Lemon Drop

Another drink with friends! I had a few people over on Saturday night, and I played bartender even setting up a legit bar area and making a menu. Most of the drinks on the menu I had already made before at some point, but the lemon drop was an addition since I now have lemon vodka.

I had one first, then an amiga did, and we both really enjoyed it. I've had lemon drops at bars a couple times before, and they have always been too sweet. Syrupy even. But homemade with fresh lemons this drink is something to be reckoned with.

1 1/2 ounce lemon vodka

3/4 ounce lemon juice

splash of simple syrup

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

I'll also say that my new glassware makes drinking look so much classier. Thanks mom and dad ;-)

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Gin and It

I drank this "cousin" of the martini (more like identical twin, I'd say) with a few of my friends, and it was variously described as tasting like "cough medicine" "herby" and "something you might clean floors with." Apt on all counts.

One of us only kept drinking it because she would forget how awful it tasted and go in for another. By the end, I didn't totally hate it, but I'm pretty sure that's just because my taste buds were drunk and making poor decisions. Here's what you do:

1 1/2 ounce gin

1 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass. Add dash of bitters if desired.

In other news, I got glassware for Christmas! As well as some additional bottles for my bar, including small bottles of cognac and Grand Marnier and larger bottles of lemon vodka and amaretto!

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Vodka Collins

Pretty much just see any other collins because they more or less taste the same. Or, at least, I have the same general reaction: simple, refreshing. Make or order at your local bar to find out.

I don't have my book with me now, so for the recipe, look at another collins entry and sub vodka for the alcohol.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Matador

We have a winner! The matador is one glass of complete delicious and gets four thumbs way up (I shared this one with an amiga)! It's definitely tropical and girly, but why does that have to be a diss? 'This drink actually tastes good, must be for light weights!' Bah, I like it.

I have to admit that I've been a very bad blogger of late, but I've still been doing the drinking, so I'll catch up eventually. I've had some friends back in town, some of my friends who actually drink, so I've had a chance to re-make some drinks of the past, and even did a bit (very small bit) of mixology. Masha was adorably impressed with my cocktail shaker, a I love her for it ;-)

Now I'll spend the next couple days immersed in Christmas prep at my parents' house, and hopefully catching up on a couple drinks I've yet to post about. Hope everyone's having a great holiday!

2 ounces tequila

1 ounce lime juice

4 ounces pineapple juice

splash of simple syrup

-Shake ingredients in cocktail shaker and strain into iced highball glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Tequila Sunrise

I've not been writing here for the past couple of days because I've been S-I-C-K. I actually drank the tequila sunrise quite a bit ago, right as I was heading down for the count (and not on account of the tequila). I don't even remember very well what it tasted like, just that my throat was sore so I didn't want to swallow it.

On the cocktail project more generally, 1) I'm a little unenthused these days which is leading to 2) bad bartending. I've become such a poor pour that I often end up with a significant portion of the booze on the counter. I'm also a little tired of just making drinks for just myself, so hopefully having people back during the break will reinvigorate me!

Well, the roomie and I are putting up the Christmas tree tonight finally, so that should be yay! Happy holidays!

1 1/2 ounce tequila

6 ounces orange juice

1/2 ounce grenadine

-add tequila and orange juice to iced highball glass. Float grenadine.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

French 75

At the very beginning of this project, nay BEFORE this project even began, I flipped through my recipe book and saw this little gem. I saw it and knew deep within my heart that it was going to be the best drink ever. I looked forward to the day when I would have all the necessary ingredients and I would be able to have my first taste of what I was sure would be my cocktail life partner. Well last night, the universe aligned and...

...I was a bit disappointed to be honest. Part of the problem was that I used Brut champagne instead of Extra dry like the directions say. Oops! But the bigger problem was that it was too lemony, which I suppose is an easy fix for next time, but I still don't know if the French 75 would be quite the drink I had imagined. It just sounded so luxe on paper and tasted a little meh in real life.

Based on some minimal reading online (usually I like to pretend that I'm the first person who's ever thought to make a cocktail blog and ignore all others except when stealing images), I found that this is usually made with gin instead of brandy, but my book lists that as a champagne collins. I like my books version better: more variations, more betterer.

1 1/2 ounce brandy

1/2 ounce simple syrup

1 ounce lemon (don't use this much!)

Extra dry champagne

-add simple syrup and lemon to iced highball glass, then add brandy. Fill with champagne and stir gently.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Frozen Margarita

Boo, this was a blending failure for me. I've really had mixed results with my blended drinks (the strawberry daiquiri being my highest achievement), and I can't figure out what I do wrong sometimes. I guess I'll have to have people over during break and practice a bit more ;-)

I actually had this one two nights ago after doing who knows what. I can't remember back a whole 48 hours! Last night I stayed at my parents' house and helped them host a party for my mom's work. Basically, I made a pizza that I couldn't eat (salami and roasted peppers with goat cheese) and mulled wine. I was kind of hoping my parents would offer the rum to me after the party (they're not big hard liquor drinkers), but no. I've just got a little bit left too, and I'm getting rather low on gin and whiskey as well. Yikes!

ANYWAY, the frozen marg is the same as the basic marg except you add 4-5 ice cubes and blend it. Have fun with that: I hope you do better than I.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Medium Martini

Ugh, it's official: I don't like martinis. Vodka martinis are only marginally offensive, but proper gin martinis are terrible. I don't know why anyone would choose to drink this if it weren't part of a year-long cocktail project.

