Tingletini @ Rockfish Southpoint, Durham Website The tingletini is made with passion fruit vodka, simple syrup, lime juice, and jalapeno peppers. Guess you know the tingle comes from that last ingredient, huh? The presentation for this cocktail is beautiful. I especially like how the crossed straws mimic the crossed jalapeno slivers. It’s almost clear, but
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Tokyo Punch Shiki Sushi Southwest Durham $7.75 Tokyo Punch was a lovely surprise for this cosmopolitan lover. Most people might assume that a cocktail made with vodka, cranberry, Midori, and brandy would be awfully similar to a cocktail made with vodka, cranberry, lime, and triple sec, but I somehow missed the connection between the two
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The TLC Martini Wild Turkey Lounge at the Angus Barn Raleigh Website $8.25 (I think) The Wild Turkey Lounge is the upstairs bar at the Angus Barn. It used to be the cigar lounge, but I imagine it’s actually doing much better business without the cigar smoking. It’s definitely got that barn feeling, and with
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Spiced Blackberry Jam 1/4 shot green Chartreuse 1 1/2 shot St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur 2 shots citrus vodka 1/2 shot lime juice 2 shots blackberry juice A few champagne grapes Shake everything together but the grapes. Place a few grapes in each cocktail glass, then pour the cocktail on top. Of course, using blackberries would
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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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Pomegranate Lychee Martini Revolution (Downtown Durham) Website $10 This attractive drink is made with vodka, pomegranate molasses, and lychee juice. The whole lychee garnish is a great touch. The flavor is very light but nice, with the lychee taking the lead role. Other than a flash of pomegranate, the molasses mainly adds texture to the
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Hawaiian Orchard My Place 2 shots vodka 1 shot triple sec Juice of ½ lemon 1 shot pineapple juice Shake all the ingredients together and pour into a martini glass. I loved the color of this drink, yellow as you might suspect. It was really pretty and spring-like, with the cloudiness of the pineapple juice
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The Cricket Chocolate Syrup ¼ shot Sambuca Splash crème de menthe ½ shot hazelnut liquor 1.5 shots light cream 1.5 shots vodka Drizzle some chocolate syrup around the sides of a martini glass. Shake together the rest of the ingredients and pour them in. This drink was inspired by my nearly empty bottle of crème
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Hawaiian Punch West 94th Street Pub Woodcroft, Durham Website This drink, with its bloody trail of maraschino juice, looks like it’d be great for a Halloween party. It’s made with vodka, Malibu coconut rum, pineapple juice, and more than a splash of blue curacao. It’s a great, simple tropical punch, perfect for sipping on a
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Yo La Mango Lantern’s Lounge Chapel Hill, NC Made with mango puree, lemongrass, sake, and vodka, Yo La Mango was tasty and packed lots of flavor.