Elevated Craft Double Walled Hybrid Cocktail Shaker
This cleverly designed cocktail shaker from Elevated Craft includes upgraded features that solve common problems for a home bartender—while keeping you from making a mess. Founder Adam Craft spent two years developing a tool that prevents leakage, sticking and freezing your hands. With double-walled stainless steel and vacuum insulation, this shaker will make the drink ice cold while protecting your hands and keeping condensation at a minimum. Its high-capacity measuring top, with both ounces and milliliters, brings an element of precision to craft cocktails, and the screw-on lid is secured with gaskets to prevent leaks while shaking. A strainer built into the pour spout keeps seeds, ice and other large items out of the glass. And the generous size holds up to 750 milliliters (that’s an entire standard bottle of liquor) even as the slim design makes it easy to grip and shake.
Crookedwood Hand-Sculpted Muddler
We found these cocktail muddlers from an artisan in Wisconsin, who individually sculpts each by hand to ensure a high-quality and unique product. The detailed contours of the handle make the muddler not only comfortable and easy to use but also beautiful for displaying on a bar cart. Crookedwood uses dense, lustrous hardwoods that are both attractive and durable.
Yes Cocktail Co. Lemon and Orange Slices Cocktail Garnish
Raise your cocktails to a professional level with these dehydrated lemon and orange slices, a favorite garnish of cocktail experts and Yes Cocktail Co. owners Lauren Butler and Brandon Alpert. Dropping these citrus wheels into any cocktail will add dramatic visual flair, but they’re also a surprise secret ingredient. Try grinding them in a spice mill with sugar—in powdered form, they release powerful citrus flavor and a bit of bitterness from the rind. Either mixed in or used to rim the glass, the spiced sugar will make a welcome addition to one-note mixed drinks. Every garnish comes from California-grown fruit and free of preservatives, so all your drinks get is pure citrus flavor.
Wild Hibiscus Flower Co. Flowers in Syrup
A small-batch product perfect for the holidays, these sustainably farmed edible hibiscus flowers bring berry-like sweetness to everything from drinks to desserts. Each jar contains 11 blooms packed in flavorful syrup that can be incorporated into drinks, dressings and dishes even once the flowers are finished. A bright, lively red, the hibiscus blossoms look almost like candy and taste of red berries and pomegranate.
Marchesi di San Giuliano Orange Slices in Syrup
We can't get enough of the warm, vibrant flavor of these orange slices in syrup, which our food editor, Matt Card, liken to deconstructed marmalade. To make them, organic blood oranges are hand-picked from the producer's own orchards, sliced finely with the rind still on, then briefly blanched to remove some of their bitterness and carefully layered in jars. The orange slices are covered with a reduction of orange juice, sugar and a touch of brandy—no pectin or artificial sweeteners—which contributes a vanilla-like roundness as well as sugary depth and richness. In addition to their rich flavor, we love the amazing texture of these orange slices, with a wonderful contrast between the silky pulp and surprisingly tender rind, which can be cut through with a fork.
Griottines (Morello Cherries in Liqueur)
French company Griottines uses a proprietary blend of brandy and kirsch—a clear liqueur distilled from whole cherries—to make these intensely flavored yet balanced cocktail cherries. They have a wonderful warm flavor and almond-like aroma that complements and rounds out the tartness of the fruit; cherries and almonds actually come from the same botanical family, and the cherry pits used to make kirsch impart a complex almond flavor that adds depth to Griottines. Unlike other cocktail cherries that taste only of sugar, these cherries retain a vibrant fruitiness—no doubt in part because the company macerates its cherries within six hours of when they are hand-picked off the branch. And because the cherries are sorted and selected by hand, you can be sure of a high-quality product, with whole, intact fruits that are perfect for garnishing your favorite cocktail or dessert.
Toma Original Bloody Mary Mixer
Peppery, acidic and slightly smoky, this Sip Award-winning bloody mary mix from Toma is more complex than your typical mix. It’s less sweet than standard fare, with a moderate kick: Toma makes their own sriracha and chipotle-tomatillo sauce, which they sub in for the typical vinegary hot sauce found in a bloody mary. Toma doesn’t use any artificial flavors, corn syrups or MSG, and unlike many bloody mixes, this one is vegan. The mix is nicely viscous and not too smooth; in addition to a balanced, delicious cocktail, it’ll make a great addition to a sauce or soup. Don’t just take our word for it: Toma’s bloody mary mixers have won six Sip Awards.
Blossoms Syrup Grenadine
The first ingredient in this Grenadine syrup by Blossoms Syrup is real fruit juice concentrate, unlike many other versions we’ve tried that end up tasting artificial. Popularized by the classic American drink, the Shirley Temple, grenadine is traditionally made from pomegranate, but most modern grenadines are actually nothing but sugar water, flavorings and dyes. Blossoms’ rendition is a deeply hued, sweet and tart syrup, purposely NOT made with pomegranate, because it normally gets lost and muddled by all of the other fruit flavors that make up grenadine. Instead, this syrup focuses on a mixture of blackberry, raspberry, blackcurrant and elderberry to get its tangy, balanced grenadine flavor. It hits all the marks, and doesn’t contain any colorings or flavorings. Use it in cocktails or mix with soda water for a refreshing drink, or drizzle on desserts.
Blossoms Syrup Passion Fruit
The first ingredient in this Passionfruit Syrup by Blossoms Syrup is real passion fruit juice concentrate, so the syrup actually tastes like passion fruit, not a laboratory formulation of what passion fruit should taste like. One of our favorites from the company, we see why this was the winner of a Great Taste award in 2012 and 2019. It’s sweet—but not cloyingly so—and levels out with a balanced tartness. It hits all the marks, and doesn’t contain any colorings or flavorings. Use it in cocktails or drizzle on desserts. The founders at Blossoms even like swirling it in yogurt.
Blossoms Syrup Pomegranate
The first ingredient in this Pomegranate Syrup by Blossoms Syrup is real pomegranate fruit juice concentrate, so the syrup actually tastes like pomegranate, not a laboratory formulation of what pomegranate should taste like. For the traditionalist who prefers pomegranate in their grenadine, this pure pomegranate syrup is a great option, as the fruit flavor doesn’t get lost or muddled. Winner of a Great Taste winner in 2018, it’s tart and tangy with just enough sweetness to keep it from tasting sour. It hits all the marks, and doesn’t contain any colorings or flavorings. Use it in cocktails or drizzle on desserts. We love it swirled into yogurt and granola.
Blossoms Syrup Sour Cherry
The first ingredient in this Sour Cherry Syrup by Blossoms Syrup is real cherry juice concentrate, so the syrup actually tastes like cherry, not a laboratory formulation of what cherry should taste like. Winner of a Great Taste winner in 2015, our kitchen called it “lip-smacking good”–rich and dark in taste and color with just enough acidity, reminiscent of cherry pie. It hits all the marks and doesn’t contain any colorings or flavorings. Use it in cocktails like a Manhattan, in drinks like a cherry lime rickey or drizzle over ice cream. We love it swirled into yogurt and granola.