Your Favorite Mixed Drink Recipe
Decatur Metro | July 20, 2011
Decatur isn’t known as a spirituous liquors sorta town.
In fact, even the most local-obsessed among us has to cross into the wilds of “the Unincorporated” to buy a bottle of bourbon or malt liquor, as there isn’t a single place to purchase hard liquor for “off-premise consumption” (That’s ordinance-speak!) inside the Decatur bubble. Sure many of our hundreds of thousands of restaurants serve excellent mixed drinks just around the corner, but that’s not really what this post is about.
I’m wondering, once you’ve reemerged from the realm of unstable millage rates and 7-day a week trash pickup with your bottle of 40 proof, what sort of drinks do you like to mix up?
Sure, I can produce a Gin and Tonic in a pinch and can pour bourbon over ice like a champ, but I feel like I need to expand my mix-cabulary a bit.
Leon’s photo courtesy of Random Atlanta
Latest from Decaturish
This:
http://www.foodrepublic.com/2011/06/04/tomato-water-bloody-mary-recipe
Tomato water Blood(less) Mary!
Oh yeah, these were awesome too, but I haven’t made them myself.
http://twitpic.com/503us3
Can you guess what sessions I went to at the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival?
The Manhattan is my go-to cocktail. I don’t have a set in stone recipe and will accept most versions that contain whiskey/vermouth/bitters + cherry. Leon’s makes an outstanding Manhattan and in a previous life when I went to such places, Bacchanalia made me a couple of Holy Grail Manhattans.
In the rare occasion when I don’t reflexively order a Manhattan I will fall back to an Old Fashioned or a Sazerac. Do you see a pattern?
>>Do you see a pattern?<< Yes– you were obviously a member of the Algonquin Round Table in a former life!
I have enjoyed reading many of those writers and learning about that whole scene. To the point that I even stayed there once on a visit to NYC.
my fiance likes blue cheese stuff olive martinis
Here’s a vote for the classic Negroni. Easy to make and delicious.
Enjoying Watermelon Margaritas this summer. Drop chunks of watermelon into your blender then push through a sieve. Add tequila and a squeeze (or so) of lime. Works with a sugar or salt rim, as you prefer.
Pisco sours!
Bulliet bourbon + ice.
So simple, so delicious.
Or, tequila and ice. With a beer.
Manhattans as well, but they MUST be made with good rye whiskey. Fortunately, Herb at Decatur Package has plenty of good ryes!
A bunch of Grey Goose, and a tiny bit of Cointreau. Shaken, served up.
The Mexican Martini, the signature drink of Austin, Texas according to this article in yesterday’s NYT sounds delicious: http://nyti.ms/nOBbfa
I am contemplating have the excellent Corrina of Cakes & Ale whip one up for me…
Also, +1 on the blue cheese stuffed olive martinis…
Classic Filthy Martini:
1. First, ice the glass(es). Couple of cubes and a little water, then into the freezer.
2. Prepare the olives. I like those great big garlic-stuffed ones…it’s like having a snack or even dinner. Personal preference is three on a cocktail spear or toothpick.
2. Fill the shaker with ice, then pour Plymouth or Hendrick’s Gin to somewhere between 3/4s to full.
3. Add a finger or two of vermouth. Shake gently, to mix the ingredients. (No vigrous shaking until about the 4th round. Then the real talent comes from not shaking the top off or throwing it across the room. Which always makes everyone laugh…)
4. Remove the glasses from the freezer and pour out the ice and water. Put the speared olives in the glass.
5. Pour the gently shaken concoction into the glass(es).
6. Add olive juice* to make it slightly dirty, dirty, filthy, or downright raunchy, according to your taste.
7. Drink them all up, yum.
*Never confuse olive juice with olive oil. The results are not pretty.
Though I will never forgive George W. Bush for raising the tarrifs on imported gin, we still mostly prefer a Tanqueray & Tonic, though some may call this a Gimlet since we add a splash of Rose’s Lime Juice.
I don’t drink dark whiskey…I like it too much.
I suppose Blame Bush got the best of me there. It was his daddy, George H. W. Bush, who raised excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco in 1990.
Lemon Drop:
Vodka
Simple syrup (1/2 C sugar + 1/2 C water, heat until sugar dissolves and then store in fridge)
Fresh squeezed lemon
Super fine sugar for the rim of the glass
Refreshing and sweetly sour, just like me!
Chelsea Sidecar:
1.5 oz dry gin
1/2 oz good orange liqueur (like Grand Marnier or Prunier Liqueur d’Orange)
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
Shake with ice, strain and serve with a lemon peel. Repeat as necessary.
This sounds similar to a white lady.
Firefly sweet tea vodka and lemonade (or club soda and a big squirt of lemon)!
LOVE these!
I have two:
The original James Bond drink, the Vesper:
“Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel.”
