CANADA COCKTAIL

CANADA COCKTAIL FOR CANADA DAY

1½ measures Canadian whiskey

¼ measure Cointreau

2 dashes Angostura bitters

1 tsp. simple syrup

I know everyone is busy making plans for our national “boom boom,” red, white and blue holiday coming up Wednesday. But while you are busy making other plans, our friendly, non-confrontational neighbor to the north is celebrating Canada Day today.

Canada Day celebrates the 1867 enactment of the British North America Act. That’s when the four Canadian provinces joined together and Canada became its own kingdom (though the British still had some control until 1982.) Canada Day is thought of as Canada’s birthday and there are parades, picnics, fireworks, the whole shebang going on there today. And I bet it’s not as hot as it will be in America on our birthday- eh?

I’m not asking you to don a maple leaf or anything, but in honor of the country that is second only to Russia in size, for goodness sake, at least drink a CANADA COCKTAIL. It’s a sweet whiskey drink made with Canadian Whiskey and Cointreau — two can’t miss ingredients. To make the CANADA COCKTAIL, just put the items listed above into a shaker, add ice, shake and strain into a small cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon or orange. I found it very enjoyable for sipping on the patio, and the aftertaste was palatable. I liked it even better after I added a touch of water in honor of Lake Erie, the body of water that separates my home of Cleveland from Canada. Happy Birthday Canucks!

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie

CITRUS DROP

CITRUS DROP

Smirnoff Citrus Vodka

St. Germaine
Sour Mix
Muddled lemons, limes and oranges

Neil Diamond is a buoyant 71 year old with great talent for songwriting and a classic voice that sounds as good as it did in the 60s. As I found out tonight, he also puts on a good show. From my college theme song — “Love on the Rocks” — to a ballad version of “I’m Believer” and an extended sing-along version of “Sweet Carolina,” it was a show I would dare you not to enjoy.

I also dare you to enjoy a CITRUS DROP, the cocktail I fully enjoyed while dining with my Mom at Pickwick & Frolics in downtown Cleveland before the show. To make it, the bartender muddled lemons, limes and oranges, then put them into a cocktail shaker. He added equal parts citrus vodka and St. Germaine, a small amount of sour mix and shook it all up. He then strained it into a glass and garnished with lemon.

It was a shame to not have the fruit in my glass of CITRUS DROP, but I could definitely taste their presence in the cocktail. Like Neil, the cocktail was slow to love at first, but the excitement quickly built and I was soon in love. The CITRUS DROP is worth the effort or least worth its price at a restaurant. As sweet as it is sour, and with a delicate taste that will blow you away, it will have you saying “So good! So good! So good!”

Drink Up^
Cocktail Connie

PADDY

PADDY
1½ measures Irish Whiskey
¾ measure sweet red vermouth
3 dashes Angostura Bitters

"Don't talk to him right now right now, he's in a real paddy."

As the quote above illustrates, a PADDY is another word for someone in a bad mood. It's also the name for a rice field and the slang term for a drunken Irishman. It's that last definition that caused me to pick today's cocktail for a belated Father’s Day celebration with Dear Old Dad. He just came back from a trip to the homeland – Ireland and I thought an Irish whiskey drink would be fitting.

To make the PADDY, I just put high quality Irish whiskey into a cocktail glass filled with ice, added the red vermouth and a few dashes of Angostura Bitters, then gave it a stir and served it up.

Dad and Hubby thought the PADDY had too much red vermouth, but I thought it had too little. Though it is a strong drink, it is also a good drink, especially after a ten minute melt. Squeezing the lemon slice is also critical to a good PADDY cocktail. Just watch out for the aftertaste and for the Paddys, especially the ones from my family.

Drink Up^
Cocktail Connie

BERRY GOOD LEMONADE

BERRY GOOD LEMONADE

1 measure berry vodka

Lemonade

Blue Curacao

Blueberries

Strawberries

Friday nights in the summertime are the best. Work is done for the week and two whole days stretch ahead of doing what you want (Well, mostly anyways. There are usually a few chores to do too.)

My summertime Friday night was an especially fun one tonight. Good friends, including Montana Michelle, came over for a sunset cruise on Lake Erie. But first, there were cocktails. The group took advantage of my well-stocked bar and there were a variety of cocktails being concocted tonight. The signature cocktail of the evening though was my own take on a cocktail that I had at a bar this week. I call it a BERRY GOOD LEMONADE. To make it, I used Pinnacle Berry Vodka, but Three Olives and probably a few other spirit makers have berry flavored vodka too. I put one measure of the vodka into a tall glass filled with ice, filled most of the rest of the glass up with lemonade, then gave it a stir. I topped the drink off with a splash of Blue Curacao, then plopped in some strawberry slices, blueberries and garnished with a slice of lemon.

