cocktails - - Page 14

by Emily

A Celebration of Iced Tea… and Booze

This is a very special day. For starters, yes, it’s Friday, but not just any Friday. It is, apparently, National Iced Tea Day! Duh. On this holiest of days, everyone must appreciate the refreshing luxury iced tea brings to our lives. I know I certainly do.

Of course, there is one glaringly obvious inherent flaw in iced tea: no booze! What is the point of even drinking any liquid if it’s not going to get you buzzed, you know? Never fear. Many geniuses out there agree with my “iced tea needs more alcohol in it” conclusion. These days we have a cornucopia of boozy sweet teas to choose from: Firefly, Jeremiah Weed, Sweet Carolina, etc…

This is a somewhat controversial beverage; I have personally encountered haters who proclaim it “too sweet” or even “disgusting” …but you know what I say? The same thing I say any time someone turns down delicious alcohol: great, more for me!

Now, let’s state the obvious: classic iced tea makes a great mixer. Just ask Arnold Palmer, the great man who discovered the glory of combining lemonade and iced tea, so brilliant that his name will now forever be associated with beverages instead of just golf. Tragically, this drink possesses the same drawback as traditional iced tea: non-alcoholic. However, let’s do the math. Iced tea (good mixer) + Lemonade (good mixer) = Good mix of good mixers = one GREAT mixer = Arnold Palmers are alcohol’s best friend! In-depth historical research informs me that we can call an alcoholic AP either a John Daly or a Happy Gilmore (…no) or a “Donovan.” What? Has anyone ever ordered a Donovan without feeling like a douchebag?

Anyway, the problem with alcoholic Arnie Palmies, Donovans, whatever you want to call this heavenly nectar: during the summer I want to drink them all the time. But the man wants to keep me down. Unlike mild-mannered sober iced tea, which is accepted everywhere, society frowns upon constant public consumption of iced tea cocktails. I say enough is enough! On this momentous holiday, I shall share my secret recipe for limitless summertime boozin’ fun. Mix up one of these bad boys after work today, and raise a glass to the weekend.

Public Palmer Cocktail

by BS

Cocktail O’Clock: The Gringo

It’s a billion and one degrees outside. Does that call for a frosty beer? Or a cold glass of juice? Maybe a shot of tequila? How about all three? Red Star Tavern in Portland, Oregon is now serving The Gringo, a beer-based cocktail that will make you forget all about the heat.

The Gringo

1.5 oz. silver tequila (100% agave)
.5 oz. St. Germain elderflower liqueur
1 oz. grapefruit juice
1 Double Mountain Vaporizer Pale Ale (or your favorite pale ale)

Shake tequila, elderflower, and grapefruit with ice. Strain over fresh ice. Top off with pale ale. Serve in a salt-rimmed glass with a grapefruit twist.

For more summertime cocktail recipes, check out Endless Cocktails

in Drinks / Recipe / Restaurants 3 comments

by bakersroyale

Endless Poptails: Watermelon Mojito Popsicles

Tweaking a trend can either make you a hero or a target. Luckily, we ESers are a hardy bunch — so yeah, we’re gonna mess with the beloved Mojito by freezing it.

But before you go bucking it, let us say that from sip to lick the frozen Mojito can confidently double down over its fluid counterpart and take you from cool to sublime faster than you can say freeze! Now that you know we’ve got our Teflon suits on, give it your best lick and let us know what you think.

PS – have a cocktail you want to see turned popsicle? Hit us up in the comment section because you’re currently tuning into our newly started cocktail popsicles series, a.k.a. Poptails. We’ll be featuring a new cocktail on a stick every Wednesday up until Labor Day. Enjoy.

Watermelon Mojito Popsicles

in Desserts / Endless Poptails / Featured / Recipe 29 comments

by bakersroyale

Tired of Adult Popsicles Yet? We Didn’t Think So

You like fruit, you like vodka, you like popsicles — shoot, you like a lot of things. So to help move you more quickly towards all your likings, we found a way to combine the three aforementioned likes into one.

Before your skeptical brow can arch upwards, let us say — yes, you can freeze vodka. After some quick experimenting and an afternoon of mixing and an evening of freezing …Strawberry Peach Vodka Collins Popsicles are yours for the licking!

And careful, these are deceptively kid-like in flavor but packed with adult enjoyment.

in Desserts / Endless Poptails / Featured 27 comments

by Russell Warnick

Summer Cocktail Season: The New Moscow Mule

A couple of weeks ago I received a text from a friend who was having dinner at DC’s newest taqueria, El Centro, D.F. He asked me if I had ever tried a Moscow Mule. I immediately had a flashback to New Years Eve 1995. I was 15 and my older sister had taken me under her wing to a nightclub in my hometown in England. If you’re familiar with the UK bar scene you’ll know that they’re not too strict on ID and age restriction — I used a fake birth certificate to get in the door — and well, I don’t remember much other than drinking the night away on one too many pre-bottled Smirnoff Mules, to the point of not ever drinking them again.

I had a perverted hope that El Centro, D.F. would be serving these pre-mixed bottles, but my hopes were dashed. Instead I found a seductively crafted cocktail from El Centro’s beverage director, Brennan Adams. I’m not sure what has happened to the Moscow Mule I first encountered and quite frankly, I don’t care. Adams’ version, with its summer fresh tones, splash of beer, and peppery aftertaste, is a whole new kind a mule. I spoke with Adams about his drink, explaining it was too good not to share, and he was kind enough to give me the recipe.

in Drinks / Endless Cocktails / Personal / Recipe / Restaurants 2 comments

by bakersroyale

Sunday Brunch Cocktail On a Stick

You know what goes with brunch besides buffet-size food portions that can break your zipper? Cocktails. Really, what other day of the week can you order a drink at 10am and not worry that your sunburnt nose will be suspiciously given a once over as an indication of a pickled over-indulger? I mean, who decided drinks at 10am on a Sunday is totally acceptable but asking for a drinking at 10am on a Tuesday is not.

So as a workaround I’ve combined a traditional Sunday brunch cocktail with an everyday, any time of the week treat: a cocktail popsicle.

That’s right, what you are looking at is a Kir Royale-inspired Popsicle. Since I couldn’t stand to freeze good champagne, and cheap champagne — well, sucks — I used Prosecco instead and muddled some fresh blackberries, with a splash of lime, a bit of zest and some crème de cassis.

Lick your drinks away, my friends!

in Endless Cocktails / Endless Poptails / Featured / Recipe 9 comments

by gansie

A Boozy Way to Drink Avocado

We are in no way obsessed. No really. We can surely go a day without dreaming about the luscious, creamy avocado and all of the ways to surrender to its perfection.

In case anyone else out there can’t get enough of the fruit, here’s another way to ingest it in liquid form. But this time, spiked with booze for a spin on a margarita. (Although I’m sure you haven’t tired from the chocolate avocado milkshake.)

Avo-Rita
Recipe from 101 Mojitos and other Muddled Drinks by Kim Haasarud (Wiley & Sons 2011).

in Drinks / Endless Cocktails / Featured / Recipe 10 comments