Can you identify the ingredients in a martini, cosmopolitan, Manhattan, Mai Tai, Long Island Iced Tea, Harvey Wallbager and more? See how well you know your cocktails.
Cocktail Ingredients Quiz
Crazy for Cosmopolitans? You'll need vodka, Cointreau or triple sec, lime juice, and one other ingredient to shake 'em up at home.
Grenadine
Orange juice
Cranberry juice
Pink grapefruit juice
Some folks get fancy with the recipe, but a traditionally-made Mai Tai gets its signature flavor from lime juice, dark rum, grenadine (or simple syrup), curacao and what other key ingredient?
Almond syrup
Mango juice
Coconut milk
Orange juice
Shaking up vodka, cream, and this variety of liqueur results in a White Russian.
Coffee
White chocolate
Vanilla
Peppermint
The rim of a Sidecar glass is coated in what tasty substance?
Sugar
Salt
Cocoa
Honey
The non-alcoholic classic Shirley Temple contains ginger ale (or lemon-lime soda), orange juice and a sweet splash of what?
Fruit punch
Cranberry juice
Grenadine
Pineapple juice
Vodka or gin would need just this ingredient to be shaken or stirred into a gimlet.
Roses Lime Juice Cordial
Olive juice
Fresh lime juice
Pickle juice
Rye (or bourbon), vermouth, bitters and a cherry are the components of which classic cocktail?
Negroni
Old Fashioned
Manhattan
Rob Roy
Mix up rum, lime and Coca-Cola to make this drink.
Cuba Libre
El Presidente
Bronx
Corpse Reviver
Mint, sugar, lime, soda water and this liquor come together to be muddled into a mojito.
Cachaca
Tequila
Rum
Pisco
Standard ingredients in a Negroni include gin, vermouth and what other liquid?
Lemon juice
Egg whites
Angostura bitters
Campari
It's not just a punchline -- the Harvey Wallbanger is a fern bar staple featuring vodka, orange juice, and this odd liqueur.
Goldschlager
Rumplemintz
Galliano
Peach Schnaaps
When this is popped into a Martini in lieu of an olive, it becomes a Gibson.
Jalapeno pepper
Lime wedge
Gherkin
Cocktail onion
James Bond may be more commonly associated with the Martini, but writer Ian Fleming also had him slugging down Vespers, which are concocted from Lillet Blanc and which two liquors?
Brandy & Scotch
Gin & Vodka
Vodka & Bourbon
Bourbon & Brandy
Mix orange juice and this spirit for a hard-hitting Screwdriver.
Rum
Vodka
Champagne
Whiskey
Sure, you could ask for a vodka & cranberry with a lime wedge, but it's much more festive to order it this way:
Greyhound
Salty Dog
Cape Cod
Madras
If you've got bourbon, mint, and a splash of soda, you're on the right track to make the Derby Day classic, a Mint Julep. What's still missing?
Lime
Sugar
Bitters
Nothing
The Bloody Mary is a brunch standard, but this addition transforms it into a hearty Bloody Bull.
Beef broth
Red Bull
A whole hot pepper
Pepper vodka
Creme de menthe and cream are terribly tasty together, but if you want a Grasshopper, hop to the store for a bottle of:
Vanilla vodka
Creme de Cacao
Green food coloring
Mint extract
A Greyhound gets its distinctive flavor from vodka and this mixer:
Sweetened lime juice
Pineapple juice
Cranberry and orange juice
Grapefruit juice
We all know that a Long Island Iced Tea has no tea in the mix, but what liquor isn't part of the standard recipe?
There's no denying that the Brits give good gin, but it turns out Americans aren't too shabby when it comes to distilling the drink, either. As Clay Risen points out at the Atlantic Food Channel, each of these Six American Gins Worth Tasting not only stand up to "the best of the British" brands, they're affordable, too.
