Colleen's Cocktails Blog

The organic liquor market is growing and there are now many brands available that pride themselves on their dedication to being green. To fill the eco-friendly and organic niche and to compete in their overly competitive market, vodkas seem to be the most prevalent spirits that are going organic. Every one of these all-natural vodkas that I've tasted are excellent and can easily compete with their not-so-natural counterparts.

Charbay is still at the top of my vodka list and their spectacular Meyer Lemon, Blood Orange and Pomegranate flavors are infused with organic fruits that produce a noticeably fresher, more natural tasting vodka. Another great organic infusion that stands alone in branding is the little-known Orange V. This one is rich with natural orange flavor against a 100% organic, neutral grain base. Read more...

So, what is the proper title for someone behind a bar? Is it a mixologist or a bartender? Is there a difference?

Over the last few years the term "mixologist" has been used more often than ever before in the history of bartending, but is a mixologist just a fancy, scientific-sounding name for a bartender? Technically, yes, but there is a generally accepted difference between the two job titles and the two are often used interchangeably. Still confused?

Read more...

As we stroll into the last week of the unofficial summer season it's a great time to enjoy the fresh tastes of the season. Some of the flavors that are still around include fruits like berries, melons, limes, lychees, mangos, nectarines, peaches and tomatoes and veggies such as cucumber, rhubarb and zucchini. All of these can be used for some amazingly fresh cocktails.

Here are some drink ideas for the finale of summer tastes that you have to get while they're hot (or cool). Read more...

There are only two semi-official weekends of summer left and this is a good excuse for a great gin highball. That's where we're going with this week's Saturday Sipping, straight to the Floradora featuring Damrak, one of the newest Dutch gins.

I like Damrak in a Floradora because its juniper background is significantly more subtle than some other gins and that profile is spectacular when sweetened with Chambord (or raspberry syrup if that's what you prefer). With this combination you get the botanicals of a garden and fruits of the season along with a cooling effervescence. Overall it is a great end of summer cocktail.

The drinking age debate is back. Over 100 college presidents in the United States are petitioning Congress to bring the issue up for debate and lower the drinking age to 18. A recent World Health Organization report stated that binge drinking is now a major problem and this is the reason for wanting to lower the drinking age back to 18. The theory is that because drinking is illegal for many college students they want to drink more and can get into more trouble. It’s the forbidden fruit theory: if you can’t have it you want it more.

Voice Your Opinion and Read more...

It has now been a month since "The Most Spirited Event of the Summer" (aka Tales of the Cocktail) took place in New Orleans but the chatter about it is still in the air and there's already a date set for next year (July 8-12 - my calendar's marked). One of the highlights of the event is the Spirit Awards.

Read more...

Since it is National Rum Day the Saturday Sipping lineup was not a difficult choice. This week we're looking at the sweet luxury of Matusalem Gran Reserva Rum and one of my favorite neat rum drinks, the Yaka Hula Hickey Dula. These two pair up nicely because the rum is both sweet and dry and the drink follows the same suit, with a tropical pineapple twist.

Not only do the two have similar flavor profiles, but their names are equally complicated. "Yes, I'd like a Matusalem Gran Reserva Yaka Hula Hickey Dula." That's a mouthful and unfortunately you may get a blank stare from the receiving bartender, but it's a national holiday so give it a try or just get a bottle of your own and start the celebration. You have an excuse.

If it's not a drink with it's own "holiday" it's a distilled spirit. The summer months are filled with them: first there was tequila, then the Daiquiri and now there's rum. Yes, this Saturday (Aug 16th) is National Rum Day.

How did this Saturday in August come to have such a special recognition? I get the question all the time and have yet to find the answer. Was it a marketing ploy by one of the rum companies? I know it wasn't Bacardi because I asked. Is it some tribute to rum's early influence on the founding of America? Read Wayne Curtis' And a Bottle of Rum and you might believe this theory. Was it the ingenious idea of some bar hoping to sell more Hurricanes and Mai Tais? That's another possibility and it could have been picked up by others in hopes of increasing sales. Or was it some lone guy, belly up to the bar and a few too many Mojitos in, who declared for the country that that day would forever be known as National Rum Day? Okay maybe I've gone a little too far on this one but you never know.

So the question of the week is... Who started National Rum Day, when did it begin and why? If you know the answer I'd love to be enlightened. Let us not dwell on this mystery too much and instead grab a great bottle of rum, some fresh fruit and start shaking up a great rum cocktail, we have an excuse!

Vintage cocktail guides are fun to collect but few have the whimsy and character of my newest find. In 1939 W.C. Whitfield put together a collection of popular cocktails from the Post-Prohibition era back to what he refers to as "The Gay Nineties" (1890's) called Just Cocktails. This bar guide looks small (with just 50 pages) but it includes over 300 cocktails, all of which follow the trends of the day. You mostly see gin, brandy and whiskey recipes (rum making a comeback), a lot vermouth and bitters being used, and quite a few with absinthe (which at that time was already illegal, but Whitfield swears such as Pernod will be "just as good").

As we still see today, a bartending guide would not be the same if it did not include standards like the Martini, Manhattan, Old-fashioned, Bronx, Whiskey Sour and Champagne Cocktail, but that section is minuscule in comparison to the "unknowns." The Abbey, Golden Dawn, Club Cocktail and Income Tax Cocktail all make an appearance and, even more obscure are the likes of the Journalist, Washington and Dempsey. Little nuances such as adding rum to a Sazerac for a Zazarac and a Yale Cocktail that has it's signature blue hue thanks to creme de yvette (instead of our modern favorite blue curacao) add an interesting twist.

Many of the recipes are illustrated with 30's style cartoons that play off of the drink's name so you're not just seeing ingredient list after ingredient list and, as simple as they are, round off the book's wood-cover charm. My favorite illustration finishes the book: a man who is clearly sloshed lays face first below a table with bottles of booze, glasses, a shaker and a bar spoon tossed about (the epitome of drinking oneself "under the table") with a caption that says "That's All." It is the perfect finishing touch.

The weekend is a time to relax and I always like to take the opportunity to explore something new. That's why I've decided to start a new series: Saturday Sipping, which will highlight one distilled spirit and one cocktail to use it in.

To kick things off I chose one of my favorite new silver tequilas and an easy mixed drink that really should be deemed a classic. The tequila is Trago Silver, a shining example for the blanco market with rich, earthy tones and a bit of a snap. In the Brave Bull the Kahlua sweetens and smooths everything out to perfection without masking such a great tequila. The drink mimics the ever-popular Black Russian, but just as in the Bloody Maria, the agave adds a little spice. For a slightly different taste I also like to substitute Tia Maria for Kahlua because I particularly enjoy the Jamaican coffee aspect of that coffee liqueur.