7 Elegant Port Wine Cocktails to Experience Port in a New Way

Port is more than an after-dinner fortified wine. Try it in our delicious port wine cocktails.

Published March 10, 2023
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This sweet, fortified wine is a total star in cocktails. You might be furrowing your eyebrows at this, and nobody blames you for being skeptical. But consider this - port is a sugary, sweeter style of wine. With this, the idea of a port cocktail is actually quite alluring. And yes, they are that delicious.

Port New York Sour

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You know the New York sour, a whiskey sour topped with a float of merlot or cabernet, but did you know you can give it that same treatment with a bit of tawny port?

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. In a cocktail shaker, add bourbon, lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg white.
  2. Dry shake (without ice) for approximately 45 seconds to mix ingredients and create a froth.
  3. Add ice to shaker.
  4. Shake to chill.
  5. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
  6. Slowly float port on top by pouring down the back of a bar spoon, careful not to mix.
  7. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Port Old-Fashioned

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Swap around the simple syrup for the sweet tawny port instead. This old-fashioned looks wonderful in your head next to a book and a cozy blanket.

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces bourbon
  • ¾ ounce tawny port
  • ¼ ounce maple syrup
  • 3-4 dashes aromatic bitters
  • 1-2 dashes orange bitters
  • Ice
  • Orange wheel for garnish

Instructions

  1. In a mixing glass, add ice, bourbon, port, maple syrup, and bitters.
  2. Stir rapidly to chill.
  3. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
  4. Garnish with an orange wheel.

Port Negroni

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Tawny port takes the place of sweet vermouth (are you sensing a theme?) in the softer version of the classic negroni.

Ingredients

  • 1½ ounces gin
  • 1½ ounce Campari
  • 1½ ounce tawny port
  • Ice
  • Orange twist for garnish

Instructions

  1. In a mixing glass, add ice, gin, Campari, and tawny port.
  2. Stir rapidly to chill.
  3. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
  4. Garnish with an orange twist.

White Port and Tonic

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White port has a stronger flavor of honey and vanilla, with a hint of citrus and oak. Stir that up with some tonic water and you have a heavenly highball.

Ingredients

  • 2½ ounces white port
  • Ice
  • Tonic water to top off
  • Orange slice for garnish

Instructions

  1. In a highball or rocks glass, add ice and white port.
  2. Top off with tonic water.
  3. Stir briefly to mix.
  4. Garnish with an orange slice.

Port Manhattan

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Vermouth who? Put the ruby port to good use in a Manhattan riff that's a little boozier than others, so take care you don't take a nap on a bench in Central Park.

Ingredients

  • 1½ ounces rye whiskey
  • 1 ounce ruby port
  • 1-2 dashes aromatic bitters
  • Ice
  • Cocktail cherry for garnish

Instructions

  1. Chill a martini glass or coupe.
  2. In a mixing glass, add ice, rye, port, and bitters.
  3. Stir rapidly to chill.
  4. Strain into the chilled glass.
  5. Garnish with a cocktail cherry if desired.

Port Cosmo

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There's no need to click your ruby port together for a little bit of magic. Not for this cosmo riff, at least.

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces ruby port
  • ¾ ounce orange liqueur
  • ½ ounce cranberry juice
  • ½ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
  • Ice
  • Lemon wheel for garnish

Instructions

  1. Chill a martini glass or coupe.
  2. In a cocktail shaker, add ice, port, orange liqueur, cranberry juice, and lime juice.
  3. Shake to chill.
  4. Strain into the chilled glass.
  5. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

Port Lemonade

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Here's a sweet and sour and boozy drink that'll be your new favorite brunch drunk as you lounge on your deck in the sunshine.

Ingredients

  • 1½ ounce citron vodka
  • ¾ ounce ruby port
  • Ice
  • Lemonade to top off
  • Lemon slice for garnish

Instructions

  1. In a highball glass, add ice, citron vodka, and port.
  2. Top off with lemonade.
  3. Stir to mix.
  4. Garnish with a lemon slice.

Dip Into the World of Port Cocktails

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Port is more than just something you find at the bottom of a dessert menu or in your father's hand. Port is a versatile cocktail ingredient that can breathe new life into your favorite classic or turn lemons into a balanced lemonade. There's no limit to what you can do with port. Why not start now?

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7 Elegant Port Wine Cocktails to Experience Port in a New Way