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

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.

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

• 2 ounces bourbon
• 1 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ¾ ounce simple syrup
• 1 egg white
• Ice
• 1 ounce tawny port
• Lemon twist for garnish

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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?