ardenstone

I usually drink a cup of coffee a day, and it’s decaf at that. However, I find that if I don’t have any caffeine, come early afternoon a slight headache develops. Perhaps its all in my mind (can you really be addicted to decaf?! I know it still has some caffeine, but come on…), but today was one of those days where the morning flew by and suddenly it’s 3pm and I’m rubbing my forehead. The weather has turned warm, and it’s rather hot in the sunbeam (sorry Ohioans), so I was in no mood for a cup of coffee. My backup plan: Coke! It’s also Friday, and I’m at home just finishing some web updates, so the perfect time for a drink.
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Let the following be known:

1. This is all AE’s fault
2. This drink is horrible. Do not attempt at home.
3. It looks worse in person. It tastes much worse.

Ok, now that we have the warnings out of the way, allow me to present:

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I recently acquired some apricot brandy and have been on the lookout for cocktails that used it. The first few attempts haven’t been worth the time but the Golden Dawn is kind of fun. Most recipes call for Calvados (an apple brandy, of which I have no real substitutes) but it’s also sometimes made without. Given what I have on hand, I mucked about with it a bit and here’s how I’ve been serving them.

Some folks garnish with an orange slice or cherry, but I prefer without. This is a simple drink, I’d love to try it with an apple brandy to see if it’s a little more complex and interesting, but as is it’s refreshing, sweet but not terribly so and visually kind of fun. Besides, it’s a rare excuse to use that homemade grenadine.

I hope you’re all having fabulous holidays. Given that I’m now officially someone with an MBA as opposed to someone studying to get an MBA (turned in my final homework last Friday), I’ll try to post a little more often.

Of course, the best way to start is with a request! What follows is a great novelty cocktail for Christmas. Note that “great” here applies to novelty and not to the quality of the cocktail itself. The cocktail is too sweet to drink especially with the large amount produced by the original recipe I picked up. As such, I halved those measurements and the smaller version is what you’ll see here. While I can’t imagine wanting two in a row, it really does taste remarkably like an oatmeal cookie, which is reason enough to add them to the list of things to serve over the holiday season.

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As per request, I recently embarked upon playing with the Rob Roy. This drink is very simple, pretty much the Manhattan of the scotch world. Now, I’ve made many a delightful Manhattan, and the proportions normally stay more or less the same. Unfortunately, with a Rob Roy, all such bets are off.
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Arrr! It do be Talk Like a Pirate Day and as such the cats are wearing eye-patches and I be swillin’ rum. To prepare this fine cocktail you’ll be needing to first pirate a fine merchant vessel, preferably one with rum, sugar cane and spices.

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All credit for this drink goes to Paul from The Cocktail Chronicles who inspired me to give it a shot. The Paloma cocktail is fairly simple; basically adding some sort of grapefruit soda to tequila and a lime. The “por Mi Amante” is the signal that a wonderful shift has occurred and that strawberry infused tequila is being used instead. Oh goodness, but this is a delightful drink.

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I live in San Diego, home of temperate weather nearly all year around. The flip side of this is that, when it’s hot and humid like it is now, I really feel it. We don’t even own a fan; normally the breeze from the sea is enough, but today it’s 85 degrees and muggy in our apartment. Naturally, I did what any thinking person does in situations like these: searched the internet for a cooling cocktail. The one I ended up drinking is an upcoming post, but my runner up was from Forbes 10 Cool Summer Cocktails list. The fancy picture is from that article and shows a drink I plan on making soon: the Campari Smash. It’s mainly Campari and limoncello, both of which I happen to have. They have lots of other drinks, so take a look, make a drink, and cool down.

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