1, but use what you like)
• Angostura bitters
• Orange bitters
• Club Soda

With that out of the way, here are a few lists that might inspire you along with a (non-exhaustive) list of cocktails you can make with them. I’ve limited them to 5 additional ingredients just to keep the lists short. Break that rule if you’d like! The bottle sizes given assume you’re making a total of roughly 16 drinks for your trip (e.g. 2-3 drinks a day for two people and three days). Adjust as needed.

Boozy and Bitter

This comes out of wanting to be able to make a Black Manhattan and a Negroni. This has been my most common list for awhile, though I often supplement with an extra ingredient or two (black walnut bitters are fun!). You get a lot of classic cocktails out of this list of ingredients:

• Rye (medium bottle, e.g. 16 oz)
• Averna (small bottle, e.g. 8oz)
• Campari (small bottle, e.g. 8oz)
• Gin (medium bottle, e.g. 16 oz)
• Sweet Vermouth (small bottle, e.g. 8 oz)

Suggested cocktail list:

• Black Manhattan
• Manhattan
• Negroni
• Boulevardier
• Pink Gin
• Old Fashioned
• Gin Rickey
• Italian Nightcap
• (and many others! E.g. highballs, sours, etc)

The Big Easy

There’s a lot of overlap with the previous list in this, but at the end of the day, this is really just a list of ingredients I like. It also happens to include several New Orleans classics. If you like cherries, it’s worth considering adding some brandied cherries or maraschino cherries to this list. I can take them or leave them, but they do go nicely with some of these. This is cheating by including six ingredients, but bitters don’t take up much space or weight, and the Peychaud’s goes a long way here.

• Rye/bourbon (large bottle, e.g. 750ml)
• Maraschino (very small bottle, e.g. 4 oz)
• Sweet Vermouth (medium bottle, e.g. 12 oz)
• Absinthe (tiny bottle, e.g. 1 oz)
• Benedictine (very small bottle, e.g. 4 oz)
• Peychaud’s Bitters (tiny bottle, e.g. 1 oz)

Suggested cocktail list:

• Sazerac
• De La Louisiane
• Manhattan
• Old Fashioned
• Improved Cocktail
• Monte Carlo
• Dirty Harry
• Waldorf
• Penthouse
• This list also makes a lot of other classics! I’ve kept the list abbreviated out of laziness more than anything else, but you can make a lot of different drinks with these ingredients.

Onions and Olives

This list comes out of wanting to make both a Ford and a Rolls Royce – two martini variants that I personally really like, and yes, I’m stealing the general idea of using those two from a semi-recent Anders Erikson video. I’m going to cheat some on this one. I’m leaving out some garnishes you may really want for this. I think cocktail onions and olives are both nice for some of these (e.g. is it a Gibson without a cocktail onion?). However, the cocktails stand on their own just fine without the garnish, they’re just a bit different. I’ll also cheat by modifying the recipes (I love Old Tom Gin, but it’s not worth bringing camping. Increase the Benedictine a bit to compensate.).

• Gin (large bottle, e.g. 750ml)
• Dry Vermouth (small bottle, e.g. 8oz)
• Benedictine (very small bottle, e.g. 4oz)
• Sweet Vermouth (small bottle, e.g. 8oz)
• Peychaud’s bitters (tiny bottle, e.g. 1 oz)

Suggested cocktail list:

• Martini
• Gibson
• Ford
• Rolls Royce
• Vintage Caprice
• Old Hickory
• Gin Rickey
• Pink Gin

Just the rum

I don’t think it’s possible to make a tiki camp-bar list. I’d recommend batching ahead of time for that. However, a lot of tiki-adjacent rum drinks can be made with a small handful of ingredients, and that extends to a couple of tiki classics. This list comes out of wanting to make a Mai Tai and a Shrunken Skull, both of which are fantastic and relatively simple. It’s also technically a single-bottle list, because there’s only one spirit included. I’d recommend keeping it simple and just bringing one variety (or your own blend) of something you especially like. However, anyone reading this will probably decide it’s crazy to only have one type of rum if we’re doing a rum bar, and that “mint” shouldn’t count as its own ingredient. So if you’re of that mindset, perhaps pick a nice funky Jamaican rum and a high quality light rum and repackage into a smaller bottle of each (maybe 16 oz of each).

