Cocktail Wars Episode 3 Recipes: Mixology 101 Drinks

Cocktail Wars episode 3 recipes cover more ground than any episode so far: twelve drinks across three challenges, including two full cocktail flights in the final. The episode, titled Mixology 101, aired on E! on August 25 and stripped the format back to fundamentals. Three mixologists, three escalating challenges, one eliminated after round two, and $10,000 for the last one standing, with Joey Fatone and Lance Bass hosting and master mixologist Melissa Brooke judging. Below is the Cocktail Wars episode 3 recap plus every recipe, each with a one-tap link to save it to your Velvet Shelf account.

Every spec below comes straight from the official episode 3 recipe page at cocktailwars.com, so the measurements are exactly what the competitors poured. Save any of them and the recipe lands in your bar with cocktailwars.com credited as the source.

Who competed on Cocktail Wars episode 3?

Mark Buettler, Lily Chun and Em Hammond made up the field. Mark and Lily split the first two rounds between them, Em was cut after the free-pour challenge, and the final came down to a pair of three-drink bourbon flights. Mark took the episode and the $10,000.

The three challenges each named a base spirit. Ford's Gin for the first impression, Jack Daniel's Bonded Tennessee Whiskey for the skills round, and Woodford Reserve Bourbon for the creative final.

Round 1: The Bartender's Best Friend, a first impression with Ford's Gin

Ten minutes to make a first impression with gin. Two of the three competitors reached for a rapid infusion, which tells you how the modern bar thinks about a short clock: change the base spirit first, then build around it.

Pear for the Course (Mark Buettler)

The round winner. It reads like a Negroni with the vermouth dialed down and pear and hibiscus turned up, and the quarter ounce of lime keeps the hibiscus syrup from going jammy.

Glass: Rocks glass over a large ice cube
Garnish: Dried pear slice and hibiscus flowers

Ingredients

• 1 oz Dried pear infused Ford's Gin
• 1 oz Red Bitter Caffo
• 1/2 oz Cinzano Vermouth Rosso
• 1/2 oz Monin Hibiscus Syrup
• 1/4 oz Fresh lime juice
• As needed Dried pear and hibiscus flower flakes

Method

Infuse the gin with dried pear, either by rapid infusion or a 24-hour rest. Stir all ingredients with ice for 30 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube. Garnish with the dried pear slice and hibiscus flowers.

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Canal Street (Lily Chun)

Apple three ways, gin, Calvados and sour apple liqueur, with a whisper of lychee and celery bitters. The malic acid is the trick: it gives the drink the tartness of a green apple without adding citrus juice to a stirred cocktail.

Glass: Chilled glass
Garnish: Orange coins on a string

Ingredients

• 1 dash Fee Brothers Celery Bitters
• 1 oz Apple-infused Ford's Gin
• 1 oz Boulard Calvados
• 1 tsp Bols Sour Apple Liqueur
• 1 tsp Bols Lychee Liqueur
• 1 tsp Belvoir Farm Elderflower Syrup
• 1/2 tsp Malic acid

Method

Infuse apple peels into the gin using an iSi whipper. Make a malic acid solution. Stir all ingredients with ice and strain. Garnish with orange coins threaded on a string.

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The Wave Hill (Em Hammond)

A garden-party gin sour with butterfly pea flowers for color that shifts from blue to violet as the lemon hits it, and chamomile bitters for a soft floral finish.

Glass: Rocks glass over ice
Garnish: None listed

Ingredients

• 2 oz Ford's Gin
• 2 barspoons Butterfly pea flowers
• 1/2 oz Monin Honey Syrup
• 1 oz Lemon juice
• 1/4 oz Belvoir Farm Elderflower Syrup
• 1/4 oz Simple syrup
• 3 dashes Luxardo Chamomile Bitters

Method

Combine the ingredients in shaker tins, add ice and shake. Double strain over ice.

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Round 2: Free Pour, a skills challenge with Jack Daniel's Bonded

The skills challenge was the free pour: no jiggers, build a classic by count and feel with Jack Daniel's Bonded Tennessee Whiskey. Lily's Manhattan won the round and sent Em home.

Manhattan (Lily Chun)

The round winner and a textbook two-to-one Manhattan. The only flourish is a pair of black walnut bitters dashes, which nudge the bonded whiskey toward the nutty side.

