10 Drinks You Can Make With Bodega Ingredients

Some bartenders would have you believe it takes a degree and a fully stocked bar to craft delicious cocktails. The truth is, it's really not that difficult at all. Riffs on tried and true classics can be achieved with just the liquor store and the bodega, and for far less than you'll spend at the bar.

Counter candy is really garnish, while Welch's grape jelly makes a flip—a bartender's favorite flare-filled cocktail—a simple drink to impress to impress all your friends.

These ten cocktails can be made from any bodega in N.Y. (And your liquor store, of course.) Flex at the Christmas and New Year's parties. And feel free to substitute and add more booze where needed.

Written by Hannah Norwick (@HannahNorwick)

RELATED: Fancy Forties: 10 Malt Liquor Cocktails

Ingredients

Fill a martini glass with ice and cold water. Set aside. In a shaker combine all ingredients. Top with ice and shake vigorously, until very frothy. Strain into up glass, garnish with a candy cane or top with Ret Hots.

Ingredients

In blender, combine all ingredients plus ice. Pulse until ice is coarsely chopped. Pour into glass, top with cinnamon.

Ingredients

Bring three cups of water to a rolling boil. Pour in one honey bear, stirring until combined. Set aside and let cool.

In a shaker, combine all ingredients. Shake vigorously, and strain into a martini glass, or into a Collin glass over ice, topping with club soda. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Ingredients

Fill a wine glass with ice, pour in all ingredients and stir. Serve with a straw.

Ingredients

Rim a pint glass with lime juice and Lowry's. Fill glass with ice and add all ingredients, filling to top with beer to finish. Stir. Adjust lime and hot sauce to your taste. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Ingredients

Combine all ingredients except for club soda, top with ice and shake. Pour into a Collins glass, top with club soda. Garnish with a lime wheel and a cherry.

Ingredients

Garnish

Fill a martini glass with ice and cold water. Set aside. In a separate glass combine gin/vodka, pickling juice, and ice. Stir until glass is totally cold to the touch. Remove water from martini glass. Strain mixture into glass and garnish with any pickled condiment and a plantain chip.

Ingredients

In a separate glass, muddle one to two slices of canned mango. Add rum and half a teaspoon of mango canning syrup. Stir. Transfer mixture into a flute. Top with chilled prosecco. Garnish with any bodega candy made by Harbo.

Ingredients

To make simple syrup, bring four cups of water to a rolling boil. Add four cups of sugar and stir until completely combined. Let cool before using, especially with eggs! Warning: Eggs will cook if simple syrup is hot!

In a bar glass (or any container with a top that you can shake) combine all ingredients, making sure to only use egg whites. Discard yolk. Shake all ingredients with NO ice for about 30 seconds. Add ice and vigorously shake again, at least another thirty seconds.

Strain contents into a neat glass. Top with a dash of Angostura bitters if available.

Ingredients

Garnish

Rim glass with the juice of a lime wedge and roll in Lowry's Seasoning Salt. Build your drink in a separate glass, combining all ingredients and then stirring. Pour all contents into rimmed glass. Garnish with pickles, olives, beef jerky, and a lime wedge.