I'm a visual artist with a passion for adventure stories, technology, and cocktails. When I'm not at my day job, I'm mixing drinks and working in my home art studio.
Well as long as we still have a full month of summer, let’s keep the tropical drinks flowing!
The Trade Winds is a wonderfully aromatic cocktail with citrus and raspberry notes. It has a dark and mysterious burgundy color with an inviting lemon twist within. The drink starts sweet, moves to a tart raspberry, then finishes with a sour brandy flavor. A great sweeter drink and well balanced it’s easy to recommend as a light starter.
Overall Rating: 8/10
Alcohol Taste Rating: 6.5/10
Trade Winds
3/4 oz Light Rum 3/4 oz Brandy (Apricot Brandy Used) 3/4 oz Raspberry Liqueur 1 oz OJ 2 oz Sweet/Sour Lemon Twist
Shake and strain liquid ingredients into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Well today’s drink some may call a visual masterpiece, others might just call it very frightening. If you are familiar with an “Alien Brain Hemorrhage” this drink follows a similar path.
Built in a presenation shot glass, this is one to build in front of your guests as the grenadine trickles down taking some Irish cream with it. A relatively mild shot given the lack of any major spirit, it’s a strange flavor mix of Irish cream, almond and sweet. I certainly wouldn’t call this a “solid drink,” but if you want to impress your friends on presentation (and not so much taste) this will certainly do the job.
Overall Rating: 3.5/10
Alcohol Taste Rating: 3/10
Jelly Fish Shot
1/3 fill White Creme de Cacao 1/3 fill Amaretto 1/3 fill Irish Cream 3 Drop Grenadine
Layer in a chilled presentation shot glass
“It may not sting ya, but it will certain make you question your choices today.”
Today I bring you one of the best drinks I’ve had since the ” ‘57 T-Bird with Arizona Plates.” The Tidal Wave has great presentation and a very inviting coconut and almond aroma. It starts tropical and sweet, moves to a stronger coconut kick, then finishes with a more alcohol amaretto and sour bite. It’s not often you get such a great mixing of flavors across your palette, but this drink delivers in every respect. On my next menu revision I’ll be doing a section of “seasonal favorites” and this is sure to make the list!
Alcohol Taste Rating: 4.5/10
Overall Rating: 9/10
Tidal Wave
1 1/2 oz Coconut Rum 1 oz Blue Curacao 3/4 oz Lime Juice 1/2 oz Amaretto 1 tablespoon Coconut Cream 1 teaspoon Sugar (Superfine if you have it) Lime Slice (Additional Garnish: Small Orchid if available)
Shake all liquid ingredients with the sugar with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish by floating a lime slice on top.
Well it’s after midnight, but I haven’t been to bed yet…so it still counts as Monday right? Ok then.
Today’s drink is called “A Day at The Beach” and for good reason as it’s a very tropical themed cocktail. I didn’t have the necessary ingredients for the garnish, but the color still delivers here. A powerful red-orange makes for a brilliant presentation. Smelling of amaretto and OJ it’s a very inviting cocktail. The drink starts sweet with orange, moves quickly to a little almond/amaretto flavor and finishes on the great taste of coconut rum. It certainly reminds me of a relaxing day at the beach as there is hardly any bite at all. This is a perfect drink for those looking for a sweet summer cocktail.
Overall Rating 8/10
Alc. Taste Rating: 2/10
Make it again? Yes, actually a little too sweet for the menu, but a great one to suggest on a hot summer day.
A Day At The Beach
1 oz Light Rum
1 oz Coconut Rum
1/2 oz Amaretto
1/2 oz Grenadine
4 oz OJPineapple Wedge and Orange Slice Garnish (not used in photo)
Well this was supposed to be a 2 for 1 tuesday, but I’m not getting around to the post until after midnight, so now it’s just two drinks without the snappy title. So today we’ve got two interesting cocktails, one much better than the other.
First up is the “Wall Street Wizard,” which is straight alcohol stirred and strained for a great emerald look. Unfortunately that’s about all the drink has going for it. It has an earthy citrus aroma, but so much of the midori flavor is lost with the other alcohols. It starts with a hard curacao bite and finishes with equally hard gin flavor. It’s not one I recommend very much as it’s a tough one to drink, unless you’re looking for something VERY different:
Overall Rating: 3.5-4/10
Alc. Rating: 9/10
Wall Street Wizard
1/2 oz Gin 1/2 oz Vodka 1/2 oz Light Rum (Gold Used) 1/2 oz Blue Curacao 1/2 oz Midori
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Hypnotized by the color…so your think it’s better than it is.
So next up we’ve got something much better. The “.44 Magnum” is a powerful mix that doesn’t quite taste as powerful as the ingredients at work here. The topping of 7Up/Sprite makes for a citrus fizz aroma and start to the drink. Mid pallete is a sweet/sour rum, followed by a Jamaican dark rum finish with a hit of pineapple. Due to the less than appealing color and presentation in this drink, an opaque tiki glass would probably be better than the listed “bucket glass” in my recipe book.
Overall Rating 7/10
Alc. Rating 6.5/10
.44 Magnum
1/2 oz Light Rum (Gold Used) 1/2 oz Dark Rum 1/2 oz Jamaican Rum 1/2 oz Vodka 1/2 oz Triple Sec (or Cointreau) 3/4 oz Pineapple Juice 1 1/2 oz Sweet/Sour Sprite
Shake all but sprite with ice. Strain into an iced tumbler (or tiki glass). Top with sprite.