Glass: Coupe
Garnish: Luxardo maraschino cherry

Ingredients

• 2 oz Jack Daniel's Bonded Tennessee Whiskey
• 1 oz Cinzano Vermouth Rosso
• 2 dashes Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters
• 1 dash Fee Brothers Old Fashion Aromatic Bitters
• 1 Luxardo maraschino cherry

Method

Stir all ingredients with ice. Pour into a coupe and garnish with the cherry.

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Blood Orange Whiskey Sour (Mark Buettler)

A whiskey sour that leans tropical, with yuzu-pineapple syrup and coconut flakes shaken right into the egg white. Serving it long over ice is unusual for a sour and keeps it sessionable.

Glass: Highball glass over ice
Garnish: Blood orange slice

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz Jack Daniel's Bonded Tennessee Whiskey
• 1 oz Monin Yuzu & Pineapple Syrup
• 3/4 oz Fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp Coconut flakes
• 1 Egg white
• 1 oz Fresh-squeezed blood orange juice

Method

Dry shake without ice for texture. Add ice and shake 10 to 15 seconds. Strain into a highball glass over ice. Garnish with a blood orange slice.

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Old Fashion (Em Hammond)

A generous old fashioned at two and a half ounces of whiskey, with toasted almond bitters layered under the usual aromatic dashes.

Glass: Rocks glass over a large cube
Garnish: Orange twist and cherry flag

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 oz Jack Daniel's Bonded Tennessee Whiskey
• 3/4 oz Monin Pure Cane Syrup
• 3 dashes Fee Brothers Toasted Almond Bitters
• 6 dashes Fee Brothers Old Fashion Aromatic Bitters
• 1 Luxardo maraschino cherry
• 1 Orange peel

Method

Mix in a glass mixing jar. Pour over a large cube in a rocks glass. Garnish with the twist and cherry flag.

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Final: Cocktail Flights with Woodford Reserve

The creative challenge asked the final two for a flight: three small cocktails that tell one story, all built on Woodford Reserve Bourbon. Mark's flight walked through a Kentucky Sunday from brunch to dinner. Lily's flew to three tropical destinations. Each drink below can be saved on its own.

A Sunday Kentucky: Brunch (Mark Buettler)

First stop on the episode-winning flight: a bourbon mimosa with a pinch of citric acid so the orange juice tastes freshly squeezed even after the Champagne goes in.

Glass: Champagne flute
Garnish: Orange peel, expressed

Ingredients

• 1 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
• 1 oz Orange juice
• 1/4 tsp Citric acid
• 1 oz Simple syrup
• 2 to 3 oz Lanson Le Black Creation Champagne
• 1 Orange peel

Method

Mix the citric acid into the orange juice. Shake the bourbon, acidified orange juice and syrup for 5 seconds. Strain into a champagne flute and top with the sparkling wine. Express the orange peel over the top and garnish.

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A Sunday Kentucky: Afternoon Tea (Mark Buettler)

The middle of the flight is a spiked sweet tea, essentially a bourbon Arnold Palmer. Scale the syrup back if your sweet tea is already sweet.

Glass: Highball or pint glass over ice
Garnish: Lemon wheel

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
• 1 oz Simple syrup
• 3/4 oz Fresh lemon juice
• 4 to 5 oz Sweet tea

Method

Shake all ingredients for 10 seconds. Strain over ice in a highball or pint glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

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A Sunday Kentucky: Dinner (Mark Buettler)

The closer: bourbon, espresso liqueur and fresh chili shaken together, with chocolate bitters for a mole-like finish. Two chilies is a real kick; start with one.

Glass: Rocks glass over a large cube
Garnish: Red chili

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
• 1 1/2 oz Galliano Espresso Liqueur
• 1 to 2 Small red chilies
• 5 to 6 dashes Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters

Method

Shake the bourbon, espresso liqueur and chilies for 10 to 15 seconds. Add the bitters before straining. Strain over a large cube in a rocks glass. Garnish with a red chili.

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Three Tickets to Paradise: Tropical Highball (Lily Chun)

First leg of Lily's flight, a built-in-the-glass bourbon highball with yuzu, pineapple and watermelon soda. No shaking, no straining, ready in under a minute.

