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OT - Making Cocktails

A little off topic but I figure you scotch experts would know:

I'm wanting to start making my own tropical drinks, margaritas, mai tai's, etc...

I'm just wondering how hard is it to make these drinks? I have a book that has hundreds of recipes.

So, what k 2/3oz dark rum 2/3oz golden rum 1/3oz triple sec/Cointreau 1/3oz Orgeat (almond syrup) 2/3oz fresh lime juice 3 dashes grenadine

"Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a goblet. Garnish with a tropical orchid or a wedge of lime. Serve with a straw and a stirrer."

Ok, is a tropical orchid or wedge of lime necessary? This drink doesn't have to be pretty. Just taste good and be relaxing.

Will any type of dark and golden rum do? Will Bacardi rum do? I just looked in my collection and I do have a bottle of cheap Bacardi Gold. Tastes like water when drunk strait. That's why it's almost full.

What in the world is Triple sec/Cointreau? Is there alcohol in it?

What if I want to make the drink a little stronger? Do I add more dark rum, golden rum, triple sec, or all three?

And how much ice do you put in the shaker? Do you fill the shaker up with ice? What kind of ice? The ice you can buy in store or gas station? Or does it need to be finely crushed ice?

Oh, by the way - I'm planning on drinking my tropical drinks to some awesome much I have discovered. It's a little old, like 1958-1965 music - Exotica! You ever hear of Martin Denny and Les Baxter? There is one song that caught my attention - Tropicando by Les Baxter. After I heard that I had to explore this type of music much more. I just got a two cd set called The Exotic Sounds of Martin Denny. These are great tropical drink songs. I haven't drunk any Highland Park 12 to the music yet. Scotch and bourbon is just a little too powerful a drink for this type of music lol.

Thanks for the info!

Reply to
Von Fourche
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A blender. Nothing more.

A blender is better.

Garnish is not rwequired. I like to get the little parasols from the grocery store and use them.

Cheap rum is fine.

A liquuer.

Add more rum. Just eyeball it.

Depends on what you like. fool around with it.I like blended drinks because they are thick. If you make frinks in a shaker, it is thin and less fun to drink, imo. Make little batches and see what you like best. This stuff isn't gold after all, so you can adjust recipes until you find your own special twist.

Try drinking your tropical rinks to Getz/Girberto, which has "The Girl From Ipanema" on it.

Jeff

Reply to
Beans

Keep the tropical orchids out of your drinks. The following is a snippet from the journal of the U.S. Cooperative Extension System:

"Given the high value of ornamental cr> Ok, is a tropical orchid or wedge of lime necessary? This drink doesn't

Reply to
Howard

What about when the recipe calls for fresh juice? Is it ok to use fresh juice in a bottle or can?

Reply to
Von Fourche

I would use fresh lemon or lime. Everything else in a bottle or can would be fine with me.

OJ should be in a carton, so should grapefruit. I've never seen pineapple in a carton, and cans work fine.

Reply to
Beans

First, do you want your cocktails to be good or just fun? I'm going to bank on "good."

If so, then don't put $3/bottle Triple-Sec into anything except the toilet (and get Cointreau, not G.M., for most drinks); and don't use cheap booze. The difference, for instance, between a proper 'rita and "top shelf" chain restaurant drinks made with Kool-aid is the difference between Talisker and J&B. In fairness, I have found that some drinks can be made cheaply (such as Manhattans), but I have not enjoyed budget tropical drinks, especially those made with bottled mixes. Yuck!

Back when I became interested in such endeavors, the most rewarding thing I did was to Google this group for off-topic posts. The result was similar to how one might benefit from reading here about scotch if one were a newbie considering taking the JW red plunge. This group has never let me down.

Anyway, one of your planned drinks is a 'rita, you mentioned. I recommend it above all (except single malt scotch, and maybe fine white wine). 2 parts Cabo Wabo (or Herradura), 1 part Cointreau, 2 parts lime juice (fresh is best, but cumbersome). Put in shaker with one or two cubes of ice. Shake, just a bit, not a lot, and not long enough to melt the ice. Strain into a fine martini glass, sans ice. Be careful not to make a giant batch, because they drink oh-so-easily. Salted rim optional; I take mine without. My experience has been that the lime is the best place to cut corners, not the booze, and most of mine use pre-bottled lime, because squeezing limes is no fun and the difference is (again IMO) marginal. Others would disagree, finding this to be an unforgivable heresy, and to these, I say, "hats off!" Enjoy!

John

Reply to
NoSPAAMderbyjohn

"Beans" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Fresh juice? In a can? I guess that's what would be called an oxymoron... Fresh juice is what you get from the fruit... However, if unavailable, I guess a can is OK for making drinks. Anders

Reply to
Anders Tørneskog

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