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