DIY Alabama Slammer

You may have heard the Alabama Slammer called by another name, the Southern Slammer. Either way, the drink is more or less the same, and it’s been popular since about the 1980s. It may not be the oldest “classic” on our list, but it is certainly a crowd pleaser! While you can make this by the glass, it’s just as good made by the pitcher. Arguably better if you’re hosting a large get-together! We’ll show you how to do it both ways. 

Ingredients:

Amaretto - We recommend Disaronno, but any will work.

Whiskey - Traditionally Southern Comfort is the way to go here, but any whiskey with a good fruity/spice blend will do. 

Gin - Here it gets a little tricky, to make it truly right you need a sloe gin. This is a gin made with sloes (a fruit in the same family as plums). However, if you don’t have this on hand you can always flavor your gin with a little bit of plum syrup, or add frozen plums for garnish!

Orange Juice - Go nuts here, extra pulp, no pulp, or anything in between! Keep in mind that not all orange juice products have the same sweetness. 

Simple Syrup - This is 100% optional, usually the drink comes without it but some people find just a little extra sweetness makes this drink even smoother. Whatever you do, don’t use straight sugar! It won’t dissolve and mix correctly and will make your drink uneven and gritty. 

How to Mix A Glass

This is the best part because it’s just so simple! Take all of your ingredients:

• 1 oz Amaretto
• 1 oz Whiskey
• 1 oz Gin
• 2 oz Orange Juice

Pour them all into a shaker with ice, and shake. Strain into a glass (classically a highball glass) over fresh ice. Garnish to your taste, we recommend the classic orange wheel and cheery, and serve with a straw! If you try it and find you’d like a little more sweetness this is where you can add the simple syrup (a little goes a long way) and stir it in with your straw. 

Make a Pitcher For The Whole Party!

You’re busy and want to prepare this drink in advance, we hear you! Like sangria, an Alabama slammer can sit for a bit and be just as good! However, you’ll want to change things up a bit. 

Since we don’t know the size of your pitcher (or punch bowl if you want to get really fancy) we can’t give you -exact- measurements. However, as you might have noticed this is a drink that comes in parts. So use the following ratios and you’ll be just fine! If you’re serving this relatively soon, make sure you have two containers in advance, trust us!

• 1 Part Amaretto
• 1 Part Whiskey
• 1 Part Gin
• 2 Parts Orange Juice

Finding a shaker big enough to put all this together will be hard. Instead, we recommend pouring everything over ice and stirring like mad. So, why two containers? If you’re serving this soon you’ll want to save yourself a lot of time by mixing this with ice in one container and then straining it into the second container to serve to your guests. 

If you aren’t serving it soon, or if you just really hate dishes, stick with one container and mix the batch without ice. Letting this drink sit with ice melting in it for who knows how long is a crime. Your guests can pour the perfect Alabama Slammer themselves over fresh ice!