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!

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!

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!

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!

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!