Stinger

White, unless you want a drink the color of toothpaste. The two taste nearly identical, since the green is dye, but green over cognac looks wrong in the glass. White leaves it pale gold, which is what a digestif should look like at midnight.

Past a 2:1 ratio it tips over. Older recipes go as high as equal parts, which suited the rough brandy of the day and is punishing now. Start at 50 ml cognac to 20 ml menthe, and pull the menthe back to 15 if your bottle is a sweet one.

Cognac is traditional and its dried-fruit weight sits well under mint, but armagnac or a decent Spanish brandy both work. Rye gives you the version some bars list as a Whiskey Stinger. Vodka just leaves you with cold peppermint and nothing behind it.

After dinner, where it is one of the few cocktails that genuinely helps. Mint reads as a palate cleanser and the sugar is low enough not to sit heavy. It also serves as a summer nightcap, on nights when brandy on its own feels like too much work.

A classic Stinger calls for 50 ml (1.75 oz) Cognac, 20 ml (0.75 oz) Crème de menthe. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

A standard Stinger is roughly 35% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it spirit-forward — closer to a Martini than to a beer, so sip it slowly.

A Stinger is stirred, not shaken. It contains no citrus juice, so stirring keeps it crystal clear and silky instead of cloudy and aerated.