Happy New Year!

Here's to 2012!

Happy New Year!
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Festive Cocktails - Frosty the Snowman's DOOM!

It's Christmas, time to indulge so let's use the excuse to make a large amount of drinks!

This cocktail is sharp, fresh and don't drink it too quick or you'll get brain freeze!

I love to make this drink at parties as it's a crowd-pleaser and quite easy to make.

Be warned, they are VERY morish and go down way too easy.

Don't end up like our magical friend here!

What you'll need: (per drink)

2 large Tablespoons of Lemon Sorbet

1-2 ounces of Vodka

1/2 ounces of Fresh Lemon Juice

1 ounce of Cava

Mix all the ingredients together, you can either blend or stir.

Serve in a martini glass.

For those of us with a darker side add a small top hat. (Don't show to children)

Enjoy!

The Christmas Work Do

Look the Part

They say less is more,

as long as your less is HUGE, I agree.

When it comes to cocktail jewellery big dramatic pieces are the way to go. Remember the ring you bought and your friends said, 'where are you going to wear that?' - cocktails are that occasion.
Jewellery doesn't have to be practical, in fact at cocktail hour it shouldn't be. Your going to have a glass in your hand for a while so might as well show off that cocktail ring while you're there!

Here's a selection that I've got my eye on at the moment.

Rings:

Earrings:

Collars:

& Cuffs:

For more details on these pieces take a look at
http://laura-hunter.polyvore.com/

Light up the room!

Create the perfect cocktail atmosphere with this amazing Martini glass chandelier!

by peter valois and michael marra of touch design, 2002

Tantalizing Manhattan Travel Bar Set

Santa baby, please put this under my tree this year!

Set your martinis in motions with this Tantalizing Manhattan Travel Bar Set. The insulated velvet interior cleverly holds two bottles of your favorite spirits.
It holds:

• 2 Martini glasses
• 1 Cocktail shaker
• 1 Jigger
• 1 Strainer
• 1 Twisted mixing spoon
• 2 Napkins
• 1 pair of ice tongs
• 2 cocktail sticks
• and of course that clever hidden compartment for 2 bottles.
  

From Amazon here for around £75!

The Ultimate Cocktail Dress

Gimlet Time I think

I've had one of those days and what I need now is my dog to stroke, feet up and ice cold Gimlet in my hand!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 ounces gin
• 3/4 ounce lime juice
• Ice
• Lime wedge, for garnish

Directions

1. Shake or stir gin with lime juice, and strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.

French Kiss Cocktail

French Kiss Cocktail:

• 1oz Chambord
• 1oz Vodka
• 1oz Dark Creme de Cacao
• 1.5oz half & half cream

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Add Hershey Kiss for garnish

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Moet & Scarlett

I was perusing the latest edition of Vouge this morning over the flat white and came across this charming Moet advertisement with adorable Scarlett Johansson. I wanna be like this!

Love it! And the fizz it pretty good too!

Gin Cupcakes!

I have to make me some of these! Gin and cake, sounds like heaven!
The perfect ladies lunch with gin and tonic's on the side.

Fab Gin cupcakes by Vintage Teatime

The Marilyn Monroe Cocktail

The Marilyn Monroe Cocktail

Famous for her love of Champagne, it’s no surprise that Marilyn Monroe has a cocktail named after her. This scarlet was rarely spotted without a glass of bubbly and in celebration of this free spirit we bring you the Marilyn Monroe Cocktail.

Ingredients

1 shot apple brandy

dash grenadine
Champagne

All you need to to is just poor everything in a Champagne glass and you are ready to indulge in the legacy that Marilyn Monroe left behind.

Create - Cabaret Cocktail Party

1940s CABARET LOUNGE
Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald were singing the blues, while the Andrew Sisters were cheering up the troops. Other women sang in husky tones while draping themselves across pianos in smoke-filled cabaret lounges.

• Think big band, swing and jazz to instantly transport your guests to the glamour of the 1940s
• Bring ambiance to your space with low-lit lamps to create a smoky cabaret lounge feel
• Scour second-hand furniture stores for small round tables to add authenticity. Drape with white tablecloths and place a single tea light in a red candle holder on each
• Create a separate round table for your glasses and a vase of white orchids
• Tie napkins with silk ribbon and slip a single purple orchid underneath the tie

from

http://www.artofthecocktailhour.com.au/2011/07/styling-tips-for-your-cocktail-hour/

Every hour is...

