I guess it was a couple of weeks ago while doing a bit of research on the history of the Oscars that I stumbled upon this delight, the Brown Derby, an interesting, slightly sweet bourbon drink with a surprisingly fresh citrus finish.

The Brown Derby became popular in the 1930’s in Hollywood, but not where you might guess.  The cocktail was actually created at a Tinsel Town hangout named the Vendome Club, a rival of the Brown Derby and a popular haunt of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, as well as many other famous stars.

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Brown Derby

Refreshing bourbon martini with a citrus sweet kick

Course Cocktails

Cuisine American

Servings 1

Ingredients

• 2 ounces Bourbon
• 1 1/2 ounces fresh Ruby Red Grapefruit juice
• 3 /4 ounce Honey Syrup

Honey Syrup

• 1 part honey
• 1 part water

Instructions

Honey Syrup

• Simmer together in a sauce pan until almost boiling.
• Allow to cool before using.
• Store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Mix

• Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker over ice. Shake to mix, strain, and serve up in a chilled cocktail glass.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Life is short, get out and have some fun!

Sex on the beach combines the smooth silky flavor of peach with the sweetness of Florida orange juice. The cocktail and its name date back to 1987 and Ft. Lauderdale where National Distribution launched a new product, peach schnapps, to the market. In efforts to promote sales, National devised a contest among local establishments to see who could sell the most of the newly promoted liquor. The winning business was to receive $1000, and the bartender who was responsible for the highest sales would receive $100. Ted Pizio who worked at a club named Confetti’s came up with this fruity concoction. When asked what it was called, Pizio announced “Sex on the Beach”, reasoning that the thousands of people who visit Ft. Lauderdale for spring break only come for two reasons. The beach, and sex.

This scene from the 1953 movie From Here To Eternity starring Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr was considered very risqué.  Tame by today’s standards, this “sex on the beach” scene was quite controversial. My how times have changed.

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Sex on the Beach

A seemingly innocent cocktail, fruity and refreshing with a powerful punch.

Course Cocktails

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Ingredients

• 1 ounce vodka
• 1 ounce peach schnapps
• 2 ounces orange juice
• 2 ounces cranberry juice

Instructions

• Pour all of the ingredients into a highball glass filled with ice cubes.
• Stir well.
• Garnish with orange, kiwi, and a cherry.

Notes

Since the popularity and the recipe for this drink was spread primarily by college students returning home from Ft Lauderdale, there seem to be as many versions of this drink as drunken memories of spring break itself. This one claims to be Pizio’s original recipe from Confetti’s.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Strong and delicate, this cocktail is a mix of beauty, charm and glamor. Different from traditional drinks like the Bellini, Manhattan, or Dry Martini, the cosmopolitan’s light and fruity flavor is widely appreciated for its contemporary flair.

Credited to having been invented in Providence Rhode Island during the 1970’s, it seems that this drink has at least four others laying claim to the recipe and all at about the same time. There does not appear to be any conclusive evidence as to who actually developed this drink, so all parties are currently listed as having done so.

During the 1990’s the drink became extremely popular when the television series Sex in the City frequently featured Sarah Jessica Parker and her friends out on the town drinking the pink concoctions.

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Cosmopolitan

Strong and delicate, this cocktail is a mix of beauty, charm and glamor. Different from traditional drinks like the Bellini, Manhattan, or Dry Martini, the cosmopolitan’s light and fruity flavor is widely appreciated for its contemporary flair.

Course Cocktails

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Ingredients

• 2 oz ABSOLUT CITRON
• 1 oz cranberry juice
• 1/4 oz Cointreau
• splash of fresh lime juice
• orange twist

Instructions

• Place the first four ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. 
• Shake well and stain into a martini glass. 
• Garnish with an orange twist.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

A Peruvian grape brandy Pisco, is mixed with lime, egg whites, and ice to create a creamy, frothy, limey drink. This tart yet smooth drink makes the ideal beverage to put the work week behind you and start the weekend off on a fresh note.

