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!