Cardinal
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:

Cardinal

  • 2 oz white rum
  • 1 oz lime juice
  • 1/2 oz amaretto
  • 1/2 oz triple sec
  • 1/2 tsp grenadine
  • slice of lime

Combine all liquid ingredients and shake over ice. Pour into old-fashioned glass and garnish with lime slice.

More »

Michelada Due to travel and whatnot it’s been a while since we had any new cocktails posted here. I’m going to ease back into things gently, so what we have here is a beer-based cocktail called the Michelada. Around these parts it’s considered a Mexican thing, but I’m not sure how far down into Latin or South America it’s popular. I first heard of it in Playboy of all places (part of my never-requested, never-paid-for, and apparently never-ending subscription but hey they often have a cocktail recipe every month so who am I to complain?), but it seems like one of those drinks that everyone does a little differently.

More »

Sangria is one of those drinks with a thousand variations. While normally the drink is a bit like a red wine fruit salad, this version is much more pared down. I actually came across it in the Wall Street Journal of all places. Now, sangria isn’t my typical type of drink. Red wine and citrus fruits both tend to do bad things to my teeth, so I generally avoid them in any real concentration. This version doesn’t help that, but but one night’s indulgence was certainly worth it.

Simple Mexican Sangria

1 bottle of red wine, preferably Spanish
juice of 6 limes
zest from peels of 2 limes
4 Tbs of sugar

Mix them all together in a pitcher with ice. Wait for it to cool down and either serve as is or through a strainer to remove the zest (depending on how chewy you like your wine).

We forget the ice part, and just chilled the bottle first which was the wrong move. The lime and wine are a little to aggressive that way, but the sugar mellows things out enough to make this an enjoyable drink. As a note, we had medium-small limes, and the proportions came out just fine. Finally, it’s probably easier to zest the two limes first and then juice them as the juicing process tends to tear up the peel.