Kimona Wanaleia

August 25, 2012 //

Best wrestling valet name EVAR. Too bad she never teamed up with Edge when he was Sexton Hardcastle. Maybe they could have gone up against Hugh G. Rection. So to speak. Or perhaps he would have been too busy with the West Hollywood Blondes.

Oh, we were talking about booze, weren’t we?

Ok.

We went to Canlis a few weeks ago for a celebration. Their cocktails made me feel like the rank amateur that I am. One of them employed Coco Lopez, an ingredient I hadn’t heard mentioned in probably 20 years. It’s a sickly sweet coconut cream mixture that I always associated with froofy cocktails enjoyed by middle-aged people in the 1970s. But if Canlis can use it, fuck it, I’m getting out the disco boots.

Vigorously shake the top rope. Watch your opponent fall, scissor the rope, and crotch-shot himself. Snap your latex bra in his face and sip on this.

Kimona Wanaleia

2 oz aged rum (I used Palmera, which we got in Aruba)
.75 oz New Deal ginger liqueur
.5 oz lime
.25 oz Coco Lopez cream of coconut

Open all the bottles with your teeth. Grab a water bottle, slurp a big mouthful, then lurch backwards and spray it into the air to clean your palate. Or don’t. Throw everything in a shaker with ice, hard shake, then strain into a coupe. Or a DD cup. Whatever the moment calls for. Garnish with a shiso leaf, because you have one.

You could probably use Canton ginger liqueur with this, but check out the New Deal if you can. It’s got a FAR stronger ginger bite to it.

I don’t think I could outdo Kimona Wanaleia for excellence in ring names. But if I’m ever dumb enough to walk into a wrestling ring or skate into a derby match, just call me Tequila Mockingbird.

Categories Rum

Gregory’s Ruin

July 16, 2012 //

Privatization of liquor in Washington state has so far meant driving all around town looking for the crap you could once find at the evil gub’mint liquor store in Sodo. I’m sooooo glad the government is out of the liquor business in the state now. It’s totally worth paying 20%+ more per in state tax per bottle, watching my fave cocktail bars jack up their prices accordingly, and having to go to Portland to find a decent selection in one place. Because, you know. Gub’mint bad.

Hmm, maybe I should hold off on putting the bitters in my next drink. I’m apparently bitter enough.

Anyway, my standards of what’s worth blogging about are getting higher, so the posts are getting less frequent. But I have a few decent ones in the queue. The latest favorite:

Gregory’s Ruin

2 oz Cruzan white rum
.5 oz Dolin dry vermouth
.5 oz Cocchi di Torino
.5 oz Amaro del Capo

Think about where you might be able to get del Capo Amaro in Washington. Snort derisively. Pull out that bottle that magically appeared at your doorstep, or figure out something to sub. Torani Amer wouldn’t be bad, or maybe a quarter-ounce of Maria al Monte. Maybe Nardini? Hell, it doesn’t matter. You have the good stuff. (Insert evil laugh.)

Stir everything with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a ridiculously long orange twist, making sure to zest the orange over the drink a bit for some nice oil on the top. Serve several to Gregory, who proclaims that these will be his ruin.

Make a note of what to get Gregory for Christmas.

Categories Rum

Pure June

May 27, 2012 //

You know what’s a good idea? Checking the proof on the bottle of gin you just bought BEFORE you put two ounces of it in a drink. True story. On our very last outing to the Sodo liquor store today, we picked up a bottle of Junipero craft gin. Took a little sample sip at home. Whoa. HELLO, I’M GIN. NICE TO MEET YOU. But since I’m not so smart, I didn’t think that perhaps we were dealing with something greater than 80 proof.

Here’s what happens when you try to fix a drink you made with two ounces of 98 proof gin.

