Recently in Cocktails Category

Drunk Monkeys - Episode 53 - Cocktail Time - Loaded Baked Potato.

What we call a “season” of this show is filmed all in one night and just released as separate episodes. So if I say that this is the last episode of Season 7, our longest season yet, perhaps then you’ll know why Jen and Erica seem so… tired. A constant quest of the show is to find a way to drink the more savory liquors without just masking them in a Bloody Mary. In this episode, Jen is concocting something she calls a Loaded Baked Potato, using both Bakon (ep29) and Naked Jay Big Dill pickle (ep42) vodkas.

It’s the end of Season 7, but we’ll be back next week right on schedule with the start of Season 8. Season 8 will feature episodes filmed during our live appearances at Chicago Sketch Fest and at Watershed back in January.

Drunk Monkeys - Episode 52 - Cocktail Time - The Dillinger.

In a Twitter conversation, Naked Jay Vodka suggested combining their Naked Jay Bill Dill pickle vodka (which you may remember from episode 42) with ginger ale for a drink they call the Dillinger. (Get it?) Jen and Erica give it a try.

Erica was making dinner last night and said, “make me a cocktail. Something fancy.” So I went over to the (overflowing) liquor cabinet and tried to see what might be fancy. I noticed a bottle of limoncello that one of our cruise-ship working friends had brought back from a tour of the Mediterranean and that we had never even cracked. That sent me to my old standby, the Cocktails+ app on my iPhone (and… I was going to link to it, but evidentially it’s no longer for sale.) A great feature of the app is that I can just type in an ingredient and see what cocktails include it. Cocktails+ only had three results for limoncello: one was a coffee and one required mint leaf, which I didn’t have. The third had just three ingredients: limoncello, Prosecco, and Carpano Punt e Mes. I knew I had a bottle of champagne that I could substitute in for the Prosecco, so I click on Carpano Punt e Mes to see what it was. “Proprietary Italian quinquina…”. Well, that was a coincidence—in the new season of Drunk Monkeys, the ladies try Byrrh, a quinquina, and now we had this bottle sitting around that otherwise I’d have no idea what we were going to do with.

I mixed us up a couple of Tulio Oros and I have to say they were quite tasty. The champagne was a little old, and maybe a hair bitter on it’s own, but the limoncello and Byrrh covered that up nicely. It was also a very strong drink and maybe we were a little slow getting some of our after-dinner chores done. But fancy, check.

Tulio Oro

Shake with ice:

3/4 oz limoncello
1/2 oz Carpano Punt e Mes

Strain into a Champagne flute.
Fill with 6 oz Prosecco.
Garnish with a lemon twist.

From Cocktails+, Adapted from Gary Regan, The Joy of Mixology.

Drunk Monkeys - Episode 32 - Cocktail Time! Sazerac.

It's come up a number of times on the show, so Erica shows Jen how to make a Sazerac.

Drunk Monkeys - Episode 22 - Cocktail Time! Eldergin Fizz.

Erica shows Jen how to use the Eldergin from last week's episode to make a variation of a Sloe Gin Fizz.

When Erica references Girl, she's talking about Girl Liqueur from Episode 17. And the Sodastream really is a great addition to any kitchen.

At 3:27 you can see what happens when you let the camera operator have tastes of all the liquor in a Drunk Monkeys taping.

Eldergin Fizz
2 1/2 oz Eldergin
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 simple syrup

Shake with ice. Strain into an ice-filled collins glass. Top with club soda.

Drunk Monkeys - Episode 13 - Bitters

Jen and Erica are really getting into the "things you normally drink mixed with other things" spirit by tasting three different bitters: Angostura, Peychaud's and Fee Brothers' Grapefruit.

Erica mentions the Sazerac, one of our favorite cocktails, and Watershed, one of our favorite Chicago bars for cocktails. A bartender at Watershed introduced us to a remedy for the hiccups that seems to have worked for us so far: a half-shot of bitters followed by biting on a lemon wedge.

Erica notes that bitters are about 40% alcohol, but I learned from Hella Bitter that bitters are classified as a condiment, and so may be sold in grocery stores and the like.

Drunk Monkeys - Episode 12 - Vermouth

Drunk Monkeys - Episode 7 - Lemon Arak

In a departure from the usual reviews on Drunk Monkeys, Jen shows Erica how to make Lemon Arak.

Jen's recipe:

• 1/4 cup Arak
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup simple syrup
• 15 large mint leaves
• ice

Fuzzy asked for the recipe for the Maker's Mark White Whisky Sours--this is the recipe from the label on the bottle:

1 1/2 parts Maker's Mark White Whisky (I used 2 1/2 to 3 oz)
Sour Mix: equal parts simple syrup and lemon juice--I used a mix of lemon and lime juice for mine. (I used 2 oz of each)
A pinch of sea salt

Then I put it in a shaker with some ice, gave it a good swirl, poured all it if into a large rocks glass, and topped with club soda (courtesy of our Soda Stream).

HOOBOY it is good!
Word of warning: You will think that you need more than one, but in fact, you don't. Or maybe you do...

"Well Portland, Oregon and a sloe gin fizz, if that ain't love than tell me what is."--Loretta Lynn and Jack White, Portland, Oregon

I'd been hearing a lot about Sloe Gin Fizzes recently. It was showing up in song lyrics left and right. I was getting curious. I knew that it was made with Sloe Gin, and that it was not a less-fast version of regular gin, but I'd never had one.

I mentioned to a friend about it, and he said he'd had one before. He also called it a "Lady Drink."

Hmm. Well, I'm a lady and I like scotch as well as pink champagne, so that could be anything.

So I mentioned to Fuzzy that I wanted to try one, and in typical amazing Fuzzy fashion, he showed up one night with a bottle of Plymouth Sloe Gin.

HOLY YUMMERS!

Each summer, I like to delineate one cocktail or drink to be my "official drink." In an earlier post, I mentioned "The Summer of Flights," and I've also have had 'The Summer of Weiss Beers," "The Summer of Whites" and I think last summer was all about beers. Undoubtedly, this summer is "The Summer of the Sloe Gin Fizz." We killed off that bottle pretty fast and are now onto another one.

A few weeks ago, I was out with a few friends and I was telling them about the SGF. My friend Jeff asked where you can get one, since it isn't a commonly consumed drink anymore. It just so happened that we were at a martini bar, so we decided that if they could make us one, we would all order one. They said they could, so we did. It was just good--way sweeter than what we make at home and a totally different color. Turns out, they used sour mix (which I love, but generally when mixed with a cheap whiskey or oooh, apple whiskey. Hey, while I am in this parenthetical moment, I just remembered that last summer was "The Summer of the Whiskey Sour" which I made with Leopold Brothers Apple Whiskey, which isn't as easy to find anymore.) but I must say, I much prefer the ones we've been making at home. Kinda fruity, a little sour, easy to drink and really refreshing.

I think I have to make myself one now!

Fuzzy adds:

Sloe Gin is, simply enough, Gin flavored with sloe berries. Binny's, our local well-stocked liquor store, has two varieties: the Plymouth at $30 a bottle and Dubouchett at $10 a bottle. The Plymouth has been so good I've been hesitant to try the Dubouchett, but I suppose if it's OK, it'd be a lot cheaper.

The recipe I'm using for a Sloe Gin Fizz comes from the Cocktails+ app on my iPhone and is:

2 1/2 oz sloe gin
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 simple syrup

Shake with ice. Strain into an ice-filled collins glass. Top with club soda.