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)