And for those times when I may have difficulty remembering the proportions, the Alfonso No. 2:
1 oz. dry vermouth
1 oz. sweet vermouth
1 oz. gin
1 oz. orange liqueur
Shake with ice, strain into a chilled glass
I love to infuse my own fruit vodkas– have had awesome results with jalapeno (KILLER Bloody Marys), pineapple, and mixed berries. Invented a drink using the pineapple-infused one (this is a “girly” cocktail, but the spousal unit admitted that he liked it, too):
1 & 1/2 oz. pineapple infused vodka
1 oz. elderflower liqueur
1 oz. pomegranate juice
1/2 oz. Rose’s Lime juice
Juice of one lemon
Pour all of the above into martini shaker over cracked ice, shake well. Pour into two very cold martini glasses, garnish with lemon peel (optional). Drink, and watch all become right with the universe!
See, this is a perfect example of what’s wrong with the site. Anonymous commenters have no accountability and there’s no way we can trust anything they say. Right here we have this cubalibre chick (or is she???) talking about her favorite cocktail and it involves neither Coke nor Rum! Puh-leeeze!
That aside, I don’t care is it’s “girly”, I would drink that. I see a bottle of St. Germaine in my future. I don’t have any pineapple infused vodka, but I think I can improvise unless Cuba would like to donate a housewarming gift!
Oh, I still loves me a good Cuba Libre, but I didn’t invent it, so I kinda wanted to put my child before my stepchild (and namesake). I should go on record as saying that a true CL can only be made with Cokes that are sweetened with cane sugar. In the immortal words of the Cuban freedom fighters who invented it: “We don’ need no steenkin’ high fructose syrop de maize!!!”
You calling Cuba Libre’s gender into question reminded me of one of my favorite drinks:
THE HAIRY BACK
1.5 oz. Bourbon (preferably Old Crow) slightly heated
1.0 oz of olive juice
a dash of Tabasco
Ground Pepper the Rim of Tall Glass (preferably smudged)
and top off with Clamato Juice.
Makes you glad to be alive – regardless of your location or gender….
Try a Moscow Mule:
Fill glass w/ ice
1 to 1 1/2 oz Vodka
A squirt or squeeze of Lime juice
Fill with Ginger beer (available at farmers mkt)
Wedge of lime to dress it up.
Can substitute rum for vodka, and it becomes a Jamaican Mule.
Sounds tasty. The Jamaican version sounds like a Dark and Stormy, no?
Not to brag, but I make the best margaritas in town:
3 parts tequila (pick your variety, but Jose Cuervo silver works just fine)
3 parts triple sec (or Cointreau, if you’re feeling fancy)
3 parts fresh squeezed lime juice (which you can buy at YDFM)
1 part simple syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water)
Combine. Rim your glasses with salt. Pour over ice. DO NOT DRIVE.
This will make DEM happy.
Only if you get rid of that simple syrup.
You can try it without the simple syrup, I suppose…. But don’t call it Sara’s Famous Margarita.
Deal. I’m sure your version tastes great, but I am a tequila/cointreau/lime juice kind of guy.
I’m a one small can of Limeaide + 6 oz. tequila + 2 oz. Triple Sec + ice and blend kind of guy.
I’m not much for coctails, more a beer and wine guy, but after watching the city’s hardest working bartenders work their majic behind the bar at Iberian Pig I was inspired to try one…maybe two. If you haven’t gone, go sit at the bar for an hour and watch them craft their drinks. It’s a lot of fun.
I really enjoy an Aviation from the Iberian Pig. It undisgruntles me
so it … gruntles you?
Same here! Iberian Pig pours amazing cocktails and the Aviation is one of my favorites! Try it at home, kids:
Aviation cocktail
1 part fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 parts dry gin
2 dashes maraschino liqueur
Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.
2 fingers worth of Jack Daniels in a double Old Fashioned glass and enjoy.
No ice, no coke, no pretense.
2 fingers, eh? Is that holding them horizontally or vertically?
Either – depending on the character of the day…
Replace Jack Daniels with your favorite Kentucky Bourbon, and I’m with you.
I know I’ve already lost whatever respect I may have had on this site by admitting I don’t like cheese or wine. But here comes strike three…I don’t like hard alcohol.
Let the public flogging begin!
I do like beer, though. Does that help my cause at all?
Hmmmmm, Token…I’m beginning to suspect you actually enjoy a good flogging.
Seriously, though– it’s not that you’ve lost our respect, you’ve just made us feel really sorry for Mrs. Token!
I like to drink martinis
But one or two at the most.
With three, I’m under the table.
With four, I’m under the host.
(Remembering my dear Aunt Peggy.)
Your dear Aunt Peggy was Dorothy Parker?
Good heavens, no. She simply liked the little poem. I’ve known it since before I could “get” it but never knew it was Dorothy Parker. Makes sense, though.
Dang! All these drink recipes make me want to get out of this webinar & go have a cocktail or three…*sigh* Back to the grind.
