The Margarita

The Margarita is the only acceptable way to drink Tequila, in my book. Shots are just a waste of time, if i want to get drunk real fast, I'll do shots of something more amazing, like Rumple Minze or something. Also, Tequila mixes in nothing else very well.

The Margarita
Mostly Tequila
Some Triple Sec
Sweetened Lime Juice/Sours Mix
Rim Salt

Sadly most people in today's age think that Margaritas are tequila and prepackaged margarita mix. While this is an acceptable shortcut, the full recipe is so much better. Pre-packaged mixes have a tendency to be too sweet or too acidic sometimes. Also I prefer my margaritas on the rocks. The frozen margarita just leads itself to brain freeze more often.

I never, ever, drink flavored margaritas. Just like the daiquiri, the margarita is best served in it's original concoction.

The Cuba Libre

To most people this drink is just rum and coke, but throw in a little bit of lime and you end with the Cuba Libre.

Cuba Libre
Rum
Cola
Lime Juice

My favorite incarnation of this drink involves using Pepsi Max Cease Fire. I suppose Diet Coke Lime would work the same, but Pepsi Max is more caffeinated. Cease Fire is a special release from Pepsi, so I snag it up while I can. I once tried this drink with Pepsi Twist a few years ago and it was terrible. Fake lemon flavoring bad, fake lime flavoring good. Amazing, I know.

Rum is the only drink that is acceptable to be mixed in cola for me, and even then I don't think its all that great, the daiquiri is a far better rum drink.

The Harvey Wallbanger

Well, I've been putting off both the Harvey Wallbanger and the Sidecar for some time, because they both sound gross. Tonight, however, I decided to try and drink one of them. Given that my local Friday's has this bottle of Galliano that I have never seen touched in all the times I've been there, I decided to go with the Wallbanger.

The Harvey Wallbanger
Mostly Vodka
Some Orange Juice
A Tinge of Galliano

Why someone decided that a screwdriver just wasn't good enough as it was is surely lost to history, but mess with it they did, and for some reason it was with Galliano. For those of you not in the know, Galliano is an Italian liqueur, flavored with anise, but with the added flavors of vanilla. It's bright yellow and comes in a two foot tall bottle, and how it ended up in the Harvey Wallbanger was probably because someone needed to get rid of it.

The Harvey Wallbanger isn't as disgusting as I thought it would be. I mean, I don't know why you just wouldn't order a screwdriver. but it isn't all that terrible. The fact that its only a tinge of Galliano doesn't really change the flavor of the drink all that much, it adds some sort of complexity, but I'd still just have a screwdriver.

The Daquiri

The Daquiri has long been known to me, but mostly in strawberry or banana varieties. Banana Daquiris are still the only drink I order at Red Robin, but the original formula was one I did not try until a few months ago, mostly because I got tired of making my mojitos by hand. Amis gives the recipe using Bacardi, but I have become a Sailor Jerry fan and as such am using that. Light rum is for the birds.

The Daiquiri
4 Parts Rum
1 Part Lime Juice
Sweetened to taste with simple syrup

Now I didn't have and fresh lime juice, nor did I feel like making simple syrup, which is what the drink calls for. Thankfully Rose's Lime Juice exists. The Daiquiri in its original incarnation has long been lost to casual drinkers because it lacks the sweetness and frozenness of it's fruity varieties, but let me tell you, there is no drink that is better. Amis favors his Dry Martini, I choose the spiced rum daquiri (albeit I enjoy it more when made into a tall cocktail by adding club soda).

Judging from my bartender friends, I am the only person that regularly drinks rum, lime juice, and soda. My friend Cam, who drinks rum like it's water when mixed with diet coke, called the drink "so bitter." I guess I'm just that old school for liking bitter drinks.

The Salty Dog

I'm bringing this project back to the book and finally getting around to the first drink from the book I ever had, albeit a year or so before I read it.


The Salty Dog
Gin
Grapefruit Juice
Salt

The biggest distinguishing feature of this drink from the other two is the salted rim of the glass, which gives the drink its name. The salt is also the key to the greatness of this drink. The mix of gin and grapefruit juice is sort of a bitter thirst quencher, but add the salt and you get a complex mix of flavors which is amazing for a drink with just two ingredients.

The Monkey Wrench

You know, for someone who has pretty much chosen to exclusively drink Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum, this is the first mention of the sugar cane based spirit of the blog. For some unknown reason, the third variation on this drink eschews the canine names in favor of The Monkey Wrench.