Glass: Highball
Garnish: Basil

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
• 3/4 oz Citric acid solution
• 1/2 oz Monin Yuzu & Pineapple Syrup
• 1/4 oz Simple syrup
• 2 oz Q Watermelon Lime Refresher

Method

Build in the glass over ice and stir gently. Garnish with basil.

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Three Tickets to Paradise: Guava Old-Fashion (Lily Chun)

An old fashioned with guava syrup standing in for the sugar cube and cherry bitters doubling the fruit. The simplest drink in either flight and arguably the most repeatable at home.

Glass: Rocks glass
Garnish: Raspberry

Ingredients

• 2 dashes Fee Brothers Cherry Bitters
• 2 dashes Fee Brothers Old Fashioned Aromatic Bitters
• 1/4 oz Monin Guava Syrup
• 2 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey

Method

Combine all ingredients with ice and stir. Strain over ice and garnish with a raspberry.

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Three Tickets to Paradise: Ube Sour (Lily Chun)

The finale of Lily's flight: a lavender-purple bourbon sour sweetened with ube syrup, with a dash of almond extract that makes it taste like a Filipino dessert.

Glass: Coupe
Garnish: None listed

Ingredients

• 1 dash Almond extract
• 2 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
• 1/2 oz Monin Ube Syrup
• 1/4 oz Simple syrup
• 3/4 oz Lemon juice
• 1 Egg white

Method

Dry shake all ingredients without ice. Add ice and shake again until chilled. Double strain into a chilled coupe.

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How the episode played out

Mark's pear and hibiscus stirred drink took round one, then Lily answered with a clean free-pour Manhattan to take round two and send Em Hammond home. The final was two flights against each other, and the judges went with Mark's Sunday-in-Kentucky arc from a bourbon mimosa through spiked sweet tea to a chili-espresso nightcap. Mark Buettler won the episode and the $10,000.

Three techniques worth stealing from episode 3

Acid solutions in stirred drinks. Both Lily and Mark used citric or malic acid instead of citrus juice where they wanted brightness without cloudiness or dilution. A 10 percent solution, one gram of acid to nine grams of water, is the standard place to start.

Rapid infusion with a whipper. Pear into gin, apple peels into gin: both finalists changed the base spirit in minutes with an iSi and a nitrous charge. Dry fruit and peels work best; wet fruit waters the spirit down.

Think in flights. Three two-ounce pours that move from light to rich are more interesting than one big drink, and they let one bottle of bourbon show three different faces. Mark's brunch-tea-dinner structure is an easy template for a dinner party.

Save the whole episode to your shelf

Every recipe above has its own save link, the same kind we drop in the comments on Instagram. Tap it, sign in, and the cocktail lands in your favorites with the ingredients checked against your bar. Missing the ube syrup or the celery bitters? The Barkeep will tell you what to swap. Cocktail Wars airs Tuesdays at 10 on E!, and we will be doing this every week.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won Cocktail Wars episode 3?

Mark Buettler won Cocktail Wars episode 3, the Mixology 101 episode, and the $10,000 prize with A Sunday Kentucky, a three-drink Woodford Reserve flight that moved from a bourbon mimosa to spiked sweet tea to a chili and espresso nightcap. Lily Chun was the runner-up and Em Hammond was eliminated after the free-pour challenge.

What is a cocktail flight?

A cocktail flight is a set of three or more small pours, usually two to three ounces each, designed to be tasted in sequence. Flights often share a base spirit and tell a story, such as Mark Buettler's brunch, afternoon tea and dinner progression on Cocktail Wars episode 3, all built on Woodford Reserve Bourbon.

What does free pour mean in bartending?

Free pouring means measuring spirits by counting as you pour from a bottle fitted with a speed pourer, rather than using a jigger. A standard pourer releases about half an ounce per second, so a four count is roughly two ounces. It was the skills challenge on Cocktail Wars episode 3.

Why do bartenders use citric acid instead of lemon juice?

Citric and malic acid solutions add tartness without the cloudiness, pulp or extra water that fresh juice brings, so a stirred or sparkling drink stays clear and keeps its texture. A 10 percent solution, one part acid powder to nine parts water by weight, is the common starting ratio, used by teaspoons or barspoons.