Hello my Alchies! The weather is heating up here pretty quick and summer will be upon us faster than you can say "poolside margaritas". Although I myself prefer the cloudy, crisp Autumn days that allow for curling up by a fire with a blanket and a mug of spiked, er, spiced apple cider, the warm weather does have its good points. Mainly: refreshing margaritas, frosty cold beer, and fruity tropical mai tais. There is just something special about baking your skin with rays of sun while sipping on an iced, fruity concoction of all things reminiscent of vacation. This warm weather is what has inspired my latest boozy attempt at happiness. Without further ado, i give you:

The Drink:
Lemon-limey Mojitos

The Fixin's (for 1 drink):
8-10 fresh mint leaves
Juice from 1/2 lime
Juice from 1/2 lemon
2 (ish) tbs. cane sugar
1 cup ice
1 1/2 - 2 oz. light rum
1/2 cup club soda





The Process:
I had to tweak this classic recipe because I didn't actually have any fresh limes available (gasp). Luckily, I did have some frozen lime juice leftover from previous recipes, so I was able to use that. However, it wasn't really enough to make 3 drinks with (I was making some for my parents, not three for myself...this time), so I improvised with the lemon juice. Feel free to use just limes if you are well-prepared and boring...kidding.
I also used mason jars for the glasses because I'm superclassy and hipster like that...cough. Anyway, back to making the drink. Place the mint leaves and the juice in the bottom of the glass and "muddle" (pound into a pulp to release the oils).


I didn't have a muddler, and the one I saw at Target was like 15 bucks!! Uh, no thanks. I just used a wooden spoon. After the mint has been smashed into submission, add the sugar and muddle some more. I just like using that word..."muddle"...after you have crushed the life out of your poor mint leaf/lime/sugar mixture, add the ice. Do not remove any of the leaves or remnants from the lime, oh no. You'll suck those up your straw on accident later. After you add the ice, pour your rum over the top, and finish with the club soda. I opted to use my Trader Joe's brand flavored mineral water instead, because hey, it was lime-flavored! Stir it, test it out, add more sugar if you so desire. If you are feeling really fancy, garnish with a sprig of mint and a lime wedge. I was not feeling fancy. Enjoy your boozy Tuesday everyone! Keep cool :)

Christmas Party Success

(This is a really old post I never published. Sue me)

Hello my fellow alchies. The Christmas season is well upon us! This weekend I hosted one of what I hope to be many Christmas/holiday parties througout the remainder of the year. I had a signature cocktail, which will be its own post later on. This one, however, will just focus on the fallbacks and staples that I wanted to have for anyone who doesn't drink martinis...

One of the things that I consider most important in throwing a successful bash is choices. Yes, I had a signature drink that was the focus of the night. But we cannot forget our dear, dear friends, wine and beer. Those beautiful individuals that encompass a multitude of tastes. Satisfiers of both the classy and casual palettes. The familiar security blankets of the alcohol family...

I digress.

This extremely important detail was satisfied in a very simple way. I bought a couple bottles of my favorite cheap-but-good-enough-to-pass-as-expensive zinfandel (Poppy Fields Zin, 3.99$, Raley's). It's a huge step up in content from the classic Two Buck Chuck, without being much of a step up in price. Then to disguise, er, I mean, showcase my delicious wine, I poured them into decanters with homemade chalkboard tags. Observe:



Next, for my lovely, forgiving pal beer, I decided to up the ante a bit. After all, I was throwing a Christmas party! So, once again I turned to the source of all things craft: Pinterest. This little gem was not only easy to replicate, but it was also cheap, fast and it actually turned out like the example! Take that, Pinterest! Not gonna see me on any "pinterestfail" websites. Anywho, no Christmas party is complete without these fun additions. So without further ado, I give you: Reinbeers. Ya, I said it.



If you want to know how to make them, search it on Pinterest...this is an alcohol blog, not a craft blog...just kidding...kinda...I'm still not going to tell you how.

Happy drinking!

Woops...ya I know it's been a while. Chalk it up to being busy in the holiday season...or just lazy, which is far more likely. This next recipe is one that I made for my Christmas party wayyyy back in December. Lucky for me, I took pictures, anticipating that it would be about three months before I got around to writing about it...I'm so smart.

Take a step back in time with me if you will, back to December 14th. Back to a cold, crisp night full of debauchery. Not really. Some friends came over and we played board games. Which I guess to some could be considered debauchery...but I'm getting off track.

The Drink:
A Candy Cane Martini

The Ingredients:
Vanilla Vodka
Whipped Cream Vodka
(I used Smirnoff for both, because I was paying and I'm a cheap-ass)
Peppermint Schnapps
Candy Canes (mini ones are better)



The Process:
For the purpose of being a good host, I mixed a somewhat large batch of this drink beforehand and put it in the freezer so it would be really cold for serving. I also prepared the glasses early too, because they can be a little time consuming.