Here’s an interesting link from Reuters on a new trend in the beverage industry.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/19/us-beverages-relax-idUSTRE76I6ZH20110719
Speaking of infusing liquors, my Chinese herbalist encouraged me to place a piece of ginseng root in my favorite. I have never felt better. Okay, except once, I was at summer camp, and I had this bottle of tequila in my pack, and every night before bed I’d…
On these hot summer days you can not beat the Brazilian rum drink, Caipirinha, made with the Brazilian rum, cachaca. My favorite cachaca is a brand called Cabana which I can only find at Toco Giant
1 juicy lime (the good ones have smooth skin and are squeezable)
1 – 2 Tbsp of sugar
1 – 2 shots of cachaca
ice
Cut limes in into 8’s put in tumbler
Add sugar
Muddle lime and sugar together in the bottom of tumbler.
Fill the tumbler with crushed ice
Pour desired amount of cachaca on top of ice
Stir from the bottom
Enjoy!
I don’t know this Cabana of which you speak. I’ll need to try that when I run out of Pitu!
Dark Rum (or Mt. Gay) and Tonic with a wedge of lime. Enough rum to make the drink more dark than light.
The Churchill Martini is hard to beat, I think:
Add to a tumbler half-filled with ice enough English gin to cover the ice.
Give a cordial nod to the bottle of vermouth on the shelf.
Use New Amsterdam gin instead, and it’s a Lady Randolph, named for Churchill’s American mother.
New Amsterdam is the house gin around here, but we actually splash the vermouth around. Many (many, many) years ago when I flew cross-country back and forth to college, if you ordered a martini on the airplane they would bring ice, a couple of little bottles of gin (or vodka) and a tiny little spray bottle of vermouth, like a Binaca bottle.
That tomato water thing sounds mind-bending. Love a well-made Manhattan or a dry martini. (Have had excellent Manhattans at Cowtippers but haven’t been in years.) For some reason, always like ordering a Tom Collins when I go to Mary Mac’s.
Also in hot weather:
Mojitos made from scratch with fresh mint and fresh squeezed lime juice
Pimm’s Cup using Pimm’s No. 6, Simply Limeade or Simply Lemonade and seltzer
Anybody have a good (not-too-sweet) sangria recipe to share? What is the lowest quality wine you can use and still have the sangria turn out good?
I assure you, the tomato water bloody mary is un-freaking-believable. We lucked into all-access passes for the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival two months ago and had a great time sampling some great food and libations but the one session that really stood out was Todd Thrasher’s “Farm to Cocktail” demonstration. I’m seriously considering a trip to Alexandria, Virginia just to try some more of his concoctions.
The recipe in the link is just how Todd described it (except he uses a fancy strainer/filter bag with stand in making the tomato water; whatever you use, you just need to make sure that it strains clear). The demonstration at the festival did not include the tomato water-making process since it needs to be made in advance. Out of curiosity, I asked Todd afterward if he preferred any specific variety or type of tomato, expecting him to expound on the virtue of heirloom organics or some special $5 tomato. His response was “use the cheapest ones you can buy”. He said he usually buys the bruised or otherwise irregulars that the farmer’s market can’t sell. And the vodka is Smirnoff Citrus. Anything more expensive is pointless.
OK, I’m thirsty now…
Do I have a not-too-sweet sangria recipe?! I found this recipe in the Picnic cookbook and it has become my standard offering for gatherings:
1 to 1.5 liters red wine (can’t answer the lowest quality question, but I do sometimes mix in a bottle I’m trying to get rid of when making a double recipe)
1 liter Tom Collins mix (or sour mix if Tom Collins not available)
2 cups Triple Sec
2 oz brandy
apples/oranges/fruit of choice sliced
For white wine sangria, I reduce the Tom Collins mix by about half and may reduce the other ingredients a bit.
Make it a day ahead for best results.
The Paloma is a favorite around our house. A shot or so of good tequila, 4 ounces of Mexican Squirt or Jarritos Toronja soda (no high fructose corn syrup in either), and the juice of half a lime over ice. They go down way too easily.
I loved the Cucumber Cooler that Leon’s had last summer. Anyone know how to make that?
i’m with token… i’m not a fan of hard alcohol (a.k.a. devi’s brew!) but my fun new find is the skinnygirl margarita although after reading sara’s recipe i may the newest fan of sara’s famous margarita, as well!
My own version of a skinny margarita is a “Frescarita.” A shot of tequila, a bit of triple sec, a Crystal Light to go lemonade, top it off with Fresca and add lots of ice.
must try this soon!
I love homemade vodka infusions.
Vodka; lots of cut up strawberries and pineapple in your sun tea jar and let sit for 3 days at room temperature. Strain and serve over ice. Remove the fruit and then blend in a blender and freeze for an adult smoothie!
I’m sure I should know this….. but WHY can’t we buy hard liquor in the City of Decatur?
I am aware that there are no liquor stores within our city limits (VeRy AwArE) but WHY aren’t there any?
Just about ANY mixed drink at The Pig is heaven
Drink names can be great. I don’t know if it’s part of what makes folks try something for the first time, but it definitely helps in remembering what you might’ve enjoyed during a good bender.
As for me, I like Lynchburg Lemonade. Not much of a name, but they go down so well on warm on autumn afternoon, waiting for a football game to begin. You can’t use just any old sweet and sour mix. If you’re not going to make your own, try Rose’s.