Quick note on lime juice: You always want fresh squeezed, but if you’re doing something like this list, you might consider squeezing limes before you leave and bringing a bottle of “almost fresh squeezed” lime juice in your cooler. Hand squeezing in general is worth it and tastes better than mechanical juicers, but it’s often too fiddly when you’re making a lot of citrus heavy drinks. Preparing lime juice ahead of time will make your life simpler at the cost of some cooler space and extra work at home.

• Rum(s) (a single large bottle or multiple small bottles)
• Dry Curaçao (small bottle, e.g. 4 or 8oz)
• Mint
• Grenadine (preferably homemade)
• Orgeat (preferably homemade)

Suggested cocktail list:

• Daquiri
• Mai Tai
• Shrunken Skull
• Bacardi Cocktail
• Mojito
• Queen’s Park Swizzle

Recipes you probably already know, but with dilution included

In short, these all assume you’re making things without ice. Therefore, they’ll all list amounts of water to add as a core ingredient. As a bonus, if you add it last, you’re automatically rinsing the jigger, which will help you conserve water and get things ready for the next drink. Dilution is a strongly personal preference, and I find I prefer a bit more dilution when camping than when I’m at home. Use very cold water and cold ingredients if possible. It’s often helpful to use club soda from a can that’s been in the fridge/cooler for that reason (and it’s a nice touch in many recipes).

On a disproportionate number of these, I’ll mention making a “tall” version with club soda. That’s because when you don’t have ice and have been out in the sun all day, it’s a great way of making a boozy drink more refreshing. Similarly, these will leave out a minor ingredient or a classic garnish in some cases. I know I’m tromping on tradition, but if you take nothing else away from this, consider it a guide to making cocktails without ice and consider breaking rules to make things work in the woods.

Quantities for bitters are given here in “capfulls”. I find it’s worth taking things out of a dasher bottle and into something more compact and less breakable. Bitters usually aren’t measured too precisely, and you’ll find that the cap on a small bottle is a convenient measurement tool for bitters when you’re not using a dasher bottle.

Strictly speaking, though, I’m referring to a 20mm cap on the small, narrowmouth, 30ml/1oz, square HDPE bottles I’d recommend for bitters. It’s a small cap and roughly similar to the cap on almost any narrow-mouth ~1oz bottle. Those specific caps comfortably hold a bit more than 4ml (i.e. that’s about what you’re likely to pour as a “full” cap if you’re trying to avoid spilling). Officially, one cocktail dash 1ml, but obviously it varies. Based on experimentation, one “capfull” is about 4-5 dashes from a normal/small Angostura bottle or about 2-3 from a large Ango bottle. If I could find a dasher insert that fit these bottles, I’d probably use it, but “capfulls” and “half capfuls” is more precise than you might guess and easy enough to pour without spilling.

Manhattan

• 2 oz Rye
• 1 oz Sweet Vermouth
• A capful of Angostura bitters
• ¾ oz water

This is also better than you might think as a “long” cocktail. Try topping with club soda for something a bit more refreshing after a hike/etc! If you have it, a Boothby is a severely underrated classic cocktail - top your Manhattan with sparkling wine.

Black Manhattan

• 2 oz Rye
• 1 oz Averna (or other amaro)
• A capful of Angostura bitters (Fee Bro’s Black Walnut is great here too!)
• ¾ oz water

This is JoAnn’s go-to. Similar to things that are far more classic, it’s somehow much more than the sum of its parts. Feel free to substitute some portion of the amaro with sweet vermouth. I find a straight ratio of 2:1 with Averna works great, but I often prefer some vermouth added in when using other amari that are less sweet.

Negroni

• 1 oz Gin
• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz Sweet Vermouth
• ¾ oz water

Of course, ratios here are a personal preference. Feel free to deviate and make what you like. I also find that a “tall” version of a negroni is a great summer / hot weather option that’s really welcome in a dusty desert campsite. You can call it a negroni spritz if you like. Skip the water and top off with soda water, if you’re in the mood for something more refreshing. Leave out the gin when you do that, and you have an Americano (add another item for the “boozy and bitter” list if you’d like).

Boulvadier

• 1 oz Rye
• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz Sweet Vermouth
• ¾ oz water

Always one of my go-tos! I can wax poetic about this all day, but I’ll stop there. Adjust ratios to your liking (my preference is a heavy pour on the vermouth). Unlike many of the others, I don’t think this one works well “tall”. Feel free to try it if you’d like, but I personally like this bittersweet, bracing, and relatively thick.