The drink is pretty straightforward. In my pre-mixed cocktail, I had essentially 1 oz. of both kinds of vodka and 1 oz. peppermint schanpps per drink. For those of you who are already drunk right now, that makes 3 oz. for each martini.
The presentation is a little more involved. I used my mortar and pestal to grind up about a half a cup's worth of candy cane pieces. These have to be really fine, almost to a dust-like state because you will rim the glasses with it. For this, I just poured about a 1/2 oz. of the schapps in a shallow bowl and dipped the edges of each glass alternately in the schnapps, and then to the candy cane pieces. The result was pretty, and of course delicious. Tadaaaaa!



VARIATION:
If you don't have the time or patience to grind up candy canes into 12 million pieces, you can just hang a candy cane over the side of the glass. (this is why the mini ones work best)

Thanksgiving Ginger Apple Sparkling Punch

Well, here it is: my first blog recipe! Last night, some friends of mine held our first annual "Friend's Thanksgiving". Yay for being adults! We were all asked to bring a dish to share, and after covering the basics (garlic mashed potatoes, yo) that freed me up to also bring some BOOZE! I've wasted many an hour browsing Pinterest, aka the downfall of women everywhere, and I can't help but be taken in by all the delightfully tempting holiday recipes that are available. I narrowed my search down to some kind of punch, maybe apple, maybe orange? However, being the stubborn, inventive person I am, I just had to put my personal touch on whatever I decided to do. My inspiration came in the form of a free 2-litre of Sierra Mist that came with my pizza: homemade ginger ale! My finished product was a sparkling-wine-ginger-ale-apple-cider-cinnamon punch. Like Thanksgiving threw up in a punch bowl...it was delicious, I promise. So, here it is!

What I used:
1 liter of apple cider (I like Trader Joes the best)
2-3 sticks of cinnamon
5-6 whole cloves
1 cup of water
3/4 cup sugar
2-2 1/2 tsp. powdered ginger (adjust for level of spiciness)
1 1/2 cups Sprite or similar
1 bottle of dry sparkling wine

How I made it:
First, make the ginger syrup. Combine the water and the sugar in a smallish saucepan over medium heat. Add the ginger and bring to a boil. Once it boils, turn the heat down and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Be careful here not to boil it for too long, or the syrup will be more like caramel...trust me...remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium pot, combine the apple cider, cinnamon and cloves. Simmer with a lid for as long as you want, to make the cinnamon-clove-y flavor stronger or not as strong. I did mine for about 30 minutes on low heat. Yum.

Here is where it gets tricky, because this is a cold punch. After I steeped my apple cider, I mixed the ginger syrup and the cider together and let it chill overnight. You could, theoretically, replace the wine and sprite with like a cup (or two) of spiced rum right then and there while you're warming the cider the stove and call it a day. Nothing wrong with that, I won't be offended. But if you want to make the punch that I did, you're gonna need to factor in chilling time.

After you've let your ginger cider chill you're on the home stretch! Immediately before you leave for your party (or leave the kitchen to sit and watch TV in your pajamas - it's ok, no judgement here), pour the last two ingredients into your punch pitcher/bowl/really big personal glass. Do this slowly of course (hello, you're pouring two bubbly liquids together) and stir gently. Need I say anything more? ENJOY!

*Some notes*
If you so desire, feel free to use fresh cut up ginger in place of the powdered stuff, simmer at a lower temperature for 15-20 minutes and strain.
I left the cinnamon sticks and cloves in my punch for it's entire existence, just to keep the flavor strong. I used one of those pitchers with the built in strainer, so that kept the loose ingredients on the bottom.
I recommend waiting as long as possible to add your soda and wine to the mix because you want to try to preserve the carbonation. You might even want to bring your cider, soda and wine seperate to wherever you end up and add them at the last minute before you serve your delicious beverage to your adoring fans!

The final result is a sweet, spicy, fizzy delicious concoction that could even pass for healthy with all that ginger. Or at least that's what I told my mom. Serves about 12-15 champagne flute servings...or three Natalee servings. Cheers!

Let me introduce...

Hello Everyone! So this is to be my first official post as a "blogger". My friends keep telling me to start a blog, but I could never figure out what to focus on. Then, it hit me: what do I love to do? DRINK. And I say that in a totally I'm-not-an-alcoholic way. I just enjoy the stuff, and the social connotations that normally accompany the consumption of said sweet, sweet libation. Wow, that was quite the SAT word sentence. In the effort of not sounding like a douche, let's translate: I LOVE BOOZE. I also love making up my own crap as I go, so the purpose of this blog is to document all the random concoctions and share them with the world...or my 3 friends that will follow this blog because I ask them to and they feel sorry for me. I have to admit, I usually am not one to follow the traditional method of "measuring" and "following recipes" that society deems normal. HOWEVER, for the sake of anyone reading this ridiculous blog, I will attempt to narrow down measurements as closely as possible, so you can duplicate these recipes. Everyone clear? Good. Let's begin!