Drink Ideas for Your March Madness Hoopla Tue, Sep 19, 23 Drink Ideas for Your March Madness Hoopla This year, Cox’s Spirit Shoppe in Louisville is offering up some tasty drink ideas for your March Madness hoopla! While this has been a season where emotions have run high, the ups and downs of March Madness may need a little tempering for the entire state of Kentucky. Therefore, a few basketball-themed cocktails should do the trick. Sure, beer and sports go together like, well, beer and sports, but sometimes you may want something with a little more kick and pizazz during an exciting game. So go ahead and call over your friends and rivals, light up the grill, and mix together the best of these basketball-themed cocktails for your March Madness hoopla. Continue on for Cox’s Louisville’s best March Madness-inspired drinks and hop online to order your ingredients for at-home delivery! THE SLAM DUNK With a perfectly appropriate name like The Slam Dunk, this beverage is sure to score some points with the gang. Better still, it’s a pot-style drink that you can make and leave for your wily guests to serve themselves, a perfect style of beverage during a heated game.This recipe features blended scotch whiskey, Drambuie, red wine and mint tea, all warmed together in a slow cooker for easy serving. It’s a spicy, smokey, slightly sweet concoction that will definitely live up to its name at your watch party. Ingredients 13 ounces of your favorite blended scotch whiskey 6.5 ounces of mint tea 1 bottle of Bordeaux red wine 3 and 1/4 ounces of Drambuie 3 naval oranges 13 whole star anise pods Instructions Using a grater, zest two of the oranges over a slow cooker. Add in the rest of the ingredients and bring them to a simmer. Once simmering, turn the heat down to low and serve in punch glasses with an orange twist and a star anise pod. You can purchase these ingredients and more online from Cox’s Louisville to have them hand-delivered through our ongoing partnership with Drizzly.com CORSAIR What’s better than beer and margaritas? A beer and a margarita together in one beverage, of course. For those moments when you want a beer, but you need something with a little more kick, this cool cocktail is the perfect companion to your favorite party snacks and a good game. The corsair is a drink originally crafted for the Booker & Dax bar in New York City. It’s made with Blanco tequila and Bitterman’s Habanero Hellfire Shrub, which adds a nice afterburner to the tanginess. Paired with your favorite American ale, it’s a guaranteed hit at your next watch party. Ingredients 2 ounces of limoncello 2 ounces Blanco tequila 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice 1/2 ounce lemon syrup 10 drops Bittermen’s Habanero Hellfire Shrub 2 dashes of salt Your favorite American ale Instructions Pour all the ingredients into a mixer with ice and shake vigorously for about 20 seconds. Strain the mixture into a chilled coupe glass and serve with a bottle of beer on the side. You can purchase these and more online from Cox’s Louisville to have them hand-delivered through our ongoing partnership with Drizzly.com THE ALLEY-OOP A perfect follow-up to The Slam Dunk, this sweet and tangy beverage is great for those that enjoy cocktails with a little sweet pizazz. This cocktail combines the sweet smokiness of rye whiskey and ginger syrup along with a refreshing muddling of raspberry and mint to create a cocktail with character. Ingredients 1 1/5 ounces of your favorite rye whiskey 1/2 ounce lemon juice 1/4 ounce ginger syrup 1 teaspoon simple syrup 3/4 ounce sparkling water Raspberries Mint leaves Instructions Add the raspberries and mint leaves to a shaker and muddle together. Next, add ice along with the whiskey, lemon juice, ginger syrup and simple syrup. Shake vigorously, then add the sparkling water. Strain into a coupe or punch glass and serve. You can purchase these and more online from Cox’s Louisville to have them hand-delivered through our ongoing partnership with Drizzly.com BLOODY BULL Perfect for those marathon days that start early, this spin on the classic Blood Mary will bring a touch of brunch to your March Madness hooplas. The Bloody Bull is literally a beefier cousin to the Bloody Mary: Enriched with beef bouillon, this spicy, tomato-y cocktail is an honored companion to those looking for something to pace themselves with during marathon games. Ingredients 2 ounces of your favorite vodka 2 ounces of tomato juice 2 ounces prepared beef bouillon 1/2 ounce of fresh lemon juice 3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce 2 dashes of Tabasco Sauce 1 pinch of salt 1 pinch of freshly ground black pepper 1 lemon wedge for garnish Directions Add all the ingredients minus the lemon wedge to a shaker filled with ice. Shake lightly until everything is mixed and chilled. Strain the mixture into a collins glass filled with ice and garnish with the lemon wedge. You can purchase these and more online from Cox’s Louisville to have them hand-delivered through our ongoing partnership with Drizzly.com THE FREE THROW The free throw is the diplomat of basketball scoring; common and easy to execute. As such, its namesake cocktail should be a breeze to make and easy to throwback. And this particular drink is exactly that. Made with bourbon whiskey, bitters, and sugar, this drink is incredibly easy to concoct and goes down oh-so-smooth. Perfect for those tense games where you’d rather be sipping your drink and cheering instead of worrying about a complicated cocktail recipe. Ingredients 2 ounces of your favorite bourbon whiskey 1 teaspoon bitters 1 tablespoon sugar Orange wedge and cherry for garnish Instructions In a tumbler, muddle the bitters and sugar together. Add bourbon, ice, top with an orange wedge and cherry and enjoy. You can purchase these and more online from Cox’s Louisville to have them hand-delivered through our ongoing partnership with Drizzly.com THE JUMP SHOT Rounding out our March Madness cocktail list is The Jump Shot, the perfect complementary cocktail to the Bloody Bull. Basketball brunch never sounded so good: Orange vodka, orange juice, Amaretto and cream make this tasty concoction perfect for those early morning weekend games. And for the weekend marathons that stretch on into Sunday, this drink is a great hair-of-the-dog remedy too. Ingredients 1.5 ounces of orange vodka 1.5 ounces of orange juice 1/2 ounce of Amaretto 1/2 ounce of cream Instructions Add all the ingredients to a shaker filled with ice and shake lightly until chilled. Strain into tumblers and serve. You can purchase these and more online from Cox’s Louisville to have them hand-delivered through our ongoing partnership with Drizzly.com March Madness Drink Recipes Luckily, Cox’s Neighborhood Liquor Store has just about every ingredient you need to make your March Madness party a success. So find your nearest location or check us out online through our Drizzly delivery service at your convenience. By inquiries@coxslouisville.com