The Monkey Wrench
Rum
Grapefruit Juice

This is by far my least favorite of the drinks mixed with grapefruit juice. Maybe it also has to do with grapefruit juice being the least favorite of juices to mix with rum. Well, it's probably better than mixing rum and say, tomato juice, but I'd rather have my rum taken with either lime juice or pineapple juice.

The reason why I dislike the monkey wrench compared to the others is because of its sweetness. The grapefruit juice doesn't do as much as lime to cut the sweet of the rum, putting it on the sweetest side of the three drink spectrum, and I'm not big on sweet drinks (aside from the occaisional pina colada or banana daquiri).

Tomorrow I'll do the Salty Dog, even though you can probably infer what I am going to say, based upon these last two posts.

The Greyhound

I'm actually taking a detour from drinks Amis mentioned in his book today, mostly because I have grapefruit juice, and there are so many drinks you can make with it. Also, he talks about the Salty Dog a lot, and this drink is a variant.

The Greyhound
Vodka
Grapefruit Juice

Unlike the Salty Dog, this drink doesn't require a salted rim. I think that is what actually makes the Salty Dog the better of the two drinks. The Greyhound uses vodka to cut down the bitterness of the grapefruit juice and it does so quite well. It would be a great summer drink, but it's a little too bland for me. I guess I just like the mix of bitter and salty of the Salty Dog a little bit more.

The Brandy Alexander

From my dad's old standby drink to my mom's. Amis claims that this drink isn't so much a drink for before meals, but a drink for a meal. This is probably due to the fact that you make it with heavy cream.

The Brandy Alexander
1 part Brandy
1 part Crème de Cocoa
1 Part heavy cream
sprinkle of nutmeg for garnish

The only bad thing about this drink is that I am currently on a diet, and anything that has heavy cream in it can't be good for that. That aside the drink is very tasty, and it's easy to see why Evelyn Waugh made it the drink of choice for one of the characters in Brideshead Revisted. You really can't drink a lot of these, due to their sheer weight alone, but they are good, but I'm pretty sure anything with crème de cocoa and heavy cream in it is bound to be good.

The Manhattan

Now, my dad has forever used the Manhattan as his drink of choice. Many a time is remembered as having memorized Crown Royal Manhattan on the rocks as his drink order. I had one before but that was after a long night of drinking, so it doesn't count.

The Manhattan
Mostly Whiskey
Some Vermouth
Dash of Bitters

Whenever you want to drink whiskey but not be stigmatized for drinking straight whiskey, it seems that the Manhattan is the answer to all your dreams. Though Fridays is not so much a legit bar as they don't have Angostura Bitters, at least they didna have to ask what was in a Manhattan..

The Manhattan makes a straight whiskey drink pretty smooth... I mean it seems the kind of drink someone wants to order because he wants to mix his whiskey with more booze. It's a good drink, a smooth drink, definitely awesome before a meal

The Stinger

So Friday's is apparently more legitimate of a bar than Buffalo Wild Wings, and as such I was able to partake in a Stinger tonight.

The Stinger
Mostly Brandy
Some White Crème de Menthe

James Bond once ordered this drink, and it boggles my mind as to why he would want a primer drink. This drink seems to be another in the list of drinks that ease you into drinking something straight. The Crème de Menthe really does nothing for the brandy, except give it a burny aftertaste. So Obviously someone invented this drink either to get into drinking straight brandy, or because they had an old bottle of Crème de Menthe lying around and they wanted to get rid of it.

This drink sort of tastes like weak Drambuie--not as sweet and less of an aftertaste. Definitely something I won't have again

The Americano

I've been drinking Campari and Soda for a while now, mostly so that I can be like Steve Zissou, but also because its damn good. Campari isn't for most people (i.e. people who like sweet drinks) but I love it, but then again I also love a good DIPA. The bottle of Campari I have in my possession now is the prize from a four liquor store scavenger hunt--even the Wines and Spirits superstore by the mall only ever seems to have one bottle at a time.

The Americano
1 Part Campari
1 Part Sweet Vermouth
Soda to fill the rocks glass

This is an interesting combination of sweet an bitter. It seems to me that this is a drink for people who want to drink Campari but can't handle it on its own merits, much like the Rusty Nail for Scotch drinkers. I'll stick to drinking my Campari with orange seltzer

The Rusty Nail

I originally wanted to drink a Stinger today, but the bar I went to had no Crème de Menthe. How this is possibly I am still not fully sure, so in substitute, I drank a Rusty Nail. I'm not sure if this drink is ever called so in Everyday Drinking, but I remember it being mentioned, so it counts.