I had this one after watching the Ducks beat the Beavers to go to the Rose Bowl!!! I was also celebrating my first day of training for my new job!! However, every time I took a sip, I made a reflexive "ick" face and it left a really bad taste in the back of my throat. I still have several versions of the classic martini to go, and I'm not particularly looking forward to it.

What I am looking forward to: people coming back for winter break! First up? Game night at my parents' house among their Christmas decor!

2 ounces gin

1/2 ounce dry vermouth

1/2 ounce sweet vermouth

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Blue Margarita

The blue margarita is kind of a silly drink. It basically tastes like a margarita except that it's blue. Does what it says on the tin? Warning: will leave your tongue stained!

1 1/2 ounce tequila

1/2 ounce blue curacao

3/4 ounce lime juice

-Shake over cracked ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into an iced highball glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Gin Buck

Oh, yesterday! I was in a really mopey mood so I spent the whole day sitting around watching Ally McBeal and eating massive quantities of food (chocolate chips out of the bag). It was also family portrait day, so I went over to the padres' house for a bit: I'm expecting some new entries for Awkward Family Photo. After all that, I came home, did some reading, and watched Popular, the teen melodrama that puts all others to shame. I was drinking this bit of yummy while we watched.

It was good, but I put a little too much lemon in. It was fine in the beginning, but by the end, I was making strange noises after each sip. The sad thing is, I've been living alone for so long that I made these noises without noticing or explaining, despite my roommate's presence. Sigh, oh me. Here's to learning what it's like to be around people again!

1 1/2 ounce gin

ginger ale

lemon juice

-Add gin to an iced highball glass, fill with ginger ale and add a splash of lemon juice.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Manhattan

Another from the Classiques section of my book. I think I drank it after doing nothing all day, possibly while watching football. More interestingly, yesterday I went over to my parents house, watched White Christmas, basked in the glory of their Christmas decor, ate lots of food, and watched more football all before coming home and playing the roommie's new Wii for a bit (and eating ramen, of course). Today is a productive day though. It pretty much has to be.

The Manhattan was okay, but I liked the Metropolitan better -- maybe I should have the Manhattan with a dash of simple syrup to make it better.

1 1/2 ounce blended whiskey

3/4 ounce sweet vermouth

dash of bitters

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Basic Margarita

I've had this tab open for about 12 hours without actually writing the post. It's bad when your fun project turns into something you can procrastinate from. Yikes!

Margaritas will always remind me of the end of sophomore year when we decided to have Tequila Friday Woohoo! We (my roommates and I) hyped it so much, and it just didn't live up to the expectations at all. We were trying to make blended margs and looked up a recipe online, and they turned out terrible! And we made way too much! After we finally got them to a drinkable point by adding some more lime juice, we each had one before needing to take a nap. We convened a couple hours later and tried for another go of it, but it just wasn't there. Fail.

This margarita was better than those, but still could use some work. Luckily, there are several different types of margarita in my book, so I'll have a chance to get it right.

1 1/2 ounce tequila

3/4 ounce triple sec

3/4 ounce lime juice

-Shake in cocktail shaker and strain into iced glass.

If you are really looking to make this, I would double this recipe. It wasn't very much.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Hot Pants

Yay early morning blog post! I can almost still taste this one from last night, haha. Heading to the parents' house in a bit to make some pie, potatoes, and homemade ice cream. Then to some family friends' house for dinner proper. Also, I'm taking the day off from being vegan = yumyumyumyum!

So this cocktail is really weird but not as disgusting as the ingredients would make it sound. Not exactly the greatest endorsement, but there you go. I think someone was trying to create a peppermint margarita...that's pink? I still don't really get the thought process. Maybe they were having a south of the border themed holiday party? A Feliz Navidad party? And wanted to have a holiday margarita? Still kind of eludes me...

1 1/2 ounce tequila

3/4 ounce peppermint schnapps

3/4 ounce grapefruit juice

splash of grenadine

-Shake all ingredients over ice and stain into cocktail glass.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy and bottoms up!

Strawberry Daiquiri

Oh how delicious! This one certainly gets the girly drink tag: just tasted like a strawberry smoothie. I used some fresh strawberries leftover from some cupcakes I made, and it was ahmaaaaaaazing!

The daiquiri was part of a pretty epic meal I had last night too: baked pasta and boca chicken nuggets. It felt like such a little kid meal, despite the alcohol. Plus, whoever first thought, "You know what this pasta needs? More carbohydrates. Let's add bread!" was a motherfucking genius. Bread crumbs on baked pasta own my life.

A recipe for regressing to childhood:

1 1/2 ounce rum

3/4 ounce triple sec

3/4 ounce lime juice

splash of simple syrup

6 hulled strawberries

4-5 ice cubes

-Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth. Pour into wine glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Tom Collins

Taking a break from reading from class ("Inferior temporal neurons show greater sensitivity to nonaccidental than to metric shape differences" don't ask me what that means), I'll write up a drink that has been in the subtext of several other entries. But first, the all important back story ;-)

Yesterday was a day of productivity: I submitted my Penn application and got Columbia ready but couldn't quite press the button yet. I ran and cleaned my room. Go me! On an unrelated gripe that suddenly hit me, what's happened to netflix?! Everything used to always be available, but suddenly quite a few things are on short waits and even a few on long or very long waits. Has anyone else experienced this? Boo.