Risen isn't the only one with gin on his mind this summer. While sipping gin and tonic over the weekend, we ran out of the latter. Necessity being the mother of invention, this resulted in the surprisingly delicious (if admittedly somewhat lowbrow) cocktail: one part gin, one part 2-calorie citrus soda Fresca and a hunk of lime.
While British gin distillers might turn their noses up at such a combo, perhaps Americans are more forgiving? Tell us your favorite gin cocktails in the comments and weigh in on our poll.
We can only imagine it wasn't just us having a culinarily significant weekend, what with the late-breaking Seders and Easter feasting. Sure, Monday drudgery is upon us, but howzabout dishing up your biggest cooking tales of the past few days?
We'll go first. 'Round these parts, we rustled up our very first Sweet Potato Kugel (Elijah even asked for seconds), braised and glazed an Easter ham in Cheerwine cherry soda, bourbon and pomegranate molasses, and shook up a few Ramos Gin Fizzes from all the extra eggs lying about. Somehow, it all managed to coexist quite peacefully in both our hearts and digestive systems, and while we didn't get 'round to sourcing the lambs' blood for the Icelandic Slatur we've been double-dog-dared to make, there's always next weekend.
For now, we're hungry for your tales of kitchen woes and triumps. Didja best a crust that's been troubling you, or experiment with an unfamiliar veggie? Dish 'em up in the comments below.
The Luxury Institute has released its annual Luxury Brand Status Index (did you know that even luxury brands have their own status index?) for the wine and spirits category. The index is based on surveys of the wealthy, sampling more than 1,200 American consumers with an average weighted income of $342,000 and an average weighted net worth of $2.9 million. Here are the top-rated brands in each category:
Champagne and sparkling wine: Dom Perignon Cognac: Courvoisier Gin: Hendricks Liqueur: Grand Marnier Rum: 10 Cane Scotch: Macallan Table wine: Opus One Tequila: Patron Vodka: Grey Goose Whiskey: Woodford Reserve
The whole subject of mixed drinks and alcohol has made me pretty tense lately -- a feeling that was further compounded by the excellent post by Paul Clarke on Serious Eats about the start of the absinthe backlash. Backlash... about a drink. This isn't a certain style of jeans, it's a drink. If you like it, you like it. While trends might influence our eating, do any of you say: "Gee, chocolate chip cookies aren't in right now. I'm going to stop eating them"? No. We keep eating them because they're darned tasty. So why do we succumb to the pressures of alcoholic trends?
The years go by and certain mixtures become passe, while others thrive because of something prevalent in media. (Like the inundation of Cosmopolitans from Sex and the City.) When they bite the dust, the old drinks get this "yuck" stigma, as if their lack of popularity is due to their flavor, and not the mindless following of trends. Old drinks become weird and foreign, even if they might be tastier, simpler, and infinitely more rewarding. New generations hit the bars, and they order what they know, and no one ever seems to tell them otherwise.
New Year doesn't just mark a clean page on a new calendar -- it evokes nostalgia for the times that led to that point. For many, New Year's Eve is a clash of impressions of confetti, champagne corks, standing in the freezing cold (18 degrees in Times Square this year) in hopes of jockeying for a couple of seconds of nationwide camera time. But for some, the best New Year's Eve is not on the streets but in a swank nightclub several stories above, where matrons in furs peer disdainfully at doxies in sequins, where a gentleman's black tie is correctly understood to be quite enough sartorial splendor for his role as escort, where the jewelry is platinum and the hair is marcelled, and where, although champagne is popped at midnight for an obligatory sip, the drink of the evening is the martini.
Into the world of chic, artisinal gins, enter New Amsterdam. Like the pre-code New York of its name, this gin bypasses the cheap sentiment of retro to be outright old-fashioned, without the speakeasy sting of bathtub gin. Soft citrus notes open the palate much as happens with a good sauvignon blanc, but then a strident bite of juniper marches forward, lockstepping like a Busby Berkeley kickline. As a pure sip, the juniper mid-note lingers on the palate; with vermouth or lime, a final spicy note surfaces, very lightly crowned with waft of minerality.
