cola

AlcoHOLidays | Caramel Popcorn Day | Caramel Jack

Sips
Caramel Jack Cocktail

Caramel Jack Cocktail

In our house we’re quite divided between sweet and savory popcorn–Todd prefers his strictly savory and while I do enjoy some salt or Parmesan cheese on mine on occasion, I really adore the sweeter side of popcorn, even better if it’s got nuts and chocolate, too!

Way to make a healthy snack decided less so, right?

But Michael Pollan says you can eat as much junk food as you want, as long as you make it yourself, right? So I suppose if you’re willing to put in the work, then you deserve the indulgence. While I remember making batches of it to give as Christmas gifts many moons ago, it seldom seems worth the effort going through all that trouble these days. Which is why most of our popcorn has salt, nothing more.

A cocktail version, on the other hand, why that’s no trouble to mix up at all! Though I do think I’ll stick to one, know matter how easy they are to make.

Caramel Jack

2 oz Cola
1 oz Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey
3/4 oz Butterscotch Schnapps
1/2 oz Dark Rum

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass over ice and shake like kernels rattling in a popper. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and enjoy.

Usually I don’t call out a particular spirit without a reason and while I suppose you could use another corn-based whiskey and be fine, it’d be harder to call it a Caramel Jack, right? The play on Cracker Jack-brand caramel corn was just too enticing. The richness of the rum and butterscotch strike just the right balance for mimicking the rich caramel coating and the cola adds color, a little more sweetness, and the much needed mixer level to take this from a high-proof shot to a sippable tipple.

How will you celebrate Caramel Popcorn Day on April 6?

Cosmic Cocktails | Aries | Competitive Streak

Sips

Welcome to April, Spring and–thankfully–the end of a rather hellacious Mercury Retrograde!

Today kicks off our new series: Cosmic Cocktails.

I’ll be spending the next 3 months creating a cocktail for each of the sun signs of the Western zodiac (what most folks thing of when they look up their horoscope in the back of a magazine or newspaper), starting with Aries and ending with Pisces towards the end of June.

Now I know that not everyone is down with the idea of horoscopes or the notion that the planets and stars dictating our lives. That’s not how I look it, though. I once read something very profound (probably over on MysticMedusa.com, a great source for astrological info) that went something like this:

You are not who you are because of when and where you were born, 
you were born when and where you were because of who you are.

Isn’t that a fabulous way of looking at it?  Taking this position makes it a more introspective, reflective, meditative outlook, I think, making the information divined from the stars, etc. work for me instead of the other way around.

But enough about that, how about a cocktail?

Competitive Streak

Since the astrological calendar restarts at the Spring Equinox, we are just in the beginning of the time of Aries, the go-getting, competitive, and easily-bored ram. Though they’d probably never cop to boredom, per se, they’d just act out and find something far more interesting to do, the rest of the office/class/community be damned.

 The Competitive Streak

1 1/2 oz Absolut Peppar
1/2 oz Pomegranate Liqueur
2-3 oz Coca-Cola (or your preferred brand)

In a mixing glass half-filled with ice, combine the pepper vodka and pomegranate liqueur and stir to thoroughly chill. Place a handful of ice cubes into a lowball or rocks glass and strain the chilled alcohol over the fresh ice. Top with cola and stir once or twice around to combine. Garnish, if desired, with a dried red pepper.

Of course, the garnish might be a bit too fussy for their taste, but I’m a Taurus, sometimes I like the fussy.

This is a bold, yet uncomplicated, cocktail, quite appropriate for our first fire-sign. They may have tried it on a bet, the first time, but the peppery flavor speaks to them and now they dare others to be man enough to give it a try. No fussy martini glass, either, a simple presentation is best.  But make sure your ingredients are of recognizable brands–it’s a sign of achievement and competition that generic or bargain brands just can’t meet.

You Spin Me Right, Round & Upside Down

Sips

Right Side Up Martini
The same restaurant that served Todd that fabulous Lemon Drop Martini had another item on the menu that I wished I’d ordered instead of the all-alcohol pomegranate martini I nursed for the night. But we didn’t order it, so I have no idea what it tastes like, but it sounded so good I jotted down the description with a plan to try it out back home.

Of course, that was three years ago and I’ve yet to experiment with this cocktail: until now.

First, it had vanilla vodka–something we’d only recently encountered at the time and our favorite form of the otherwise flavorless spirit now. Butterscotch schnapps and pineapple juice rounded out the main ingredients, with a splash of cola to finish it off.

Here’s how we put it together:

The Right Side Up

2 oz Pineapple Juice
1 1/4 oz Vanilla Vodka
1/2 oz Butterscotch Schnapps
1/4 oz Cola

Combine all ingredients in a shaker over ice and turn it right round like a record, baby. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a bruléed bit of pineapple, if you happen to have one around.

I expected it to be syrupy. It isn’t. In fact, it’s a nice, calm little cocktail–definitely sweet, make no mistake–that’s evenly balanced between the alcohols and the juice. The cola gave me pause, at first, but it gives the drink that caramelized flavor without which it’s namesake dessert wouldn’t be the same.

Cheers!

50 Shots of America–Iowa

Sips
BioFuel

BioFuel

One day shy of a year after the admission of Texas via treaty, Iowa becomes the 29th state on December 28, 1846.

