Bellini/Kir Royale

I don't know if this picture is actually of a bellini, but I was having a hell of a time finding a really aesthetically pleasing photo that I could steal easily ;-) Bellinis are made of peach juice and champagne, like the fraternal twin of Buck's Fizz. Unfortunately, Safeway didn't have any kind of decent peach juice (only canned stuff that looked like it was 99% sugar and 1% artificial flavoring) so I thought I would just buy white peaches (they were in season and lovely) and make a peach puree to put with the champagne. Word of warning: peach juice is very different than peach puree, even if you do add sugar. I could barely taste the peach against the champagne and the texture was weird. Usually it's good to go with the freshest method possible when making drinks, but not when you have no idea what the hell you're doing. If you can find peach juice or find out how to make peach juice from peaches, go for it because I've had these at restaurants before and they're really delicious.

The Kir Royale was much better, but I don't really remember how it tasted because it was so long ago. It would be worth ordering though ;-) Just add champagne to a splash of Creme de Cassis.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Black Velvet

Oh black velvet, how cheeky of you! You sound so terrible on paper (stout beer and champagne?!) but taste so good! How'd ya do that? Also, I have to congratulate you on being my 91st drink, aka the halfway point in the project. We've come so far together!

In all honesty, I've been dreading this little baby since I first flipped through my recipe book because it just seemed like the stout would completely overpower the champagne. At that point, I was also under the impression that I wouldn't like stout, assuming it would be like a more intense version of lighter colored beer: the same flavor, but more. How can I be from the Pacific Northwest and also be so completely ignorant where beer is concerned? Stout is great: smooth, certainly no more bitter than other beers, with a far more complex flavor. Geez! I wish someone had told me sooner.

The stout I used was Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, whose label looked something like this:

Who wouldn't want to buy that? Does my Russian stalker know what the part in Russian says? I'll be disappointed if it's just the same thing translated into Russian. Anyway, the beer was good and I drank the portion not allocated to the cocktail.

The cocktail itself tasted more like champagne than beer until the very dregs. It was just a little less sweet, more rich and smooth. A lovely companion for the evening.

1 ounce stout

3 ounces champagne

-Pour stout into champagne flute without creating much foam. Very very slowly add the champagne on top so that they separate.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Mimosa & Bucks Fizz

The breakfast drinks of champions! Nothing beats a mimosa with bunch on a hungover Sunday morning -- although that was not the setting for me this time. They are bubbly, sweet, and go well with sweet breakfast foods like pancakes or french toast. Yummy yummy.

But, what's the difference between Bucks Fizz and Mimosa? Grand Marnier. Mimosas contain Grand Marnier, which is expensive. Frankly, I liked my Bucks Fizz better, so I don't think I would go to the trouble and the expense to make a proper mimosa.

Mimosa:

Champagne

Orange juice

Dash of Grand Marnier

-Use more champagne than orange juice to taste.

Bucks Fizz:

Champagne

Orange juice

-Use 3 parts champagne to 1 part orange juice.

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!

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!

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!

Flirtini/Vodka Gimlet

really wish I could be bothered to make an accurate count of how many recipes are in my book so I could do a countdown, but let's just say that I did #3 & #4 out of about 150 tonight. Here they are-

Pineapple Flirtini:

1.5 ounces vodka
1.5 ounces champagne
Dash of pineapple juice

-Stir gently over cracked ice and strain into chilled glass.

I think I may have put a little more than a "dash" of pineapple juice because that's all I could taste. It was delicious, but I'm getting to the point in my cocktail drinking where I actually want to taste something other than the mixer. Mostly, I would put a little more champagne in, a little less pineapple and vodka. I couldn't really taste the carbonation. Better than the fuzzy/hairy navels though, but I think that's due to the quality of the ingredients this time. I used Absolut vodka, Cristalino champagne, and RW Knudson pineapple juice. For this recipe, I don't think the vodka quality is that important though.

Vodka Gimlet:

2 1/4 ounces Vodka (you can substitute gin for vodka to make a more traditional gin gimlet - but I don't like gin, so I didn't)
3/4 ounce Rose's Lime Juice

-Stir gently over cracked ice. Strain into chilled glass.

Anybody whose been to John Henry's with me probably knows that this is my drink of choice, but this was the first time I had made it for myself. This is a drink where a quality vodka makes a difference, so I'm glad I had one ;-) Market of Choice didn't have Rose's lime juice though, so I had to get a different one. It was fine, but more tart than usual...I think Rose's probably has more sugar and I should compensate for that next time. Also, DON'T DRINK THIS WHILE EATING RAMEN NOODLES!! It will bring out the taste of the vodka too much and taste terrible. Pre or Post ramen is fine.

I drank these while watching Paris, Je t'aime, which was far superior to Donnie Darko, which I watched earlier today and has to be one of the worst cult classics I've ever seen. Paris, Je t'aime was enjoyable but made me cry a couple times. I'm just hoping that isn't a sign that I'm turning into a weepy drunk.

While I'm reviewing things, I might a well say that I finished The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon yesterday. It's only 152 pages long, but it took me the entire month of August to read because it was so crazy and convoluted (I was also reading another book at the same so that didn't help). I wouldn't put this book on the top of my reading list if I were you: it's kind of like a less inspiring version of a Tom Robbins novel.

Okay, that's it. Enjoy and bottoms up!