Three Cocktails for the Country Club Set

Country club cocktails are a specific kind of drink. They are crisp, a little tart, never too sweet, and they always look better in a coupe than they have any right to. After a season of testing on the porch, these are the three we keep coming back to.

The first is the Cranberry Gimlet. Two ounces of a clean London dry gin, three-quarters of an ounce of fresh lime juice, a half ounce of cranberry cordial, and a bar spoon of simple syrup. Shake hard with ice until the outside of the tin frosts, then double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a single thin wheel of lime. It is bracing, dry, and exactly the right drink to hand someone the minute they step off the tennis court.

The second is the Sconset Spritz. Build it directly in a wine glass over a large ice cube. Two ounces of dry vermouth, one ounce of Aperol, a generous splash of cranberry juice, and top with chilled prosecco and a hit of soda. Garnish with a rosemary sprig and a single fresh cranberry. It is lighter than a classic spritz, a shade pinker, and it disappears alarmingly fast at sunset.

The third is what we call the After Dinner. Equal parts good bourbon, sweet vermouth, and cranberry shrub, stirred over ice for a full thirty seconds, strained into a coupe, and finished with an expressed orange peel. This is the drink for the second hour of dinner, when the candles have burned down and someone has put on a record. It is autumnal even in July.

A few rules apply to all three. Use fresh citrus, always. Chill the glassware in the freezer for at least ten minutes. Make one at a time if you care about balance, or batch carefully if you are hosting more than four. And never, under any circumstances, skip the garnish.