Okay, so that was more of an outburst than a back story, but I'm a little all over the place right now. To continue my emphasis on pairings, I will tell you that a Tom Collins is alright with ramen, but not great. I should say, I always eat Top Ramen Oriental Flavor because it's vegan, s that's what I will always be referring to when I talk ramen.

The Tom Collins is also a drink that I have frequently when I go out to bars. I first heard of it through lovely Lesley as it was her drink of choice after doing some cocktail research. I didn't like them at first, but now I've come around and they always remind me of her ;-) Here's how you can become nostalgic as well:

2 ounces gin

splash of simple syrup

juice of 1/2 a lemon

soda water

-Combine simple syrup and lemon in an iced highball glass. Add gin and fill with soda water.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Crantini

I can't believe I've found a crantini image that is also a Christmas image. It's going to be a fabulous day!

Someone commented that there should be more back story (hi Alex!), so now you're going to get to hear about the events that led up to the first sip of the drink, at least the events of yesterday.

I mentioned last post that I have been feeling the Christmas spirit, and yesterday I officially did it: I put Christmas music on my ipod. So epic! I took the EmX downtown and walked around listening to carols before meeting Ben and El for some lunch and library before going to the holiday market. We made the rounds there, seeing some nice things but only Ben made purchases (good ones at that).

From there, my mom picked me up and we hit up Tjoes before the game where the Ducks beat Arizona in double OT! These kinds of football games are really exciting but also really upsetting: I get so nervous that I can't even watch the play and just use "it's only football" as my mantra. I watch these kinds of sports games like some people watch horror films: through my fingers.

After all that, I came home and had a cratini to wind down. It is pretty much like a cape codder only not on the rocks. Still, it was more welcome than I expected it to be:

1 1/2 ounces vodka

2 ounces cranberry juice

1/3 ounce lime juice

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Mint Martini

Yay, I'm back! I plan on being on a more regular cocktail making schedule this week. Not because I was productive this week, but because it doesn't seem to matter whether I make cocktails or not, I'm always unproductive. But I always say that it could be worse than unproductive: there's also counterproductive, and I wasn't that.

Anywho, mint martinis are great and should be in your mouth this holiday season. It's pretty easy to imagine what they taste like: just think of how your mouth feels after brushing your teeth. Drop a peppermint candy in for extra effect.

1 1/2 ounce vodka

1 ounce peppermint schnapps

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

I hope you've all been well and are getting excited for the holiday season! The Christmas crackhead hit me hard over the head last night and made off with my sanity. I probably won't get it back 'til January.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Salty Dog

SO, I haven't really posted here in a bit and this is the basic story: I had two drinks Thursday night because I didn't think I would make a proper drink on Friday since I was going to a party. I posted about the midnight martini Friday afternoon and planned to post about the salty dog on Saturday. Unfortunately, I got about 1000% more drunk than I planned to at the party Friday (read really embarrassing/don't remember much drunk) and haven't even been able to think about booze since. Until tonight. NGL, a little bit tipsy now. Under much better circumstances.

Anyway, after all that preamble, I don't really like grapefruit juice very much. So I didn't really like this drink. If you like grapefruit juice, then you'll like this. That's a pretty undeniable premise. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 ounce vodka

6 ounces grapefruit juice

-Mix in cocktail shaker, dust rim of glass with salt, pour drink into glass with cracked ice.

I don't know if there will be another post in the near future. Trying to be a productive member of society and refraining from over indulging for the near future at least. Haven't given up on the project though!

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Midnight Martini

Yum! The first sip is a little strong on this one, but you quickly get used to it and it's a nice twist on a martini. More interesting than the apple martini but not as strong as the classic. Drank this while avoiding work all of yesterday, which I'm continuing to do today. Bah. Here's how you can avoid work too!

1 1/2 ounce vodka

1/4 ounce coffee liqueur

1/4 ounce triple sec

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Horse's Neck

Whiskey and ginger ale = pretty good drink. I think I ended up with a little more ginger ale than is standard issue, but it was just that much easier to drink. It's a nice switch up from the usual highballs, and I enjoyed it. Do it!

1 1/2 ounce blended whiskey

Ginger ale

-Add whiskey to iced highball glass and fill with ginger ale.

Onto more important things: I'm rewatching Ally McBeal now, and I can't tell you how much I hate the Ally/Billy combination. He's just so so lame! SOOOOO annoying! I'm basically just biding my time until Robert Downey, Jr. is on so I can be in love with him. Sigh.

Drink related: I've had 46 drinks now! I'm doing so well! I'm also planning on taking a picture of all the alcohol I have in the house because it's pretty epic.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Metropolitan

A+, 5 Stars, Two thumbs way up! I liked this drink so much! It did what I've been wanting a drink to do: it skirted the line between light, delicious girly drink and heavy, unsubtle manly drink (I'm looking at you, Old Fashioned). I don't know if this would be so good if I weren't the experienced drinker I am at this point (at least in comparison to the lightweights I know), but I'm going to recommend it anyway.

1 1/2 ounce brandy

1 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth

Splash of simple syrup

Dash of bitters

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

When I was looking for pictures to put on my post, I noticed that a fair few places on the internet had the metropolitan confused with the cosmopolitan. They share none of the same ingredients! I have yet to try the cosmo, but I think the metro has a lot more intrigue to offer!