There's a stigma attached to those who extol the virtues of proper glassware. But the fact is -- they're right. The vessel used for your drink will affect not only the liquid that's poured inside, but also the way it hits your tongue, and the flavor your taste buds register.
I used to blow this off as overly fastidious, fancy schmancy posturing. I hated getting pints of beer or glasses of soda because it always tasted flat to me. I preferred that crisp bite out of the bottle -- glass be damned!
But then I experienced the differences for myself. While visiting a winery a number of years ago, my friends and I sat in on a glassware class. A myriad of shapes and sizes were placed in front of us, and we tried white, red, and sparkling wine in the different glasses. Each tasted different as it was moved from the standard white glass, to the wider red, to the narrow flute. We were shocked, and we vowed to always try to have the right glass for the right wine, because what's the point of paying more for a good wine, if you can't experience its full flavor?
But it's not just a matter of wine. Recently, I was making dinner and decided to open a bottle of craft beer that I had loved at my favorite pub a few months prior. I popped off the cap, took a drink, and curled my lip -- it not only tasted nothing like I remembered, but I hated it. I thought back and remembered that I drank the beer at the end of the night. Did I have bad, delusional drunken taste buds? I read the side of the bottle, which suggested a specific stemmed glass. I found something close, poured it in, and it became the beer I remembered -- rich, full, and wonderful. Me, the bottle lover, had found a beverage that tasted much, much better out of the bottle.
Now this doesn't mean that you need to have a specific glass for every different type of beer or booze. Get the right glasses, or something very close, for your favorite beverages, and stick to standards for the rest.
Think about it -- why splurge on a great scotch, wine, beer, or other beverage if you're just going to throw it into any old glass?
Read on to see a rundown of the glasses that make each beverage pop, and consider this not only a great guide for your own collection, but an excellent gift for the liquor, wine, or beer fiend on your gift list.
G'Vine Nouaison Gin is 43.9% abv. / 87.8 proof. I wrote about G'Vine Floraison Gin and now have the pleasure to write about their new product which just rolled out in the US. Normally I let samples of spirits sit for awhile, but I was waiting eagerly to try this gin and had it opened the evening it arrived. G'Vine Nouaison contains nine main botanicals: ginger root, licorice, green cardamom, cassia bark, coriander, cubeb berries, juniper berries, nutmeg, and lime. Plus an additional botanical that their Floraison Gin is known fro, a small touch of grape vine flowers, but nowhere near the amount seen in the G'Vine Floraison
The aroma is elegant and refined, clean and pure, like how the air smells right after a Autumn downpour. Hints of ginger, lime, and juniper come through, with floral and spicy tones as well. A classic gin aroma, but with just a bit more oomph to it. Almost a metallic aroma at times, in a good way, like titanium and platinum. This is ginny, gin, gin. The taste starts off with a nice juniper hit, followed by hints of nutmeg and other spices, and lime. It's smooth, elegant, and in the classic London Dry Style, but with a slightly bigger and bolder, but not overwhelming, taste.
The G'Vine Nouaison Gin is a much more refined gin than the floral powerhouse of the G'Vine Floraison. This is a gin that seems made for sipping on the rocks, but even more so, for a classic dry martini, Just a little vermouth, and a lemon twist, or maybe a lime twist to bring out more of the light lime that's hiding in the background. I think you will see a lot of this gin in premium cocktails starting very soon, and from what I've heard it's sweeping the awards.
Everyone knows that every night, somewhere, people are drinking for free. Various bars have promotions from liquor companies, nights when they want to pack the house, and special events that result in totally free drinks, and often free food, as well!
Whether you're visiting or a resident, visit My Open Bar for free drinks in:
New York City
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Chicago
Honolulu
Miami
My Open Bar lets you know what time, what's free, and where it is. All you have to do is show up! They even have mobile and RSS feeds.
