Sometimes, you want to do something elaborate and show-stopping with your cocktails. Sometimes you want to flame an orange peel, measure three different kinds of bitters with an eye dropper and squeeze kumquats one-by-one over hand-chipped ice.
Sometimes, you just want to pour something strong out of a big, manly bottle and drink it. Fast. Which is why we’re presenting you today with the Mother In Law cocktail.
This cocktail is spirit-forward, robust*and earthier than what you’re used to drinking. It’s like pouring a leather couch and a smoking jacket into a glass rinsed with a hard day’s work.
Listen, before I sound like too much of a Portlandia episode, let’s just say that having a burly, batched cocktail like this one around will make you happy. It will make you feel happy when you are too lazy to measure things. It will make you happy when you realize you can either stir this and strain it into a chilled glass, or pour it over a big old rock. It will make you happy when, say, maybe your mother in law is around and she has a lot of things to say to you. I am privileged enough to have mothers-in-law who do not drive me to drink too much.** You might not be, in which case you can come over and I will pour you one of these.
* Yes! Hello! This just means strong!
** Just kidding, everything makes me drink! Didn’t you notice? Drink, drink, drink.
Mother In Law Cocktail
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: ~8 servings
Description
This takes a bit of planning in procuring ingredients, but once it’s mixed, you have a well-balanced, complex cocktail batched and ready for you to cry on its shoulder.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 tsp Peychaud's bitters
- 2 1/2 tsp Angostura bitters
- 2 1/2 tsp Torani Amer
- 1 1/2 oz (45 ml) Maraschino liqueur
- 1 1/2 oz (45 ml) simple syrup
- 1 1/2 oz (45 ml) orange Curaçao (we used Grand Marnier)
- Bourbon to fill the remainder of a quart container
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients in a quart decanter.
- Cover tightly.
- Apply 3oz, as needed, either stirred with ice and strained, or over a large ice cube in an Old Fashioned glass.
- Yes, seriously, that is it.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Cocktails
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 oz
- Calories: 200
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Torani Amer and can I substitute it?
Torani Amer is an Italian-style bitter orange liqueur similar to Amer Picon. If you can’t find it, another bitter orange liqueur like Bigallet China-China can approximate its flavor. I use 2.5 tsp alongside equal amounts of Peychaud’s and Angostura bitters.
What does ‘apply 3 oz as needed’ mean in the instructions?
This is a batched cocktail — mix all the ingredients at once in a quart decanter and pour out 3 oz servings as desired, either stirred over ice and strained into a chilled glass, or poured directly over a large ice cube in an Old Fashioned glass.
Nice
Thanks! I have consumed more of these than I will admit this week.
I could really use a glass right now. My mother in law is staying with us for a couple of days and it’s driving me crazy. Anyway, bottoms up!
Would love to hear how this remedy performs in the field. Let us know if you give it a whirl!