On another note, I know not many people read this and even fewer comment. So I was hoping you would tell me your favorite cocktail, whether it be a frequent bar order or something you mix up at home! Do it to make me smile inside!

Gin Rickey

If you know what a gin rickey is, and you've been reading my blog, you probably can guess that I would like it. I love lime. I love soda water. I actually even love gin these days. It's another in a line of really refreshing but also really generic cocktails. Not so much different than a collins really, but still good. I can picture drinking this one outside on a hot day. Here's how it goes:

1 1/2 ounce gin

1/2 ounce lime juice

soda water

-Put gin and lime in iced highball glass, fill with soda water.

After having a few sips, I decided to do a bit of very amateur mixology to make it a little more exciting. I add just a splash of peach schnapps, and it was a nice little something extra. Add a little more interest to the situation. If you, like me, only have poor quality peach schnapps, I would be very very careful to only add a splash.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Saketini

This wasn't only my first saketini, it was my first time trying sake! I don't really know that much about sake, only that it's a rice wine from Japan. I went with the one that had the cutest bottle, haha. It went something like this:

The smell of it reminded me of beer at first, like halfway between between white wine and beer. It's really nice actually and am drinking it alone right now. In combination with the gin, it mostly tasted like the gin, but with a little smoother element. The sake takes away some of the alcohol's bite while leaving the spiciness. Pretty good.

1 1/2 ounce gin

1/4 ounce sake

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Orange Blossom

So, do you remember that time I made a screwdriver? Do you remember how I fresh squeezed the orange juice to make it extra spectacular but how it turned out really bland and unremarkable? Well, that didn't happen this time! I squeezed my own orange juice from valencia oranges at Market of Choice and there were fireworks!

This is still a pretty basic drink, but you can never underestimate the power of a simple drink made well, and I think I did it this time! Here's how you can too!

2 ounces gin

1 1/2 ounce orange juice

splash of simple syrup

-Stir with cracked ice and pour into chilled cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Apple Martini

So now we are on drinks that have happened since Halloween. But one last bit of business: I never revealed what my costume was! I was Queen Frostine from Candyland, and El was Princess Lolli while two of our other friends were Mr. Mint and one of the little kids. We're pretty genius, I know.

Anyway, so my apple martini did not have a floating flower in it. A shame really. It was also not nearly so bright green in color. In all honesty, I don't really remember it that well because it's been 5 or 6 days since I drank it, which tells you a bit about how life-changing it was. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 ounces vodka (regular or apple flavored)

1/2 ounce apple liqueur

Splash of lemon juice

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

I seem to remember that this was just a very girly way to pretend to be drinking a martini. If you want to sound cool ordering a martini, but don't want the trouble of actually drinking something that tastes even vaguely like one, go with the apple martini.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Cranberry Collins

Really crazypants busy this week, so here's the gist: thumbs up. Good drink. Recipe:

1 1/2 ounce gin

1/2 ounce cranberry juice

1 ounce lime juice

Club soda

-Mix first three ingredient in highball glass with cracked ice. Fill with soda.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Martini Royale

Part II of my Halloween drinking shenanigans: a martini with gin and champagne. Now, I haven't yet had a classic gin martini (only vodka martinis), so I can't specifically speak to how this version departs from the classic in flavor. I will say that I couldn't taste the champagne too much and it tasted almost entirely of gin for me; however, I have learned to like gin quite a bit making this one a nice experience. Strong though.

2 ounces gin

champagne

-Pour gin in cocktail glass and fill with champagne.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a third installment of Halloween drinking! I will be making the big reveal as to what my costume was! (For those of you who don't know already)

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Champagne Cocktail

I hope everyone had a fab Halloween! I'll be spending the next couple days telling you about the drinks that I had on that spookiest of nights -- all the drinks I made myself that is: I don't think you need an explanation for Bud Light at a college house party. I will say that all of these drinks were consumed while I watched the Oregon Ducks CREAM the USC Trojans! EPIC!

Here's the recipe for the first drink of the late afternoon/early evening (you're allowed to drink before 5:00 on game day, it's a rule):

champagne

sugar

bitters

-place about 1/4 tsp of sugar at the bottom of a champagne flute and saturate with bitters, fill with champagne.

This is a really nice and yummy drink, but not so much different than just drink champagne solo. If you have the other ingredients around, do it. If not, don't spend the extra money because the champagne alone should be fine.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Pegu Club Cocktail

A cocktail that surprised me! The first two sips, I was very unsure: I was leaning toward dislike. With the third sip, I was sold. Because it contains lime, I was expected that flavor to be stronger, but it was really the gin and bitters that I tasted. The triple sec just made it a little smoother I think. I will say that this is definitely a strong drink -- I felt it after only a few sips --not for the faint of heart.

1 1/2 ounce gin

3/4 ounce triple sec (curacao works too and cointreau is great if you can get it)

1/3 ounce lime juice

2 dashes of bitters

-Stir w/cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Pink Lady

I should start by saying that the pink lady I made looked nothing like this. Well, it was pink but not as clean and bright. More like pepto. Not very appetizing.