Special thanks to my friend Brandon A. for the tip.
When I was a teenager, George Orwell's 1984 was my favorite book, both for its writing, which I thought was superb, and for its depressing viewpoint, which beautifully dovetailed with my own adolescent angst. One of my favorite parts was Orwell's description of the effects of "Victory Gin," the official hard liquor of English Socialism:
Instantly his face turned scarlet and the water ran out of his eyes. The stuff was like nitric acid, and moreover, in swallowing it one had the sensation of being hit on the back of the head with a rubber club. The next moment, however, the burning in his belly died down and the world began to look more cheerful.
When I first tried cheap tequila, I came to the conclusion that it was Orwell's famed Victory Gin. Oily, hard to swallow, and packing a wallop, it was also among the most popular tipples in the mid 1980's, far outstripping gin, which seemed pale and weak by comparison. If tequila was a hard whack with a rubber club, gin was a sip of chilled perfume.
In August of last year, I became the luckiest guy in the world when Christine Nylin accepted my proposal for marriage. Being the dork I am, I set out to make up a cocktail symbolizing the event. I named it The Union, which not only highlights the joining of two into one, but also happens to be the name of the restaurant where I tend bar.
That cocktail has gotten a lot of play recently, the recipe popping up on different web sites, magazines and recipe collections. And now, it has another moment in the sun, for on a spectacularly beautiful August 3rd in Seattle, I became even luckier the luckiest guy in the world when Christine became my wife.
In that spirit, I offer up our recipe to share with you. Check it out after the jump.
Last night I went to a party at James, a lovely little restaurant in the Italian Market section of Philadelphia. It was in celebration of the fact that the chef and co-owner James Burke had been named one of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chefs for 2008. It was a far swankier event than I am accustomed to attending, but ended up being lots of fun (even though I forgot to change out of my flip flops before I left the house and so spent some time feeling embarrassed about my flat, plastic shoes).
One of the hits of the evening was a signature drink (essentially a fancified gin and tonic) that they whipped up for the evening, called Hendrick's and Honeydew. Made with fresh honeydew and garnished with a sprig of thyme and a bit of the melon, it was refreshing and lovely, perfect for a swampy summer evening. Check out the recipe after the jump.
Know what gives a Mai Tai its signature sweet, or what morphs a Martini into a Gibson? Just wanna know a dram more about mixology? We've got the quiz for you.
There's an exceptionally steep curve when it comes to spirits savvy, so we're just hoping there's a li'l something in there to quench everyone's thirsts. Take the quiz and c'mon back to gloat or glower. Cocktail Ingredients Quiz
I have no idea what makes this a "space" cocktail. It has gin, frangelico, and lemon juice, but I don't really see anything space age or astronomical or sky-oriented about it. Maybe it tastes like space? Well, if something tastes like space to you maybe you're taking something a little stronger than frangelico.
The recipe is from 1001 Cocktails, and it's pretty straightforward.
New Year doesn't just mark a clean page on a new calendar -- it evokes nostalgia for the times that led to that point. For many, New Year's Eve is a clash of impressions of confetti, champagne corks, standing in the freezing cold (
There's a stigma attached to those who extol the virtues of proper glassware. But the fact is -- they're right. The vessel used for your drink will affect not only the liquid that's poured inside, but also the way it hits your tongue, and the flavor your taste buds register.
Tired of not being in the know?.jpg)
When I was a teenager, George Orwell's 
In August of last year, I became the luckiest guy in the world when Christine Nylin accepted my proposal for marriage. Being the dork I am, I set out to make up a cocktail symbolizing the event. I named it The Union, which not only highlights the joining of two into one, but also happens to be the name of the restaurant where I tend bar.
I have no idea what makes this a "space" cocktail. It has gin, frangelico, and lemon juice, but I don't really see anything space age or astronomical or sky-oriented about it. Maybe it tastes like space? Well, if something tastes like space to you maybe you're taking something a little stronger than frangelico.
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