Alcohol

Limas Congeladas Rellenas de Sangrita y Tequila Most sangrita recipes include tomato as well as orange juice, hence the name ("little blood"). This spicy, salty juice mixture is a traditional chaser for straight tequila. If you don't have time to prepare the frozen lime cups, just pour the sangrita and tequila into shot glasses. Pair the sangrita with a reposado tequila, which has been briefly aged to impart richer, more complex flavor and a smoother sip. (See "Wine & Spirits" for some great top-shelf tequilas.)

From the Café Iguana restaurant, in Denver, Colorado.

Here is the perfect present for those who indulge in holiday eggnog  — a mixture of spirit and spice to blend into the Christmas beverage. To make the gift complete, pour it into a beautiful bottle and tie a small nutmeg grater and some whole nutmegs around the neck with a festive ribbon.

A rickey can be described as a cross between a collins and a sour. Other liquors may be substituted for the gin in this classic recipe.

This intoxicating champagne cocktail was named after a French 75-millimeter gun used in World War I. Many American bartenders claimed to have invented the drink. One recipe, from 1919, called for absinthe, Calvados, and gin, but no champagne. Supposedly, the champagne version was introduced at Harry's New York Bar in Paris in 1925. Or the cocktail might have originated with American soldiers in Paris, who added gin and liqueur to champagne to crank up its potency.

A New Orleans specialty that combines dark coffee with brandy, citrus and spices, this gets its name from the French words for coffee and burnt brandy. We've added a couple of twists, spiking it with Grand Marnier and topping it with whipped cream.

Chicama is one of Manhattan's hottest Nuevo Latino restaurants. Chef Douglas Rodriguez — a pioneer of this style of cooking — oversees the open kitchen with its Ecuadoran eucalyptus-wood-burning oven and rotisserie. Rodriguez turns out dishes like adobo-rubbed Argentine rib-eye steak and black paella, which gets its unique color and taste from squid ink; there is also a large, innovative ceviche bar. To wash it all down, diners choose from the wines of Chile, Argentina and Spain — or from cocktails like the restaurant's namesake Chicama Colada.