The BERRY GOOD LEMONADE was a fabulous start to the fun night. Sure, it’s basically just a lemonade and vodka, but I loved the addition of the blue coloring and the floating fruit. It was a laid-back kind of cocktail that went down easy. Before you know it, I had drank three. Friends called it “fabulous.” It was sweet and slushy like, and would sell well at a 7-Eleven. Frankly, it’s the only was to have lemonade.

But even better than the cocktail was the rest of the night. A flat Lake Erie, a beautiful sunset, more drinks at Shooters in the Flats, hilarious stories, and a rare time with old friends. If only the wild dancing hadn’t led to a broken nose for my friend Cindy, it would have been perfect!

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie

THE WYNTON

THE WYNTON

Hendricks Cucumber-Infused Gin

St. Germaine

Muddled fresh cucumber and lemon zest

I love jazz player Wynton Marsalis and I don’t know what the WYNTON cocktail I had at Nighttown tonight is named for, but I do know that it was a cocktail as smooth and enjoyable as one of Wynton’s great tunes. Nighttown Restaurant in Cleveland Hts., Ohio, is a wonderful restaurant and jazz club that’s been around for 40 years. Their food is to die for and as I found out tonight, so are their cocktails.

See those ingredients listed above? Those can’t make a bad cocktail. To make the WYTON, the bartender started by muddling some fresh cucumber slices at the bottom of a tall glass. He then added some cucumber-infused gin and St. Germaine — an elderflower liqueur and a favorite of mine. He topped it off with lots of lemon zest and slices.

As I sipped my WYNTON on the patio, I contemplated how excellent it was. It was light, flavorful, and rejuvenating. It was just the right balance of sweet and lemon. Know how when your eyes are all puffy, you are suppose to put cucumber slices on them to decrease the puffiness? Well, the best way I can describe the WYNTON cocktail is that it is like cucumber slices for the soul.

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie

VODKA MARTINI

VODKA MARTINI
2 measures vodka
Splash of dry vermouth
Olives

A VODKA MARTINI is one of Hubby's favorite cocktails and tonight he used his considerable experience to make me one. But before you become too impressed, let me tell you how it is made. Fill glass with ice, add two splashes of dry vermouth, fill the rest of the glass up with vodka, put two olives on a cocktail spear and use it to stir your martini.

If you add some olive juice, it will be a dirty martini. Other options include using a slice of lemon instead of olives like my Dad does or using half water, half vodka like Billy Bush does.

The VODKA MARTINI is basically just vodka and ice, which I think is an acquired taste. Hubby told me that after three sips it would taste better, but I don't agree. It took more like 1/2 hour and some serious ice melting before I could appreciate it.

Hubby explained why classic martini drinks like this one are popular. He's no doctor, but he has heard that wine with alcohol is digested faster than plain alcohol. This is because wine is absorbed through the stomach and alcohol is absorbed through your small intestine. So combining the wine (vermouth) and vodka gets the two spirits to your blood stream faster. In other words, wine with liquor gets you high quicker. The VODKA MARTINI was easy to make and effective. It is a cocktail everyone must have at least once, even if you have to go all Billy Bush and add water.

Drink Up^
Cocktail Connie

SUN KISSED

SUN KISS

1 measure Cointreau

1½ measure pineapple juice

¾ measure grapefruit juice

When one wants to get sun kissed by a SUN KISS cocktail, there are lots of options. There are SUN KISS cocktail recipes with amaretto, orange juice, grand marnier, and the list goes on and on. After a bike ride with Hubby to the local tavern, I went with a SUN KISS cocktail made with Cointreau, pineapple juice and grapefruit juice. To make it, the Wright Place bartender put these three ingredients into a tall cocktail glass, added lots of ice and stirred well. A lemon garnish and a splash of club soda would have been nice additions, but they are optional.

I must say, I wanted to like the SUN KISS cocktail, and I did at first. It was fruity, with a strong pineapple taste, but the pineapple mixed with grapefruit juice and orange-flavored Cointreau made this cocktail too tangy and tart for my taste. It was a night kissed with sunny, perfect weather, but alas not with a perfect cocktail. I’m guessing these two juices would be better with vodka, and that the bike ride home should be interesting.

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie