Martini Groove

Nyquil is great for dealing with things like a cold, jet lag, or boredom, but did you know that it tastes like ass?  Actually, if your ass had an ass and you put paprika on it, then licked it, that's what Nyquil tastes like. If only there was some way to make an all-natural version of Nyquil that didn't taste like the ass of an ass with paprika.  Now there is! The good folks over at Hot Knives have put together a lively concoction that starts with Southern Comfort and only gets better from there. You'll need stuff like mint, green chili, ginger, and other goodies. Did I mention the Southern Comfort? This one is all natural and even has a better commercial.  Follow the link below for the full recipe. KniQuil from Hot Knivez on Vimeo . All natural NyQuil - Hot Knives

I've had my share of days bartending and even more than my share of days of weeding through the crap that companies publish about their products in the name of "breaking news."  I mean, really, do we NEED a tequila recipe that commemorates Columbus Day?  My solution lately?  I've been hitting the classic cocktails hard, buying the old books, and bugging all the people I know that are good at this on how to do something.  Thus cometh The Democrat. Now, The Democrat is one of those cocktails that I call a "Crossover Cocktail."  Why?  Because it's one of those drinks that has something in it that people will say they hate, something like bourbon, and it will win them over and get them started on path to righteousness.  Other cocktails I include in this are a Cucumber Gimlet, an Aviation, and a few others.  So, here's the old recipe for The Democrat .  2oz Bulleit Bourbon 1oz Democrat Syrup 3/4oz Fresh Lemon Juice The Democrat Syrup i...

Second Hottest Girl Ever (Right Now)! This is her drink: First Class Punch Ingredients: 1 and one-quarter ounces of Vodka, 1 ounce of Domaine Canton , 1/2 ounce of agave nectar, 1/2 ounce of fresh lime juice, 1 strawberry, 4 basil leaves. Directions: In a mixing tin, muddle the strawberry, basil, and Agave nectar. Add the rest of the ingredients, shake very well with ice and strain into a glass. Garnish with a strawberry.

With the BIGGEST MEMORIAL DAY EVER on its way this coming weekend, I'd be remiss if I didn't get you some recipes well in advance so you can prepare to serve up the most rockin' punch that will keep your guests drunk and sunburned! Fine Living Network has put together some options for a tasty weekend including a ginger passion punch, a sangria, a watermelon champagne punch, and lots more. There's even a punch to make if you're drinking alone and want to pretend that you're popular enough to have to make a punch for all your "friends." Fine Living Network's Punch Up Your Party

It has come to salvage your tastebuds and conquer your hunger!  Behold!  The McNuggetini!  The chicken nugget that drinks like a shake! Just think!  A McNuggetini for breakfast, one for lunch, and then a sensible dinner! Mix McDonald's chocolate milkshake with vanilla vodka and pour into a barbecue sauce-rimmed martini glass topped off with a McNugget.  Sexy!  Cool!  Neat!  Normally, McDonald's would keep this amazing recipe all to themselves, just like their vaunted Special Sauce.  Oh, we all know it's just Mayo and Ketchup, but it's "Special!"  Lucky for us though that the whole recipe on how to make it is on the Internet Service! Yes, The McNuggetini

I don't put a ton of cocktail recipes in here because there are so many that are just variations on a theme that I would get bored of reading my own blog.  Yes, I read my own blog, it's mostly for my own entertainment. I like this one, though.  It's timely, well thought-out, and Fall just hit us hard so I'm in the mood.  I'll keep the brand name in there because, well, they thought of it. 2oz Imported GranGala Triple Orange Liqueur 1oz Flor de Cana Rum 1oz Cranberry Syrup* 2 Pieces of Fresh Ruby Red Grapefruit (peel, no skin or white)    Dash of Orange Bitters Drunken cranberries** In a Boston glass add grapefruit and cranberry syrup. Muddle, add 1 ice scoop then GranGala, rum and bitters. Shake well and pour into a young wine glass.  Garnish with drunken cranberries. *To make the Cranberry Syrup you need 2 cups sugar, 1 cup water and 2 cups of cranberries (rinsed and de-stemmed). Add ingredients to a saucepan, adjust he...

I may have made up a cocktail on my very own.  Though I am delving in to the exclusive world of genius like Neyah White or Camper English I make no such pretense as to being in the same class as them.  Though I do have a much nicer ass than them.  Wait...What? BACK TO ACTION! I found a use for the god awful Three Olives Root Beer vodka that the ladies really seem to like and the grocery stores are trying to sell it for US$7.95 a bottle. Rootbeer Float Some Cafe Boheme Some Root Beer Vodka Mix with ice in shaker and pour in to martini glass...or maybe a big plastic cup.  Whatever you got.  It might be nice if you garnished the glass with some chocolate shavings or syrup or something.  Yeah!  I made a recipe!  Please send any financial residuals to me via PayPal.  P.S. The Cafe Boheme is damned yummy so that makes up for some of the Root Beer Vodka.

As the heat of summer comes upon us we think of things like pool time and Slurpees so big that your entire brain goes running. How about doing the safe thing and throwing in some alcohol so you can't *feel* the brain freeze? Wine slushes are becoming all the rage (translated: the wine industry is trying to get you to use wine in more ways) and are pretty easy to make for those summer days when you want to chill down. They're basically a frozen Sangria, but we won't ruin Wine's marketing tactics. "Rick, what's a recipe?" you ask. You're in luck: 1 bottle California or Australian Merlot 1 cup pomegranate juice (POM or another brand) 1 pint blackberries. The site says your best bet is to put all of this in to an ice cream machine and let it get slushy, margarita-style. Lacking that, you can put it in the freezer and let it set up in there as the alcohol should stop it from going solid. Now get out there and get you some slushee. The Hot Trend of Cool W...

Just in time for your big St. Patrick's Day Weekend, here's a green drink to fulfill my necessary green drink post that is required by Blogger Law. Sure, there are a ton of them out every year, but I like Aviation's a lot, so this one fits right in. Aviation A classic martini with a sour twist Ingredients: 50 ml Plymouth Gin 35 ml Lemon Juice 15 ml Maraschino Liqueur 1 dash Syrup de Gomme Technique: - Fill mixing glass with ice - Add the Plymouth Gin, lemon juice (freshly squeezed), maraschino liqueur and syrup de gomme (Simple Syrup) - Shake well - Strain into a martini glass - Add lemon zest garnish The recipe came to me from Plymouth so I used their gin for it (and I'd recommend it), but you can use your favorite as well.

With all the talk of vodka martini's and gin gimlet's, you'd think that you'd have to drink something iced just to be satisfied, not something that's too interesting when it's so cold out that you're wondering what the hell Al Gore is talking about. Come in out of the cold and warm up to drinks that will warm you up quicker than you can say, "Wow! That really warmed me up!" Try drinks like The Nutty Irishman, a Café Brulot, and Hot Buttered Rum. Look! That last one has "hot" right in the name! You know it's going to be nice and warm! These 3 recipes and six others are available for your enjoyment at Fine Living Network. The network that reminds you that you don't have enough money to do anything you really want to do. 9 Hot Winter Cocktails

Tini Bigs in Seattle pushes out over 27 martini's a day and what are the holidays without some sort of red or green concoction that has the word "Santa" or "X-mas" in it? The Santa Tini is as spicy as your ex-wife's "relations" with Santa that year at the neighborhood Christmas party. Loaded with pepper infused vodka and topped off with a chili, you're bound to breathe a bit of fire. Red Hot Santa Tini Rim a martini glass with cocoa powder with a pinch of cayenne pepper added. Shake together 2 oz. Mazama vodka from Bend Distillery in Bend, Ore. and 2 oz. Godiva chocolate liqueur and pour into glass. Top with 1 1/2 oz. sweetened whipping cream. Garnish the cream with a small Thai chili pepper. This one's sure to impress and remove that layer of tissue on your tongue you've been thinking about getting redone.

There's two things I'm always on the lookout for: The perfect hamburger and the mind-blowing Gimlet. Since this isn't Hamburger Monday, we'll focus on the recipe that I've finally found for the perfect Gimlet. Feel free to e-mail me for excellent hamburger recipes (Hint: Grind your own meat) The traditional Gimlet is pretty straightforward and a great way to get someone to start liking gin who may not be that in to it, even those that watch you order gin and the first thing out of their mouth is "I can't drink gin." Tell them that this isn't the Beefeater that their grandma drank/used for disinfecting. The original Gimlet consists of gin, Rose's lime juice, and a lime garnish. Well, that's pretty boring. Let's fun it up: The Cucumber Gimlet 1 ¾ oz. Hendrick's Gin ¾ oz. Lime Juice ¼ oz. Elderflower syrup 1 dash Orange bitters Float of Champagne Combine all the ingredients, except Champagne, into an ice-filled shaker. Stir for ...

