Pimp & Hoe

The Pimp & Hoe is what happens when a drink is named at the end of the night rather than the beginning. It is a big orange highball built on Cointreau and Everclear, stretched with six ounces of orange juice and tightened with a squeeze of lemon, and it tastes considerably more innocent than either its name or its ingredient list would lead you to expect.

That is precisely the problem. Cointreau brings a rounded candied-peel sweetness, the orange juice brings bulk and brightness, the lemon keeps the whole thing from going syrupy, and the Everclear brings nothing at all to the flavor while bringing a very great deal to everything else. It is neutral grain alcohol bottled at up to 190 proof, more than twice the strength of a standard vodka, and it is completely undetectable underneath six ounces of juice. A drink that tastes like breakfast and hits like a decision is a drink worth respecting.

Glass: Cocktail glass | Strength: Strong | Serves: 1 | Prep Time: 2 minutes

Bartender’s tip: Two practical notes. This comes to roughly eight ounces of liquid, which is not going anywhere near a cocktail glass, so build it over ice in a highball and ignore the glassware the legacy recipe specifies. And treat the Everclear measure as a ceiling rather than a starting point. Swapping in an ordinary vodka costs you nothing in flavor, because there was no flavor to lose, and leaves you with a drink whose strength matches what it tastes like.