Cocktails for Inauguration Day

Celebrate the dawning of a new day with these three happy cocktails.

Baracktail (my own invention)

• 4 dashes blue curacao (for the color of the Democratic party)
• 4 ounces chilled champagne (for celebration)
• 1 pineapple chunk (for Barack’s Hawaiian birthplace)

Swirl the curacao around the sides of a champagne glass, fill with champagne and garnish with a cube of pineapple.

Chicago (for Barack Obama’s political base)

• 2 ounces cognac
• 1 dash curacao
• 1 dash bitters
• champagne

Stir cognac, curacao and bitters with ice. Strain into a wine glass and fill with champagne.

Gloom Raiser (for hope and change)

• 1 ounce gin
• 1 ounce dry vermouth
• 1 dash grenadine
• 1 dash Pernod

Stir gin, vermouth and grenadine with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Float Pernod on top.

Good Hooch

December 5, 2008 was the 75th anniversary of the repeal of the 18th Amendment thus ending Prohibition in the U.S.

Celebrate with a glass of your favorite pick-me-up.

So drink up all of you people
Order anything you see
And have fun you happy people
The drink and the laughs on me
— lyrics from Angel Eyes

A Nice Way To Start the Day

Have a mimosa with breakfast.

Pour 2 oz. of fresh-squeezed orange juice into a tall flute and top off with 4 oz. of champagne.

Mmm.

Hangover Cures

Got the post-New Year celebration blues? Here are some tips for the biggest hangover day of the year:

1. Rehydrate – Drink lots of water to replenish your body and soothe your poor liver.

2. Eat fruit – It’s the fastest way to get vitamins back into your system and restore your blood sugar.

3. Sleep – When you’ve had too much to drink, you may conk out but you’re not getting quality sleep. The next day, try to catch up on your REMs.

There is no cure for the common hangover, but you can ease the symptoms. Good luck.

Upside Down Martini

Love the look of a martini but can’t deal with all that gin? Here’s one of our favorite cocktail recipes that reverses the ingredients.

Credit for this concoction goes to Dale DeGroff, a.k.a. King Cocktail.

Mr. DeGroff is one of the premier mixologists of our day and a noted cocktail historian.

Check out his book The Craft of the Cocktail and his Web site at kingcocktail.com

Upside Down Martini
2 1/2 oz. French Dry Vermouth
1 oz. Gin
Stir with ice and serve in a classic martini glass. Garnish with a lemon peel.

Cheers.

Champagne Cocktails and Kir Royale

‘Tis the season to make merry. The most elegant drinks are made with champagne or sparkling wine. Here are two of our favorite recipes:

Champagne Cocktail
Place a sugar cube in the bottom of a champagne flute. Pour in a few drops of Angostura bitters. Fill the glass with champagne. It’s a classic. Simple and quite tasty.

Kir Royale
Pour a half ounce of cassis, raspberry or strawberry liqueur into a champagne flute and fill the rest of the glass with champagne. Adjust liqueur to taste. Makes a lovely rose-colored cocktail.

Looking for an inexpensive substitute? Try Prosecco. It’s a sparkling wine from Italy that generally runs from $10-16 a bottle. Most already have subtle hints of pear or apple flavoring. But they also work well as a base for a Kir Royale.