Cocktail Hour

What's your favorite cocktail of the moment?

When the sun goes down, I pour myself a nice champagne cocktail: bubbly with a splash of orange, pineapple and cranberry juice. Mmmmmmmmmmm!

And you?

Seven and 7, which seems so absolutely blue collar, but I find I'm really fond of them for some reason.

Hey, my hubby drinks Southern Comfort straight up.

A blue collar drink for a white collar man.

I say "whatever gets the job done!";)

Jack and Coke, Rum and Coke, Comfort and Coke ... whatever.

I have tried, unsuccessfully, for many years to establish a "signature drink" for myself. It cannot involve vodka, and I would prefer it not involve gin.

Past candidates: Fuzzy Navel, Tequila Sunrise, Planters Punch, Slippery Nipple (don't really like the licorice flavor), Buttery Nipple, and an assortment of frozen daquiri flavors.

Perhaps I'm really just a shot of Jack with a beer back kind of girl?

Getting it done: Beefeater gin + vermouth 5:1, shaken, up with two olives.

Tasty sipper: dark & stormy -- ginger ale and dark rum.

Diabetic sipper: diet pepsi and orange vodka. :(

maker's mark, neat, with a soda back.

Double Ice Cold Sapphire Martini, dry (tsp or tbsp extra dry vermouth), with 2 Talk o' Texas Hot Okra Pickles, lemon zest

Makers Mark doubles with a sprig of Mint and one large ice cube

Guinness

(BTW... Nothing but Gin makes a martini)


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These tasty treats are a great addition to almost any occasion or recipe when you would use a cucumber pickle.
And just try one in a martini, called an 'Okratini', or try one in a Bloody Mary.

Talk 0' Texas Crisp Okra Pickles are available in Hot or Mild 16 oz. jars. Both have the same wonderful garlic dill flavor.

Pie wrote:

Tasty sipper: dark & stormy -- ginger ale and dark rum.

A proper Dark and Stormy must be made with a good, snappy ginger beer.

I have yet to drink anywhere (outside of my own home) that has ginger beer of any kind, much less a snappy variety, in the cooler.

I'm boring. I drink Bud Light.

wolf wrote:

Past candidates: Fuzzy Navel, Tequila Sunrise, Planters Punch, Slippery Nipple (don't really like the licorice flavor), Buttery Nipple, and an assortment of frozen daquiri flavors.

That's funny -- I've also had my share of candidates over the years as well.
In college, it was Riunite Lambrusco (do you even remember that junk?!), onto white russians, then my 'only chardonnay' phase, onto vodka martinis (the best had anchovy-stuffed olives), then vodka gimlets when I met my hubby, then I went through a series of "a shot of this, a shot of that" until I settled on my latest enjoyment.

I wonder what'll be next?:)

wolf wrote:

A proper Dark and Stormy must be made with a good, snappy ginger beer.

Yes. I like Reeds. Ooh look - they have icecream! I gotta try that.

A ti-punch from Martinique . A splash of Dillon rum ( appellation contrôlée) , a drop of liquid cane-sugar , a zest of lime . NO ICE CUBES .

A few accras and a pork-blood sausage ( boudin) to go with it .

My bread and butter (so to speak) are 1) the martini[size=1]*[/size] and 2) single malt Scotch. I also like Jagermeister and an occasional peppermint schnapps. Oh and the Long Island Iced Tea, which I often just don't feel like going to the trouble to make. There are times when I want something not quite so hard, and I'll have OJ mixed with midori or blue curacao.

Today at the liquor store I passed up peppermint schnapps in favor of 99 Apples. I will report back and let you know what I think.

[size=1]*I can't tell you how much it annoys me to go to a restaurant that has a couple dozen "martinis" and order a martini, and get back, "what kind?" Or, they just assume you want vodka. [/size]

P.S. I see you know your stuff SteveDallas . In American books , they always talk about 'highballs' . What exactly is a 'highball '? Please elucidate this literary alcoholic mystery for me .

I have no clue... when I've run across it I just took it to be an unknown [to me] cocktail of some kind.

What ? So the Yanks don't know what their literary characters are drinking either ?

Not me... I'm illiterate.

( provocaTRICE , monsieur le régisseur )

Pie wrote:

Yes. I like Reeds. Ooh look - they have icecream! I gotta try that.

Sorry. Lower than substandard. Will not even buy in an emergency.

The Sioux City brand is quite tasty, and Goya will do, but this is the gold standard:

Buddug wrote:

P.S. I see you know your stuff SteveDallas . In American books , they always talk about 'highballs' . What exactly is a 'highball '? Please elucidate this literary alcoholic mystery for me .

which kind?

Most common, I think, is ginger ale with a shot of whiskey or rye, served in a highball glass. (11 oz. capacity, about 5" tall ... it's the middle size in the standard set of kitchen drinkware)

Ah , thank you , Wolf .

I think it's called a malibu sunrise.