Pink Gin

• 2 oz Gin
• A capful of Angostura bitters
• ½ oz water
• Lemon twist (highly optional)

I’m cheating a bit by including this in the recipe lists, but I think people forget about it too often. It’s as classic as you can get, and really quite nice, especially if you have leftover gin and are out of other core ingredients. Somewhat obviously, this expands nicely into a tall spritzer version with club soda. Make sure the gin is very cold if you’re not making the tall version.

Old Fashioned

• 2 oz Rye/bourbon
• ½ capful of Angostura bitters
• ½ capful of orange bitters
• ¼ oz Simple syrup
• ¼ oz water

Does this really need a recipe? Eyeball away on measurements. Use a sugar cube if you prefer. I find that too fiddly without a muddler and prefer to bring simple syrup. Keep those clementine peels from lunch around for this if you like, and feel free to change around the bitters. I’ve kept the dilution low on this due to personal preference. Increase to ½ oz if you’d like or if you’re using an overproof whiskey.

Gin Rickey

• 2 oz Gin
• ½ oz Lime Juice (just use ½ a lime - we’re not behind the bar)
• Top generously with club soda

The ranch water may have risen to prominence recently, but the gin rickey is a classic that’s been around forever. It’s a pretty perfect refreshing summer camp cocktail that’s too often overlooked and works beautifully without ice. The original “rickey” is bourbon/rye instead of gin, so feel free to count that as an extra cocktail in the list if you’d like. Add some simple syrup and use lemon in place of lime and you have a Tom Collins, which is another great hot-weather option.

Italian Nightcap

• 1 oz Averna
• 1 oz Sweet Vermouth
• 1 oz Campari
• ½ capful Angostura bitters
• 1 oz water

This is probably the least common cocktail in the list. I’ve only seen this in 901 Very Good Cocktails, but it doesn’t list a source. The original there calls for ½ part sweet vermouth and ½ part Punt e Mes. I’ve substituted that with a full part sweet vermouth and added some Ango bitters, which is generally pretty close and avoids an extra ingredient keeping with the spirit of what we’re doing here. Skip the bitters if you’d like. I think this one is interesting in the context of the “bitter and boozy” bar list. It’s a quirky low-ABV cocktail that’s surprisingly different from the Negroni template it’s based on. The dilution is cranked up a bit due to personal preference. It’s a bit thick without ice otherwise. It also works nicely in a tall version with club soda for an aperitif or digestif.

Waldorf

• 2 oz Rye/bourbon
• 1 oz Sweet Vermouth
• ½ capful Angostura bitters
• ½ capful absinthe
• ¾ oz water

This version is basically a Manhattan with absinthe added, but it’s a legitimate classic cocktail in its own right. The classic is equal parts, but the recipe above is more typical of modern renditions and is decidedly easier to drink. For lists where you’re bringing along absinthe, it’s well worth making! Technically, the absinthe should be a rinse. However, most of the time you’d be making this in a larger glass than a typical cocktail coupe (e.g. large stainless steel camping cup), so a rinse both wastes a lot of absinthe and imparts different amounts of absinthe depending on glass size. Feel free to use a rinse instead of a half-capful if you’d prefer, though.

Penthouse

• 2 oz Rye/bourbon
• ½ oz Maraschino liqueur
• ½ oz simple syrup
• ¾ oz lime juice
• 1 oz water

There are several cocktails with this name, but this one is basically a whiskey sour with some maraschino added. It’s a fun twist on things. I’ve tweaked the specs from the original a bit to make the maraschino more front and center and sweeten it up a bit. As with any sour here, I really recommend trying it as a “long” version with club soda if you’re thirsty or if the ingredients aren’t ice cold to begin with. Sours can be tough without ice, and club soda helps a lot.

Sazerac

• 2 oz Rye/bourbon
• ¼ oz Simple syrup
• ½ capful absinthe
• ½ capful Peychaud’s bitters
• ¼ oz water
• Lemon peel

You can’t leave this out if you’re bringing along Peychaud’s and absinthe. Some lemon peel expressed over the top is well worth it, even if you’re roughing it.

