Today concludes our week-long series on breakfast drinks, where we’ve been highlighting those cocktails that fortify our mornings with the gin, whiskey and resolve we need to keep going. We end with the Mandarin Cooler.
Fact is, Screwdrivers just aren’t very good. They’re one-note and a rather disappointing means of getting your vitamin C and vodka intake. That’s why we stick to more interesting breakfast cocktails, like a Corpse Reviver or Paloma. Related, here’s the Mandarin Cooler, an easy-drinking cocktail sporting a base of Hangar 1 Mandarin Blossom. The vodka is accented with mandarins, so there’s your orange component. But with sweet vermouth and bitters, the end result is a lot more interesting than a pedestrian Screwdriver. So have one for breakfast. Or brunch. Better yet, do both. You’d hate to play favorites.
MANDARIN COOLER
1 oz Hangar 1 Mandarin Blossom Vodka
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
.75 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
.5 oz Simple Syrup
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Seltzer
Add ingredients except seltzer water into a cocktail shaker. Briefly shake with ice and strain into an ice-filled Collins glass. Top with seltzer. Lightly stir to mix, and garnish with a half orange wheel.
For more breakfast drinks, see:
—Breakfast Cocktails with Few Breakfast Gin
—Eye-Opening Cocktails at Kensington Street Social
—Siberian Summer
—Black Hole Sun
