Where to find a good takeout meal - Honolulu Sta

10 Best Cocktail Bars In Dallas

Audio By Carbonatix

[ { "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size", "component": "18855504", "insertPoint": "2", "requiredCountToDisplay": "2", "watchElement": ".Fdn-content-body", "astAdList": [ { "adType": "rectangle", "displayTargets": "mobile" } ] },{ "name": "Editor Picks", "component": "17105533", "insertPoint": "4", "requiredCountToDisplay": "1", "watchElement": ".Fdn-content-body", "astAdList": [ { "adType": "rectangle", "displayTargets": "desktoptablet" },{ "adType": "rectangle", "displayTargets": "desktoptabletmobile" } ] },{ "name": "Inline Links", "component": "18349797", "insertPoint": "8th", "startingPoint": 8, "requiredCountToDisplay": "7", "maxInsertions": 25 },{ "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content", "component": "17105532", "insertPoint": "8th", "startingPoint": 8, "requiredCountToDisplay": "7", "maxInsertions": 25, "watchElement": ".Fdn-content-body", "astAdList": [ { "adType": "rectangle", "displayTargets": "desktoptablet" },{ "adType": "rectangle", "displayTargets": "desktoptabletmobile" } ] },{ "name": "Inline Links", "component": "18349797", "insertPoint": "8th", "startingPoint": 12, "requiredCountToDisplay": "11", "maxInsertions": 25 },{ "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content", "component": "17105535", "insertPoint": "8th", "startingPoint": 12, "requiredCountToDisplay": "11", "maxInsertions": 25, "watchElement": ".Fdn-content-body", "astAdList": [ { "adType": "leaderboardInlineContent", "displayTargets": "desktoptablet" },{ "adType": "tower", "displayTargets": "mobile" } ] } ]

The 10 Best Cocktails To Make With A Bottle Of St-Germain

St-Germain, a French elderflower liqueur, has been the darling of the craft cocktail scene since its launch in 2007. The sweet and floral liqueur is frequently referred to as "bartender's ketchup" within the drinks industry based on its approachable flavor profile and easy-fix, duct tape capabilities in creating a crowd-pleasing cocktail. 

The popular cocktail modifier was originally launched by New York City-based Cooper Spirits Company, led by the late Robert J. Cooper, heir to America's oldest cordial producer, the Philadelphia-based Charles Jacquin et Cie. 

Cooper was initially inspired by the elderflower liqueurs he had tried in Europe and when he brought the idea to his father, the product idea was supposedly rejected. Soon after leaving his family's company in search of creating something of his own, the floral elixir in the sculptural Art Deco bottle hit the liquor shelves and back bars with a bang. Within a year, St-Germain was fully embraced by bartenders and a smash amongst consumers trying it for the first time. 

The liqueur is named after Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the famed district in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, known for its cafe culture, and as a center for artistic and philosophical expressions.

The flavor of elderflowers when made into an extract, syrup, or liqueur is uniquely floral, honey-like, and fruity with notes of lychee, pear, and sweet citrus.  St-Germain liqueur claims to have the essence of up to 1,000 fresh elderflowers, clusters of delicate white flowers from the elderflower tree, in each bottle. The flowers are hand-picked from the foothills of the French Alps and harvested in a short window of a few weeks in late spring. The result is a delicately sweet cordial with aromatics that range from slightly floral honeysuckle and rose to ripe peach and juicy grapefruit. The liqueur is known for its versatility and can enhance and complement a variety of spirits from rich, perfumy gins, and earthy agave spirits to aged brown liquors. It is also a go-to spritz ingredient alongside sparkling wine and soda.  If you're looking for ways to use St-Germain in a cocktail, we've selected some of our current favorites. Here are 10 of the best cocktails to make with St-Germain elderflower liqueur.  

01 of 10

Photographer: Jen Causey, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall, Prop Stylist: Claire Spollen Currently very in vogue, the Hugo Spritz was created in Northern Italy in 2005. Combining St-Germain liqueur with Prosecco, seltzer, and a large bouquet of mint sprigs for garnish, the drink was originally made with lemon balm cordial instead of elderflower liqueur and called the Otto. With the name change came the tweak in ingredients and the rest is history.

02 of 10

This refreshing and floral cocktail has had a recent boost in popularity due to the rumor that it is one of Taylor Swift's current favorites. The French Blonde features Lillet Blanc, a generous amount of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, gin, elderflower liqueur, and a few dashes of lemon bitters for extra zest.

03 of 10

Matt Taylor-Gross / Food Styling by Lucy Simon / Props from HAY Pisco, St-Germain, freshly squeezed lime juice, and lychee syrup from canned lychee combine to create this easy-drinking refresher. What makes this cocktail stand out is that it's served over ginger beer ice cubes that, as they slowly melt, contribute to the drink with rich ginger spice and a sweet kick. 

04 of 10

Frederick Hardy II / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christine Keely This riff on a Whiskey Sour is sweet, tart, complex and frothy. The Arigato Sour is made with Japanese whisky, elderflower liqueur, the juice from kabosu — a small, citrus fruit similar to yuzu — plum gin liqueur, simple syrup, and egg white for a frothy, foamed top. Lime or yuzu can be subbed in the place of kabosu if it cannot be sourced. 

05 of 10

Matt Taylor-Gross / Food Styling by Lucy Simon This ruby red spritz from Los Angeles' Motherwolf restaurant calls for St-Germain elderflower liqueur alongside bittersweet Sirene aperitivo, a red aperitif similar to Campari, and is topped with bubbly Prosecco. 