De La Louisiane

• ¾ oz Rye/bourbon
• ¾ oz Sweet Vermouth
• ¾ oz Benedictine
• ½ capful absinthe
• ½ capful Peychaud’s bitters
• ½ oz water

You’ll find a lot of different versions of this and a few different names for it. This is the older equal-parts version. It’s a nice and sweet after-dinner drink in its original form. Double the amount of Rye if you’d like (increase the amount of water if you do) for a more modern and drier interpretation. I think this one works especially well in camp because it doesn’t rely on being ice cold and doesn’t need a ton of dilution.

Improved Cocktail

• 2 oz Rye/bourbon
• ¼ oz of Maraschino liqueur
• ¼ oz Simple syrup
• ½ capful of Angostura bitters
• ½ capful of absinthe
• ½ oz of water
• Lemon peel, if desired

This isn’t really one single cocktail, but if you’re not already aware, it’s what the “old fashioned” gets its name from. Folks didn’t always like the “improvements” bartenders were making. However, if you like absinthe and maraschino, this really is a nice drink and personally I find it to work well even when things are relatively room temp, so it’s especially good around the campfire.

Monte Carlo

• 2 oz Rye/bourbon
• ½ oz of Benedictine
• ½ capful of Angostura bitters
• ¾ oz water

This is a great and very simple cocktail that gets overlooked far too often. The ratios are really up to you. Feel free to adjust the amount of Benedictine to taste.

Dirty Harry

• 2 oz Rye
• ½ oz Sweet Vermouth
• ¼ oz Maraschino liqueur
• ½ capful of absinthe
• ¾ oz water

Yet another Manhattan variation and very much in the theme of improving things with absinthe and maraschino, but this is a surprisingly recent recipe despite the classic flavor profile. It was developed by H. Joseph Ehrmann roughly around 2008. If you’re tired of Ango bitters in your Manhattan, give it a try!

Martini

• 1.5 oz Gin
• ½ oz Dry Vermouth
• ½ oz of water
• Lemon peel, if desired

I like vermouth and I’m not a dry martini person. If you are, great! Adjust ratios and garnish however you’d like. As you’re probably well aware, this is best when it’s as cold as you can possibly get it. I’ve kept the overall pour a bit small to keep it from getting too warm in your (almost definitely not chilled) cup/glass.

Gibson

• 1.5 oz Gin
• ½ oz Dry Vermouth
• ½ capful of orange bitters
• ½ oz of water

This isn’t really a different drink, but seeing we’re kind of discussing plays on basic things, the orange bitters are a very nice touch to a classic gin martini. Don’t make this one dry. Vermouth is what pairs so nicely with the bitters. Leaving out the cocktail onion in a camp verion of this drink is fine, but it really does add a lot, and it’s worth brining some if you enjoy them. I know it’s not really a Gibson without a cocktail onion, but call it whatever you want. Orange bitters are a nice touch in a wet gin martini.

Ford

• 1.5 oz Gin
• 1.5 oz Dry Vermouth
• ¼ oz Benedictine
• ½ capful of orange bitters
• ¾ oz water

So, this should technically be an old tom style gin. It is a somewhat different drink without it. However, I don’t recommend you bring old tom gin along on a trip. It’s far less flexible for modern cocktails, and this drink being a bit too piney and a bit less sweet when a london dry gin is used isn’t the end of the world. It’s still a nice drink with a london dry gin!

Rolls Royce

• 2 oz Gin
• ½ oz Dry Vermouth
• ½ oz Sweet Vermouth
• ¼ oz Benedictine
• ¾ oz water

This should actually be even less Benedictine, but “barspoons” aren’t an easy measurement to use in the field. That doesn’t work so well when you’re stirring with a chopstick. This is a great example of something that’s clearly still in the Martini realm, but doesn’t drink like one. I personally really like it, and being able to put together things like this is a great way of keeping the drinks on a trip from getting boring! This is also closely related to the Vancouver, which uses either all dry or all sweet vermouth, depending on your recipe. So if you find yourself out of one of the two on the trip, try skipping the one type of vermouth and adding a full ounce of the other and then call the drink a Vancouver instead. Orange bitters are sometimes added to a Vancouver as well, and technically the amount of Benedictine should be increased slightly, though you may find that a touch unbalanced with sweet vermouth.

Vintage Caprice

• 2 oz Gin
• ½ oz Dry Vermouth
• ½ oz Benedictine
• ½ capful of orange bitters
• 1 oz water

You may sense a theme here. This is another twist on the same general idea as the Rolls Royce from vaguely the same era (a few years later) and later re-popularized. It’s a good drink! I’ve increased the dilution here quite a bit compared to similar martini recipes in the list. The relatively large amount of Benedictine stands up well to more dilution, and this one works better “tall” than most of the other martini variations. Feel free to adjust dilution to your preference, though.

