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Happy National Dry Martini Day!

Dry ice martini. Photo: Oskay, Flickr

Happy National Dry Martini Day!

Revered as perhaps one of the most fashionable drinks in film and culture, the martini first appeared in the mid-1800s, with the first original written record of it in 1888. It is thought to have stemmed from the Martinez (created in Martinez, California in 1849), which called for sweet vermouth, gin, bitters and maraschino liqueur. The drink morphed into the martini when its ingredients were simplified into purely vermouth and gin, with the dry martini reigning in popularity for its the gin-skewed ratio overpowering that of vermouth.

British novelist Alec Waugh once said, "I am prepared to believe that a dry martini slightly impairs the palate, but think what it does for the soul." How do you take your martinis? Share your preferences for the boozy beverage in the comments!

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Three Spring Cocktails - Tip of the Day

Spring's here! Mix up a fresh, simple cocktail to ring in the season. Here are three to choose from.
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Filed under: Tip of the Day

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Blood Orange - Feast Your Eyes


Blood-orange season in Sicily makes many of us long for plane tickets to Catania, where the delicate, sweet Tarocco variety grows and rarely travels beyond the Italian border. However, we have options -- Spain provides us with the tender and sweet Sanguinello and California offers the ruby-colored Moro variety. Let the juicing begin -- or just plain peeling and eating.

Recipes abound. Fennel pairs well with blood oranges, in a salad with pomegranate and Pecorino. You can use it in an intensely flavorful marinade for a pork tenderloin, or try a dessert of pound cake with blood-orange glaze. Martha Stewart suggests mixing the juice with citrus-flavored vodka and simple syrup for a blood-orange martini.

If you'd like to know more about the magical blood orange, read this terrific Saveur magazine story by David Karp (a.k.a. The Fruit Detective).

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Filed under: Feast Your Eyes

LeNell It All - Oscars and Cocktails

Photo: LeNell Smothers

Oh, the glamor of it all -- painted-on eyebrows, slicked-back hair, ruby-red lips...and tiny little cocktail glasses. Stars and starlets of long ago often included a cocktail in hand as part of their sex appeal onscreen.

In 1930, gorgeous Greta Garbo spoke this famous line: "Gimme a whiskey. Ginger ale on the side. And don't be stingy, baby." We love the fact that one of the first talkie films mentions the makings of a whiskey highball.

Sipping Champagne is made even more fun when you dip a potato chip in it. (Thanks, Ms. Monroe, for that suggestion in The Seven Year Itch). However, we prefer a sugar cube and some bitters and maybe some brandy in our bubbly. In the 1942 flick Casablanca, head waiter Carl serves up more than one Champagne cocktail in Rick Blaine's Café Americain bar. We can't ensure that those cocktails won the film's three Oscars, but they sure didn't hurt any.
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Filed under: Drinks, Food History

Cocktail Ingredients Quiz

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?

  • Bourbon
  • Vodka
  • Rum
  • Tequila

Filed under: Quizzes, Drink Recipes

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