Drunch (drəNtSH) n. drunk brunch
On your usual nights out you drink Natty Light and pound shots of Burnett’s, so getting a chance to drunch with real cocktails that actually taste good is what dreams are made of. Unfortunately, it’s a tad expensive and the bottomless brunch deals haven’t found their way to Lancaster quite yet. Fortunately, you can have your own bottomless brunch in the comfort of your own home without killing your wallet.
Prepare these cocktails with the right foods for an at-home drunch that will impress the pants off your friends:
Bloody Mary
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Prep Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 2 minutes
Servings: 1 (at a time)
Ingredients:
1 cup tomato juice or V-8
1 ounce vodka
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1 dash hot sauce (e.g. Tabasco)
1 cup ice
1 stalk celery
Salt and pepper
Directions:
1. Combine the ice, vodka, tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce in a cocktail mixer. If you don’t have a cocktail mixer, combine the ingredients in a glass.
2. If using a cocktail mixer, shake vigorously and then pour into a glass. If using a glass, stir well.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with a celery stalk.
Serve this classic brunch cocktail with a classic brunch dish – eggs Benedict. Top two toasted English muffins with pan fried Canadian bacon, two poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. Skip the tough steps by poaching your eggs in the microwave and using powdered hollandaise mix.
Mimosa
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A simple 1:1 ratio of sparkling wine and orange juice. For the best results, use a dry white wine and a smooth orange juice (aka no pulp because that’s gross) and keep the ingredients chilled in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Drink these alongside avocado toast topped with a fried egg.
Bellini
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Similar to a mimosa, this recipe calls for a 2:1 ratio of peach juice and champagne. Serve this classy cocktail with an equally classy dish – shakshouka. These Tunisian style eggs are surprisingly easy to make and are sure to impress any drunch guest.
Irish Coffee
Photo by Jessica Payne
The traditional recipe for Irish coffee calls for 1 teaspoon of brown sugar and 1.5 ounces of whiskey stirred into black coffee and topped with whipped cream. If your tastebuds aren’t attuned to whiskey, pour a generous amount of Bailey’s into your coffee and call it a day. Serve with lemon ricotta pancakes and berry compote.
Spiked Sweet Tea
Photo by Clark Halpern
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 10
Ingredients:
2 quarts water
4 hibiscus tea bags (or tea of choice)
1 cup sugar
1 bunch mint leaves (set some aside for garnish)
2 cups sweet tea vodka (e.g. Firefly)
2 lemons, sliced
Ice
Directions:
1. Boil water in a large pot on medium heat.
2. Add the tea bags and turn off the heat.
3. Let steep for 10 minutes.
4. Remove tea bags and stir in sugar.
5. Let it cool; you can put it in the fridge to speed up the process.
6. Combine mint leaves, lemon slices, tea and vodka in a glass pitcher and stir with a wooden spoon, crushing the mint and lemon to release the flavors.
7. Serve in a glass over ice and garnish with mint.
This Southern cocktail deserves a comforting down-home dish – fried chicken and waffles. If you don’t have a deep fryer, you can pan fry or bake strips of breaded chicken breast. No waffle iron? Serve up some Eggos. Drunch is really all about the drinks anyway.
Sangria
Photo by Krysten Dorfman
There are tons of different ways to make sangria. It has three basic ingredients – wine, soda and fruit – but you can change up each one to make an almost drastically different cocktail. Try a (cheap) zinfandel with ginger ale, fresh strawberries and peaches. Sangria perfectly compliments a spicy dish, so add some chorizo and hot sauce (I recommend Cholula) to these huevos rancheros for the perfect drunch combination.