Old Hickory

• 1 oz Dry Vermouth
• 1 oz Sweet Vermouth
• ½ capful of Angostura bitters (or others as you see fit)
• Lemon peel, if desired

Folks in the US should drink more vermouth. It’s really delicious in all its forms. This one is supposedly what Andrew Jackson liked to drink, but at the end of the day, it’s just a glass of vermouth. It’s a great way to use up any extra vermouth you brought along but didn’t use at the end of a trip. This is another one that works very well as a “tall” and low ABV drink.

Daquiri

• 2 oz rum (whatever that means to you)
• ¾ oz lime juice
• ¾ oz simple syrup
• 1 oz water

If for some reason you’re not aware, a daquiri isn’t some overly-sweet and fruity blended thing. It’s a fantastic classic cocktail and basically a rum sour. If you want to get to know a rum, make a daquiri with it. There are an infinite number of variations and you can debate the best ratios, but we can all agree this is at least in the ballpark. You absolutely should make daquiris while watching the sunset alongside a lake. It’s a requirement. Tall versions with club soda are welcome too!

Mai Tai

• 2 oz rum(s)
• ¾ oz lime juice
• ½ oz Dry Curaçao
• ½ oz orgeat
• 1 oz water
• mint garnish

A Mai Tai is one of the simpler cocktails that everyone can agree is definitely “tiki”. It’s also an incredible drink regardless of your thoughts on tiki cockatils. The orgeat really matters here. You don’t have to make it at home, but be sure to get one you’re very happy with if you’re not using homemade orgeat. Traditionally, this shouldn’t be all orgeat as the sweetener, but let’s keep the recipe simple. The mint is optional, but does add a lot of aroma.

The “rum(s)” there is because 1) using only one aged rum is a classic option (aka “Trader Vic’s Mai Tai”), 2) half aged rum and half lighter rum is common and tasty, and 3) really this works well with lots of different types of rum. Be angry at me if you want for saying “use whatever”. There are big differences between different rums and different combinations but use what you brought and don’t sweat it. Use a dark float if you want or don’t. Just sit out on a remote lakeside and enjoy the drink. It will be tasty no matter what you use.

Shrunken Skull

• 2 oz rum(s)
• 1 oz grenadine
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 oz water

Similar to many Mai Tai recipes, this should ideally use equal parts light and dark rums. However, it’s going to work well with pretty much anything, so don’t sweat it too much. It’s also even simpler than the Mai Tai! The grenadine really matters here. I highly recommend homemade, but get a good one if you’re not going to make it yourself. This works great as a long drink or even just using club soda for that 1 oz of water!

Bacardi Cocktail

• 2 oz rum (preferably light)
• ½ oz lime juice
• ¼ oz grenadine
• ¼ oz simple syrup
• ¾ oz water

This is the classic cocktail that the shrunken skull was possibly a nod to. I’m just guessing there, but they use the same template and the Shrunken Skull didn’t show up until the tiki era. I’m listing this as a separate drink just because it really does come across quite different. I also prefer it with less dilution than most citrus drinks and wouldn’t recommend this one as much in a tall version.

Mojito

• 2 oz rum
• ½ oz simple syrup
• ¾ oz lime juice
• ~8 mint leaves
• ~4 oz club soda

The mojito gets a bad reputation. It’s a far better cocktail than folks sometimes think it is. It’s a classic for a reason and its incredibly refreshing after a long dusty day. You’re not going to be able to really muddle mint very well without a muddler and it’s not worth bringing one along just for this. Instead, either rub the mint between your hands or smash it in the bottom of the glass with a spoon. Then stir a lot with the other ingredients before adding club soda. Don’t sweat the details.

Queen’s Park Swizzle

• 2 oz rum
• ½ oz simple syrup
• ¾ oz lime juice
• 1 or 2 capfuls of Angostura bitters
• ~4 mint leaves
• ~4 oz club soda

Okay, so you really can’t make a swizzle without ice. It’s central to the whole “swizzle” thing. But substituting club soda gets close-ish. Close enough for this, anyway. At the end of the day, this works pretty well as a mojito with bitters added, and it does drink quite differently than a mojito. Consider it cheating to include it as a separate recipe if you’d like, but it’s well worth making.