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Fun With Adult Beverages

For many years we had a Halloween party at our house. While the kids went trick or treating, in addition to the usual fare of Metro pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken, hot dogs, wine and ‘the coldest beer in town,’ I have, on occasion, entertained the adults with an assortment of unique adult beverages.

It may have started with a Sunday article in our local newspaper, the Review Journal, describing a drink called ‘chocolate cake.’ From a mixture of fresh lemons, sugar, vodka and Frangelico you end up with a shot glass full of chocolate cake. What fun.

A few years later I was interested in the TV show ‘Justified’ that featured moonshine, so I bought a number of different moonshines for a Halloween party tasting. Blue Flame, White Lightnin’, Apple Pie, cherries soaked in ‘shine’ and a couple other flavors that escape me. More fun...

Another year I discovered that absinthe, also known as “the green fairy” and Van Gogh’s favorite adult beverage, had become legal in the United States, so we did an absinthe tasting at our Halloween party. No missing appendages so it was a success.

There was a TV program called ‘Covert Affairs’ that I used to watch. In a bar scene in one episode the actors were talking about a drink called a ‘Sazerac cocktail’ was featured and my interest was piqued. I had to run it down. It featured Sazerac Rye, the aforementioned absinthe, a sugar cube, and Peychaud bitters. Halloween was a success.

The kids are all grown so the Halloween parties have been discontinued but my interest in adult beverages has continued. More recently I was watching Bobby Flay doing Sunday brunch which featured a couple twists on the traditional Bloody Mary. Mr. Flay uses 1/2 gin and 1/2 vodka, lemons, limes, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, salt and a bit of jalapeño peppers. I used to buy a Bloody Mary mix at the local grocery store, but now make my own. I add celery salt to his recipe and I try to use 'not from concentrate' tomato juice. Delicious!

I am a huge fan of ‘The Thin Man’ movies and Nick is always drinking something alcoholic albeit never terribly unusual. However, in one movie he mentioned a drink called ‘the Bronx’ that I was not familiar with although I don’t think he was drinking it. The best thing that has come out of the Thin Man movies are the glasses that are called ‘Nick And Nora’ glasses. Glasses with an old-fashioned flair that somehow make the drinks taste a little better. You can purchase them at Amazon for a few dollars.

That brings me to the past week. While watching TCM (Turner Classic Movies for those of you in Altuna) last Saturday, there was an ad for books in the TCM Library that I couldn’t resist. I don’t know if y’all watch the World Of Film Noir on Saturday nights but it is a show hosted by a very dapper Eddie Muller featuring old ‘B’ movies usually from the late 40’s to the mid 50’s. I logged into the TCM Library online and at the top of the list was a book entitled ‘Eddie Muller's Noir Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir.’ For the price of a scotch at Flemings, the local steak house, I purchased the hardcover book. It features recipes of drinks from the noir movies along with a list of various spirits required for a Noir Bar. My home bar has the usual suspects, most of which I don’t drink, including Black Label scotch, vodka, gin, a couple different whiskeys, light and dark rum, VSOP Cognac, brandy, Bailey’s, Kaluha, Amareto, sweet and dry vermouth, Peychaud and Angostura bitters, but was sadly lacking quite a few items for a Noir Bar and I spent the past week tracking down the listed items along with a couple different variations of ‘Nick And Nora’ glasses. After trips to three different liquor stores and a visit to Amazon for three variations of 'Nick And Nora' glasses I was able to find 98% of Eddie’s recommendations. If anyone knows where to find Pamplemousse liqueur please let me know. Now that I’ve acquired all the necessary ingredients the fun really begins. Bottoms up!

Posted by Rick | July 29, 2023 04:18 PM