The Rusty Nail
Mostly Scotch
A Tinge of Drambuie

A friend of mine who wanted to get into drinking scotch was told to start with equal parts scotch and Drambuie and then to decrease the liqueur gradually until he was just drinking scotch. After a half and half pouring, he quickly switched to pure scotch.

The Rusty Nail is a drink that is little on taste, but big on aftertaste. The woody notes of the scotch are combined with the honey licorice of the Drambuie only after you have swallowed. Not a bad drink, but definitely not one to write home about either. I'm pretty sure the scotch is much better on its own.

The Dry Martini

It amazes me sometimes that I've made it to my late twenties without ever having a martini. Not even one of those crazy appletinis or cotton candy affairs they serve at TGI Fridays. Thankfully this book came along and Kingsley constantly claims that the Dry Martini is the greatest drink ever, so I felt behooved to try one, even if the drink he describes is more modernly known as the Gibson.

Dry Martini
4 Parts Gin
1 Part Dry Vermouth
Cocktail Onions

I made my drink stirred, not shaken, because I would rather trust the advice of a Mid Twentieth Century Humorist and not a fictional character. However, I did stick to the traditional recipe and not Amis's suggestion of 16 parts gin and 1 part vermouth--I didn't feel like trying to measure out a quarter second pour. Martini and Rossi was the vermouth, because although it's name has nothing to do with the drink, I am assured it is the right vermouth to use.

The dry martini is amazingly smooth for a drink containing mostly gin, but it is true that being chilled is key. As the drink warms it loses its drinkability, thankfully you have the cocktail onion to look forward to at the end. It's just too bad the drink has to be served in a glass so ostentatious, but then again, drink and oneupsmanship go hand in hand.

Pink Gin

I purchased a bottle of Seagram's Dry Gin today to drink the first Salty Dog of the season, and as it turns out, I just so happen to have the ingredients available to make most of the Gin drinks in the book. So the first, and probably the simplest of them is Pink Gin

Pink Gin
1 part Gin
dash of Angostura Bitters

Pink Gin obviously gets its name because when you add the drops of bitters into the gin, it produces a faint peachy pink color, any stronger of a color and you probably added too much bitters.

I can see why this drink is lost to most of humanity, as it lacks everything people seem to want in a drink these days. Hidden alcohol, fruitiness, and some sort of trendy name tacked on to a drink that includes nothing of the original recipe are nowhere to be found.

Pink Gin tastes exactly as it name implies--like pink gin. Actually, the dash of bitters goes a long way in influencing the flavor of the drink. I never thought I could stomach a drink of mostly 99.7% gin, but sure enough I did, in fact, I found it enjoyable.

Introduction

So it was actually 2009 during the Lenten Season wherein I decided to give up drink for the forty days. About a week in, I decided to amend my sacrifice and thus constrain the ban to only beer. I was a big beer snob at the time and it was the bigger sacrifice.

Aside from college invented drinks of Spiced Rum mixed with Crystal Light Iced Tea or Whiskey and Lemon Lime Gatorade, I really wasn't a drinker of spirits. Sure I would drink the occasional whiskey sour or seven and seven at restaurants, or partake in the wonder that is a margarita, but by and large the world of cocktails eluded me.

That was until I lifted the ban on liquor and made it a point to try several different drinks I had never had before, including any number of vintage cocktails like Gimlets and Rusty Nails. Along my drinking travels I stumbled upon the Salty Dog, which is the only way I drink Gin now and, of course the mojito--not the mojito you find in bars, mind you, real mojitos, with fresh squeezed lime juice, top shelf rum, cane sugar and muddled mint leaves... the kind you would probably have to pay $15 in any bar just for a chance to partake.

Fast forward to the beginning of this month, when by chance I picked up a compilation of Kingsley Amis articles on the subject entitled Everyday Drinking. In reading the reviews for the book online most of the audience said that it was irrelevant to drinking today. It is just for this reason that I intend to try most of the drinks mentioned in the tome, some are truly irrelevant, as the ingredients are no longer available, but most are just socially irrelevant--that is, they don't come in a mix and aren't sweet. Because it seems like a good idea at this time, and because I've been looking for a new project, I'm going to blog it.