1 1/2 ounce gin

1/3 ounce grenadine

1/2 ounce vanilla soy milk

-Shake vigorously with cracked ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

Now, technically one is supposed to use 1 egg white as well, but 1) I'm vegan and 2) raw eggs are yuck. Thus, I didn't get the foam going that the vigorous shaking is supposed to produce. Nonetheless, the drink was still pretty good. Not something I would necessarily order, but pleasant. It's a dessert drink, so naturally I had to eat something sweet with it: I am ashamed to admit that I ate a few fun sized candy bars that have been sitting around the house in preparation for Halloween. I've given up my moral values, but boy was it delicious.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Banana Daiquiri

Oh banana daiquiri, you are so delicious...in theory. The reality, a little disappointing to be honest. The banana and lime combined in a weird way that was drinkable, but not scrumptious like I was expecting. And when you make a daiquiri, you're not looking for something that's going to challenge your palette. It was my first blended drink though, and that was a success.

1 1/2 ounces light rum

1/3 ripe banana

1/2 ounce lime juice

1/2 ounce simple syrup

3-4 ice cubes

-Blend in a blender and pour into cocktail glass.

I think I used too ripe of a banana...maybe. Given the chance, I might try this in a bar or restaurant to see if it has potential that my budding bar tending skills couldn't bring about.

Also, bought a bottle of gin today despite severe lack of funds. Look forward to endeavors in that direction very soon.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Eggnog/Soynog

So one of the recipes in my book that I've been thinking about for awhile is eggnog: I'm vegan and I couldn't decide if I should take a veg-break and make this properly or just buy some Silk soynog and call it good. I obviously went with the latter:

4 ounces soynog

1 ounce whiskey

1/2 ounce rum

-Mix ingredients together in rocks glass or mug.

The nog is good with or without the alcohol, but I was surprised at the interesting change in flavor that the alcohol provides. Without booze, the nog is just sweet and delicious. With booze, it has a more complex and layered flavor. A definite thumbs up from me!

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Whiskey Sour

So, I'm a little behind in the world of blogging. I'm going to try really hard to write another entry later tonight to get caught up, but I am real real sleepy. We'll see.

As to the whiskey sour: I've had the much girlier vodka sour before so I had an idea of what to expect. And it was pretty much as sweet and easy to drink as I expected. Nothing palette expanding, but good for sure. This is something one could easily order at the bar and, I know many people who live by this drink.

2 ounces blended whiskey

1/2 ounce simple syrup

Juice of 1/2 a fresh lemon

-Shake with cracked ice strain into chilled cocktail glass.

I will admit that, like the above picture, I drank this one on the rocks. However, I did do the leg work of using fresh lemons instead of buying sour mix, and it's definitely worth it. Really, squeezing lemons isn't that difficult and you should really be doing it whenever a drink calls for lemon. Really, I promise it will be better.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Screwdriver

It's time for the freshman year classic: the screwdriver. I have to say that I was not terribly excited to make this drink. Things like the whiskey sour and the rum and coke are classic drinks that don't take a lot of thought, but I feel like the screwdriver, at least in my life, has been the no-bartending-skills drink of choice. It's in the book, so I made it anyway:

2 ounces vodka

orange juice

-Add vodka to iced rocks glass and fill with o.j.

In order to add an element of novelty for myself, I decided to make it with freshly squeezed orange juice. I made orange juice the other night as part of the mulled wine, so I thought that it might make the screwdriver a better drink as well. Unfortunately, the orange I used this time wasn't as good (same brand, valencia organic, just not well-chosen) so it wasn't nearly as flavorful. Too bad.

I should state for the record that there is nothing wrong with a screwdriver per se. It's just a little safe as drinks go. If you're in a situation where you're not looking to impress, just looking to not offend, making screwdrivers for people will generally get the job done.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Mulled Wine

News flash: mulled wine is amazing! If you're throwing a holiday party, you should definitely make this! It is guaranteed to provide warm fuzzies.

Peel of 1/2 lemon, cut into curls

Peel of 1/2 orange, cut into curls

2 Tbs. sugar

1 tsp. ground allspice

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 tsp. ground cloves

3 cups boiling water

2 bottles full-bodied red wine (cabernet or bordeaux, for example)

2 ounces light rum

-Pour boiled water over peels, sugar, and spices and let simmer for 10 minutes. Heat wine until just before boiling and combine with spice mixture. Pour into punch bowl and add rum.

El and I drank this during game night and it added a sense of seasonal joy...even if it's still October. It resembles spiced apple cider, but stronger and...different? I can't describe it, so you'll just have to try it!

Enjoy and bottoms up!

White Russian

Delicious! Yummy! Nom nom nom! The white Russian is definitely a good one, and I highly recommend it to everyone.

1 ounce vodka

1 ounce kahlúa

1 ounce heavy cream (I used soy milk)

-Shake with cracked ice and strain into an iced glass.

This is a creamy dessert drink with a vanilla and coffee flavor to it. A good drink for the fall/winter when you want to feel cozy and don't mind something heavier. I also tucked into some hot apple cider with a bit of brandy, which is another top notch drink. This was of course before El called and invited me out: how much I drank after that I'll leave a mystery ;-)

Ward Eight

A Ward Eight is essentially a whiskey sour with grenadine added, which means I probably should have tried the whiskey sour first, but I didn't.

1 1/2 ounce blended whiskey

1/3 ounce simple syrup

Juice of 1/2 fresh lemon

1/3 ounce grenadine

-Cocktail shaker w/cracked ice. Strain into cocktail glass.

