You ever get the feeling your phone or computer is listening to you? You mention something once and then start getting ads for it all the time. That's what led to us trying the bourbon spritz this week. 

My dad found the recipe for this drink from Maker's Mark and said we should try it sometime. Over the next few days I kept seeing sponsored posts on social media from Maker's Mark showing how to make this drink. But it clearly worked because my dad went out and bought all the ingredients to put together this delicious cocktail. 

I'm a fan of the flavors of bourbon, but sometimes you want something a little lighter and sweeter also. This is the perfect cocktail for that. You get the bourbon as the base liquor, but add in Aperol, Prosecco, some juices and sweeteners and boom! A great drink for happy hour. 

Ingredients
1.5 oz. Maker's Mark
1 oz. Aperol
3/4 oz. lemon juice
Splash of simple syrup
Prosecco
Orange peel for garnish

Directions
1. Fill a wine glass with ice. Add Maker's Mark, Aperol, lemon juice and simple syrup. 
2. Top with Prosecco. Stir. 
​3. Enjoy!

If you're tired of blog posts about Cheerwine recipes, you might not want to read this one. But if you're a normal person and you love the taste of the cherry cola, read on.

I made a Cheerwine bourbon glazed ham for Easter dinner last Sunday, which called for 24 ounces of the soda. We had bought a two-liter bottle, so we had plenty left over after dinner. Instead of just drinking it, I decided to put it to use in my Quarantine Cocktail series. 

The Old Fashioned is my go-to cocktail, and Cheerwine is my go-to soda, so when you mix them together, it's just about the greatest think you could drink. There's a little bit of prep work that goes into this cocktail, but nothing strenuous that should stop you from crafting this delicious drink. 

I made this for the first time during a virtual happy hour with my family on Friday evening and I've made it a few times since then. It's a very serious contender for my new favorite drink. 

The official recipe on Cheerwine's website calls for some orange bitters in addition to the usual Angostura bitters, but I didn't have any and the drink still tasted great. 

Ingredients
2 oz. bourbon
3/4 oz. Cheerwine simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes orange bitters (optional)

Directions
1. For the simple syrup, boil two cups of Cheerwine and one cup of sugar until it reduces a bit. 
2. Add the bitters, simple syrup and bourbon to an Old Fashioned glass with ice. Stir. Garnish with an orange peel and two maraschino cherries. 
3. Enjoy!

It's been a while since I've done a Quarantine Cocktail post. I decided that a week of abstaining from any kind of alcohol could be a good thing after all the beer reviews and cocktails I had been doing, so I haven't had a drink since Sunday. 

But it's Friday, and it's time to get back to happy hour. Tonight's drink is a twist on a classic. Everyone has heard of a whiskey and Coke, or more specifically a Jack and Coke, but you can really make this drink by mixing any type of whiskey with any type of cola. 

Cheerwine is probably my favorite type of soda, or at least a close second behind cherry Coke. As I've said in previous posts, I'm a sucker for marketing that appeals to anything Southern or rustic. Cheerwine is classic Southern soft drink, and with the slogan "Born in the South, raised in a glass," I would probably be willing to buy it even if it was terrible. 

For this particular drink, we used Black Back Bourbon from Silverback Distillery, which I'll have a review of soon. But like I said, you can use any type of bourbon or whiskey for this delicious, simple cocktail.

Ingredients
2 oz. bourbon
Cheerwine

Directions
1. Pour bourbon over ice. Top with Cheerwine
2. Enjoy!

When I make drinks, I like to stick to the classics. That's why you've seen a lot of Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, Mojitos and other standard drinks on the blog so far. 

But every now and then I like to switch things up. My mom bought some blueberry vanilla shrub syrup from a local business, Red Root & Co. The syrup alone sounded interesting to me, but the back of the bottle had a recipe that intrigued me even more, so we decided to try it out. 

We grilled out last night and spent some time hanging out on our back porch, which seemed like the perfect time to enjoy a cocktail of the same name. The final product was an interesting mix, with the blueberry flavors present at the beginning followed by a wave of tartness from the cranberry and lemon juices. It's not a drink that will please everyone, but it was refreshing on a warm day. 

Ingredients
2 parts vodka
2 parts cranberry juice
2 parts Red Root & Co. Blueberry Vanilla Shrub
1 part lemon juice

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake
2. Strain into a glass filled with ice
​3. Enjoy!

Ever since I made the Rum Old Fashioneds the other night I've been on a bit of a rum kick. That continued recently when my parents and I did a virtual happy hour with my sister and we needed to come up with a drink. 

My mom has always been a big fan of mojitos, and after my parents' trip to Key West earlier this year she praised the fantastic drinks they had while they were there. 

They ate at multiple restaurants which were frequented by Ernest Hemingway, including Sloppy Joe's. If you're in Key West and you're eating at Hemingway's favorite restaurants, you have to get a mojito, so I've heard all about the great mojitos they had down there and decided to recreate them for our happy hour the other night. 

This is by far the most complicated drink I've made yet in the Quarantine Cocktail series, but it's worth it. It's got quite a few ingredients and is a little labor-intensive, but if you take the time to make one at home, you just might feel like you're on a tropical beach somewhere forgetting about the chaos going on around you. 

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com, but you don't have to follow it exactly. Theirs calls for 1/4 cup of club soda, but we just added the club soda until the glass was full. Likewise, you can add as much sugar as you like to get the drink tasting just how you want. 

