Professor of Cocktail Studies

Posters like this appear with increasing frequency in the women’s restrooms of bars—and bartenders should know the code regardless of whether their own bar has the poster. A less common but equivalent variant for men is the “Johnny Depp Shot.” (The name derives from the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation case.)

Sometimes you want to serve your guests something special, but don’t want to go to a lot of trouble making it.   In that case, surprise them with a Pearl Harbor. The Pearl Harbor is a cocktail nominally made with 1/2 oz vodka, 1/2 oz melon liqueur, and pineapple juice as a lengthener.   Build on ice but there is certainly no need to shake; not even much reason to stir. Midori Melon Liqueur is the way you want to go if you want to be kind of a snob, but it doesn’t taste all that much like melon—although it’s made in Japan, which I suppose is in keeping with the theme.   I found Leroux Melon Liqueur a better choice. Given that Pearl Harbor got bombed, it seemed reasonable to give one's guests the same opportunity, so I adjusted the recipe to increase the vodka to 1 1/2 oz, and since you (presumably) want the melon liqueur to be prominent, I ramped that up to 1 oz.   Which makes the pineapple juice less “forward.” Because pineapple juice is involved, a pineapple...