The cocktail originated in Peru in the early 1920s,  invented in the capital city of Lima by Victor Vaughn Morris, an American bartender. Morris left the United States in 1903 to work in Cerro de Pasco, a city in central Peru in the mining business. By 1916, he had saved enough money to open a saloon in Lima which he named the Morris Bar. The establishment became a popular spot for the Peruvian Upper class and English-speaking foreigners to frequent. The oldest mentions of the Pisco Sour found come from a 1921 magazine attributing Morris as the inventor.

The Cocktail which had been fashioned after a whiskey sour went through several revisions. In the late 1920’s, when egg whites and bitters were added concluding the development of this drink, and giving us the beverage we know today. The Pisco Sour is the national drink of Peru.

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Pisco Sour

A Peruvian grape brandy Pisco, is mixed with lime, egg whites, and ice to create a creamy, frothy, limey tart yet smooth drink.

Course Cocktails

Cuisine Peruvian

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Pisco
• Juice of 1/2 a lime
• 1 tablespoon egg white or egg white powder
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 cup crushed ice
• Angostura bitters

Instructions

• In a blender, combine the lime juice with the sugar and mix to dissolve the sugar.
• Add the pisco, egg white and ice and blend until frothy.
• Pour into a sour glass, add a few drops of bitters and serve.

Enjoy this traditional drink with another Peruvian treat Aji sauce for a perfect “way south of the border” happy hour experience.

Cool and delicious, combining two of summer’s favorite treats, watermelon and margaritas. This refreshing beverage is the perfect way to unwind after a long hot week.

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Watermelon Margarita

Cool and delicious, combining two of summer’s favorite treats, watermelon and margaritas. This refreshing beverage is the perfect way to unwind after a long hot week.

Course Cocktails

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Ingredients

• 4 cups seedless watermelon cubed
• ½ cup fresh lime juice
• ¼ cup Cointreau
• 1 cup blanco silver tequila

Instructions

• Purée 4 cups of watermelon in a blender until smooth.
• Strain through a fine-mesh sieve placed over a bowl (You should end up with about 2 cups).
• In a pitcher, stir together the watermelon and lime juices, Cointreau and tequila until thoroughly combined.
• Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
• Pour over ice into a salt-rimmed glass.
• Garnish with a slice of lime, wedge of melon, or some melon balls.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

An exotic mix of flavors, the Singapore Sling is a drink like no other. Originally invented around 1915 at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore by a Hainanese-Chinese bartender by the name of Ngiam Tong Boon, in response to a British Colonial’s challenge for a tropical drink that was not only delectable, but befitting of the lovely women who frequented the establishment. The drinks popularity surged and before long, it became known as the “Commander’s” drink. In Hainanese dialect, the word “Commander” is known as “司令” (si ling) and its abbreviated pronunciation became ‘Sling’.

For some unknown reason the drink fell out of favor to the point that the recipe was nearly forgotten. In 1977  the nephew of Ngiam (who was following a family tradition of bartending at the Long Bar) revived the pineapple punch based on the recipe that his Uncle had taught him, and some notes that were written on a cocktail napkin and hidden away behind the bar for years.

Today the drink is more popular than ever, and has even been declared the National Drink of Singapore. No visit to Singapore would be complete without a trip to the Long Bar for a Sling and a wooden box of peanuts. I have myself have had the good fortune of enjoying several evenings relaxing under the fans in the Raffles, sipping on a Singapore Sling, smoking a Cuban cigar, and listening to a jazz trio.

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Singapore Sling

A refreshing tropical cocktail that will transport you to another world.

Course Cocktails

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Ingredients

• 1 ½ oz gin
• 4 oz pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz cherry herring
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1/4 oz Benedictine
• 1/4 oz Cointreau orange liqueur
• 1/3 oz grenadine syrup
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Instructions

• Place all ingredients in a shaker and mix.
• Pour into a Collins glass filled with ice.
• Garnish with a cherry and slice of lemon.

