Cocktails at Home

The initials belong to Jeff Wiley, the bartender who created the drink at The Cheesecake Factory in Redondo Beach, California, and it became one of the chain's best-known cocktails.

At the bar it's citrus vodka, black raspberry liqueur and the house lemonade, served with a sugar rim. The takeaway bottle is 11% ABV. That ties it with the Sangria as the mildest cocktail sold to go.

$29, the lowest price on the at-home cocktail list alongside the Sangria. Pour it over lots of ice.

Two rums go into this rather than one. Don Q Cristal is a clean Puerto Rican rum and Bacardi rounds it out, mixed with housemade limeade and sold as a bottle that serves 3.

No nutrition figures are published for the takeaway cocktails, so there are no calories to give you.

What I can tell you is how to serve it. Pour it over crushed ice, not cubes, so it gets cold fast without watering down in the first 10 minutes. If you add fresh mint, press 6 or 8 leaves against the glass with the back of a spoon. Tearing them releases a bitter, grassy taste instead of the oil.

No nutrition is published for the takeaway cocktails, so there's no calorie count here, and the listing doesn't give an ABV either.

In the restaurant, this drink is Milagro Silver tequila and passion fruit, chilled and served up in a martini glass. Milagro is Spanish for miracle. The brand was started in 1998 by two friends from Mexico City, and its silver tequila is unaged 100% blue agave.

$31, the same as the Ultimate Margarita. Pour it over ice, because passion fruit is sharp enough to need the dilution.

The Moscow Mule was invented in 1941 to sell two things Americans weren't buying yet, vodka and ginger beer. The copper mug came with it.

This version adds pineapple juice to the vodka, lime and brewed ginger beer, and a bottle serves 3.

There's no published nutrition for it. Pineapple juice is sweet. Pour it over plenty of crushed ice so it stays sharp.

Red wine steeped with fruit, sold as a bottle rather than by the glass. No nutrition figures are published for the takeaway cocktails, so I can't give you calories or sugar for this one — that data doesn't exist on the menu. What I can tell you is that it needs time. Give the fruit at least 4 hours in the wine, ideally overnight, or you get wine with orange slices floating in it rather than sangria. The pith is the thing to watch: leave citrus in past about 12 hours and it turns bitter.

Ice goes in the glass, never the bottle. A bottle serving 3 people will water down to nothing otherwise.

24% ABV. The J. W.'s Pink Lemonade and the Sangria sit at 11%, so this bottle is more than twice as strong as the mildest cocktails on the list.

Two orange liqueurs go in alongside Altos Plata tequila. Cointreau is a clear triple sec, while Grand Marnier is built on cognac, which adds weight and a darker edge. Fresh lime and organic agave nectar balance it.

The bottle serves 2, and no nutrition figures are published for the takeaway cocktails, so there's no calorie number I can give you.