How Do You Invibe?, your favorite spirits..

What drink contoctions do you make?

Fine Scotch, just as it comes from the bottle. NO water! NO ice! NO nothin'!

I've recently become partial to gin. Gin's citrusy, floral, botanical notes mix well with a GREAT many things! As a result, I've been making:

Gin and Tonic:
1.5 oz gin
3 oz tonic water
lime juice to taste

served over ice and stirred in an Old Fashioned glass.

Tonic Water is bitter, and the gin sweetens it up. An interesting note about this drink (and the proportions are merely suggestions...it's all to taste IMO) is that if you use less gin, the drink will be more bitter, but once you pass a threshold with the gin, it becomes nigh-undrinkable, to my palate. When made with the right proportions, it's a very refreshing, summer drink. I enjoy it in winter just as well, though.



Original Martini:
4 parts gin
1 part dry vermouth
1-2 dashes orange bitters
twist of lemon

STIR over ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Despite what Mr. Bond was known to order, you NEVER shake a drink unless it's got generous amounts of citrus in it. Shaking the drink pulverizes the ice and dilutes the beauty that is a properly mixed martini. Also, the original garnish for this drink is a twist of lemon...never an olive. After having this particular recipe, I'll never have one of those fake-tinis again.



Greyhound with Orange Bitters
3-4 parts grapefruit juice
1-2 parts gin
2 dashes of orange bitters

Shake with Ice and strain into an old fashioned glass. Ice in the glass or not is your choice, though with the shaking, I prefer no ice. Orange bitters can be tough to find, but they do add a nice element to the drink, IMO.

Baileys Irish Cream for me...pour 3.5 ounces in cup, add 3 ice cubes and you have Baileys on the rocks. Sometimes it's 1/2 Baileys to 1/2 coffee. It has to be in an authentic Irish Coffee cup for it to taste very Irish and very good!!!

Maggie, I so agree. Baileys and coffee is the only way to start the day. (Don't tell my boss)

Val

Has anyone tried Limoncello?

Flora

Never heard of it. What is it?

Val

It's a refreshing drink made from Meyer lemons and vodka. Place it in the freezer and use during or lingering after a meal outside on deck or patio. Very popular in Italy.

Flora

Will have to give it a try.

Val

sissy girlie drink... comon maggie... have a dram or two.....




my personal favorite libations are

a decent Scotch 1 small cube or a sprinkle of branch to open the bouquet - from Easter to Thanksgiving.

a nice VSOP brandy preferably heated in a snifter ( i swear you can get hammered just sniffing) this would be from Thanksgiving to Easter... i will accept a dram of Jameson's during these times also....

all year round .....nice mini brews... preferably ales dark in nature....

and i invented a drink...

it is called a "black and plaidie"

a pint of Guinness with a dram or two of Scotch...

I've not tried the pint and plaidie, per se, but I have dropped a dram of sweet Canadian Whiskey into a Guinness.

I'll have to try the scotch, fer sure.