Valentine's Day is Wednesday, February 14, and it usually means big business for bars and restaurants as couples dine out in large numbers leading up to and on the holiday.
Themed cocktails and dessert cocktails can help drive up check size, so be sure to add some Valentine's Day cocktail recipes to your menus.
We've rounded up some swoon-worthy Valentine's Day cocktail recipes to get you started.
Royal Holiday
Ingredients:
2 oz Empress 1908 Elderflower Rose Gin
1 oz Orange Juice
0.5 oz Pineapple Juice
0.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice
¼ oz Orgeat
Directions:
- Shake all ingredients with ice
- Strain over crushed ice in a rocks glass
- Garnish with pineapple fronds
Chocolate Lovers Martini
Ingredients:
¼ cup sugar-free chocolate chips, melted
Ice cubes
½ cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk
3oz vanilla vodka
2 packets Sweet ‘n Low®
Directions:
- Place melted chocolate on a plate and run the rims of 2 martini glasses through the chocolate. Set aside.
- Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add almond milk, vodka, and Sweet ‘n Low®. Shake vigorously until chilled, about 12 seconds.
- Strain into glasses and serve immediately
Mandrake
Ingredients:
0.75 oz Lemon Juice
0.25 oz Simple Syrup
0.50 oz Giffard Pampelmousse Rose
0.25 oz Beet infused Campari
0.25 oz Rosebud infused Giffard Crème de Peche
1.50 oz Raspberry Infused Hendricks Gin
4.00 oz Champagne Foam
1.00 ea Rose Petal
Directions:
- Shake with ice
- Double strain into a martini glass
- Top with foam
- Garnish with a rose petal
Mi Campo’s Rose Hip Cocktail
Ingredients:
1.5 oz Mi Campo Blanco
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz pomegranate juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
1 dash of cardamom bitters
1 lime
Pomegranate seeds
Ice
Directions:
- Add the Mi Campo Blanco, lime juice, pomegranate juice, simple syrup, and bitters into a cocktail shaker with some ice
- Shake vigorously
- Strain
- Garnish with a lime wheel and pomegranate seeds
Love in Paradise
Ingredients:
2 oz. Tito’s Vodka
½ oz. The Perfect Purée Strawberry
½ oz. The Perfect Purée Sweet Hibiscus
1 oz - The Perfect Purée Carmelized Pineapple
¼ oz. The Perfect Purée Lychee
1 oz. aquafaba
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
3-4 dashes rose water
edible flowers for garnish
Directions:
- Combine all ingredients in a shaker.
- Reverse dry shake.
- Double strain into a stemmed glass
- Garnish with edible flowers
Maestro Dobel’s Rosemary and Juliet
Ingredients:
2 oz Maestro Dobel Diamante
½ oz Raw Agave Syrup
1 oz Fresh Grapefruit Juice
¼ oz Fresh Lime Juice
3 Sprigs Rosemary
Directions:
- Muddle 2 sprigs of rosemary and agave nectar until the rosemary becomes fragrant.
- Add tequila, grapefruit, lime juices and ice to the shaker.
- Shake and double-strain into an ice-filled glass.
- Garnish with a rosemary sprig.
A Bitter Heart
Ingredients:
2 oz. Square One™ Botanical
½ oz. Campari
2 oz. The Perfect Purée El Corazon blend, thawed
5 inches of fresh rosemary sprig
Directions:
- In a mixing tin, strip ¾ of the rosemary sprig leaves in and set aside a sprig for garnish.
- Muddle the rosemary and add the remaining ingredients.
- Fill with ice and shake hard for 10 seconds.
- Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with the rosemary sprig.
Photo: Good Liquid Distilling
Garden Café
Ingredients:
1 oz Rum (we use Good Liquid Distilling Rum)
1oz Dry Curacao (we use Good Liquid Distilling Triple Sec)
Bar Spoon Simple Syrup (1:1)
3oz Oat Milk
Garnish: Rose Water Spritz + Rose Petals
Top: Whipped Coffee
- 4 parts granulated sugar
- 2 parts instant coffee
- 4 parts water
Directions:
For the whipped coffee:
- Combine 4 parts granulated sugar, 2 parts instant coffee and 4 parts water.
- Whip with an immersion blender and refrigerate until use.
For the cocktail:
- Combine all items into a shaking tin with ice and shake until properly diluted.
- Pour into a chilled cocktail glass and top with whipped coffee and edible flower petals.
- Perfume the base of your glass with a spritz of rose water.
Queen of the Lava Beds
Ingredients:
2 oz White Rum
2 oz Pisco
1 oz Velvet Falernum
1 oz Honey Syrup (1 part honey mixed with 1 part hot water)
1 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Pineapple Juice
2 light dashes Angostura Bitters
2 dash (~20-25 drops total) Absinthe
1/4 oz 151° Rum for garnish
Directions:
- Blend with 3/4 cup (6 oz) crushed ice for 5-10 seconds
- Pour into a 16 oz glass (or Tiki mug)
- Top with crushed ice (around 1/4 cup or 2 oz)
- Add a pair of straws and garnish with a floated spent half lime shell partially filled with 151° proof rum that was ignited
- This drink serves 2
Mint Condition
Ingredients:
1 oz mint tea-infused Broken Shed Vodka (recipe follows)
60 g 56% semi-sweet baking chocolate
170 ml whole milk
25 ml mint simple syrup
3 g cocoa powder
5 g corn starch, dissolved in a splash of milk
Pinch of salt
Garnish: 1 mint sprig
Mint Tea Vodka
- 15 mint tea bags
- 750 ml Broken Shed Vodka
Directions:
For the mint tea vodka:
- Add the tea bags to a glass container.
- Cover with Broken Shed Vodka and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- Strain back into your original bottle.
For the cocktail:
- Roughly chop the chocolate and add it to a small saucepan.
- Add a little of the milk until just covered and stir over medium heat until the chocolate has melted.
- Add mint simple syrup, cocoa powder, and a pinch of salt.
- While stirring, add the rest of the milk, followed by the cornstarch.
- Stir until thick.
- Add the mint tea-infused Broken Shed Vodka to a teacup and top with the hot chocolate.
- Stir gently and then garnish with a mint sprig.
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