Green Mountain distillers has announced that they're going to be Vermont's favorite drink by making a Maple Syrup Liqueur. The spirit is made from organic maple syrup (not that Mrs. Butterworth crap) and their in-house organic vodka, which is made from Vermont spring water. They're obviously pushing for "State Alcohol" designation. In honor of this, I made up a drink that is purely for the purposes of this blog and I have not tried to actually make it as a) I don't have any of their Maple Syrup Liqueur and b) I'm afraid. The French Toast 1 Part Maple Syrup Liqueur 1 Part Vanilla Vodka 1 Part Bailey's Irish Cream 1/2 Part Goldschlager Pour all items in to an ice-filled shaker and shake vigorously. Strain in to a martini glass and top with a dash of cinnamon. It's Sunday Morning in a Glass!© Green Mountain Distillers via Luxist

Josie's in New York City is a place that I would expect to actually be located in San Francisco. It's a place full of fantastic, fresh ingredients and large portions that don't make you feel guilty when you look down at your plate and notice that you ate more than you usually eat in a week. They're now using the limited edition Absolut New Orleans to make a new drink and serving it up to their thirsty patrons. Hell, even the vegetarians that frequent the place want this. I'm just kidding, Vegetarians. Seriously though. Eat meat. Bourbon Street Lemonade 3 parts ABSOLUT® NEW ORLEANS 1 part Napa Valley Mango Puree 4 parts Fresh Lemonade *Combine ingredients and shake vigorously. *Pour into a cocktail glass over ice. *Serve with fresh diced mango. You can get it at both Josie's locations.

Sure, anyone could come up with 10 crappy cocktails, but it takes a real genius and someone who's actually trying to make a GOOD cocktail to come up with 10 cocktails that suck this bad. Fancy a Salmon Colada? Or how about a VIP Sangria (Just use a vintage wine and Fanta). Hey, it's stuff like this that reminds us why we sometimes ask for a simple vodka martini. Craptails Toast to Drink of the Week 2.0

I was at the store today and it was inundated with watermelons for the low, low price of buy one, get one free. Watermelon is everywhere and it's hard to beat as a refreshment fruit for the hot days as they get longer. The Watermelon Martini is the epitome of coolness as it uses a nice, cold citrus vodka and fresh watermelon juice. 1/2 oz fresh lime juice 1 oz citrus vodka 1 1/2 oz fresh watermelon juice 1 cucumber slice for garnish The gorgeous red color makes it an eye catcher too. Happy Summering! Watermelon Martini

There always seem to be two factions in the drinking world, the beer drinkers are on one side and the mixed drink lovers are on another. When their worlds collide, someone will pay and the price will be justice. Drinks like the Beerita are bringing the worlds together in a total affront to all that is holy. Instead of adding Triple Sec in to the classic margarita recipe, add some beer. It supposedly lightens up the drink and, of course, makes it bubbly. BUBBLES! One mixed beer drink that I've had is mentioned in the article. The Chelada is a light lager with lime and salt served over ice. Miller Brewing is even trying to cash in on the drink by offering Miller Chill, a bottled version off the drink. So, when your summer party goes horribly awry with threats of violence as mixed drinkers once again confront beer fanatics, hose them down with the sweet taste of compromise. Bartender, we'll have a round of Beeritas

If you're looking for a web program that covers cocktails, then you'll be hard pressed to get more solid info than Alberta Straub's new show, Cocktails on the Fly. It doesn't have a plot of fun like Tiki Bar TV, but Alberta has a fun attitude, plenty of knowledge when it comes to cocktails, and an obsession with 60's jet culture. She also makes episodes more frequently. Do you hear that Tiki Bar TV??? More episodes! Alberta's been around in magazines and cooking up drinks for 8 years in San Francisco including a 2004 award from SF Weekly for Best Bartender. She also doesn't look like a lot of the freakin' tools out there trying to tell me how to make damned Scotch on the rocks . Check out the promo episode below and all the rest at Cocktails on the Fly .

Okay, there has to be more than making a mixed drink for a guy than a scotch on the rocks (I can't believe someone made a video how to make this) without making them something pink. LadyThrills has put out a few tips on making drinks just for the guys. Rules are: color (obviously, no pink), texture (not too sticky or syrupy), mixture (not sweet), and garnishes (think about it this way - most guys don't accessorize much). Mixed drinks men love via Slashfood

Hey, not every drink has to suck the very life out of you in a use-now, pay-later kind of way. Some drinks can actually add to the account balance and not make you feel like the bathroom floor. Oh man, the bathroom floor. So cold, so inviting. Thank you, bathroom floor. The IV is a drink that gives you plenty of nutrients and still a bit of the alcohol that pleases the palate. The IV Place 2 teaspoons light agave nectar in a cocktail shaker. Add 1 teaspoon hot water and stir. Then add: • 1 1/2 ounces Jameson's Irish whiskey • 3/4 ounce fresh-squeezed blood-orange juice • 1/2 ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice • 2 dashes Angostura bitters Fill shaker with ice, shake vigorously (thus burning ten calories), and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Top off with ¾ oz red wine, carefully poured over the back of a spoon to create a layered effect. Hey, don't replace your daily smoothie with one of these, but it might be good drink to have for that night when you go out drinkin...