BAILEY'S COMET

BAILEY’S COMET

1 measure vodka

1 measure Bailey’s Irish Cream

Remember Halley’s Comet? It’s that big, cool looking comet that orbits the sun and can be seen from Earth every 76-79 years. It last appeared in 1986 and won’t appear again until 2061 or so. Until then, kill time by drinking a scrumptious BAILEY’S COMET cocktail.

I love easy two-ingredient cocktails, especially on a Monday, and this one was both easy and delicious. To make a BAILEY’S COMET, put one measure each of vodka and Baileys into a rocks glass with crushed ice and stir. That’s it! I already loved Bailey’s plain on ice, but this makes Bailey’s better. Sure, you may see stars after doubling up on the alcohol, but I think it’s worth it. To me, plain Bailey’s was too thick. Vodka thins it out nicely and, since vodka is virtually tasteless, the cocktail still tastes predominantly like Irish Cream. In other words- good!

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie

BUCK'S FIZZ- MOVE OVER MIMOSAS

BUCK’S FIZZ

Champagne

Orange Juice

Grenadine

Things I loathed about the 80s

Smurfs, big hair, shoulder pads, Vanilla Ice, wearing your collar up, high school

Things I loved about the 80s

Muppets, stirrup pants, friendship bracelets, Flashdance, Scratch n’ sniff stickers, college

The BUCK’S FIZZ cocktail. Hugely popular in the 80s, making yourself a BUCK’S FIZZ is simple. Put two-thirds champagne and two-thirds orange juice into a champagne flute. Add ¼ measure of grenadine and stir lightly. The BUCK’S FIZZ is so, like, totally awesome. The champagne tickles your nose; the grenadine keeps it sweet; and the OJ makes it healthy. It’s like a Mimosa taken to a higher level, and it should make an appearance at your next brunch event or breakfast table, very soon.

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie

OLD FASHIONED #2

OLD FASHIONED #2

2 orange slices (one for muddling and one for garnish)

2 maraschino cherries (one for muddling and one for garnish)
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 ½ ounces bourbon or rye
Club soda

Ever since having the original OLD FASHIONED cocktail on Wednesday, I wanted to give the OLD FASHIONED #2 cocktail recipe a try. It is similar to the other one, but this one has fruit too, so I thought I might like it better. Sometimes I need a little more interference between me and the liquor. It’s also what most aficionados have come to expect when ordering an OLD FASHIONED.

To make it, I first de-stemmed a maraschino cherry and muddled it (love muddling!) with the sugar, bitters, and, an orange slice without the rind, at the bottom of a short rocks glass. I then added a splash of soda and stirred it up, before adding ice cubes and the bourbon. The grand finale came in the form of a garnish with the remaining cherry and orange slice.

So did I like it better? That I did. I think that the OLD FASHIONED #2 was created for someone like me, who is just starting to develop a taste for brown liquor. The orange and cherry flavors really helped to balance the strong taste of the bourbon. I was able to sip it for a nice, long, enjoyable hour, and my eyes are really becoming open to the beauty of brown liquor. It can be sipped, serve it purpose — which in my case was medicinal for my toothache —and not give you a hangover the next day. There are as many ways to mix an OLD FASHIONED as there are baby boomers in Florida, but I’ve bonded with this one.

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie

NEGRONI

NEGRONI

1 measure Campari

1 measure gin

1 measure club soda

Orange

After being blown away by a performance by Trombone Shorty & the Orleans Ave., Hubby and I went in search of “just one more drink,” before facing the realities at home. We wandered into a place called Bricco, right across from the Playhouse in downtown Cleveland where Shorty had rocked the roof off the place, and I asked the bartender to make me a cocktail of his choosing.

He went with a NEGRONI cocktail and made it by putting Campari, gin and club soda into a cocktail glass with ice, giving it a stir, then squeezing in the juice from an orange and using a slice for the garnish. He said I had to try Campari if I never had (I haven’t.) He said that the Italian Spirit, which is made with an infusion of herbs and fruits, is popular among Italians. They drink it in between their heavy meals because it helps to settle the stomach.

While I found the NEGRONI to be very interesting tasting and I’m glad I was pushed to try Campari, I can’t say I’ve become a fan. The cocktail wasn’t fruity and it wasn’t sour. It was herby and had the taste of a digestive aid. Hubby thought it tasted like potpourri. And while potpourri in music — like the funk, blues, rock, and jazz sound of Trombone Shorty — is awesome, potpourri in a drink is not.

