Entertaining

9 Red, Orange and Yellow Cocktails for Leaf Peepers

The delicate color of the Lion’s Tail is a red—er, orange herring, which belies the drink’s potent flavors. Bourbon gets a zesty hit of fresh lime juice and Angostura bitters, but it’s the inclusion of allspice dram that takes this classic in an unexpected direction. The peppery flavors of baking spices create a curious combo with the tart lime and sweet bourbon that’s as surprising as the first pop of fall color among the still-lush summer foliage.

Get fall’s full color spectrum in one highball with this super simple ombré cocktail. A combination of Campari and satisfyingly artificial orange soda, the two-ingredient sparkling cocktail may remind you of a Tequila Sunrise, but the duo of bitter booze and sweet soda brings a lot more complexity than the grenadine-tinged classic. With just two ingredients, the cocktail is easy to prepare on-site, should you take your ingredients to go on an outdoor fall escapade.

If cool weather has got you craving heat, look no further than this bright, spicy classic, which backs up its lively yellow color with jalapeño. The pepper combines with honey to make sweet fire, which, in turn, ignites the sour base of gin and lemon juice. The drink will leave your mouth watering for another sip, and not just from the tingling capsaicin.

Named for a restaurant shaped like a brown derby hat and not for the drink’s hue, the Brown Derby is actually a pleasing mellow shade of orange. Dark bourbon is perked up with grapefruit juice and smoothed out with honey syrup, likening it to a seasonally-appropriate Hemingway Daiquiri.

Adding sloe gin and Southern Comfort to a Screwdriver creates an entirely new drink from the basic boozy juice duo. It’s not only a whole lot harder to order without giggling, but also adds a bit of depth both in taste and color, changing the bright yellow of straight-from-the-carton orange juice to a deeper, dustier orange.

Leaf-peeping may not be as popular an activity south of the Mexican border, but that’s just because locals have vivid, colorful pineapple cocktails like the Baja Gold to stare at. Fresh pineapple juice livens up silky smooth reposado tequila in this juice-driven take on the classic Margarita.

From far away, the Garibaldi looks like any other orange highball, but only upon closer inspection, the sleeper tiki drink reveal its true nature. Based on gold rum and layered with Averna, falernum and lime, the cocktail provides any tired autumnal bar with some much-needed tropical refreshment. The Garibaldi’s orange color, meanwhile, fits in equally well among bright Polynesian tiki decor and fall’s ruddy color scheme.

Fall is all about rediscovery, as old stomping grounds adopt new looks during the shifting season. You may be familiar with sloe gin from the Sloe Gin Fizz, but the gin liqueur takes on new life when combined with drier gin, lemon juice and grenadine. The sweet, berry-loaded drink evokes late summer fruits, the vanishing berry season and the flavors of change.

You thought we missed the Negroni, didn’t you? While that iconic red cocktail will forever have a place in our hearts, we’re recently enthralled by this bright, neon relative, which is actually a take on the lesser-loved White Negroni. The bitter, lemony liqueur Aveze creates the yellow color, while Cocchi Americano joins the usual blanc vermouth and gin to fill out this floral and woody variation on the classic.