Knickerbocker Special Cocktail

I guess the Jamaican Crawler wasn't enough for a full day of packing, so I supplemented it with a Knickerbocker Special Cocktail. Hoo-whee, I thought the previous drink was sweet. Oh my teeth.

Also, I hate drinks that use tiny bits of juice--most drinks use half a lemon or lime, which works out pretty well in the end. 1 tsp of juice just feels wasteful.

Recipe:
1 tsp Raspberry Syrup (Torani)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp OJ
2 oz light rum (Bacardi Silver)
.5 tsp Triple Sec (Dekyupers)

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a small slice of pineapple. (WTF? There isn't any pineapple in this drink! So I used a lemon wheel instead.)

Jamaican Crawler

I'm moving! Which means today was dedicated to packing. And that means I needed alcoholic sustenance.

Enter the Jamaican Crawler. I wasn't short on energy after drinking this sugar bomb. I should not that I don't tend to keep Midori on hand, so I substituted Peach Schnapps instead. Also, why do recipes say to "float" grenadine, when it sinks immediately to the bottom? Whatevs. Also, I found it interesting that this drink asks to be stirred--pineapple juice gets foamy when shaken.

Recipe:
1 oz Light Rum (Bacardi Silver)
1 oz Melon Liqueur (Peach Schnapps)
3 oz Pineapple juice
1 splash grenadine (homemade)

Combine first three ingredients and stir with ice. Pour into an ice-filled collins glass and float grenadine on top.

Jade

This drink was interesting. I was expecting something minty, but the truth is .5 tsp of Creme de Menthe isn't that noticeable. It could be that my homemade version isn't as minty as the commercial version, too. But the lime, mint, and sugar were all pretty subtly balanced.
My homemade Creme de Menthe isn't super-green, so the first version looked mostly like pale lime juice in color, so I added a teensy drop of green food coloring. That was a bit much, however, and my "jade" turned a bit emerald.

Recipe:
1.5 oz Light rum (Bacardi Silver)
.5 tsp Creme de Menthe (homemade)
.5 tsp Triple Sec (Dekyupers)
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp simple syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Jacqueline

If a regular daiquiri isn't interesting enough for you, maybe you should try this drink, with dark rum. It's a simple drink, but those are usually the best.

Recipe:
1 oz Triple Sec (Dekyupers)
2 oz Dark Rum (Myers)
1 oz lime juice
Pinch simple syrup
Shake with ice and pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

Hurrican Leah

Now the Hurricane was a good drink, but this drink is the sort of thing that I tend to think of going with the name Hurricane. It's the Southern version of the Long Island Iced Tea. The color is disgusting, the ingredients seemingly random, but somehow it works. It's not even all that alcoholic, unless you have a generous pour.

Recipe:
.25 oz Light Rum (Bacardi Silver)
.25 oz Gin (Tanqueray I think...)
.25 oz Vodka (Skyy)
.25 oz Tequila (Sauza Hornitos)
.25 oz Blue curacao (Dekyupers)
Dash Cherry Brandy
1.5 oz simple syrup
1.5 oz lemon juice
3 oz OJ

Pour into an ice-filled hurricane glass and stir. Garnish with an orange wheel.

Pegu Club

Over Labor day weekend, I visited Manhattan for a friend's wedding. Which meant we had to make a pilgrimage to the Pegu Club.

We arrived at 9pm on a Saturday, and it was surprisingly quiet. Things sure picked up at the end, however, and by the time we left (I have no idea when that was) it was pretty packed.

Because we were a large group sitting at a table, we ordered off the cocktails menu. I'll try to remember the names the best I can: I had a Pineapple Pisco Sour, a Roosevelt, and a Pegu Club Cocktail. (I was trying to go from sweet to dry.) But Julian and I approached the bar to see what kind of individual service we could get (sadly, our waitress was a tad on the slow side). Our bartender Brian was quick to suggest new cocktails, and geeked out with us for a while. Soon it got too busy and he couldn't chat any more, but by that time we were beyond intelligent conversation anyway.

I am very sad that the Pegu Club is a few thousand miles away, because I have not had bartenders or cocktails of that quality anywhere.

However, we are moving to San Francisco proper in one short week, and I intend to do more research.