This is another in the line of "didn't love but didn't hate" drinks. I think I would have put a little less grenadine in because it just seemed a little too syrupy, not light enough in consistency. I'm really still looking for the whiskey drink that knocks me off my feet (with deliciousness not drunkenness).

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Pedro Collins

I will admit that the above picture is actually a TOM Collins, but they look exactly the same. Expect to see the same photo again when I make a Tom Collins, haha.

His friend, Pedro:

2 ounces light rum

1/3 ounce simple syrup

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Soda water

-Put lemon, syrup, and rum into iced highball glass. Fill with soda water and garnish with lemon wedge.

This drink is so nice and refreshing! It would be great in the summer: light and crisp and bubbly. I highly recommend. There are many different versions of Collins, which I will make my way through. You can really substitute almost any liquor for the rum and it will be a delicious version of a Collins. Do it!

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Algonquin

My drink for night one of house sitting for my parents was an unusual one: I don't know why anyone would think to put these flavors together. It seems like an end of the night drink, when you only have a little bit of several random alcohols/mixers but you don't even care because you've had so much to drink you won't taste it anyway. What's really impressive is that someone had that moment and still remembered the recipe the next day:

2 ounces blended whiskey

1 ounce dry vermouth

1 ounce pineapple juice

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Now, the first sip I was a little unsure, but I actually ended up enjoying this one. I didn't have to grimace or make strange noises in order to get it down at all. It is weird, no doubts there. I don't know how to tell you what it tastes like, other than weirdly pleasant. It's a nice change of pace: I feel like I've been having a lot of lime or cough syrup, lime or cough syrup. The algonquin was a nice little surprise.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Kamikaze

What can I say about a kamikaze? It has lime, and I like lime. It has vodka, which is flavorless and therefore can't be offensive. Triple sec is also nice. All this adds up to a very safe drink. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think one could really mess up kamikaze. However, I don't think you're really going to impress anybody with it either. For those of you who are as obsessed with Top Chef as I, kamikaze is like all those cheftestants who you never get very attached to because you know they're not good enough to make it to the end. They're not bad and you don't dislike them, but you know it's best to keep a dispassionate distance (except sometimes, like last season, people you dismissed come back and WIN THE WHOLE THING even though SOMEONE ELSE was clearly way more awesome).

Enough! Here's how it goes:

1 1/2 ounce vodka

1 ounce triple sec

1 ounce fresh lime juice

-Cocktail shaker with cracked ice, strain into shot glass or cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Mojito

Mojitos! Yay! Something I've had at a bar before so I have a frame of reference! And I have to say, I think mine was pretty damn good. Very traditional, but definitely did the job. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 ounces light rum

1/2 ounce simple syrup

1 ounce lime juice

soda water

mint leaves

-Muddle mint leaves with simple syrup in the bottom of the glass. Add cracked ice, rum, and lime. Fill glass with soda water and garnish with more mint.

This was really refreshing and delicious and definitely recommended. However, you should learn to know and love this recipe as it is something bartenders don't like to make: takes too long when there's a group of people waiting for drinks. At least according to this article: Making friends with your bartender.

That's all for now. Enjoy and bottoms up!

Irish Coffee

So this drink came about on a day of both productivity and hypochondria. I finished reading Notes from the Underground and The Gambler (both by Dostoevsky), worked on two new grad school apps, and studied for the subject GRE. Good. I also convinced myself that I had some serious lung issues and had trouble breathing all day. Bad.

I should also make sure that everyone knows that I don't usually drink coffee. It's delicious, but I react way too strongly to caffeine and turn completely insane. It's especially bad when I drink coffee in the afternoon or evening. Needless to say, this did not help with the hypochondria situation.

Anyway, recipe:

4 ounces hot, strong coffee

1 1/2 ounce blended or Irish whiskey

Sugar to taste

-Mix together in a mug. Add whipped cream if available.

So far, this is how I've liked whiskey the best. I got my coffee from Espresso Roma and didn't add any sugar because I prefer my coffee black (I also don't really need to have a sugar high on top of a caffeine buzz). I was drinking this around 4PM and couldn't get to sleep for the night until 4AM. Who has a coffee buzz that lasts 12 hours? Seriously, I should be drinking decaf, but I can't help but feel like that would be wimpy. Luckily, there are no more coffee drinks in my book and I can stick to tea.

Also, I've now done at least one drink from every chapter in the book! Milestones...

Enjoy and bottoms up!

New York Cocktail/Blizzard

So the above picture is not what either of these cocktails looks like at all. I couldn't find a decent looking picture, so I went with a cocktail IN New York as opposed to the cocktail OF New York. Don't be surprised if you order this at a bar and it is pink, on ice, and in a rocks glass. JSYK.

So yesterday was lovely and included a few of my favorite things: talking to a friend from NY, making yummy vegan steak and potatoes for me and the roommie, and watching Top Chef with El whilst drinking. Complete perfection.

The New York Cocktail is what I made for El to drink. Here's how she goes:

1 1/2 ounce blended whiskey

1/2 ounce simple syrup

Few dashes of grenadine

Juice of 1 lime

-Shake in cocktail shaker with cracked ice. Strain and serve over cracked ice.