Though considered mainly agricultural (it is in the midst of the Corn Belt, after all), manufacturing makes up the greater part of industry in the state with food production being the largest portion of that–General Mills, ConAgra, Heinz, Hostess, Quaker Oats and Blue Bunny (just to name a few) are all headquartered in the Hawkeye State.

But if agriculture isn’t their main focus, what do they do with all that corn? Iowa happens to be the national leader in ethanol production and a strong proponent of renewable energy sources, be it in sustainable fuels or wind energy. Which is where our drink-of-the-week inspirations comes from.

BioFuel

1 oz Whiskey (Jack Daniels or Jim Bean, we’re going for the corn-liquor, here)
1 oz Honey
Caffeinated Soda

Combine the whiskey and honey over ice and shake like your settling a border dispute. Strain into a chilled cordial or tall shot glass and top with the ice-cold caffeinated soda of your choice. Swig it down and get ready to forge ahead and accomplish things!

You may recall that Iowa was on the other side of that border dispute known as the Honey Wars with Missouri. If not, it’s okay, I forgive you, and Iowa probably would, too. Iowans tend to be front runners in a lot of things–civil rights, women’s lib, renewable resources… it’s not a bad trait, you know? And, if (like me) you can’t have caffeine, substitute as necessary and call it Unleaded 😉

One last thing: the state is also home to Electrolux/Frigidaire who, along with Kelly Ripa, are raising awareness and funds to support ovarian cancer research through their Ultimate Banana Split campaign. Head over to Kelly Confidential to create your ultimate banana split by September 7, 2010. $1 for every submitted split will be donated to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

~~~oOo~~~

Cocktails for a Cure badge

Cocktails for a Cure

And speaking of good deeds! Just a reminder that I’m participating once again in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk and, like last year, offering a couple incentives to my supporters. There’s this years print of a cocktail created in support of the walk plus I’m donating 22% of all Character Cocktails ordered by October 15, 2010, to the cause (and you get the print, too). More information can be found on my Cocktails for a Cure page.

Kirsch Me, I’m German

Sips

Kirsch (or kirschwasser) is one of those liqueurs that, if you you have it, you probably have it because you’ve made a Black Forest Cake (aka Kirschtorte) at some point in the not too distant past. This dry cherry brandy is strong! Definitely not something I would ever sip without it being heavily diluted with something very sweet.

But what to do with the bottle on my bar? I dug around through a couple of reliable cocktail books and found a few recipes for drinks that also called for other non-standard ingredients (like Chartreuse and Benedictine–not things I had on hand). Besides, I was looking for something along the comfort-food line and couldn’t stop thinking about that cake!

Black Forest Cake, in case you’ve never had the pleasure, is chocolate cake (I tend to make a genoise and then moisten it with a kirsch syrup), layered and topped with fresh whipped cream and cherries. A lot of bakeries tend to use maraschino cherries but I prefer the sour cherries, spiked with a bit of the kirsch for good measure. Then the sides are usually coated in chocolate shavings. It is a rich, decadent dessert and the last time I made one was for a good friend who’d spent many years serving in Germany; he was very appreciative.

So… cake vs. cocktail. Where shall the two meet? Also on my mind this week was the recent discovery of how lovely a Vanilla Cola was achieved with the addition of vanilla vodka. Since I cannot have caffeine, commercial vanilla cola is not an option as they don’t make a caffeine-free version (at least that’s not loaded with aspartame). Same goes for cherry cola… do you see where I’m going here?

CHF Black Forest Cola

1 oz Vanilla Vodka
1 oz Butterscotch Schnapps
.5 oz Chocolate Liqueur
.5 oz Kirschwasser
6 oz Cola**

Combine the alcohols in an ice-filled shaker, shake it like it’s sliding down the Matterhorn*, and strain it into a tall glass 3/4 full of ice. Top with the soda and then give it a little swirl with a swizzle stick. Garnish with a cherry, if you like.

*yes, I know, the Matterhorn is actually part of the Swiss Alps but the name is German!

**I’m being very brand neutral here, but I prefer caffeine-free Coca Cola classic.

Now, a few things I found out while I was working on this recipe. Kirsch, as I already knew, is strong but Irish Cream smooths it out like you wouldn’t believe (at least at a 1:3 ratio). Notice that there’s no Irish Cream in the final recipe? Yeah, add cola to the list of things Irish Cream does not play well with (the list that includes Strawberry pucker and lime juice)–it started off with a foamy head like you get with a root beer float  which was fine (if necessitating the additional of a straw) but then the rest of the drink decided to behave like biscotti left in tea for too long. It tasted good but the texture was incredibly unappealing (though now I’m in the mood to make a batch of biscotti).

That’s when the butterscotch schnapps came in. Since I was wanting to suggest the tastes of a Black Forest Cake in the drink, the Irish Cream was my go-to for the whipped cream. As a ringer, the butterscotch served the smoothing purposes while also suggesting a bit of warm, baked cakey goodness that definitely made the drink more palatable.

If you search you may find other so-called Black Forest cocktails. But be wary, my friends, if it has not a stitch of cherry (much less Kirsch) inside. Cranberries and raspberries (and the latter’s liqueur) may be tasty and tart, but it does not a Kirschtorte–or Kirsch cocktail–make.