Recipes

Banging Our Head Against The Wall

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Today, November 8th, is…wait for it…. National Harvey Wallbanger Day!  There’s a fun story behind it including Laguna Beach, surfers, and bartenders all according to National Day Calendar.  Our favorite tidbit:

Q. Harvey Wallbanger sounds like a good name for a band. Is the name taken?
A. It was. Kind of…musicians Jeremy Taylor, Christopher Prurves, Johnny Griffiths, Neil “Reg” McArthur, Richard Allen and Harvey Brough founded Harvey and The Wallbangers in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, the cocktail is easy to make.

3 parts vodka, 1 part Galliano and 6 parts orange juice. Pour it into a highball glass and garnish it with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry

– Jet Cannon

Photo:  A Couple Cooks

When It Rains, Kill The Pain

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Is it raining where you are?  It is where we are.  Regardless, couldn’t we all use a tiki drink to bring the tropics to the La-Z-Boy?  How about a Painkiller?  To make it right, go the extra mile or two and use fresh fruit.  It’s worth the effort (reward mantra = La-Z-Boy).

Painkiller

  • 2 ounces quality dark rum
  • 4 ounces fresh pineapple juice
  • 1 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1 ounce cream of coconut
  • Garnish: nutmeg, freshly grated
  • Garnish: pineapple wedge

Use a shaker to mix, pour over crushed ice and you’ll be singin’ in the rain!  

– Jet Cannon

The Last Word

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One of the drawbacks of being a Baby Boomer is that we are losing legends on a regular basis. Seattle bartender Murray Stenson was one of those legends. He recently passed away. Once named “Best Bartender in America”, Stenson was a bartender’s bartender. He mentored many while demonstrating what makes a great bartender. Besides serving a creating great cocktails, he remembered customers and details about their families and made people who sat at the bar feel important. He is known for re-introducing pre-Prohibition cocktails like The Last Word. Please raise The Last Word in his honor.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 ounce gin
  • 3/4 ounce green Chartreuse
  • 3/4 ounce maraschino liqueur
  • 3/4 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
  • Garnish: brandied cherry (optional)

Steps

  1. Add the gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and lime juice into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.
  2. Strain into a chilled coupe glass.
  3. Garnish with a brandied cherry

  • Jet Cannon

Photo and Recipe: Liquor.com

“If there’s a heaven for me, I’m sure it has a beach attached”

Music, Recipes / By

Our favorite skipper, Captain Tony, like many Jimmy Buffett fans, is continuing to mourn the passing of the legendary musician.  So the Captain shared with us Jimmy’s recipe for a Margaritaville Signature Margarita.

1 oz. Margaritaville Tequila Gold

1/2 oz. Margaritaville Tequila Silver

1/2 oz. Triple sec

1/2 oz. Orange curacao

1/2 oz. Lime juice

2 lime wedges

1. Rim margarita glass with salt

2. Combine ingredients in a shaker filled with ice.  Squeeze lime on top, then drop wedges in

3. Cover, shake vigorously, and pour.

Put some Jimmy vinyl on the turntable, kick back, and enjoy!

– Jet Cannon

Photo: Allrecipes.com

When You’re Blue

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Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft recently crashed into the moon.  The craft probably looks like it’s been through a blender.  So how appropriate to commemorate the accident with a vodka blender drink!  Sunset Magazine shares how to make a Blue Moon Cocktail.

Ingredients

1 cup crushed ice

1/4 cup vodka

1/4 cup blue curaçao

1/4 cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons vanilla-flavored syrup (such as Torani)

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon Cointreau or other orange-flavored liqueur

How to Make It

In a blender, combine all ingredients and whirl until smooth. Pour into four martini glasses (4 oz.) and garnish the rim of each glass with a slice of orange.

Enjoy and shoot for a soft landing.

– Jet Cannon

It’s The Bomb

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Have you seen Oppenheimer? How about Barbie? Doesn’t matter. The Washington Post reports that the recipe for the Oppenheimer martini seen in the movie can be found on the Los Alamos National Laboratory website. So we had to try one. Or two. “Four ounces of gin and a dash of vermouth, then dip the rim of the chilled glass in honey and lemon juice.” Powerful. Bursting with flavor.

  • Jet Cannon
atomic bomb, mushroom cloud, explosion-1011738.jpg

Dark Side of the Moon Cocktail

Food and Drink, Recipes / By

Today is the day in 1969 that Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. We thought we’d celebrate by combining that event with one of our favorite albums and feature a Dark Side of the Moon Cocktail. When you see the ingredients you’ll realize that you and I won’t ever get there….Either to the back side of the moon or the cocktail. At least at home. Here’s a recipe from Inshaker.com:

  • Fill a Collins glass to the top with ice cubes
  • Place 0.1 oz of bamboo powder into the shaker
  • Pour in 0.5 oz of lime juice and 0.5 oz of ginger syrup
  • Add 0.5 oz of picon and 1 oz of mezcal
  • Fill the shaker with ice cubes and shake gently
  • Strain through the strainer and sieve into the Collins
  • Garnish with an orange wheel

Bamboo powder?? Picon??

If you have some, let us know when to show up!

  • Jet Cannon

What A Pair!

Food and Drink, Recipes / By

Canada’s Elle Gourmet (ellegourmet.ca) suggests we try pairing fresh strawberries with bourbon! Okay! “We’re pairing the intense sweetness of fresh strawberries with the caramel and vanilla flavours of bourbon.” Let’s just say it works.