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie

PEANUT COFFEE

PEANUT COFFEE

1 ½ measures Kahlua

3 measures whole milk

2 tbsp. vanilla ice cream

2 tsp. smooth peanut butter

3 measures 7-up

Peanut butter lovers unite! And try a PEANUT COFFEE cocktail. More like a dessert than a cocktail, you don’t want to start a night off with one, but as a decadent night cap, PEANUT COFFEE fits the shell nicely.

To make, you’ll need your trusty blender. Put Kahlua, whole milk, vanilla ice cream, and your favorite brand of creamy peanut butter in the measurements above into said blender. Then blend well with about two cups of crushed ice. Pour it into a glass, then add the 7-up and stir. Adding a straw is also mandatory.

If you’re like me, you’ll love the PEANUT COFFEE. It is peanut butter paradise, but, because of the Kahlua, it also tastes of coffee. You don’t taste the 7-up, but there is a little tickle from the bubbles. It’s a filling coffee-shake, but without the caffeine side effects. Look for one of my PEANUT COFFEE stands opening in a neighborhood near you soon. Yep, I love it that much.

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie

OLD-FASHIONED

OLD FASHIONED

1 sugar cube

2 dashes Angostura bitters

¼ ounce cold water

2 ounces American whiskey

Lemon wedge

Happy Administrative Professionals Day! Since 2000, it’s the new way to say Secretaries Day and it’s celebrated all over the world. As an administrative professional myself, a.k.a., a paper pusher, I thought I’d celebrate with a cocktail that was popular among secretaries of the golden era of the 1960s — an OLD FASHIONED. At least that’s what it looks like from Mad Men, the AMC hit show that chronicles the drama in an ad agency in the 60s.

Mad Men has made the OLD FASHIONED popular again, bringing the cocktail out of hiding from the old-man bars, where it never really went out of style. There are many different varieties of the OLD FASHIONED cocktail, and I plan to try the other ways soon, but tonight I tried an old-fashioned OLD FASHIONED, which is the one originally called a whiskey cocktail. Making it involved muddling, which is perfect for taking out anger at your boss. You start by dropping a sugar cube into a short rocks glass, adding a couple of dashes of Angostura bitters, and ¼ an ounce of cold water. Then you muddle. Then you add the whiskey or bourbon of your choosing (I used Old Grandad), ice and a lemon wedge. Give the lemon a squeeze, then plop it into the glass.

I shared my OLD FASHIONED with two brown liquor aficionados, Hubby and my Dad. They liked the OLD FASHIONED, but they didn’t love it. They thought it was too sweet with the sugar and such, and it reminded Hubby of Southern Comfort. They prefer their brown liquor undisguised and on the rocks. I thought it was not sweet enough. It was better than whiskey straight, but not as good as yesterday’s CC & Ginger. Still, I sipped, I enjoyed, and I made a toast to all my fellow paper pushers and all we do to help make this crazy world of our go ‘round.

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie

CC & GINGER

CC & GINGER

2 ounces Canadian Club Whiskey

6 ounces Ginger Ale

“Alls I'm sayin’ is April 24th is my birthday and my favorite drink is CC and Ginger. If you are not familiar with those gals, they are worth introducing yourself to. They represent the brown liquor family in an excellent manner.”

That’s an e-mail from my good friend Jennifer, who was paving the way for my introduction to two of her good friends. I wish I could have shared the CC & GINGER with her in person, but she’s too busy working like a dog with her eye on the prize — Jazzfest in New Orleans. Oh the cocktails I could have there! New Orleans is the U.S. cocktail capital and I’m sad to be missing the fest this year. But I know that the reigning “rookie of the year” champion will be back.

 

I experienced my first CC & GINGER (sometimes called a CC and Dry) while with other good friends at the Terrace Club at Progressive Field during an Indians Game. To make it, the bartender simply put Ms. CC and Ms. Ginger into a cocktail glass, added ice and stirred. The Indians won and so did I, because I found a new favorite cocktail. Yes, Jennifer, I’m a believer. The CC & GINGER is a fine way to drink whiskey. It was crisp, thirst-quenching, and buzz-inducing. I can’t believe I’ve never tried one before. I had two before I left the Terrace Club, and I may just have to sneak some Canadian Club into the next concert I go to, hoping they sell ginger ale at the concession stand. Not that anyone I know does that….

 

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie