Electric Screwdriver

What’s great about the Screwdriver? It’s easy to make, with readily-available ingredients: vodka and orange juice. But these can also prove its downfall: overly-medicinal vodka, and worse, fake OJ squirting out of a gun behind a bar, or glop-glop-glopping from a plastic bottle.

We say nay. The Cocktail Vultures like nothing more than a good home improvement.

Naturally, we turned to fresh fruit when we decided to make a better Screwdriver. We torqued it up a bit by adding zesty lemon and grapefruit. That lent it zing, along with floral notes. And we tossed in orange bitters because we just can’t leave well enough alone.

When choosing a vodka for this drink, open the bottle and take a deep whiff. If all you can think of is rubbing alcohol, chances are it will make your cocktail too medicinal and undermine all that fresh fruitiness you just squeezed into it.

To get the right amount of zest, which adds a wonderful fragrance, just grab your grater and draw it lightly a few times over the skin of the fruit, doing your best to only reap the colored part and not the white stuff.

To an iced shaker, add:

3 ounces freshly-squeezed orange juice
1/2 ounce freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 ounce freshly-squeezed grapefruit juice
2-3 ounces vodka (adjust to your personal taste)
2 dashes orange bitters
Zest of grapefruit
Zest of lemon
Zest of orange

Shake it vigorously, and strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Garnish with a cherry and some fruit wheels.

Want to use your Electric Screwdriver at its highest efficiency setting? Make a pitcher of these for that brunch table or deck party.

To a large, ice-filled glass pitcher, add:

12 ounces orange juice
2 ounces lemon juice
4 ounces grapefruit juice
8-12 ounces vodka, to taste or the drinking habits of your crowd
4-5 dashes orange bitters

Stir this thoroughly and throw in some slices of citrus or a few fresh mint leaves.

Always drink responsibly; always drink well.