– Jet Cannon

Strawberry Bourbon Sour

1 Serving

Ingredients

2 strawberries, chopped
1 oz vanilla simple syrup (see tip)
1 cup ice
2 oz bourbon
1 oz each freshly squeezed lemon and lime juices

To Garnish
lemon balm and strawberry slices (optional)

Method

1. In cocktail shaker, add strawberries and vanilla syrup. Use muddler or handle of wooden spoon to muddle ingredients until jammy. Top with ice, bourbon, lemon juice and lime juice; shake for 10 seconds. Strain into a rock glass and garnish with lemon balm and strawberry slice, if desired.

Tip: Vanilla simple syrup: In saucepan, bring ½ cup each granulated sugar and water to boil until sugar is dissolved. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds; stir pod and seeds into syrup and let cool to steep.

Tip: The subtle citrus notes of lemon balm are a more delicate (and prettier) alternative to mint.

The Last Word In Tasty Cocktails

Food and Drink, Recipes / By

Near-genius Mercer Island bartender, Earl Bahama Armani, recently introduced us to the Last Word cocktail.  Where have we been?  We missed some noteworthy cocktail history from the Zig Zag Cafe. Per Wikipedia, the Zig Zag Café is a craft cocktail bar and restaurant in Seattle, Washington. Established in 1999, the bar is considered one of the best in the United States, helping lead the craft cocktail movement. From 2002 to 2011, noted bartender Murray Stenson worked at Zig Zag Café, and created innovative cocktails as well as reintroduced the pre-Prohibition-era Last Word cocktail to the public and to bars around the world. The Last Word is a gin-based Prohibition-era cocktail originally developed at the Detroit Athletic Club. While the drink eventually fell out of favor, it enjoyed a renewed popularity after being rediscovered by Stenson in 2003.  Thank you Murray…. And Earl!!

Ingredients

  • 3/4 ounce gin

  • 3/4 ounce green Chartreuse

  • 3/4 ounce maraschino liqueur

  • 3/4 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed

  • Garnish: brandied cherry (optional)

Steps

  • Add the gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and lime juice into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.

    – Strain into a chilled coupe glass.

    – Garnish with a brandied cherry

– Jet Cannon

Photo and Recipe: Liquor.com

Bite Me

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Jaws was released on this day in 1975 starting a tradition of summer blockbusters.  Celebrate with All Recipes’ Shark Bite Cocktail!  The drops of grenadine will be a crowd pleaser for sure.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups ice cubes, divided
  • 1 fluid ounce simple syrup
  • ¾ fluid ounce spiced rum
  • ¾ fluid ounce light rum
  • ½ fluid ounce Blue Curacao
  • ½ fluid ounce lime juice
  • 3 drops grenadine syrup, or as needed
  • Directions
  • Fill a cocktail shaker with 1 cup ice. Add simple syrup, spiced rum, light rum, blue Curaçao, and lime juice. Cover and shake until the outside of the shaker has frosted, 10 to 15 seconds.
  • Fill a glass with remaining 1 cup ice. Strain cocktail over ice in the glass. Add drops of grenadine to cocktail.

– Jet Cannon

water, sea, ocean-3149783.jpg

World Martini Day

1 Comment / Food and Drink, Recipes / By

June 19th is when the world celebrates our favorite cocktail. Here is some useful information from NationalDayCalender.com about martinis and how to order them. We learned a few things ourselves.

Martini Lingo

  • Dirty – This Martini includes olive brine or juice from the olive jar.
  • Dry – The vermouth is decreased significantly in the Martini, and gin becomes the primary spirit. Extra dry tips the ratio even further.
  • Gibson – Instead of an olive, bartenders garnish the Martini with a pickled onion.
  • Shaken vs. Stirred – Most bartenders will tell you that the better Martini is stirred. Shaken Martinis tend to be inferior due to a couple of reasons – ice chips water down the drink, and shaking the Martini adds air to the cocktail. A stirred Martini results in a smoother, fuller experience.
  • Straight Up – This Martini may be either shaken or stirred, but it is strained and served without ice – the opposite of a Martini on the rocks.
  • Smoky or Burnt – Scotch whisky replaces the vermouth in this Martini. A twist of lemon garnishes the glass.
  • Wet – Where the dry Martini has less vermouth, this one has more.
  • With a Twist – The bartender adds a thin strip of citrus peel to the Martini as a garnish or in the drink.  

– Jet Cannon

 

Photo:  WallPaperFlare.com

More Is Better!

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Real Simple has recipes for big batch cocktails for larger gatherings.  It’s nice to have something prepared in advance to avoid playing bartender all night.  How about Bourbon-Campari Punch, Red Sangria with Blackberries, Rum & Pineapple Punch, Gin Cider Punch or Minty Ukraine Mule Punch?  They all sound like crowd-pleasers.

– Jet Cannon

Lady Liberty Lemonade

Food and Drink, Recipes / By

Thank you Mixology Pro’s for sharing five patriotic cocktails for Memorial Day Weekend. 

 

Here’s the recipe for Lady Liberty Lemonade:

– 2 oz (60 ml) Master of Mixes Single Pressed Lemon Juice

– 2 oz (60 ml) Master of Mixes Simple Syrup

– 1 oz (30 ml) vodka

– Lemon-lime soda

Directions:

– Build all ingredients in order in tall/collins glass filled with ice.

– Fill with lemon-lime soda.

  Click here to see four more Memorial-able recipes from Mixology Pros!

– Jet Cannon