November 2009

Sometimes you have to wonder if certain cocktails are intentional, or the result of too many other cocktails. This month's trio of recipes to add to your collection come under the oddball category.


• DOS RITA

This unusual concoction comes from Ruby Tequila's Mexican Kitchen in Houston, TX. Rather than a standard garnish, it has a Dos Equis beer bottle stuck neck first into the glass.

1 bottle Dos Equis beer
1 frozen margarita

Upend a chilled bottle of beer in a frozen margarita in a classic wide-mouthed glass and let it gently bubble into the slushy as you imbibe the margarita through a straw. Garnish with a slice of lime.

• MAKGEOLLI COCKTAILS

Makgeolli is a traditional rice-based Korean liquor, considered the nation's oldest such drink. The milky spirit brews in clay pots, is lightly carbonated and sweet, and about as alcoholic as a good beer.

For the most part, makgeolli had for generations been relegated to farming areas where the rice was plentiful, or to low-rent bars. Now, in the capital city of Seoul, it is making a pop culture comeback.

Because it blends so well with virtually any kind of fruit and spice, most bartenders have taken to chopping up such things as mango, melon or citrus fruits into chunks and popping them into a blender with the makgeolli.

• THIS IS IT

The Michael Jackson film finale, "This Is It," is getting mixed reviews. It also is getting mixed drinks at the Movie Tavern chain of cinema restaurants, most of them located in Texas.

The four specialty drinks on the "This Is It" drinks menu include the "This Is It Cooler" (Absolut Vanilla Vodka, Parrot Bay Rum, pineapple juice and a splash of Grenadine); "Dangerous" (Bacardi Rum, Peach Schnapps, cranberry juice, pineapple juice and a splash of Grenadine); "Black or White" (Island Oasis Banana, rum, Dreyer's Ice Cream, Hershey`s Chocolate Syrup, whipped cream and cherry), and the "Billy Jean"
(tequila, Finest Call Triple Sec, Island Oasis Wild Berry and Sweet and Sour).

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October 2009

Innovation is the key word in trendy cocktail bars these days. Here are a few examples of some unusual drinks I've come across in my research to add to my monthly archival suggestions.

CALIMOCHO

This oddball quaff comes from bartender Lane Ford at Starbelly, a new San Francisco bar. He says it's based on a drink popular with young people in Spain.

6 ounces Coca-Cola
¾ ounce Carpano Antica vermouth
4 ounces of a fruit-forward, full-bodied red wine

Take a classic Coca-Cola bottle. Pour out the Coke until you have 6 ounces left. Add the Carpano Antica and wine. Place bottle in shaker filled with crushed ice. The colder it can get, the better it will taste. Bendy straw suggested.

THE BOTTOM LINE

This drink was whipped up by bartender Kevin Dietrich to win the Bärenjäger Bartending Competition in New York. He had to use the sponsor's Bärenjäger Honey Liqueur.

¾ parts Bärenjäger Honey Liqueur
1½ parts Highland Park 18
1 part Manzanilla Sherry
¼ parts Cio Ciaro
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Orange Bitters

Add all ingredients to mixing glass, ice and stir strain into chilled cocktail glass.

GARDEN SOUR HOUR

Christian Sanders, bartender at The Living Room Bar in the W Hotel in Miami's South Beach neighborhood, came up with this drink to win Bombay Sapphire's recent "Inspired Bartender Search" at the Palms in Las Vegas.

1 1/2 parts Bombay Sapphire Gin
1/3 part Galliano liqueur
1/2 part lemon juice
1/2 part Triple Sec
1 part celery juice
1 thumbnail dill paste
2 dashes of orange bitters

Salt half the rim of the cocktail glass with cracked black pepper and Himalayan sea salt. Discard all ingredients into a Boston Shaker. Add ice to the top and shake vigorously for 5-10 seconds. Double fine-strain and garnish with a spring of dill.

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September 2009

This month's collection of cocktail recipes consists of a trio of new concoctions that won recent bartending competitions.

ABSOLUTLY ROCKING

Brit bartender Gianluigi Bosco created this drink to win the Flair Bartending category in the World Cocktail Championships in Berlin. The spelling of the drink is an homage to Absolut Vodka, one of the event sponsors. His flair: He wore a big felt hat and juggled apple juice and vodka bottles to the tune of “My Sharona” sung by The Knack. Go here for a video of him in action, sans hat.

3 parts Absolut vodka
⅓ part mango juice
⅓ part apple juice
2 drops vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Lime, apple and red currants for garnish

Shake all ingredients with fresh ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish.

GRAPES OF WRATH

Matthew Biancaniello of the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles whipped up this winner in the Chartreuse Competition in LA.

¾ ounce lemon juice
½ ounce agave or simple syrup
1½ ounces Hendricks gin
½ ounce green Chartreuse
Marinated concord grapes for garnish

Muddle the grapes with the lemon juice and agave or simple syrup. Add the gin, green Chartreuse and ice; stir. Garnish with the Grand Marnier-marinated grapes.

MASALARINHA

Tad Carducci created this fragrant, Indian-inspired caipirinha recipe and was honored for it in this year's Tales of the Cocktauil competition in New Orleans.

2 ounces Leblon cachaça
3 quarters lime
1/2 ounce honey
1–2” inch peel of grapefruit
1” inch cube of fresh pineapple
1/4 tsp. garam masala powder
1/4 tsp. turmeric for color

Muddle lime, pineapple and honey. Add additional ingredients and ice. Shake and serve over ice.

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