06 of 10

© Wendell Webber This delicate Sangria from veteran bartender Lynnette Marrero has a base of tropical-fruit-inflected Sauvignon Blanc, with St-Germain elderflower liqueur and Cointreau. Strawberries, raspberries, peaches, oranges, and a pound of green and red grapes make up the fruit in this elegant Sangria punch.

07 of 10

Frederick Hardy II / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Risha Carnes This batched cocktail is a cross between a Negroni and a Spritz. Equal parts Campari, elderflower liqueur, and gin get an additional floral boost from orange blossom water. The drink is then topped off with dry sparkling wine and grapefruit slices for garnish.

08 of 10

Frederick Hardy II / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Christina Daley Clementine juice combines with smoky mezcal, elderflower liqueur, and sweet fizzy orange soda in this fruity punch. This large-batch cocktail gets an aromatic boost from Peychaud's bitters and sliced tangerines, fresh kumquats, whole cloves, whole star anise, and fresh sage leaves are added as garnish, making this a perfect end-of-summer to fall cocktail for a crowd.

09 of 10

Greg Dupree / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Christina Daley This mezcal-based spritz, also made to serve a crowd, is sweet, smoky, and slightly spicy. Coconut water, dry vermouth, ginger syrup, mezcal, elderflower liqueur, sweet vermouth and brut Champagne combine together to create the Yax Cha, named after the Mayan word for mamey, a fruit that grows on the zapote tree in Mexico.

10 of 10

Photo by Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Melissa Gray / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell This herbaceous cocktail was created around Utah-based Waterpocket Distillery's Long Lost Minthe, an unsweetened peppermint liquor with fresh mint and citrus notes. Grapefruit juice, elderflower liqueur, and fresh lime juice round out this aromatic sipper. A variety of botanical-forward spirits can be substituted for this hard-to-find spirit, including Fernet-Branca Menta and Dolin Genepy Le Chamois Liqueur.

Thanks for your feedback!

We Tried 30 Popular Energy Drinks. Here's How They Rank

Buying energy drinks in public is embarrassing. Every time I see someone scanning the cooler for their favorite flavor of Monster or Ghost, I guess which accompanying vape flavor they've picked out, and I know others are making the same assumption about me when I'm scoring a can of Celsius to beat back a hangover or get lifted before a 10-hour bartending shift.

The good news is that it's easier than ever to purchase your favorite cans from Amazon, and the great news is that you don't need to put on your Crocs and Cookie Monster jammies to do it. Throw in a nice little discount for buying in bulk and setting up auto-delivery, and you're basically being paid to not leave your house. The future is here, and it is jacked up on B vitamins, red dye, and taurine.

As a devoted coffee drinker, I often feel like the misquoted New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael when I see neon-colored tallboys of high-octane energy drinks usurping shelf space from my favorite Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew variants at my local Sheetz. Energy drinks are big business—they raked in close to $20 billion in the US alone in 2023—yet I don't know a single person who drinks them on a regular basis.

A good cup of coffee is hard to find at odd hours in the middle of nowhere. Energy drinks, on the other hand, are as no-fuss as it gets. At any hour of the day you can pick out an eye-catching can that boldly advertises its caffeine content, plunk down a few bucks, and shoot into space in just a few swigs. Homebodies and deal junkies don't even need to leave their domiciles to cop excellent deals with lightning-fast shipping on their most beloved brands, provided they're Amazon Prime members.

I love value, convenience, and caffeine, so I finally caved.

Still thirsty? Check out our other drink-related guides, including Best Coffee Subscriptions and Best Nonalcoholic Wines.

Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting that's too important to ignore for just $2.50 $1 per month for 1 year. Includes unlimited digital access and exclusive subscriber-only content. Subscribe Today.

How We Tested

Across the span of 21 days I sampled 30 different energy drinks from an amalgamation of readily available gas station staples, brands the Amazon algorithm was pimping extra hard that day, everything in the Whole Foods end cap that advertised its caffeine content, and a couple oddballs from the past you probably don't remember.

I graded on taste, which is obviously subjective, and the palpable effects of the caffeine after knocking back a can at 8:30 am every day, after my daily 1.5-mile run with my dog. The extra cans were deployed two hours into shifts at my part-time bartending gig. I took one day off from the experiment due to gut-wrenching stomach pain and horrible night sweats. If there's a Ghost-addled gamer in your basement as you read this, please consider offering them a wellness check, or a refill on their tendies at the very least.

1. Celsius Functional Essential Energy Drink

Photograph: Pete Cottell

Celsius Functional Essential Energy Drink, Sparkling Orange (12-pack)

Though it has less carbonation than most energy drinks, Celsius is punchy without a cloying aftertaste and it does wonders in masking the medicinal notes that are present in similarly potent drinks. This is an absolute unit when it comes to the caffeine-to-volume ratio, and not a single flavor I tried was objectively bad.

Celsius is a hot up-and-comer for a reason, and it's not shocking to see entire fridges stocked with its whole portfolio right next to the checkout counter at a growing number of gas stations. The can has a whole lot of text I will never read, but it's attractive and not too much in the extreme gaming or health-nut quackery camps to dissuade potential buyers who care about being seen in public with an energy drink. Like the Beatles or In-N-Out, this is a consensus pick everyone agrees on.

---