Alabama Slammer

Alabama Slammers are great tasting drinks. There are two versions, a highball and a shooter. Either one should come out the same color of the picture above or sometimes they look like dark orange juice. So if your end result looks like either, you probably mixed it right.

The main liquor in an Alabama Slammer is Southern Comfort (also very tasty with SunDrop.) Southern Comfort is a peach flavored whiskey that bartenders refer to as "pisky." It also has Sloe Gin in it. Sloe Gin is a berry flavored gin. It is really more of a cordial liquor than hard liquor because it is sweet and the alcohol content is low (usually 15-30%.) Typically you will find Sloe Gin with the cordials in a liquor store and not with the gin. Last but not least it has amaretto. Cheap amaretto will work for this recipe. It is not necessary to buy Disoronno which is pricey and the only top shelf brand of amaretto that I am aware of.

As for any drink recipe you really need a jigger and a shaker. If you don't have a jigger, find a measuring cup. If you purchase a shaker, the best ones are the tin shakers because the metal and ice will make the drink super cold. When you are at the store, check to make sure the strainer and top come off fairly easily. Sometimes the tops stick and they are a total pain in the ass. The only exception to the tin shaker is if you plan on making lots of gin martinis and then you should go with a plastic or glass shaker. Gin doesn't fair well in metal and I will explain that in a martini recipe later. If you don't have a shaker, find some kind of cup with a lid that you can shake without spilling it or put it in a tupperware bowl with a lid to shake it.... whatever works.

Now, if you have a shaker, put everything in your shaker, put the strainer part on and THEN put the top cap on. Most people put the strainer on with the cap on. It will trap air, not seal and expensive liquor and sticky juice will fly all over the place when you start shaking. Alcohol abuse such as this is never cute.

Alabama Slammer Shooter

1 ounce Southern Comfort (large side of jigger)
1/2 ounce of amaretto (small side of jigger)
1/2 ounce of sloe gin (small side of jigger)
Splash of orange juice

Put ice in your shaker, pour in your booze, shake it hard about 10 times and strain into a glass. *Make sure you really strain all your shooters. You don't want even one single piece of ice to slip into a shot. It's really a party foul for the shooter to start choking and that's usually what happens.*

Alabama Slammer Highball

1 ounce Southern Comfort (large side of jigger)
1/2 ounce of vodka (small side of jigger)
1/2 ounce of amaretto (small side of jigger)
1/2 ounce of sloe gin (small side of jigger)
2-3 ounces of orange juice

The only difference here is the vodka which is totally optional and that you use more orange juice. Shake it hard 10-15 times and strain it into a tall glass. I shake and strain all my drinks into a glass filled with ice. The ice in the shaker will be half melted after you shake it and fresh ice will make the drink colder.


If you want to get all fancy with it, you can garnish it with what bartenders call a flag. It is a cherry and an orange slice stuck together via plastic sword. A toothpick will work or you can just toss it in the glass. Some bartenders will squeeze the garnish in the drink before dropping it. I never did that because getting a drink where my fruit has already been squeezed freaks me out. I don't know why but I think its creepy.

Happy Drinking!