Dandy brandy drinks

By Katherine

One more slice of fruit and you have breakfast

Brandy is a key ingredient in a drink we serve on Thanksgiving and in our cranberry sauce, so whenever we see it on sale in the fall we grab a bottle. Normally, we use the rest of the bottle for cooking, but this year we’re determined to try out some brandy cocktails. We’ve learned something in our experiments so far: I like brandy more than Greg does. (This may be because the stuff we buy for cooking isn’t exactly the highest quality.) He threw a splash of orange juice in his Old-Fashioned took a few sips and let me finish the rest. He then went into the kitchen to make a dirty martini. Knowing he wasn’t a fan of the stronger brandy drinks, I doubled the amount of orange juice in the second drink.

Brandy Old-Fashioned

• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 dashes bitters
• splash of soda
• 1 1/4 ounce brandy

Put sugar, bitters and soda in a tumbler, swirl around to incorporate. Add ice cubes and brandy. Garnish with orange slice or cherry or both.

Those oranges are burning my eyes

Burnt Orange (adapted from The Ultimate Cocktail Book)

• 3 drops orange or Angostura bitters (we used chocolate bitters)
• juice from one orange
• 3 measures brandy

Pour ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Do the hippy hippy shake. Strain into martini glass. Decorate with orange slices.