SteveDallas wrote:

My bread and butter (so to speak) are 1) the martini

[size=1]*I can't tell you how much it annoys me to go to a restaurant that has a couple dozen "martinis" and order a martini, and get back, "what kind?" Or, they just assume you want vodka. [/size]

It just makes me sad. Who are these people, where did they learn to mix, how can they be so ignorant about something so simple?
Only gin makes a martini, ever, period, no exceptions.

SteveDallas, I love long island iced teas, but haven't the foggiest idea how to make them. How do you make them?

I also like straberry bellinis, and really any daquari or margarita there is. Amaretto sours are delicious as well.

Chilled Tanquaray with 5-6 drops dry vermouth, double olive (ripe), slightly stirred.

Or the old bad day at work quick fix.... Lord Calvert and water on the rocks. Repeat as needed. Rapidly.

Iggy wrote:

SteveDallas, I love long island iced teas, but haven't the foggiest idea how to make them. How do you make them?

Here's the recipe I usually get out, cribbed from "The Ultimate Book of Cocktails".

white rum
vodka
gin
silver tequila
Cointreau
sugar syrup
--> 1/2 measure or 2 tsp. of all of the above

juice of 1/2 a lemon


Stir all these well with ice for about 30 seconds in a pitcher to chill. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice cubes and a twist of lemon. Add chilled cola (4 measures/6 Tbsp) and finish with a sprig of fresh mint.


Now I tend to not have fresh mint lying around, nor a lemon twist--sorry, but my home bartending is very informal. I also tend to just dump everything in a cocktail shaker rather than digging out a pitcher.

I also omit the sugar syrup--you're going to be putting cola in!! I guess if you want something really sweet, go for it.

I've also seen varying combinations of ingredients in other recipes. I don't think it matters a whole lot--I mean, you don't have Cointreau handy? Just forget it & maybe add a bit extra of the other stuff. I think the most important bit is to mix some different liquors together so no one taste predominates.

And just maybe, after 2 or 3 sips it doesn't matter so much any more. :drunk:

wolf wrote:

Sorry. Lower than substandard. Will not even buy in an emergency.

The Sioux City brand is quite tasty, and Goya will do, but this is the gold standard:

Oooh, okay. :redface:
I'll keep a look out for Old Tyme, but I don't like Goya. They just add capsaicin to it to give it "bite", but to my palate that just makes it hot, not ginger-y.

Speaking of Sioux City brand...

a White Russian (aka Caucasian) -- a great use of Kahlua!

A highball actually refers to the glass which the cocktail is made in-a tall slender glass similar to a juice glass. However, over the years, it has also come to mean "well" drinks such as bourbon/water, rum/coke, etc.
And I'm so glad to see all the many who know that a martini is only gin...I was starting to get discouraged/irritated about this very subject recently.
My faith has been restored! ;)

Oops, sorry wolf, didn't see that you had already covered the highball def.

I'm starting to enjoy mojitos. Very pleasant on a hot, summer day. They're not gay drinks, really!

...not that there is anything wrong with that...

scboxer wrote:

And I'm so glad to see all the many who know that a martini is only gin...I was starting to get discouraged/irritated about this very subject recently.
My faith has been restored! ;)

Just to be clear (and not to deny your faith!), I like my martini with vermouth. Now I understand this is heresy to many current martini drinkers, but in my mind the presence or absence of vermouth is a minor quibble compared to the outright heresy of the so-called "vodka martini".

I don't really have a cocktail per se, but I like my bourbon on the rocks. Usually it is Jim Beam, but if I have the money, I love my Maker's Mark.

If I am in a really crazy mood, I enjoy shots of Rumple Minze.

bbro wrote:

If I am in a really crazy mood, I enjoy shots of Rumple Minze.

I have such a difficult time getting used to drinking the stuff -- my body reacts by thinking it's mouthwash and isn't intended for ingestion. I have to de-program my brain to drink it.

...and once I have de-programmed it, using Scope the next morning sometimes results in real fun times. :greenface

Kitsune wrote:

I have such a difficult time getting used to drinking the stuff -- my body reacts by thinking it's mouthwash and isn't intended for ingestion. I have to de-program my brain to drink it.

...and once I have de-programmed it, using Scope the next morning sometimes results in real fun times. :greenface

Hmm, never had a problem with that. Although, I must say I do have an annoying little habit of taking the shot, breathing into the face of the closest friend/acquaintance/person and saying "Ah! Minty Fresh". And no, I haven't been smacked, but man, you should see some of the faces I get :whofart:

SteveDallas wrote:

Just to be clear (and not to deny your faith!), I like my martini with vermouth. Now I understand this is heresy to many current martini drinkers, but in my mind the presence or absence of vermouth is a minor quibble compared to the outright heresy of the so-called "vodka martini".

I just went to a bar where they did not know you were supposed to put zest, or vermouth in a martini...
He finally admitted that he had not gone to school or read a book on mixing and asked me questions on drinks for about ten minuets.
Though, I have no issue with leaving-out either, as long as it is intentional.

I just can't see getting a job and not going out and reading how to do it... the epitome of slack.