Happy Hour | Oscar Worthy Cocktails

If you are planning a big, swanky Oscar party, you can’t slack on the drinks.

From the traditional champagne to classy cocktails, impress your guests – or just yourself – with some Oscar-winning recipes.

More recipes in Twinkle's  2013 Cocktail Guide.

Tonic, Gin and Pepper

Comfort cocktail, served in a jar mug makes this a perfect icebreaker drink.

• 1.5 oz. gin
• 1 oz. Wilks & Wilson Tonic
• ½ fresh lime (for juice)
• 1 lime wedge
• Dash of fresh ground pepper
• Ice

Place the ice in a chilled glass (the cubes should come near the top.)

Add the gin, then the tonic, then the squeeze your lime into the mix, stirring well. Garnish with lime wedge and cracked pepper.

Mixologist: Adam Seeger – Omni Hotels for the Omni-Severin Hotel, Indianapolis

Moscato Royale

This sweet sipper is perfect for any Oscar-viewing occasion.

• ¾ oz. Wilks & Wilson Crème de Cassis
• ¾ oz. Cognac
• 2 dashes of apple bitters
• Moscato
• Lemon peel for garnish

Mix the first three ingredients into a glass with ice and stir. Pour into a champagne flute and top with the moscato. Zest the lemon peel over the glass.

To get your lemon peel to curl, twist around a straw into a coil.

Mixologist: Scott Low, Bluebeard, Indianapolis

Champagne Cocktail: New Orleans-Style

A twist on the original, and perfect for that last big toast of the night.

• Absinthe rinse (you can keep this in a mister for better coverage)
• 1 raw sugar cube
• 3 dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters
• Champagne or Sparkling White Wine

Mist or swirl your champagne flute with the absinthe and pour out extra. You are only lining the glass with the flavor.

Add the bitters and then drop in your sugar cube.

Slowly – and I mean very slowly – pour in the champagne, leaving a little bit of room at the top.

The cube will start to dissolve, giving off a beautiful, bubbly experience as it dissolves.

Mixologist: J.B. Anthony, Bluebeard, Indianapolis

More recipes in Twinkle's  2013 Cocktail Guide.

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Twinkle VanWinkle was born in a small town in Mississippi. A life-long lover of music, media and food, she grew up following those three things along her path. She has almost 20 years of professional cooking under her apron strings, feeding thousands of friends, family and other folks while working in restaurants and bakeries in Oxford, Miss. She baked apple pies for the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and appeared on Food Network's “The Best Of...” in the same year. Along with producing dynamic lifestyle content for LIN Media, she is a mother, musician and social media fanatic.

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