Tall, cool, and refreshing, the Long Island Iced Tea is the impostor of drinks. Appearing as innocent as a Ladies’ Auxiliary beverage, this cocktail packs a punch.

The Long Island Tea arrived on the scene in the late 1970’s, and has thought to have been invented at the Oak Beach Inn on New York’s Long Island, however recent rumors place the drink to a much different place and time. There is discussion that the cocktail was actually created in the 1920’s during prohibition, a time when many drinks were disguised as non-alcoholic beverages. The new information claims that a community name Long Island in Kingsport, Tennessee to be the actual place of birth, and the name sake. I guess both stories make sense, and perhaps we will never be sure. One thing you can be certain about, is that this drink is a great way to end the week.

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Long Island Iced Tea

Tall, cool, and refreshing, the Long Island Iced Tea is the impostor of drinks. Appearing as innocent as a Ladies’ Auxiliary beverage, this cocktail packs a punch.

Course Cocktails

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Ingredients

• 1 part vodka
• 1 part tequila
• 1 part rum
• 1 part gin
• 1 part triple sec
• 1 1/2 parts sweet and sour mix
• 1 splash Coca-Cola®

Instructions

• Pour all ingredients in to a cocktail shaker.
• Stir to mix.
• Pour over ice and garnish with a wedge of lemon or lime, and enjoy!

Notes

Use this recipe to make a pitcher or a single glass.

Made famous by Ernest Hemingway, a bar called La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana, Cuba is thought to have invented the Mojito. This recipe is rumored to be the original, authentic version of the light, fresh, minty concoction.

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Cuban Mojito

On a hot summer day there is nothing more refreshing than the minty cool flavor of a mojito.

Course Cocktails

Cuisine Cuban

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon powdered sugar
• 2 ounces lime juice 1 lime
• 4 mint leaves
• 1 sprig of mint
• 2 oz Havana Club white Rum
• 2 ounces club soda
• crushed ice

Instructions

• Place the mint leaves into a collins glass and squeeze 2 ounces of lime juice over it.
• Add the powdered sugar, then gently muddle the mint into the lime juice and sugar.
• Add crushed ice.
• Add the rum and stir.
• Top off with the club soda and garnish with a sprig of mint and a wedge of lime.

Notes

Recipe courtesy Behind the Bar

Enjoy this refreshing drink with some of our Kings Hawaiian Cuban Sliders.  

Hemingway in Cuba 1946 – photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The mellow flavor of cucumber and a kiss of mint make this martini the perfect way to wind down after the long week.

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Cucumber Martini

The mellow flavor of cucumber and a kiss of mint make this martini the perfect summer cocktail.

Course Cocktails

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Vodka Grey Goose
• 1/4 oz. Lemon Juice
• 2 slices Cucumber
• 3 pieces Mint
• 1/2 oz. Simple Syrup

Instructions

• Muddle mint and a cucumber slice in a cocktail shaker.
• Add other ingredients and ice.
• Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass.
• Garnish with a slice of cucumber and a fresh mint sprig.

This recipe for sangria adds berries for a deep fruity flavor. With a little advance preparation this cooler can be made to order by the glass. Cool and refreshing this fruity wine is a great way to end the week.

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Sangria

This easy recipe for sangria adds berries for a deep fruity flavor.

Course Cocktails

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Ingredients

• Sangria
• red wine
• raspberry
• blackberry
• slices of orange
• slices of lemon
• slices of lime
• club soda or 7-up

Instructions

• Place berries in an ice cube tray and fill will your choice of red wine and freeze until solid..
• When ready to serve, fill glass two-thirds full of the frozen wine and berry cubes.
• Add orange, lemon, and lime slices and top offl with club soda. That’s it.
• (7-up can be used instead of club soda for a sweeter version)

Notes

7-up can be used instead of club soda for a sweeter version.