I only had a sip of this one, so I can't give great detail on its deepest and darkest secrets. Basically, you can put an entire lime in almost anything and I'm happy. It seemed like a very girly way to do whiskey. Maybe I should go through and make a tag for girly drinks. Y/N?

And here's what I was drinking:

Blizzard:

1 1/2 ounce blended whiskey

1/2 ounce simple syrup

1 ounce cranberry juice

Juice of 1/4 fresh lemon

-Shake in cocktail shaker with cracked ice. Strain and serve over cracked ice.

This was an okay drink. I had no problem finishing it, but it was certainly nothing to write the folks at home about. It was about the color of cola dregs when you've let the ice melt down, so not terribly appealing. Not something I would go out of my way to order/make, but not something I would go out of my way to avoid.

Preview for tomorrow's entry: my first drink from the dessert's chapter, which comes from my ancestral land, Ireland, where recovering alcoholics are just quitters.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Champagne Punch

Yay! I got my first punch out of the way! I really feel like the punch chapter has the potential to ruin this whole project for me, unless I manage to get a full time job. Sad.

Anyway, I should say that the above picture is just A champagne punch and not THE champagne punch that I made. Mine being much less beautiful but probably just as tasty. Here's what you do:

4 ounces lemon juice

4 ounces pineapple juice

3 ounces grenadine

1 cup brandy

3 ounces triple sec

1 bottle white wine

2 bottles chilled champagne

-Combine everything except champagne over ice and stir. Add champagne just before serving.

In general this was good, but wasn't nearly as flavorful as I was expecting. I really thought there would be multiple layers of delicious, complex and surprising. I think it would have tasted pretty similar with just the wine, champagne, and triple sec.

I should say that I didn't drink all this punch alone: I brought it to a house warming party for El, and I am told people drank it completely. I wouldn't know because I'm an old lady who left at 9:00 to go home and sleep.

I did some more imbibing tonight, but I'm super super tired now, so I'll save that post for tomorrow.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Old Fashioned

So I had my little poll (which you shouldn't vote in now because I've already bought the booze), but I decided to defy the will of the masses (4 votes) and go with whiskey instead of tequila. I guess I've become a tyrannical blogger and can only wait to be violently overthrown. The guillotine it is.

I bought Seagram's 7 blended whiskey and made a classic from the 19th century: an old fashioned. Here's the recipe:

2 ounces bourbon or blended whiskey

splash of simple syrup

2 dashes of bitters

-Stir ingredients in an iced rocks glass.

This pretty much tasted like cough syrup. But, for the first time, I adjusted the recipe after trying a couple of sips: I added a little more simple syrup and it was much better. A very simple fix.

I drank this while watching Top Chef with El. Good choice. There were cookies too. Nice evening.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Bacardi Cocktail

Only one cocktail this evening, and it was a good one! Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 ounces Bacardi light rum

Juice of 1/2 a lime

Dash of grenadine

-Mix in a cocktail shaker over cracked ice and pour into chilled glass.

Now, since I couldn't really taste the grenadine, this pretty much tasted like the daiquiri I had awhile ago. Delicious, but pretty basic. Thinking about the better drinks I've had, I guess I just like lime with about any alcohol. Good to know. I should say that this is really supposed to have Bacardi rum in it, but I don't think it's that big a deal. I made it with Bacardi because that's what I had.

In other news, vote in my poll! Please? It's up there in the corner waiting for you to click on it.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Business Time

First of all, I went through and counted the recipes in the book, and there are 182 in 7 categories. So far the numbers I've completed in each category are such-

Classiques: 2

Martinis: 4

Urban: 6

Punches: 0

Tropical: 4

Naughty: 2

Dessert: 0

That's a total of 18. I need to average a drink every 2.005494505 days in order to make my goal. So far so good!

You may have also noticed that I added a poll to the blog. I think I need to invest in one of three new base alcohols: whiskey, gin, or tequila, but I can't decide which one. Help me please ;-)

I'm also trying to figure out what to do about the couple of drinks in the book that call for eggs. I'm vegan, so it's a bit of a problem. The egg nog I can just buy Silk's soy nog and add some rum. No big deal. But there are a couple others that are less cut and dry. Do I look to see if there are vegan recipes online? Do I suck it up and have the eggs and just make sure they are local and organic? Suggestions would be appreciated.

Hemingway's Floridita Daiquiri/Blue Velvet Martini/Wild Blue Yonder/Extra Dry Martini

Yes, all of those were from last night in a relatively short period of time. I am currently in bed recovering, eating the crumbs of my tortilla chips since I have no food in the house. I actually ended up writing notes to my future sober self in order to remember what to blog like a less riveting version of Memento. The notes are, however, surprisingly coherent and very helpful.

Hemingway's Floridita Daiquiri:

2 ounces light rum

2 ounces grapefruit juice

1 ounce fresh lime juice

1 ounce simple syrup

-Mix in cocktail shaker, pour over crushed ice.

Pretty girly drink, eh? Not really that surprising: his books doth protest a little much in the masculinity department. Despite my distaste for grapefruit juice, this was really yummy! I actually juiced my own lime as well, so that was fun and delicious. I didn't have crushed ice though, so mine was with cracked ice. I drank this while chatting with one of my besties from NY on the phone, which made the drink that much sweeter ;-)

Blue Velvet Martini:

1 1/2 ounces vodka

1/4 ounce blue Curacao

Dash of Rose's lime juice

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cold cocktail glass.