My Favorite cocktail - The Lava Flow

What's my favorite cocktail? Hmmm....
Choosing my favorite is like asking me what my favorite film is - it's all about what mood I'm in, but there's always the ones that stick with you, represent and change the course of your life.
I find this also true for cocktails and therefore the Lava Flow is my winner. (Maybe after a few cocktails I'll tell you about my favorite films too)
Its where I started my cocktail journey, enjoying it, wanting to know how to make it and where it comes from. Drinking a Lava Flow always feels special and I'll always be in the mood for one, even at 10 in the morning (don't tell my doctor).
A good drink is like a good song, it'll always take you back to a time and place and maybe this is why its my favorite. It takes me back to sunny, lazy days in Waikiki, sitting at the poolside bar at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, salty lips, sun burnt skin and there's nothing like the mix of coconut and rum to make those days even better.
This drink is like the beautiful marriage of the gorgeous drinks, the Strawberry Daiquiri and the Pina Colada. If you're a fan or either you must give it a go!
It's a very natural, fruity tasting cocktail with the rum just cutting though to warm the back of your throat. It may seem sweet and with all that good fruit innocent by nature, but like a pineapple it has its sharp side!
Now the best place I've had one of course is in Hawaii, but to be fair I haven't found anywhere in the UK that makes them! If you know of any let me know!
Now there are a few different ways to make this drink, I went with a recipe like that at the Hilton but as I make other versions I'll let you know how they go, it's tough work but I'll manage somehow!

What you'll need:

• A sunny day (if possible)
  
• A Hurricane or Collins glass
• A Blender
• An Umbrella, cherry, pineapple slice, orange segment, what ever goodies you can find to garnish! You can be creative with this drink.
  

Ingredients:

• 1oz light rum
• 1oz coconut rum
  
• 2 strawberries
  
• 1 banana
• 2oz pineapple juice
• 2oz coconut juice
• Ice - The thicker you want it, add more ice.
  

Tip! If you have no coconut rum just add 1.5 oz of rum to 0.5oz of coconut cream.

How to make it:

• Blend the ice, banana, pineapple juice and coconut juice. Leave to the side. This is the "Flow."
• Then blend the strawberries and both rums, you can use strawberry syrup if you like but there's nothing like the real thing and using frozen strawberries makes a amazing slushy effect! This is the "Lava."
• Now depending on who you listen to you can add the Lava to the Flow but I prefer pouring the lava down the sides of the hurricane glass then letting it sit t the bottom of the glass, the very slowly pour the Flow into the center of the glass then as you come to the end quicken your pace. This will leave the lava slowly creeping up the side of the glass as if erupting! OOOO!
• Add any umbrella or fruit to garnish.
  
• Enjoy!

Let me know how you get on with it, hopefully it'll take you somewhere tropical too!
What's your favorite, why and where makes it best?

Till next time.....

Introduction

Hello there!
I'm pretty excited about this blog, in fact I have been practicing drinking, mixing and of course tasting cocktails for quite a while now. I'm hoping this blog will be a good place to exchange views, recipes, reviews and general chat about all things "cocktail" but with out the garbled speech that drinking them can sometimes and more than often does lead to. For a lot of us our first experience of a cocktail is in a jug, filled with way too much ice and some fluorescent coloured, sickly sweet substance. Its generally accompanied with numerous straws and brain-freeze as you try and drink as much as you can. There's nothing wrong with this, I have had my fair share of these moments but there is a wide and wonderful world of cocktails that you should give a try. The first cocktail I had was a Long Island Iced Tea in this precise situation. I remember drinking it quite fast, thinking it tasted nice but what was all the big fuss about then I stood up... and very quickly sat down again.

I only got into classic cocktails on my honeymoon in Hawaii. Good cocktails are everywhere there, or maybe just where we seemed to be! We strolled down Waikiki beach, Mai Tai in hand that was mixed in a hut on the beach, lounged in the poolside bars with Blue Hawaii's and watched flamingos walk by with a Lava Flow (my favorite cocktail ever!) It was very hard not to be a fan after that!

We moved to Bristol soon after and was very happy to find a number of excellent pubs and cocktail bars that I would like to share with you, although some of them are quite secret - but I'll share them with you!
So why the excitement about cocktails? Well, from the moment I order, after much deliberation (unless its been one of those days and then I know I'm heading straight for a Gibson) and inner debate, to the moment the bartenders fingers glide through the drinks and the drink is mixed and placed in front of me I LOVE IT! The theatre, the atmosphere, the glamour, the special treatment your drink and consequently you get, and lets not forget the cocktail itself. I find slumping back in a dimly lit room with friends very agreeable and the cocktails are the main event. We ask about each others choices, a deep breath is accompanied with, "Ooo, that sounds good" and "I might have that one next," then when the drinks arrive we pass them around, heads nod, sometimes winces are seen and we look at the person like they're a hero.
I really do love going out for cocktails, although many a good time as been had at home too, trying to recreate that cocktail that will forever elude you until you're not trying. For this, I recommend having a cocktail cabinet. I bought my first when I was 16 and have never been without one since. It's not always stocked, generally its only stocked in financially "good times" which are a bit rare these days but that makes the cocktails even better when you can have them, like longed for hoildays.


So, if you love cocktails, and I sincerly hope you do then I hope you'll follow this blog and share your cocktail experiences too!
“If you were to ask me if I'd ever had the bad luck to miss my daily cocktail, I'd have to say that I doubt it; where certain things are concerned, I plan ahead.”Luis Buñuel