Classic Martini/Sex on the Beach/Cape Codder

Okay, so this the drunkest blog so far by a mile. There will likely be typos and droning on and other forms of confusing nonsense. A predictable flaw when blogging about drinking.

My first cocktail began when I realized that vermouth is a type of wine and can therefore be purchased in Oregon grocery stores, forgoing the annoying trip to the liquor store. I should mention that I do not have a driver's license and the liquor store is not exactly walking distance. I consider it simply another challenge to be overcome along my road to cocktail glory.

I was at local grocery store MoC when I spotted the vermouth for a price I could afford and decided it was time to put a check mark in the chapter dedicated to martinis. I will give you a condensed version of what said chapter has in its introduction: gin or vodka blah blah lounge lizards blah blah purists blah blah 1960s blah blah cold cold COLD COLD! Yep.

The moral of the story is that the traditional martini is made of gin and vermouth, but vodka is often substituted for gin, which is what I did since I haven't purchased gin yet. Also, I hate gin. The less vermouth (or more gin/vodka) a martini has, the drier it is. Over the years, the zeitgeist has moved toward a drier martini. Also, everything involved in a martini, from the glassware to the alcohol to the utensils should be cold...from the freezer where appropriate.

The version I made tonight is the "Classic Martini." There are many different ratios in my book, and I will explore them in the future. There are also other flavors of martini that I will explore. Blather blather here's the recipe:

1 1/2 ounce vodka

1/2 ounce dry vermouth

-Ignore Bond and stir don't shake. Stir over ice cubes, not cracked ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass.

I have heard stories about how terrible martinis are, and I don't think I would have enjoyed this at an earlier point in my drinking career. However, tonight it was pretty alright. It's definitely not a yummy yummy I-can't-even-tell-this-is-booze type of drink, but I liked it. I drank it while re-watching "Goodnight and Good Luck" and eating pasta, which I recommend as a mighty fine trio. Fab film. I used Absolute vodka and Boissiere extra dry vermouth.

Sex on the Beach, however, was a delicious experience, and one that I wasn't particularly expecting. As follows:

1 ounce vodka

3 ounce cranberry juice

2 ounce pineapple juice

1 ounce orange juice

1 ounce peach schnapps

This is pretty much the definition of girly drink. I couldn't taste the alcohol at all. You can also do either all pineapple juice or all orange juice if you aren't mixer rich like me. I couldn't even tell how cheap and terrible the peach schnapps were. Also, was watching From Justin to Kelly while drinking this one. I really think the stars aligned for my movie/drink combinations tonight, haha.

My last drink of the evening was a Cape Codder. I mostly made this because I invested in some cranberry juice the other night and this is an easy drink. Now, I'm usually not such a cran fan, but it's a pretty popular mixer so I made the leap. I stood in the aisle having the debate with myself: cran cocktail or proper cran juice. Cran cocktail seems terrible, but it's cheap for a college student. Cran juice doesn't add sugar: who doesn't want sugar? In the end, despite myself, I went home with the real thing: L&A's 100% no sugar added cranberry juice. BEST DECISION EVER. This drink was about 10 million times better than I thought it would be and I think the quality of the mixer had everything to do with that.

2 ounces vodka

4-6 ounces cranberry juice (I went with 5 personally)

-Mix in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice and pour into iced glass. Can add a bit of lime juice if desired (I definitely desired).

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Silk Panties/Cuba Libre/Rum & Coke

Okay, I didn't drink all three of these in one night...I just forgot to post about my experience last night, which was particularly special.

Silk Panties-

1 1/2 ounces vodka

1/2 ounce peach schnapps

-Mix with ice and pour into shot glass.

Well, I don't actually own a shot glass so I just had to use the regular glass I had available. I really doubt the proper glassware would have made this any better though: it was the worst so far. I'm not really that into shots, but SoCo and Lime is okayish. This burned my throat and lungs, which is not the alcohol experience that I'm personally looking for. Worst of all, it was definitely more than one shot's worth, so after I took one painful gulp, I had to go back for seconds. Just please, don't do this to yourself.