Well with a recent restock of my Captain Morgan Original, I was lovingly greeted with a little ad/recipe book on the bottle. While most company designed drinks are iffy at best today’s actually has a nice balance of flavors. A mild citrus aroma paired with some subtle almond undertones makes this a very inviting drink. Granted my substitution of Blue Curacao for the orange variety might make this visually appeal a little strange, but with the right garnish it does come back around. Really the only difference between orange and blue curacao is the color, so it doesn’t change the flavor profiles of the drink with this substitution.
Starting with a smooth juicy flavor it slowly moves to a spiced rum and mild almond finish. It may not be a drink for the menu, but it certainly warrants keeping the little card around to make it again.
Overall Rating: 7/10
Alc. Rating: 2/10
Captain Morgan Ⓡ Citrus Squeeze Punch
1.5 oz Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
1 tbsp Orange Curacao (Blue used) 2 oz OJ 1 tbsp Lemon Juice 1/2 oz Almond Syrup
Straight build in a rocks glass over ice. Stir well. Garnish with your choice of sliced or peeled citrus fruit (orange, lemon, and/or mint spring)
Today we’ve got a classy cocktail with a solid flavor. The Sidecar Royale has a classic sandy color with citrus and herbal aromas. It starts on a mildly sweet note, moves to a sweet brandy taste, then finishes with an earthy herbal and brandy bite. If you have or can find some Benedictine you might want to give this one a try. The original recipe calls for either brandy or cognac, but in my bar all I have is flavored brandies. I figured Apricot would fit this drink quite well (and it did). Although a more pure brandy would have the same flavor profile as my mix.
Overall Rating: 7.5-8/10
Alc. Rating: 6/10
Make it Again? Yes. Worth trying with cognac
Sidecar Royale
1 oz Brandy (or cognac)
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz Benedictine
1 1/2 oz Sweet/Sour
(Optional Rim with sugar)
So today I need recap on the past month from episodes of the show. First we have the Red Snapper Shot from June 4th which is a great recipe that yields 2-3 shots.
Red Snapper Shooter
3/4 oz Canadian Whiskey 3/4 oz Cranberry Juice 1/2 oz Amaretto
Shake with ice, strain into (Chilled) shot glasses (makes 3oz)
Next up we’ve got a side by side comparison tasting of two blue summer-style schnapps. Dekuyper’s Island Punch Pucker and Maui Blue Hawaiian. Where I’m from the Pucker is VERY difficult to find so I had to seek out some kind of alternative. While the Blue Hawaiian has a similar flavor it may require a little bit of sweet/sour mix to use it as a “substitute.” More on that in Episode 8.5:
Finally we have today’s festive 4th of July Shot. It’s a powerful orange blast both in aroma and taste. The presentation (as with any layered drink) is quite impressive and really matches with the Red, White, and Blue theme. Although there is also a “Red, White, and Blue Shot” (made with peach schnapps instead of Cointreau), I found this version layered much easier and made for a better demo. For my initial reaction check out the new episode (9) of the show.
I am super excited to share today’s drink of the week as it has easily become one of my new summer favorites! The drink’s sweet pineapple aroma and a (tequila) sunrise style appearance makes for an inviting cocktial. It starts sweet, moves to a bit of spiced rum taste, then to coconut on the finish. Near the end of the drink you start getting a sweeter raspberry finish which rounds everything out making for almost 2 drinks in one. This one may be a little too sweet for some of you so it doesn’t quite make it perfect, but it’s damn close.
Alcohol Taste Rating: 2/10
Overall Rating: 9.5/10
Make it Again? YES!!! (add to menu on next revision)
Leaning Tower Cocktail
1 oz Captain Original Spiced Rum
1 oz Banana Liqueur
1 oz Coconut Syrup
2 oz OJ
2 oz Pineapple Juice
3/4 oz Raspberry Liqueur
Orange Slice and Cherry
Shake all except raspberry liqueur with ice. Strain into an iced highball glass (or pint). Pour raspberry liqueur on top (should slowly sink to bottom). Garnish with an orange slice and cherry.
So yes I am VERY late for the new drink of the week, but I’ve got something very interesting as long as it’s not too late.
The Royal Hawiian matches some interesting flavors together for a decent tropical summer drink. It has a sweet almond aroma with a classy foam top and yellow/cream color. It starts out with a tropical sweet taste, hits the mid palette with a strange almond and gin combo, and finishes on a slight sour note and the mild alcohol burn of gin. It’s use of the almond syrup makes for a unique combo, but I don’t know how well it works together with the tropical flavors of the drink. It is though very much a tiki style drink (which aren’t really my favorite). If you are into tiki drinks this one might be a good one for you to try.
Also note that the original recipe calls for Orgeat Syrup (which is essentially orange blossom water with almond syrup). In most cases though Almond and Orgeat are interchangeable.
Alcohol Taste Rating: 4.5/10
Overall Rating: 7/10
Make it again? Not sure. Probably save it for anyone requesting something Tiki
Royal Hawaiian
1 1/2 oz Gin
1 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Orgeat Syrup
Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
“Watch your language, you’re in front of Royalty.”
Medium Of Mixology 