El Capital Dos Perros, Durham $10 Wow, this New Year’s Eve special cocktail takes its description as a twist on a Manhattan seriously! It’s a very strong drink—assuming Dos Perros adds it to their specials list on occasion, only order it if you like a stiff drink. Luckily, I do! It’s made with hornitos anejo
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Revolution Red Cosmo Revolution, Durham Website $10 This drink is a pretty straight cosmopolitan except for a splash of pomegranate juice added to the vodka, Cointreau, and lime juice. It’s way stronger in flavor than a cosmo should be, meaning they probably added more than the advertised splash of everything but the vodka. I’m not
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Motorco Music Hall 723 Rigsbee Avenue Central Park District Website Mon–Fri, 4 pm to 2 am Sat, 11 am to 2 am Nice sign, huh? Motorco is an almost two-month-old addition to the corner of Rigsbee and Geer, transforming a former car dealership into a rock club with a capacity for 500. I went for
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So Old Fashioned Revolution, Downtown Durham Website $12 This drink serves mainly to remind me that I’m picking up quite the bourbon habit in the South. It’s made with Booker’s Bourbon, orange bitters, sugar, and candied orange, though I can’t vouch for there actually being candied orange in the drink—anyone else notice how easily advertised
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Sicilian Firefly Serena, Durham Website This pretty, and nicely sized drink, is made with banana schnapps, coconut vodka, and melon liqueur. I admit, the menu description sold me with its poetic waxings about the sweet hues of dancing Sicilian fireflies. The flavors dance as well as their namesakes, with the coconut and melon pairing smoothly.
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Yorkshire Hathaway Beyu Caffe, Durham Website $6.50 This hot coffee drink came with butterscotch, coffee liqueur, Irish cream, and whipped cream on top. I didn’t realize it was a hot drink when I ordered it (the whipped cream should have tipped me off there), but I ended up enjoying the warmth despite our hot summer
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Banana Split Beyu Caffe, Durham Website $8 This creamy cocktail is made from Stoli vodka, crème de banane, creme de cacao, and cream. The consistency of the drink wasn’t pretty, but it’s the nature of drinks mixed with cream to quickly divide up based on thicknesses of the fluids. The alcohol flavor was pretty strong.
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La Leche Dos Perros, Downtown Durham Website $9 This drink is nothing but horchata and dark rum. I love both of those ingredients, but I have to say, for $9, it wasn’t tasty enough. It’s a classic milk punch, like the New Orlean’s Milk Punch at Papa Mojo’s with bourbon and nutmeg, but that one
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Hot Guava Dos Perros, Downtown Durham Restaurant Review $8 The Hot Guava is a margarita made from guava juice, jalapenos, tequila, and lime. The jalapeno was bright and powerful from the first sip, but I think that was the problem—all you could taste was that sweet heat and a little bit of sourness. It cancelled
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French Quarter Cosmopolitan Papa Mojo’s Roadhouse Greenwood Commons, Durham Restaurant Review This riff on a cosmo is made with citrus vodka, grand marnier, cranberry juice, sour mix, lime juice, and grenadine.  Grenadine totally stands out when you are used to standard cosmos. It makes the French Quarter Cosmopolitan a nice option for people who want
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