Learn to mix one new drink a week

I’ve been sick and really disinterested in cocktails right now (although my mother-in-law told me her recipe for a cold is hot cider and blackberry brandy).

But this weekend I’m having a big tiki extravaganza so I’m sure I’ll be learning a few new mixes.

Hopefully I’ll be over this cold by then or my guests will have a little something extra in their drinks.

This week I made a Zombie.

There are a cagillion recipes for the Zombie. I narrowed it down to two that I wanted to try (based on these recommendations).

The one that was tops on my list was out, however, because for some reason I got guava juice instead of papaya.

The second one didn’t have either but it did have both lemon and lime juice. Unfortunately all I had for lemons were these tiny little things and I think that ended up making a HUGE difference in the outcome. I should have just used bottled.

I’ve never tasted a more sour drink. If you’ve ever had a Zombie, you know it tastes like an alcoholic Tahitian Treat. Not sour at all.

So this week’s drink was kind of shot (and I DO blame the lemons – not the recipe). I’ll try it again with some better fruit and hopefully I’ll remember to get the papaya juice so I can post the results of both recipes.

Last week the liquor store my husband works for started carrying Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut. So we made:

Pina Coladas
Real ones – with pineapple juice, rum and Coco Lopez. I guess the Pina Colada was invented with Lopez. They were yummy.

Blue Hawaiians
I have a whole bottle of Blue Curacao and I’ve been dying to use some of it up with these but… they’re bad. Okay, they’re not terrible, but they’re really REALLY sweet and compared to the Pina Coladas they sucked. I could probably play around with the recipe I used and make ‘em better, but I found the Pina Coladas a much better usage for the precious Lopez.

I just read that there’s actually another drink called a Blue Hawaiian that is not blended or coconutty, but it does use the Blue Curacao… and gin… oddly enough.

Evil Hate Monkeys
Also not good, but that’s probably because it called for banana rum and while I have like, 10 different rums I do not have a banana-flavored one. Instead of the 1 oz of banana rum, I used .5 oz of 99 Bananas and .5 oz of amber rum. It didn’t work. I ended up adding about 8 oz of OJ to make these drinkable.

And then it tasted like a boozy Orange Julius.

I still have one can of Lopez left and I just got my Trader Vic’s package in the mail today so this weekend should bring some tasty treats.

Since my last update I’ve learned lots of new drinks:

Happy Buddha
Lei Lani Volcano
Bahama Mama
Sidecar
Polish Sidecar
Saketini
And MANY classic highballs (basically just 2 oz of a hard liquor with a mixer on ice – but many of them have names and different garnishes).

I must say the Polish Sidecar was the big surprise hit. Sidecars are great, but cutting in the Polish (blackberry brandy) really adds some texture.

Here’s the recipe we used:

1.5 oz brandy
.75 oz Polish
.5 oz orange liqueur (you can go up to .75 oz with this)
.5 oz fresh squeeze lemon juice

shake with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
garnish with 2-3 blackberries

Cheers!

Last night I made the perfect Mai Tai.

No, I mean it was P E R F E C T.

It was exactly how Mai Tais are supposed to look, smell and taste. It was – by far – the best drink I’ve ever mixed in my life.

I used the classic Trader Vic’s recipe:

1/4 oz rock candy syrup
1/4 oz orgeat
1/2 oz triple sec
1 1/2 oz lime juice
1 oz Jamaican Rum (I used Black Seal)
1 oz Martinique Rum (I used Pyrat)

Pour liquids into shaker w/ ice. Shake. Pour. Garnish w/ mint sprig.

God, it was good. I want one now. This recipe easily puts the Mai Tai in the running as my favorite cocktail now.

I received a very basic ingredients list for this drink – no measurements at all – so I’m not surprised it didn’t turn out like I hoped it would.

It’s minty, citrusy and very refreshing. I was told you can use whiskey, gin, vodka or rum. I chose gin. It had the basic flavor, but my measurements were all out of whack. Basically, it needs more work.

We tried one of those pre-mixed Pina Colada things. God, it sucked. Which was really disappointing because we tried another mix at Easter (My mom thought they’d make a good Springy/Easter drink. I love my mom.) and they were outstanding! This one just tasted like a Pina Colada Lifesaver.

It could have been that we mixed it with our cheapest rum – the Bacardi. I hate Bacardi. It tastes like freaking rubbing alcohol! But we figured since the mix was made by Bacardi that it would work. It didn’t.

We have more than half the bottle left so I think we’ll try a few other rums. I really hate the idea of wasting the good stuff on this crap, though.

A co-worker brought me a bunch of mint this week so over the next few days I’ll be playing with that: Mint Juleps, Mojitos and my friend’s recipe for a Brit’s Bootleg. I also need to work on my Mai Tai. BTW, a real Mai Tai comes with a sprig of mint (and.. uh.. NEVER with pineapple juice). If you get one without mint, it’s not a real Mai Tai.