Sunday Cocktail

The Fitzgerald, perfect for a hot summer day

Published by admin on Mon, 07/22/2019 - 4:09pm

The dog days of summer are upon us. It's time for baseball, hot dogs, pool time, and refreshing gin cocktails.
While the classic Gin and Tonic rules the summer, I prefer to wind down with my favorite Gin Sour cocktail, The Fitzgerald.
Do you like lemonade? Who doesn't? While classic lemonade is lemon, sugar, and water, the “Sour” is built on the classic lemonade platform with the addition of your favorite spirit.

The Bobby Burns, enjoyed around the globe

Published by admin on Mon, 07/15/2019 - 11:22am

Whenever I encounter a namesake cocktail, the first order of business is to figure out why this person or place has been immortalized in the name of a drink. The Bobby Burns (aka the Robert Burns) is named after the national poet of Scotland and is enjoyed at “Burns Night” functions held by poets around the globe.
In addition to being the drink of choice for a “Burns Night” poetry reading, the Robert Burns is traditionally enjoyed on St. Andrew's Day in Scotland and on Hogmanay, or New Year's Eve as we call it here.

Wray and Ting

Published by admin on Mon, 07/08/2019 - 11:15am

When in Jamaica, drink as the Jamaicans drink! Over 90% of the rum consumed in Jamaica is produced by the Wray & Nephew distillery and most of that rum finds its way into the most popular cocktail on the island, the classic Jamaican Wray and Ting.
Wray & Nephew began producing Jamaican rum in 1825 and has marketed many different expressions of their rum with varying degrees of success and staying power. The Wray flagship brand is their overproof white rum bottled at 63% ABV, or 126 proof.

The Monkey Glad, a delicious and classic cocktail

Published by admin on Mon, 07/01/2019 - 11:54am

Sometimes a bad idea leaves a great story, and in some cases a great cocktail. This week's cocktail was both.
Once upon a time Russian doctor named Serge Voronoff was looking for ways to reverse the aging process and increase virility in male patients. Did he succeed? No, but his imaginative, unorthodox, ineffective ideas live on as the namesake for a delicious classic cocktail, the Monkey Gland.

Shake up a tropical inspired Jungle Bird

Published by admin on Wed, 06/26/2019 - 9:00am

Hotel bars have been some of the most productive breeding ground for cocktail recipes throughout the entire course of mixology history. Many of these iconic hotel creations predate prohibition, and many predate the mid-20th century.
That didn't discourage the crew at the Aviary Bar inside the Kuala Lumpur Hilton from getting creative around 1978 and giving birth to a modern classic, the Jungle Bird.
Before we get to the cocktail, where is the Kuala Lumpur Hilton? It's in Kaula Lumpur, or “KL”, the Capital City of Malaysia and near an actual jungle.

Cuba Libre, a fancy name for Rum and Coke

Published by admin on Wed, 06/19/2019 - 9:00am

Summer is Cuba Libre season. Have you had one today?
Okay, if you are sitting by the pool, watching baseball or grilling on the patio you may have had more than one. Either way, you are not alone as the Cuba Libre is one of the most popular mixed drinks on the planet.
What is a Cuba Libre? ou may know it as plain old boring Rum and Coke, but it's much more than that.
So, Cuba Libre is a fancy name for Rum and Coke. What's the big deal? The drink itself is quite the big deal, and it became so in the most organic way possible: word of mouth.

It’s not a real bar without Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Published by admin on Wed, 06/12/2019 - 9:00am

If you don't have a bottle of Angostura Aromatic Bitters in your bar, you don't have a bar. In fact, there was a time when the legal definition of the term “cocktail” was spirit, sugar, water, and bitters.
Without bitters you literally did not have a cocktail. Bitters are the unsung heroes of mixology, and the House of Angostura has produced the best in the business for nearly 200 years.
If you haven't yet added bitters to your home bar, it's time to take the plunge.

Mix up a true Hawaiian Mai Tai

Published by admin on Wed, 06/05/2019 - 9:00am

I recently had the opportunity to visit Honolulu's La Mariana for what I thought was going to be the last time.
As recently as April of this year it seemed that the 6--plus year run of the iconic bar was going to come to an end as their lease was not likely to be renewed. As luck would have it, La Mariana was able to reach an agreement to extend their lease within literally weeks of having to close the longest running tiki bar on the island.
This week we will toast their victory with one of their famous Hawaiian Mai Tais.

Happy hour like an Italian with an Aperol

Published by admin on Wed, 05/29/2019 - 9:00am

Happy 100th birthday to Aperol. Long regarded as the “other” Italian bitter liqueur in a class dominated by Campari, Aperol has managed to climb back to the top via its signature cocktail, the Aperol Spritz.
Around this time each year Drinks International publishes a mid-year list of the world's bestselling cocktails, and rarely are there any surprises, especially in the top ten. The Aperol Spritz is currently ranked number nine, and perhaps stands to pick up a few more spots before we close the book on 2019.
Why the sudden spike in popularity of the Aperol Spritz?

Victory with Three Dots and a Dash

Published by admin on Wed, 05/22/2019 - 9:00am

Three dots and a dash means victory. Or is it a cocktail? Or perhaps a tiki bar?
Three dots and a dash is all three of these things, and the Chicago-based tiki bar named after the famous cocktail now ranks among the top tiki bars on the planet.
The complex “Three Dots” is one of Donn the Beachcomber's greatest feats of mixology, and this week we will whip up our very own at home.