The weather is turning cold, and while a shot of whiskey can get you going, a coffee cocktail does two jobs at once: the caffeine gets you moving and the alcohol brings that warm glow as blood flows toward your skin. There's nothing wrong with pouring rum, tequila, or vodka into your mug and calling it a day, but we can do better than that. These eight fall coffee cocktails came in from bartenders and spirits brands, and they're a lot more fun to make at home than another rum and coffee.
The coffee matters as much as the spirit, and each brewing style behaves differently once it hits a shaker. Coffee cocktails belong to the part of fall when the weekend with the guys moves off the patio and indoors, whether you're planning to host a guys night in or bringing a thermos to the tailgate. One catch with that warm glow: your skin feels warmer while your core temperature drops. Enjoy it next to the fire pit, and still wear the jacket. If I were picking one to start with, it would be the Espresso Pumptini if you own a kitchen torch and the Horchata Café Latte if you own a blender. A few of these brands showed up in our Cinco de Mayo cocktails this spring, and it's fun to see what the same bottles do once the leaves turn. Dreo BaristaMaker milk frother review: professional microfoam quality, versatile hot/cold functions, and multi-purpose design for coffee drinks, cocktails, and protein shakes at home. The Wacaco PixaPresso is an electric portable coffee machine, ideal for making coffee anywhere at home or on the go. WACACO Nanopresso portable espresso machine for brewing espresso anywhere. Suits travelers, campers and coffee lovers on the go. tips and advice for making great coffee while traveling on a road trip A manually operated travel espresso maker for pro-level specialty coffee, bundled with a protective case. Suits coffee lovers on the go. Promoted by FlowAds Bartender John Record swaps the vodka in an espresso martini for reposado tequila and shakes in pumpkin purée, then torches a line of pumpkin spice sugar across the foam. The aged tequila adds oak and vanilla, and it keeps the drink from getting overly sweet. Ingredients Method Why we picked it: a grill you can actually carry to the campsite, the tailgate or the cabin without borrowing a truck. Stainless, no propane tank to wrestle, and hot enough to cook for four guys rather than reheat for one. Promoted by FlowAds More at LUMA. This is the simplest tequila espresso martini on the list, with no purée or foaming agent to track down. Organic reposado tequila, a full ounce of espresso, and a little coffee liqueur make it an easy one to shake for a group. Ingredients Method More at Dulce Vida. Oxbow Rum Distillery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, makes False River from sugarcane, and its barrel-aged rum does the job vodka usually does in an espresso martini. It's a three-ingredient build, and the rum brings a caramel note that tequila and vodka don't. Ingredients Method More at Oxbow Rum Distillery. Milagro gets the coffee into this one without any espresso at all. A homemade syrup simmered with a vanilla bean and a handful of coffee beans carries the flavor, and Milagro Cristalino keeps the drink clear and bright instead of dark and creamy. Ingredients Method More at Milagro Tequila. Alex Howard, bar director and co-owner of Martha My Dear in Nashville, Tennessee, brings this pumpkin spice version of the bar's year-round Tipsy Jitters back every fall. It's stirred rather than shaken, and a float of Angostura-spiked cream sits on top. Ingredients Method Want it hot? Swap the cold brew for 5 oz of hot coffee, build it in an Irish coffee glass, and float the cold cream on top. More at Martha My Dear. Ovide at Hotel Effie Sandestin on Florida's Emerald Coast puts pumpkin syrup into the classic White Russian, with Mr. Black coffee liqueur supplying the coffee. It's a dessert drink, and a good one to hand a buddy who swears he doesn't like cocktails. Ingredients Method More at Ovide. ALB turns the Irish coffee into a cold drink for the early weeks of fall, when the afternoons are still warm. Cold brew and vodka replace the hot coffee and Irish whiskey, and a splash of Irish cream keeps the familiar flavor. Ingredients Method More at ALB Vodka. This is a blended coffee drink for grown-ups: horchata, espresso, and Ilegal Mezcal Joven, blended with ice and topped with cinnamon. The cinnamon rice milk softens the mezcal smoke, so it works for people who are still making up their minds about mezcal. Ingredients Method More at Ilegal Mezcal. Once you've made a few of these, the pattern is easy to see: a spirit, a coffee, a sweetener, and sometimes cream. Change any one of those and you have a new drink, so have fun with it. Reposado tequila and aged rum pick up the chocolate and caramel notes in a darker roast, which is why so many of the recipes above lean on them. Vodka stays out of the way and lets the coffee and cream lead, so reach for it when the syrup is the star. If you want to get more creative, go past the usual rum, tequila, vodka, and whiskey. Lambanog, the coconut palm spirit from the Philippines, or Vietnamese rượu đế, a rice spirit, will give a coffee cocktail a flavor your buddies won't have tasted before. Start with half an ounce alongside your usual base spirit, then work up from there. The CDC warns that caffeine can mask how drunk you feel without lowering how drunk you actually are, so the third espresso martini feels lighter than it is. Count your rounds instead of trusting how alert you feel, and switch to decaf espresso once the sun goes down. Promoted by FlowAdsWhat Do You Call Your "Guys Trips"?
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Dulce Vida Reposado Espresso Martini by Dulce Vida Tequila
False River Spiced Espresso Martini by Oxbow Rum Distillery
Espressoless Martini by Milagro Tequila
PSL Tipsy Jitters by Alex Howard at Martha My Dear
Pumpkin Spice White Russian by Ovide at Hotel Effie Sandestin
ALB Vodka Irish Coffee by ALB Vodka
Horchata Café Latte by Ilegal Mezcal
How To Build Your Own Fall Coffee Cocktail
Match The Spirit To The Coffee
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