Vanilla Ice Cream

Vanilla flavoured ice cream is probably the most common ice cream in North America, Europe and Asia. Vanilla Ice Cream like any other flavoured ice cream, was originally created by cooling a cream, sugar and vanilla mixture over a metal container of ice and salt.
Vanilla Ice Cream as a cocktail topping is popular and it usually goes well with nutty liqueurs like Amaretto, Frangelico and also is a good choice as a topping for non-tropical fruit based cocktails with neutral spirits.

Chocolate Ice Cream

Cream can be used to make a creamy cocktail, but when you make a cream cocktail make sure you whip and make your own version. You can also go for a heavy whipped cream which is thicker than regular cream and milk fat can be between 30%-40%.
For a rich and creamy cocktail recipe, combine heavy cream with one shot of alcohol and powdered sugar, then whip it until soft peaks form for a fluffy consistency or you can use it as a loose cream.

Half And Half

Half-And-Half is just half whole milk and half heavy cream. The texture is thicker than milk, but less richer than full cream. It is a perfect middle ground for Coffee and Cocktails.
Half-And-Half can be interchanged with Heavy Whipping Cream. The difference is in the fat content, Half-and-half is 10 to 18 percent fat, and heavy cream falls between 30 and 36 percent. So while replacing one with the other, the consistency and thickness of the cocktail will depend on how much of the heavy cream you use to replace the Half-And-Half.

Vodka

Vodka is an European clear distilled alcoholic drink that has been one of the most popular drinks across the world .

You'll find it to be the most popular spirit in drink making because of it's neutral taste and absence of flavour and colour.

Vodka often replaces Gin in many traditional cocktails

Vodka is known to be good for the heart, and if consumed in moderation, can prove to be good for cardiovascular health

Note that these days there are flavoured Vodka available in the market too, and some cocktails do make use of them.

Kahlua Coffee Liqueur

Coffee liqueur is a liqueur produced by steeping roasted coffee, sugar and other ingredients in neutral spirit. The most famous coffee liqueur brands are Kahlua and Tia Maria, Kahlua has been made in Mexico since 1936.

However Kahlua has a thick buttery taste, that doesn't always appeal to the preferences of an alcoholic beverage lover. Which is why many people enjoy coffee liqueur made using their own home recipes.

Typical ingredients of coffee liqueur include liquor, espresso coffee, roasted coffee bean (and powder), sugar, and vanilla syrup.

The characteristic flavor of coffee along with over a couple of hundreds compounds contribute to the taste of coffee liqueur. Caffeine is a major ingredient of coffee, and also might be a taste factor that influences the complex flavour profile that appeal to coffee liqueur drinkers' palate. Reference - International Journal of Engineering & Advanced Technology (IJEAT)

NOTE: In the absence of a Coffee Liqueur like Kahlua or Tia Maria, to make cocktails with Coffee Liqueur, Coffee Liqueur Syrup can be used as a substitute with the proportionate alcohol substituted with a triple distilled neutral Vodka.

Bourbon Whiskey

American's don't need to be lectured on Bourbon, but still, let's put it in record like all other spirits. A Bourbon in American spirit is a barrel-aged distilled liquor made primarily from corn. The name might have been derived from the French Bourbon dynasty, or from Bourbon County in Kentucky, or Bourbon Street in New Orleans, both named after the French Dynasty.

Technically, most whiskey made in America are legally classified as Bourbon, although Bourbon is in spirit a Southern Whiskey with special connection to Kentucky. Note than although Tennessee Whiskey is classified as Bourbon, Tennessee distilleries do not prefer their whiskey to be unique and referred to as Tennessee Whiskey only.

Distilling came to Kentucky in the late 18rth Century with the Scots, Scot-Irish and other settlers including English, Welsh, German and French, and they brought with them their distilling techniques and ageing processes in charred oak barrels. The charring is what gives the Bourbon the brownish colour and distinctive taste.

To be a legal Bourbon, a whiskey has to meet the following criteria

Produced in the United States and Territories (Puerto Rico) and the District of Columbia
Made from a grain mixture that is at least 51% corn
Aged in new, charred oak containers
Distilled to no more than 160 (U.S.) proof (80% alcohol by volume)
Entered into the container for aging at no more than 125 proof (62.5% alcohol by volume)
Bottled (like other whiskeys) at 80 proof or more (40% alcohol by volume)

Maraschino Cherry

Maraschino Cherries are preserved, sweetened cherry, typically light coloured cherries like Royal Ann, Rainier and Gold varieties are used. Maraschino Cherries are used in many cocktails and Tequila Sunrise and Queen Mary are too bright examples.
The name Maraschino originates from the marasca cherry of the Dalmatian region, Maraschino Liqueur is made from it, and the marasca cherries that were macerated to create the pre-distillation liquor, were pickled and preserved for use, the steeping in spirit helped in the preservation, and since the production of these cherries and their alcohol pickle was scarce, the Maraschino Cherry, as they were known in Croatia because of it's origin in the Maraschino Liqueur making process, became a delicacy of the royalty and the wealthy across Europe.
Due to scarcity of the Marasca Cherry the Maraschino pickled cherry soon no more just Marasca cherries, other cherries were preserved in the same method and were sold as "Maraschino Cherry".
In USA, in 1912, the USDA defined Maraschino Cherries as Marasca cherries preserved in Maraschino Liqueur, but since Prohibition from 1920, alcohol preserved cherries fell out of preference and regulations prevented cherries from being pickled in alcohol too, and different brining methods were invented that produced pickled cherries that were far from the Maraschino Cherry that they claimed to be.
Most modern versions of Maraschino Cherries have little or no alcohol, and since post prohibition, under the pressure from the non-alcoholic preserved cherry industry, the FDA redefined Maraschino Cherries as "cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar, and packed in a sugar syrup flavored with oil of bitter almonds or a similar flavor" since 1940.