To be honest, this drink and the next one have blended together in my mind and I don't really remember it that much. My notes tell me that I am learning to appreciate the burn of vodka when it's not mixed with much. Maybe I will start enjoying martinis. This drink should have been my last of the evening. I really hadn't eaten enough to have four drinks in quick succession while sitting down.

Wild Blue Yonder:

1 1/2 ounces vodka

1/4 ounce peach schnapps

1/4 ounce blue Curacao

-Shake with cracked ice in cocktail shaker and strain into rocks glass over ice.

This drink was hindered by my terrible peach schnapps. I'm going to say that no one should buy Potter's Peach Schnapps. You will regret it. This and the previous drink were about the color that my blue Hawaiians were supposed to be, so I think I get points for presentation. Still, even with good peach schnapps, I don't think this one is anything particularly special.

Extra Dry Martini:

2 3/4 ounces gin (or vodka)

1/4 ounce dry vermouth

-Stir with ice cubes and strain into chilled glass.

So I don't think I could have tolerated this without the previous 3 drinks. Talk about the burn of vodka...It was really intense and not very enjoyable. Good if you want to get drunk fast and don't mind the pain. Unfortunately, I was already pretty drunk at this point, talking to myself while watching Project Runway. Complete disaster. I think this is the point when I started looking up strictly platonics on craigslist. Yikes.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Blue Hawaiian/Purple Haze

So these are both from a couple days ago...I'm getting to be a bit of a lazy blogger already! Thursday night El and I decided to sit around the apartment drinking cocktails and watching Top Chef, which is a pretty magic combination if you ask me.

Since El isn't a big drinker, I thought I would go for something tropical and girly. Blue Hawaiians seemed to fit the bill:

1 ounce light rum

1 ounce blue curacao

1 ounce cream of coconut

2 ounces pineapple juice

-Mix in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice and strain into an iced highball glass.

Okay, seems like it should be pretty delicious, yeah? NOPE! This was the first drink that I didn't finish. I gave it several sips and poured it down the drain. Mine did not resemble the above photo AT ALL. For those of you who have seen Bridget Jones' Diary, it was pretty much like the blue soup she makes for her birthday dinner. To make this drink better, I would go with coconut milk or water instead of cream of coconut. I even went with the more expensive version and it was still awful. Yuck.

The purple haze, however, was pretty decent. It's not one that I would go out of my way to order, but it was pretty good. Decidedly bluish in color and not purple, it still satisfied nicely:

1 ounce vodka

1 ounce blue curacao

cranberry juice

-Mix vodka and curacao in cocktail shaker with cracked ice and strain into iced glass. Fill with cranberry juice.

Curacao is a liqueur with an orange flavor. It can be blue or white and, as far as I can tell, is only blue when you want the drink to be blue. Kind of cheesy, but there you go.

I'm also taking the week off from cocktails so I can get some legit work on grad apps and GRE studying done. Also, I overindulged in wine Friday night and now alcohol is less than appealing. Should be updating by Friday or Saturday though.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Basic Daiquiri/Sea Breeze

Well, I'm certainly making progress on this project. I don't know how I should feel about being ahead of schedule: proud for sticking with the project or afraid for my waste line that I'm drinking so much more than usual. I will say that it's been more than 6 weeks since I made a drunken fool of myself, so that seems promising.

The basic daiquiri actually came to fruition last night, and it was a minor success. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 ounces light rum

1 ounce lime juice

1 tsp sugar

-Shake well with cracked ice and strain into glass.

The drink was generally good, but there was a problem with the sugar. I don't think I took the "shake well" instruction seriously enough so I ended up with a bunch of sugar that wasn't properly incorporated into the drink. By the end of the drink I had a sludge of sugar at the bottom that was not at all like the milk at the end of the cereal bowl. Next time I would shake more or use simple syrup.

So the above picture is more conceptual than literal: I'm vegan so I would never drink a bird no matter what my cocktail book told me to do. Here is the recipe for a sea breeze:

1 1/2 ounces vodka

2 ounces cranberry juice

2 ounces grapefruit juice

-Shake in cocktail shaker and add to iced glass.

This is a case where I bought the quality mixer and it turns out that I just don't like grapefruit juice. This drink was overall okay as in, I think it was made properly, but I didn't particularly care for it. If you like grapefruit, then you'll probably like this drink since that's all it tastes like.

When I'm not drinking cocktails for this project, I am mostly drinking wine. Tonight, post sea breeze, I had a glass of pinot gris from A to Z in Newberg, Oregon. Very nice. I am no wine expert (another project for another year), but I am enjoying this one.

Also, while I'm reviewing things, I'll put in a plug for No Logo by Naomi Klein. Yes, it's 10 years old and a little out of date at times. Yes, if you've spent enough time with Maria B or in Eugene in generally, you probably know a lot of the information in there. However, I still think it's a really good and important read, especially the first three sections. I've dedicated most of my summer to reading this and Alex Ross's "The Rest is Noise," and both were worth the time commitment.

Not to end the post on a down note, but I have to give my movie choice for the evening, the 2002 version of The Importance of Being Earnest, a thumbs down. I thought this movie adaptation didn't play to the play's strengths at all. I know that English people in the countryside saying clever things isn't always movie magic, but trying to infuse the movie with additional locations and fantasy scenes was unnecessary. Boo.

Enjoy and bottoms up!