3 colorful classic cocktails perfect for valentines day
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Want some simple, three ingredient, classic cocktails with a slight twist that will up your cocktail game for valentines day weekend? These are perfect. These beautifully colored spirits and (in my personal opinion) gorgeous vintage barware are all you need to make date night at home, Galentines day hangs, or some me time special.
I couldn’t let the love holiday pass without taking the chance to make and photograph dreamy cocktails. Sure Valentines day is a corporate bullshit holiday blah blah blah - I know, but I love holidays so I don’t care. Life is hectic, and it can’t hurt to have a reminder every now and then to be intentional about expressing how grateful we are for the people in our lives. So if it’s cheesy I don’t care, I wanted to play with some dreamy love colors so here we are!
Sometimes Valentine’s Day cocktails are super complex and often a little sweet for my taste. Don’t get me wrong, I have elaborate dreams for future Valentines day cocktails that use creative home infusions, specialized syrup, and fresh flowers, and maybe if I can get my shit together next year we can explore those, but I am in love with these beautiful, classic cocktails that give off just as much charm with simple recipes.
A boulevardier in love
The cocktail
Let’s start with the simplest of them all. This is just your classic boulevardier. A cocktail created to satisfy American palettes in Paris during the prohibition, the boulevardier is naturally ready for v-day thanks to the red italian bitter, Campari. This is the perfect cocktail to make with ingredients you can find at any solid liquor store. Boulevardier means a worldly, social, man, a word that referenced the Parisian boulevards such men walked. So now when I drink these I imagine a fancy dude with a heart of gold falling in love in a french cafe somewhere with one of these in hand!
Boulevardier recipes range, of course, but many call for equal parts of all three ingredients. I love equal parts cocktails - others include the negroni and the last word, but I personally like the boulevardier with a pinch more bourbon. Equal-ish though!
The glass
I found this fun tumbler at an estate sale recently (found a bunch of other great stuff there too!) and thought it was perfect to add to my personal collection as I think it’ll be so fun to photograph with! What do you think?
The recipe
1.25 oz bourbon
1 oz campari
1 oz sweet vermouth
Orange twist
The method
Since this cocktail is made with only boozy liquids, the proper way to prepare it is to stir! Grab a mixing glass, some ice, and a bar spoon. Combine all ingredients, stir, and strain over ice - a big clear cube if you’ve got the ability to make them!
Flowers for your lover - a pink french 75
The cocktail
This beautiful pink French 75 was inspired by one of my favorite people - my friend Fran. I am going to be her matron-of-honor later this year and I am so freaking excited. Naturally, I knew I had to make a custom cocktail recipe just for her, and this is the very first iteration of whatever that will be! I don’t want to give away all the secret reasons why I chose these elements just yet, but I can’t wait to share after the big celebration!
The french 75 is a gin-based pre-prohibition champagne cocktail that is perfect for celebrating absolutely anything really! To give this classic cocktail rosey hue, I doubled up on the pink! For the gin base I used Bloom jasmine and rose gin, which has a naturally has a light pink color. Then I used rosé to top it off! Honestly, it would likely be light pink even if you went with regular gin, but then you’d miss out on the unique florals of Bloom and the deeper color! For garnish, I grabbed some dried jasmine and it all came together so beautifully! Flowers are really what make this cocktail unique, and in this case that continues right down to the glass!
The glass
I mean - is this not the perfect pink glass for Valentines Day? This tall and elegant Mikasa tulip-shaped glass with a sea coral stem is technically a water goblet, but I think it is actually perfect for champagne cocktails and any other cocktails that are served up. Sold for only a few years in the 1980’s, this rosey crystal is delicate and gorgeous and feels like the equivalent of a long silky robe. Also, it kind of looks like it had a heart shape on the top of the stem, right? I told you. Perfect pink glass for Valentine’s day. I have a set of two available in the shop right now!
The recipe
1 oz Bloom jasmine and rose gin
.5 oz simple
.75 oz fresh lemon juice
3 oz champagne
dried jasmine or lemon twist garnish
The Method
Combine the gin, simple syrup, lemon juice, and ice in a shaker. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a lemon twist or edible flowers of your choice!
you’re the bees knees
The cocktail
I’ve told y’all before how much I love a bees knees, and I also happen to be obsessed with the beautiful range of purple hues that can be born from Empress, a gin infused with pea blossom and black tea inspired by Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia. Empress is everywhere these days, but I just don’t tire of it and I think it is a great gin at an approachable price with a gorgeous color! It paired perfectly with the other two ingredients in the prohibition-era cocktail from France - honey or honey syrup and lemon juice.
The glass
The origin of these etched vintage coupes remains a mystery to me (please let me know if you know!), but they are just so freaking cool! I found them alongside lots of 1930’s glassware (some available here!), so it’s possible they are from around that time. Either way, they are really unique, with beautiful floral etching and a faceted bowl. I talked all about my love for coupes in my first “Through the Drinking Glass” post, so check that out if you love this glass as much as I do!
The recipe
Ingredients
2 oz Empress gin
.75 oz lemon
.5 oz honey
Lemon twist heart
The method
Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice, shake and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon heart.
How to make a Lemon twist heart
For the lemon twist heart, use a Y peeler to peel a lemon around the center.
Cut off the uneven edges and carefully remove any of that white stuff between the rind and the inside of the fruit - that is pith and it can lend an unpleasant bitter taste to cocktails.
Slice a long thin strip from the evenly cut rectangle.
Take each end of the thin strip and join them together into a heart shape.
Grab a cocktail pick and peirce it through the top of the heart shaped lemon making sure to go through the inverted center.
If the bottom is not as pointy as you like, you can temporarily add another cocktail pick here to help shape it.
When you drink is ready, remove the bottom pick if you used it, place on your drink, and enjoy!
prohibition & mid-century coupes
There you have it! Three simple, three-ingredient cocktails perfect for Valentines day weekend. Does anyone want a deep dive Cocktails in Context post about any of these lovely classics? Let me know in the comments. And if you make any of these beauties make sure to tag us on Instagram @kindred.spirits.cocktails!