Now we go from the worst to some of the best!

Cuba Libre-

2 ounces light rum

Juice and fruit of 1/2 lime

Cola

-Squeeze lime and throw into chilled glass with ice. Add rum, then fill with cola.

Rum and Coke-

1 1/2 ounces rum

Cola

-Add rum to iced glass. Fill with cola and garnish with lime.

Both these drinks were pretty ballin', let me tell you. These were the first that actually tasted better when I made them than when I ordered them at a bar, which is quite the accomplishment I think.

Some info: I bought some pretty basic Bacardi rum...it was clear so I was pretty sure it was "light" rum. I didn't really see anything labeled as light rum, but I mostly just assumed anything that wasn't marked as "dark" must be light. Dark rum has more molasses in it, so it's sweeter, whereas light rum has a drier taste. I can tell you more about the different experiences when I get to some drinks with dark rum.

Also, you'll notice that these two drinks both include lime, so what's the big difference? Well, truthfully, they weren't that different. However, when a recipe calls for a "squeeze" or a "garnish" of lime (or lemon) that generally means 1/8 of said fruit. To do this properly, one cuts of the ends of the fruit and cuts into parts. The bartender should not do the squeeze herself but should cut a slice through the section and stick the lemon/lime on the rim to let the drinker do it him/herself. Therefore, the difference between 1/8 and 1/2 a lime is certainly discernable, even to my novice tongue.

Aside from all these technical details, I will tell you that I was not drinking alone tonight! Well, nobody else drank alcohol, but I was in the presence of other people while I was drinking. Betsy, my lovely roommate, and I hosted a game night in our apartment. Sure, it was just the two of us plus Ben and Eleanor, but we had an absolutely splendid time. There were snacks (including some failed chocolate chip cookies) and two new games! We played "In a Pickle", which none of us had ever played before, and we read the instructions incorrectly. We ended up playing the game completely wrong but still having fun. We also played "Oodles of Doodles": a Pictionary-esque game, but easier. This was an event that is sure to be repeated.

Hope everyone had a nice Labor Day Weekend! 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!

Fuzzy/Hairy Navels

Entry #1 in my cocktail adventure! I will try to write an entry every time I make a new recipe from my Little Black Book of Cocktails. Today it was Fuzzy Navels and Hairy Navels:

Fuzzy-
2 parts peach schnapps
4 parts orange juice
Serve over ice

Hairy-
Same as above, add 1 part vodka

The important lesson I learned from this boozy adventure is that quality matters when it comes to peach schnapps! There is a difference between the $5 and $10 bottle! I've had these before and they've tasted much better because the peach flavor on this one was not so hot -- sweet in a not good way. Also, I'll put the main ingredients for all the recipes in my tags so if you're every looking for a drink to make with the booze you have sitting around, you can just search for the tag and see the recipe and review.

So not a brilliant start to my project, but a start nonetheless. I guess since pretty much everything else went swimmingly, I can't really complain. I moved in with Betsy today and setting up the furniture was pretty simple (I somehow tricked Betsy and my dad into putting together my complicated desk/shelving unit while my mom and I drank wine/were useless). I really like my space and think I will be happy living here with mi mejor amiga!

One flaw to the whole blogging the drinking plan is that I will likely be either drunk or really really sleepy for every entry I write for the next year. It could be interesting if not coherent. Okay, now to bed with me.

The Mission

Inspired by the Julie & Julia project (both book and movie), I am setting forth to make my gap year one of boozy indulgence. I plan to work my way through the Little Black Book of Cocktails in order to make myself a master bartender, turning my vice into a skill. There are approximately 150 recipes (I couldn't be bothered to count properly) that I will make from September 1st, 2009 to September 1st, 2010. Obviously this process has already begun, and I will transplant my previous entries here.

This blog will also contain tags with the ingredients for each drink so that one could find a recipe based on the alcohol and mixers one has around the house. With no further ado, bottoms up!