The Drinkies: Cocktail Recipes For 2015 Tony Awards
By Radio.com Staff
Let's toast to the best Broadway has to offer with specially made drinks for some of the most nominated shows of 2015.
In honor of the 69th Annual Tony Awards, airing June 7 on CBS, we rounded up our favorite Broadway fan, Laura Heywood—better known on Twitter as BroadwayGirlNYC—and our resident bartender and comedian, Francesca Day for a bit of day drinking at the Paramount Hotel's Paramount Bar & Grill, along with their beautiful downstairs bar the Diamond Horseshoe. It was all to honor five of the biggest shows the Great White Way has to offer: An American in Paris, Something Rotten!, Hand To God, Airline Highway and Wolf Hall Parts One & Two—with their own special cocktail.
For each show we created a drink that would be perfect for the night's festivities including a classy French-inspired concoction, a spicy take on the Bloody Mary, a devilish drink that's also a little sweet, a boozy creation worthy of a night in New Orleans and a beer cocktail that even the Tudors would enjoy.
We even created some handy dandy recipe cards that you can print out and bring to wherever you go to the celebrate this year's awards show, hosted by Alan Cumming and Kristin Chenoweth.
Check out the videos below to learn more about both the drinks and the nominated shows before it airs.
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The “American in Paris”
Ingredients:
2 oz. Cognac
Dash of Angostura Bitters
Orange Juice
Orange
*You will need a cocktail shaker.
Directions:
The 12-time Tony nominated musical An American In Paris is a romantic tale about an American expat who finds love in the City of Lights. To keep with the Parisian theme, we’ve created a cocktail filled with cognac, a brandy named after the French town that was très popular in post-WWII Paris.
Fill a 16 oz. cocktail shaker with ice. Add cognac and a dash of Angostura bitters. Top it off with orange juice. Shake well, pour into a glass—we suggest a vintage Champagne glass to keep things extra classy. Garnish with an orange wedge.
Click here for the "American in Paris" recipe card.
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The "Something Rotten"
Ingredients:
Jalapeño-infused Tequila
Fresh Lime Juice
Tomato Juice
Lime
Directions:
This show about playwrights stuck in Shakespeare's shadow involves many hurled tomatoes, which also play an important role in this Bloody Mary-esque drink.
Start with jalapeño-infused tequila over ice. Add a splash of lime juice, followed by about 2 oz. of tomato juice. Stir, and garnish with a lime. If you want it even hotter, may we suggest you add a pinch (or three) of tobacco sauce.
Click here for the "Something Rotten" recipe card.
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The "Hand To God"
Ingredients:
2 oz. Citrus Vodka
Splash of Triple Sec
Splash of Simple Syrup
Sprite
Soda water
Directions:
Just like the 5-time Tony nominated play Hand To God, which is all about a hand puppet that gets taken over by the Devil, we’re putting our own spin on a classic devil by removing the sweetness and the color from the popular vodka cocktail from the '80s and '90s called the Red Devil.
Fill your cocktail glass with 2 oz. of citrus vodka. Add a splash of Triple Sec and a splash of simple syrup. Top it off with soda water and a bit of Sprite for some added sweetness.
We think even that foul-mouthed puppet Tyrone would have trouble badmouthing this simple and refreshing concoction. How about you?
Click here for the "Hand To God" recipe card.
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The "Airline Highway"
Ingredients:
Bourbon
Sweet Vermouth
Dry Vermouth
Brandy & Benedictine
Cherry
Directions:
Ever have a party where you've invited a few too many people, everyone is interesting, but you're not quite sure if it will work and then, it does? The "Airline Highway," a variation on the classic New Orleans drink the Vieux Carré, is kind of like that.
Pour ten counts of bourbon (less if you're a lightweight) into a shaker, followed by a dash of sweet vermouth and a dash of dry vermouth, which our bartender Francesca says is "perfect," meaning it's equal parts mix of sweet and dry vermouth. And the name is apparently not an exaggeration, just FYI. Then add a dash of B&B—Brandy and Benedictine. Shake it up, and strain it into a cocktail glass. Drop in a cherry.
Tip: if you're not that into bourbon, replace it with rye whiskey.
Click here for the "Airline Highway" recipe card.
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The “Wolf Hall Parts 1 & 2”
Ingredients:
2 oz. Bourbon
3 Dashes of Angostura Bitters
Bottle of Wheat Beer
Lemon
Cherry
Directions:
In celebration of the 8-time nominated show Wolf Hall Parts One & Two, we’ve created a beer-topped take on a whiskey sour that includes an extra dash of bitterness in honor of King Henry VIII, who was full of angst over the fact that his wives had not given him a male heir. Don’t worry though, no one will be losing their head over this drink—at least not literally.
Start with a rocks glass filled with ice. Add bourbon and then three dashes of Angostura bitters. Top the drink off with a healthy pour of wheat beer just like the Tudors would enjoy back in the 1500s. Add a twist of lemon for an extra bit of sourness and a cherry for some extra color.
Click here for the "Wolf Hall Parts 1 & 2" recipe card.
Watch the 69th Annual Tony Awards on Sunday, June 7 at 8/7c on CBS.
Follow Laura on Twitter for more Broadway news: @broadwaygirlnyc
Follow Francesca on Twitter for more funny, perhaps even drink-related, musings: @ohfrancescaday