Back on March 26, we had a tasting of Frankly Organic Vodkas at Pinnacle Wine & Liquor. (Full disclosure: I am in the part-time employ of both fine organizations.) Frankly donates 1 percent of its revenues to animal welfare organizations in the markets where it’s sold through its Frankly Fido foundation. In observation of National Puppy Day (March 23), Pinnacle decided to donate 10 percent of its Frankly Organic Vodka sales from the March 26 tasting event to Rochester’s New2U Rescue. New2U Rescue is a foster-only, no-kill rescue non-profit, and Frankly has also designated New2U Rescue one of its Frankly Fido beneficiaries.

To amplify the dog rescue theme, I located and prepared five dog-themed cocktails for customers to sample that afternoon, all of them featuring Frankly Organic Vodkas. They went over well, so I’m sharing the recipes with you here. Feel free to enjoy them, and please do support New2U Rescue and other deserving, no-kill animal rescue, sheltering, and re-homing organizations.

THE ASTA COLLINS
2 oz Frankly Organic Vodka
½ oz Freshly squeezed lime juice
1 oz Freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
½ oz Campari
½ oz Simple syrup
Splash of soda water
 
Place the first five ingredients in a shaker and shake with ice until freezing cold, then strain the drink into an ice-filled Collins glass and top with soda water. Garnish with a lime wheel on the rim of the glass for a touch of class … and enjoy while watching a Thin Man movie.

THE COLORADO BULLDOG
1½ oz Frankly Organic Vodka
¾ oz Espresso liqueur
¾ oz Half-and-Half or single cream
1 oz Your favorite cola
 
Shake the first three ingredients with ice and strain into an ice-filled Collins, highball, or double Old Fashioned glass. Top with your favorite cola. No garnish.

SALTY DOG
2 parts Pink grapefruit juice
1-2 parts Vodka to taste
½-¾ oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
 
Salt the rim of highball or double rocks glass and fill the glass with fresh ice. Shake the ingredients with ice and strain into the glass. Optional garnish: Grapefruit wedge

The venerable Salty Dog is itself a variant of the two-ingredient Greyhound cocktail—a drink that first appeared in Harry Craddock’s cocktail book as long ago as 1930.

EASY SALTY DOG VARIATIONS:
Substitute tequila for the vodka = Salty Chihuahua
Omit salt, replace Luxardo with simple syrup = Vodka Greyhound
Vodka Greyhound + black pepper syrup = Dalmatian
Vodka Greyhound + ½ oz Campari = Italian Greyhound

And, yes: Substitute orange juice for the grapefruit juice and you have a Screwdriver—not dog-themed as far as I know.

For that matter, what do vodka and/or grapefruit juice have to do with any breed of dog, or the greyhound in particular? Cocktail origin stories are seldom documented well enough to be credible, but according to the Thrillist website, “In 1945, Harper’s magazine published a similar recipe, swapping out gin for vodka, and calling the drink a Greyhound. The magazine attributed the cocktail to a chain of restaurants owned by the Greyhound bus line—hence the name.” 

STRAWBERRY DOG
(Yes, another Salty Dog variation)
2 oz Frankly Strawberry Vodka or to taste
2 oz Pink grapefruit juice
1 oz Cranberry juice cocktail
1 tsp Simple syrup
 
Moisten the rim of a wine glass with grapefruit juice and roll the outside edge only in kosher salt. Shake ingredients with ice and strain into the glass. Garnish with ½ strawberry cut and slipped onto rim.

THE POMERANIAN
 1½ oz Frankly Pomegranate Vodka
2 oz Freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice
1 tbsp Honey
 
Shake the three ingredients with ice and strain into an ice-filled rocks or double Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

Cheers to good dogs and dog rescues, foster “parents,” and rescue adopters everywhere!