Pure June

2 oz Junipero gin
1 oz Orchard Pear liqueur
1 oz Cocchi Amerciano
.25 oz Earl Grey tea infused gin

Stir it all up and wonder what the hell just happened. Strain it and feel sorry for that half a kiwi that’s been sitting on the counter since last night. Give it a final, glorious shot at life as a garnish. Take a sip, think that you might as well have made a Vesper for all the heat this little bastard has on it, and be really glad you aren’t getting up for work tomorrow.

Next up: adventures in liquor privatization. What new, strange world will Costco offer us? I don’t know. But I’m stocked up on weirdass liquor, just in case.

Categories Gin

Loki’s Revenge

May 4, 2012 //

Yeah, my job is so awesome that they pay for the entire company to go see The Avengers at the Cinerama on opening day. It’s not a spoiler to say that Loki eventually finds himself in need of a good drink. Here’s a little something something that sounds all girly and innocent with the amaretto, but will kick your ass if you don’t walk around swinging a really big hammer. And by hammer, I mean…

Loki’s Revenge

3 oz Bulleit bourbon
.5 oz amaretto
.5 oz Becherovka
2 dashes Bittermen’s Mole Bitters

Stir everything with ice in a Tesseract. Realize you don’t have a fucking Tesseract. Go for the Yarai mixing glass instead. Realize you’re really pretentious for requiring one of these and go for a pint glass. Do a few scritcha-scratcha motions with the barspoon and tilt a little on the ground for MCA. Pour it all into an old fashioned glass (because yes, it’s an old-fashioned, basically), then go all Hulk on an orange with the vegetable peeler to get yourself a really nice piece of peel. Express the oil over the drink and on the rim. Try to get that fucking Madonna “Express Yourself” song out of your head. Drop in the peel, add a Les Parisiennes brandied cherry on a stick, and try to figure out what to name this thing on the blog.

I think it should be mandatory to have a couple of these before being asked to believe that Scarlett Johannsen is a master assassin.

Categories Bourbon

The Perfect Game

April 21, 2012 //

So I went to see the Mariners play today. 21st perfect game in Major League Baseball history. Unfortunately, it was pitched by a guy from the White Sox. So here’s a commermorative drink. It’s super-delicious, but bitter. Just like the game.

The Perfect Game

1 oz Campari
.5 oz Licor 43
.5 oz Dolin Blanc vermouth
.5 oz lemon
3 oz dry sparkling wine

Build it in a champagne flute and pour the sparkling over the other ingredients. Garnish with a thin lemon wedge. Think how much better the game would have been if you could have gotten four or five of these in you before the opening pitch. Try to forget about the fact that he actually blew it, since the last pitch of the game was a ball on a 3-2 count, but the batter checked his swing and it was called a strike. You know. These things happen. Usually to the Mariners.

At least it was a gorgeous day.

Categories Other

No Habla

April 16, 2012 //

Enough with the bourbon! It’s sunny. Time to switch it up… to MEZCAL!

No Habla

1 oz mezcal
.75 oz tawny port
.25 oz pimento / allspice dram

Stir it all in your new Yarai seamless mixing glass with your fancy new weighted bar spoon. Feel like a pretty, pretty princess. Strain into the most precious little cocktail glass you have. Oh, look at that little thing! It’s so cute! Better put an orange twist garnish on it and give it a couple of brandied cherries. Whooza cute lil cocktail? Whooza special little drink? That’s YOU, No Habla! YOU!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you make something with mezcal feel like a girly drink.

Categories Mezcal

That Which Does Not Kill Me

March 27, 2012 //

…goes down the drain.

A friend graciously donated some fine hooch from Sierra Leone to the cause of Baby Got Sauce, because, y’know, science demands. You can tell that it’s quality stuff, because the plastic blister packs are scored for easy tearing.

I’m pretty sure Sonja from Mortal Kombat did not plan on being the spokesmodel for Sierra Leone pineapple spirit liquor. Well, I guess she did have a really cool move involving punching guys in the nuts. Fuck, I played the hell out of her. That was the best way to piss off guys who thought they could beat me and take over the machine with no sweat. Wait, does that mean I’m old? Shit.

