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
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