Best of: The 10 best 19th-hole cocktails (and the spirits that make for great holiday gifts)
Gift your favorite spirit this holiday season.
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In golf, one great round calls for another. Bring your A-game with you from the 18th green to the 19th hole armed with the most important arsenal in golf: an understanding of your options. A post-round libation isn’t just a rite of passage, it’s a rite of existence as golfers.
Around the holidays, cocktails take on an even more important role — not just for post-round enjoyment but as gifts that keep on giving to friends, family (and golfers!) in your life.
With the help from the bartenders at Toro, a lively Latin restaurant and rum bar at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, we’ve compiled a list of classic and contemporary cocktails that every golfer should know. Better yet, we included a handy and seamless way for you to buy the bottle of your choice for your favorite golf buddy. (Or, buy it for yourself; we won’t tell.) Without further adieu, here are our 10 favorites for ensuring your days are extra merry and bright this holiday season.
The 10 best 19th-hole cocktails
Gin & Tonic
Simple. Timeless. Beautifully balanced. It’s the cocktail equivalent of Ben Hogan’s swing.
3 oz Bombay Sapphire gin
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
4 ounce tonic water
Lime wedge
Glass: Rocks glass
Bombay Sapphire
Mojito Palmer
A classic rum-based cocktail, topped, in this version, with iced tea, in a tribute to the King.
1 1/2 oz Bacardi Superior
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz mint syrup
Splash soda
Topped with ice tea
Glass: Collins
Bacardi Superior
Translucent Transfusion
True to its name, this refreshing drink is a clear-colored riff on a Transfusion, made with white grape juice and ginger liqueur to turn it translucent. And, of course, a dose of vitamin V.
1 1/2 oz Grey Goose Vodka
1/2 Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
1/2 lime juice
1 1/2 oz ginger ale
1/2 white grape juice
Glass: Collins
Grey Goose
Sandy Shandy
Cold beer made even better with the bright flavors of lemonade and gin.
Wit beer
1/2 oz Bombay Sapphire gin
1/2 St. Germain elderflower liqueur
1 1/2 oz lemonade
Glass: Pint
Bombay Sapphire
Rum Punch
A rum punch, like a punch shot, is a chance to get creative. At Toro, they infuse theirs with a tropical medley of lime, pineapple and banana.
1 oz Bacardi Ocho
1/2 oz Bacardi Superior
1/2 oz Giffard banana liqueur
1 oz pineapple juice
1/4 oz lime juice
1/4 grapefruit juice
1/2 oz Grenadine
Glass: Hurricane
Bacardi Superior
A Little Rusty
When the members of the Rat Pack weren’t playing golf, they often could be found at the clubhouse bar, enjoying a whisky cocktail called the Rusty Nail. This is Toro’s take on Frankie and Dino’s drink.
1 3/4 oz Dewar’s 15 Blended Scotch Whisky
3/4 Drambuie
Splash of lemon juice
Glass: Coupe
Dewar’s 15
Old Fashioned
Originally known as the whiskey cocktail, and later, the old-fashioned whiskey cocktail, this classic drink now goes by a suitably classic name. Traditionally, it’s made with rye or bourbon, bitters, sugar and an orange twist. At Toro, they whip up rum-based iteration of the cocktail, which they call On the Stint.
2 oz Bacardi Reserva Ocho
1 oz simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes orange bitters
Glass: Double rocks
Bacardi Reserva Ocho
Gopher It
The name conjures images of Caddyshack, but you might also know the drink by another title. This is Toro’s version of a whisky sour.
1 1/2 oz Dewar’s 12 Blended Scotch Whisky
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz amaretto
3/4 oz simple syrup
1 egg white
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Dewar’s 12
Pina Colada
If you like pina coladas, you know that there many ways to riff on the drink. Toro’s version, called Rather be Shopping, gets a boost from Baileys and banana liqueur.
1 1/2 oz Bacardi Superior
1 1/2 oz Baileys
1/2 oz Giffard banana liqueur
1 1/2 oz pineapple juice
1 oz cream of coconut
Bacardi Superior
Bloody Mary
A lot of golfers think of Bloodys as a hair-of-the-dog-that-bit-them beverage cart libation. But it’s also a first-rate clubhouse order, especially after a summer morning round.
2 oz Grey Goose vodka
4 oz tomato juice
2 teaspoons horseradish
2 dashes Tabasco
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1 pinch black pepper
1 pinch smoked paprika
1 pinch celery salt
Garnish: parsley, green olives, celery stalk, lemon wedge, lime wedge
Grey Goose
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