Ingredients
10 mint leaves
1/2 lime, cut into wedges
2 tbsp. sugar
1.5 oz. rum
Club soda to top

Directions
1. Add one lime wedge and the mint leaves to a glass and muddle to release the lime juice and mint flavors
2. Add two more lime wedges and sugar. Muddle
3. Fill the glass with ice. Pour in the rum. Add club soda until the glass is full. Stir
4. Add one more lime wedge as a garnish and enjoy!

Pretty much every night since I've been home during this whole quarantine thing, I've had some kind of dessert. Whether it's ice cream, brownies or cookies, we're stocked up on sweets in our house.

So tonight, I decided to merge the cocktail and dessert into one - the Chocolatini. I found the recipe for this particular drink from The Spruce Eats, but you could make it in any style that you want.

The vanilla vodka makes a good base spirit, but any kind of coffee or chocolate liqueur would work as an ingredient in this cocktail, adding sweetness to your Friday happy hour. 

If you decide to make a variation of this drink with different ingredients, let me know what you try and how it turns out!

Ingredients
1.5 oz. vanilla vodka
1.25 oz. Bailey's Irish Cream
0.25 oz. Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur
Chocolate syrup for garnish 

Directions
1. Add vodka, Bailey's and Godiva to a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake
2. Drizzle chocolate syrup around the inside of a chilled cocktail glass
3. Strain mixture into glass
​4. Enjoy!

If you've been following along with my Quarantine Cocktails, you know the first drink I made was an Old Fashioned. The drink is traditionally made with bourbon and is one of my favorite drinks to make and enjoy. It's a simple drink that brings out the flavors of the spirit you use to make it, while adding a little sweetness from the simple syrup. 

For today's drink, all I did was swap out the bourbon for rum. Specifically, Papa's Pilar Dark Rum. 

My parents visited Key West earlier this year and raved about the experiences they had, including the rum. This particular rum is inspired by Ernest Hemingway's adventurous lifestyle and named after his boat, Pilar. 

Bottled at 86 proof, the rum is blended in bourbon barrels, port wine casks and Spanish sherry casks. It has sweet, earthy tones with a touch of spice, almond and apricot. It makes for a great mixed drink in the form of a Rum Old Fashioned. 

Ingredients
2 oz. Papas Pilar Dark Rum
1 tsp. simple syrup
3 dashes Angostura bitters
1 orange peel (I unfortunately was out of oranges when I made this drink, but it still works)

Directions
1. Add simple syrup and bitters to an Old Fashioned glass
2. Add the rum and a few ice cubes. Stir
3. Add an orange peel if you have one
4. Enjoy!

Sometimes you need a drink and you don't feel like putting a whole lot of effort into making it. That's when a cocktail with just two ingredients will really come in handy. 

While going through our liquor cabinet and seeing which bottles a nearly empty, I found some Captain Morgan and some Butterscotch Schnapps. I'm not a big fan of rum and I'm not even sure what schnapps are, so I would never drink either of these on their own. Mix them together, thought, and it makes a fine drink. 

Contrary to the name of this cocktail, there is no maple syrup involved. But you won't be able to tell after you down this shot. With the flavor that this drink has, you could have one with pancakes for breakfast or for dessert at the end of the night, no judgment here. 

Ingredients
0.5 oz. Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
0.5 oz. butterscotch schnapps

Directions
1. In a shot glass, add Captain Morgan and butterscotch Schnapps
​2. Enjoy!

In the strange, uncertain times that we live in, it's easy to get caught up in all the negativity that is going on. Take a look at the news or social media, and you'll find plenty of pessimistic people talking about worst-case scenarios. 

For today's Quarantine Cocktail, I want to get away from all of that a little bit and offer you some optimism. This is a somewhat original drink that I came up with thanks to some inspiration from my girlfriend. We were making Tequila Sunrises recently, and she said we should call them "Tomorrow's a New Day."

With that name in mind, I wanted to make this drink unique instead of just renaming a drink that already exists. Looking around the liquor cabinet, I found a bottle of pineapple rum that I thought would go great in this drink. It adds a little more sweetness and fruity flavor, while not becoming overwhelming. Perfect for feeling hopeful in times like these.

Ingredients
1.5 oz. tequila
1.5 oz. pineapple rum
3/4 cup orange juice
0.5 oz. grenadine

Directions
1. Add tequila, pineapple rum and orange juice to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until well-mixed.
2. Strain mixture into a glass filled with ice.
3. Drizzle grenadine into the drink. 
​4. Enjoy!

It's another day in quarantine, which means another cocktail to help you get through it. Today's featured drink is the Whiskey Sour, a drink that packs a lot of citrus flavor and a little sweetness. 

You can make a Whiskey Sour really easily by going to your local grocery or liquor store and picking up a bottle of already-made sours mix. But that's not as fun or fresh as making it from scratch.

Mixing the whole drink together yourself isn't difficult by any means. You just need a few more ingredients. For this drink, we'll again use the Ragged Branch rye whiskey, but any rye that you have in your liquor cabinet will work. 

Ingredients
2.5 oz. rye whiskey
1 oz. lemon juice
1/3 oz. simple syrup
1 maraschino cherry (garnish)
1 orange slice (garnish)

Directions
1. Add rye, lemon juice and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake
2. Strain the mixture into a cocktail glass (can be served over ice or straight up)
3. Add orange slice and cherry for garnish
​4. Enjoy!