Here’s Lookin’ at You, Kid: 10 kicked up cocktails, perfect for Labor Day Weekend

This is a great time of year to enjoy the tinkle of ice cubes in a glass, and revel in the chilled class of a carefully concocted drink. If you’re not the hostess and attending somebody else’s Labor Day shindig, the recipes included here travel well. Just jot down the ingredients and slip them in your pocket; whoever is manning cocktail hour will appreciate your little love-note as you hand it over the bar.

But before I dive in, let me remind my readers that they must take care over the holiday weekend and drink responsibly—designate a driver if you plan on partying hard, or borrow the nearest couch or guestroom. Now that my public service announcement is taken care of, I’d like to introduce 10 of my wildest, tastiest Kicked Up cocktails, legendary in my own soiree circles—sometimes we even put our signature on the drink. If your name is Doreen, I look forward to toasting you with a custom blended dirty martini. “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.”

You’ll see from these recipes that when champagne meets the Sex & The City Girls’ favorite drink (Champagne Cosmo Cocktail) and your cherry colored sangria takes on a paler shade, in the form of a thirst quenching White Sangria, you’ve got yourself a kicked up version of a classic. I’ve also pumped up the tang on lots of other favorites; a simple Bloody Mary gets converted into a “Hair of the Dog” you’ll lap right up, and dirty martinis get edgier, thanks to my best friend’s aforementioned personal recipe…and so much more! Get ready to drink and be merry. I’ve got more tricks up my sleeve than Isaac had elixirs at The Love Boat Bar.

You’re about to indulge in a happy hour no one will soon forget.

Champagne Cosmo Cocktail

12 ounces pomegranate juice
2 ounces Chambord raspberry liqueur
Juice of 1 large lime, about 2 tablespoons
1 (750-ml) bottle Champagne
Fresh pitted cherries

Stir together the pomegranate juice, Chambord and lime juice in a pitcher. Pour about 1 ounce of this mixture into the bottom of a champagne flute. Top off the glass with Champagne. Garnish with fresh cherries.

White Sangria
1 (750-ml) bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja reds, Zinfandel, Shiraz)
1 whole orange, cut into pinwheels
1 whole lemon, cut into pinwheels
1 whole lime, cut into pinwheels
2 tablespoons all natural sugar
2 ounces Cointreau Orange Liqueur
8 ounces Prosecco wine or Champagne

Pour the wine into a pitcher. Add the fruit, sugar and Cointreau. Stir and refrigerate for several hours to combine the flavors. Add the Prosecco to the pitcher just before serving. Pour into glasses filled with ice cubes.

Lemon Sugar Rush Drop

1 ounce citrus flavored vodka
1 teaspoon super-fine sugar, plus more for rimming the glass
Juice of ½ large lemon, about 2 tablespoons
Lemon twist

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Pour in the vodka, sugar and lemon juice. Shake well and set aside. Run a lemon twist around the rim of a martini glass. Dip the rim into superfine sugar. Strain and pour the mixture into the glass and plop the twist in the glass.

Doreen’s Dirty Martini

2 ounces vodka
½ ounce olive juice
Whiff of dry vermouth
2 to 3 colossal size olives

Fill a cocktail shaker half full of ice. Pour in the vodka and the olive juice. Shake well and set aside. Add a touch of vermouth to a martini glass. Strain and pour the mixture into the glass. Garnish with olives.

That’s Mr. Tom Collins to you!

2 ounces gin
Juice of ½ large lemon, about 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon super fine confectioner’s sugar
Club soda
Lemon wedge

Fill a cocktail shaker half full of ice. Pour in the gin, lemon juice and sugar. Shake well and set aside. Fill a cocktail glass with ice cubes. Strain and pour the mixture over the ice. Top it off with club soda. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

Old Fashioned Bourbon

3 maraschino cherries
Orange pinwheel
1 tablespoon super fine sugar
2 ounces bourbon
Club soda

Place two cherries and orange slice into the bottom of a cocktail glass. Sprinkle with sugar and stir with the back of a wooden spoon to blend flavors. Pour the bourbon over top. Fill the glass with ice. Top it off with club soda. Garnish with the third cherry.

White Wine Spritzer

2 ounces white wine
Club soda
Lemon wedge

Fill a wine glass with ice. Pour in the wine. Top it off with club soda. Garnish with lemon wedge.

Light as Air Daiquiri

1 ½ ounces light rum
Juice of 1 large lime, about 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon super fine sugar

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour in the light rum, lime juice and sugar. Shake well and set aside. Fill a cocktail glass with ice cubes. Strain and pour the mixture into the glass.

Gimee a Gimlet

2 ounces gin
1 ½ ounce Rose's lime juice

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Pour in the gin and lime juice. Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass filled with ice cubes

Hair of the Dog

12 ounces tomato juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon prepared horseradish
2 to 4 drops (or more) hot pepper sauce
1 whole lemon, cut into wedges
1 tablespoon celery salt
2 (12-ounce bottles) beer
Celery stalks with leaves

In a pitcher, stir together the tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish and hot pepper sauce. Rub the rims of the cocktail glasses with lemon wedges. Dip the rims into a saucer containing the celery salt. Fill each glass with ice cubes.
Fill half the glass with beer and top it off with the tomato juice mixture. Garnish with celery stalks.