So what does one do with this crap? For fuck’s sake, don’t drink it.

Unpalatable Swill

One packet Double Punch pineapple spirit
1 oz Cruzan white rum
1 oz orange juice

Survey your liquor cabinet and look for the cheapest shit you have. Decide that the bottle of Cruzan white rum that you’ve had for ages and that ran about $18 is, although perfectly respectable, the sluttiest liquor you have that will do the job. Look at the five pound bag of oranges you got for $5 from Cash and Carry. Come to the conclusion that one orange is worth sacrificing for science. Pour all this crap into a shaker. Think about icing it. Don’t even bother. Sample it. Wait. Don’t do that. I did it for you. Trust me. Don’t do it. Pour it all into a really pretty glass and add a Luxardo cherry with some syrup, because that may fool your enemies into consuming it. Plus, Luxardo cherries are crap. Mmm mmm mmm. Doesn’t that look good? Give it to your husband, with the disclaimer of “Ew, this is foul, taste it.” Watch him verify your conclusion. Think about removing your nail polish with it. Take a picture of it for posterity, toss it down the drain, and make yourself something – anything – else.

For what it’s worth, anything else was:

2 oz Sazerac rye
.25 oz amaretto
.5 oz Amaro Meletti
.5 oz Cocchi di Torino sweet vermouth

So remember, kids – go to Sierra Leone for the… well, I don’t know. But not for the booze. And say hi to Sonja for me.

Categories Other, Rum, Rye

White Lily

March 11, 2012 //

If Tom Jones and Jack White can cover Howlin’ Wolf, why can’t I mix gin and rum? I’m GONNA. You can’t stop me.

White Lily

1 oz white rum
1 oz Hendrick’s gin
1 oz Cointreau
absinthe

Stir the gin, rum, and Cointreau with ice. Wash a cocktail glass with absinthe, and strain. Think about how Tom Jones makes Wayne Newton look like the front man for a cheap bar mitzvah band. Belt out some “What’s New Pussycat”. Leave your hat on. Think about what would happen if Tom Jones got together with Tom Waits. Hear yourself saying “Whoa.”

This isn’t my creation. I don’t remember where we got it – it goes back a ways. It was one of our first cocktail adventures. If you have a scantily stocked bar, it’s a fine one to start with, if you’re fond of the herbal notes of Hendrick’s. The absinthe really ties it together, but you could leave it out in a pinch. Wait until you can afford a decent bottle of the stuff – cheap absinthe will make you sad in the pants. And the stomach.

Categories Gin, Rum

Rum Huzzah

March 7, 2012 //

Ok. I’m in a better mood now.

Rum Huzzah

1.75 oz Diplomatico rum
.75 oz Calvados
.5 oz Bonal
.25 oz Pimento Dram

Stir it all with ice and strain it into a cute little glass. Garnish with a starfruit slice if you happened to buy a starfruit at lunch at Whole Foods for no apparent reason. Otherwise, a brandied cherry would do nicely. Wonder what the fuck Bonal is. Make up a story about it being distilled from rare camel sweat and disgust your friends. All the more Rum Huzzah for you.

Huzzah for Wednesdays!

Categories Rum

Charmingly Offensive

February 23, 2012 //

This past week has been crappier than a single outhouse at a statewide chili cookout. At least I got to make a new drink. The name describes how I’ve been feeling for a few days, if you subtract the ‘charmingly’.

Charmingly Offensive

2 oz Appleton Estate rum
.5 oz Aquavit
.5 oz Campari
.5 oz St Germain

Stir with ice and strain into a coupe. Or a cocktail glass. Or whatever the really pretty thing in the picture is. Fuck it. Whatever gets it into your mouth faster. Carve out an orange twist over the drink to get some of the oil in there. Spiral it around like you care and drop it in. Kick a puppy.

It’s bitter. It’s weird. It’s sitting on top of a bear. Two of these are describe me at the moment. And I don’t have a bear, or it would be three.

Happy national margarita day.

Categories Rum