12 Delicious Drinks for Your 2014 Oscars Party

Every year, my friend Sandee throws a big Oscars viewing party and serves drinks themed around nominated movies. This year won't be any different...except that I got her to pony up her drink recipes so I could share them with you!

Whether you're throwing an Oscars party this Sunday and looking for themed drinks or are just looking to experiment, I think you'll enjoy these:

1. The Red Carpet
1 1/2 ounce chocolate vodka
1/2 ounce cointreau or triple sec
2 ounces fresh strawberry juice (about 4-5 strawberries)
2 dashes bitters
Black and White chocolate covered strawberries for garnish (looks like a tux)

Directions: Make the strawberry juice with a blender or a juicer. Put all the ingredients in the cocktail shaker and add ice. Shake the drink and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with strawberry.

2. American Hustle
1/2 oz. American dry gin
1/2 oz. sloe gin
1/2 oz. Campari
1/2 oz. yellow Chartreuse
1/2 oz. Orange cognac liqueur (such as Grand Marnier)
3 dashes orange bitters
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Fresh Mint leaves
Club soda

Directions: 1 bunch white grapes and 1 cup granulated sugar (1 day before, break grapes down into small bundles, dampen and coat with sugar. Place bundles in individual plastic bags and freeze for 12 hours.) Combine gin, sloe gin, Campari, Chartreuse, orange liqueur, orange bitters and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake until cold. Fill a Collins glass with ice layered with a few mint leaves. Strain mixture into glass, top with club soda and stir to combine. Serve garnished with frozen sugared grapes

3. Captain Phillips
1 1/2 oz. Captain Morgan spiced rum
3 1/2 oz. orange juice
3/4 oz. Somali spice syrup (see recipe below)
2 dashes orange bitters
Orange wedge, for garnish

Directions: Combine rum, orange juice, spice syrup and orange bitters in a rocks glass with ice. Stir well until combined. Garnish with orange wedge.

4. Somali Spice Syrup
½ tsp. cumin seeds
2 tbsp cardamom pods
1 tsp cloves
1 cinnamon stick, broke in half
¾ cup water
¾ cup sugar

Directions: Toast cumin seeds in a saucepan until fragrant, about 3-5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and increase heat to bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Allow mixture to cool in pan and strain out spices. Transfer to a container to chill in the refrigerator.

5. Dallas Buyers Club
If you saw the movie, this drink is all about changing to healthy habits…probably healthier without the vodka!
1 1/2 oz pear vodka ( keep mine in the freezer so it stays ice-cold)
1 1/2 oz pineapple juice, chilled
1 1/2 oz cranberry juice, chilled
2 raspberries for garnish

Directions: Line the rim of a chilled glass with sparkling sugar: run a lemon wedge along the edge of each glass, then dip into a plate piled with sparkling white sugar (look for it on the cookie-decorating aisle at the grocery store.) Twist the glass back and forth in the sugar to evenly coat. Add a couple raspberries to glass, then top with pear vodka, pineapple juice and cranberry juice. Stir if desired (or leave unstirred to give a slight ombré effect to the drink’s appearance).

6. Gravity
1 ½ oz cassis
2 oz vodka
½ oz triple sec
1 oz lemon juice
1 ½ oz juice

Directions: Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice, strain and serve in martini glasses with black liquorish strings, pomegranate seeds and lemon zest for garnish. ( The zest and seeds make the drink look like outer space).

7. Her
Crushed Oreos
3/4 ounce agave nectar plus more for the rim
1 3/4 ounces vodka
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce black cherry liqueur
1/2 ounce white grape juice
Lemon and sugar to garnish

Directions: Prepare a martini glass by coating the rim with cookie: Moisten the rim of the glass with agave nectar about 1/8 inch deep. Then dip the rim into the crumble so it sticks. Combine the agave nectar, vodka and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake, and strain into the prepared martini glass. Lastly, again in a shaker, mix the black cherry liqueur and juice, shake lightly, and strain slowly into the martini glass along one edge so that this mixture slides to the bottom of the glass and pools underneath the previously poured mixture.Make your lemon wheel garnish by coating a round slice of fresh lemon with sugar.

8. Nebraska
Plain old American Beer

9. Philomena
2 oz Vodka
2 oz Fresh Grapefruit juice
1 oz Tonic water

Directions: Combine vodka and grapefruit juice in a frosted Highball glass with ice. Top off with tonic water and serve with a straw.

10. 12 Years a Slave
4 to 6 fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 ounce gin
1/2 ounce Cointreau
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
1 ounce fresh grapefruit juice
Club soda

Directions: Muddle the basil and sugar in the bottom of a mixing glass to make a paste. Fill the glass with ice, then add the gin, Cointreau, lime juice, and grapefruit juice. Cover, shake until cold, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, preferably through a fine-mesh sieve. Garnish with a slice of grapefruit and a basil leaf. Optionally top with club soda.

11. The Wolf of Wallstreet
Dry Vermouth
2/3 oz Vermouth
2/3 oz Whiskey
2/3 oz Cream de Cacao

Directions: Add one dash of Dry Vermouth and two dashes of Angostura. Serve in a Cocktail Glass with a lime slice

12. Saving Mr. Banks
Mary Poppins Punch

Directions: Place six ounces of orange juice and six ounces of lemon juice in the freezer until they freeze. Take them out of the freezer and place them in a large punch bowl. Add a two-liter bottle of 7UP. Then add one quart of fruit punch (doesn't matter which brand) and mix the ingredients together. Ten minutes before your guests are set to arrive, scoop some rainbow sherbert on top. When you serve the punch, place a cherry in each glass first. Decorate with a drink umbrella if you have one.