Hail, Brittania!

In honor of the Royal Wedding, we decided we needed a traditional British cocktail, and what could be more British than the Pimm's Cup?

Actually it wasn't the first drink to spring to mind, in fact, I had only heard of the drink.  I didn't know anything about it until I googled it.

Did you know there are a few varieties of Pimm's?  There's #1, #2, #3... but I'm not going to get into all that.  If you're interested, you can check out all the Pimm's info you want here.

Normally the drink is made with two ounces of Pimm's topped off with either ginger ale or lemonade and then garnished with a cucumber slice and a sprig of mint.

We got ourselves ready.

Some recipes called for a heaping quantity of fruit mixed in, but we chose just to include some orange...although we thought the extra fruit made for a better picture.  Oh, and notice that we totally forgot to buy mint when we went to the store.

Neither one of us had ever tried Pimm's before, so we took full advantage of the spillage next to the shot glass and dipped our fingers into it.  The flavor was... interesting... a hint of spice of some kind.  Last night I opened the bottle and gave it a good sniff, and the first thing I smelled was celery.  Ah, leave it to the Brits to make a celery tonic.

mmm juicy...

The cucumber didn't do much for me, but it looked and smelled nice.

Ta da!!  Pimm's Cup! (minus the mint... oops)

I made mine with ginger ale, and Sharon G used the lemonade.  After one sip of mine, we both decided that the ginger ale was not for us, so I made another with lemonade.  It was much better; however, it was Country Time lemonade mix.  I think fresh lemonade would do this drink more justice.

All in all, we liked the Pimm's Cup.  As it stands, I give it 2 1/2 MMMs on the MMM scale.  I think maybe Sharon G liked it more than I did, but I'm willing to try it with the freshly squeezed lemonade next time.  So cheers, and here's to Will and Kate!

post script  Kate can have her Wills.  We like this one better.

We hear he favors a drink called the "crack baby" cocktail.  It sounds horrific, but after looking up the recipe we found it to sound quite good.  I think we might see a couple of crack babies on the horizon.

Daffodil Driver

This week we are tasting and perfecting the Daffodil Driver as a tribute to spring.
Here is how we made ours:

                                    

2 oz apricot nectar
1 shot Absolut peach vodka

1/2 shot Hiram Walker Apricot Brandy
1/2 shot Grand Marnier
Orange wheel, for garnish
Lemon wheel, for garnish

 Pour ingredients in a shaker filled with ice, add nectar, peach vodka, apricot brandy, and Grand Marnier. Shake vigorously and strain into a glass filled with ice. Garnish with orange wheel and lemon wheel together.

Such a pretty drink

This drink was surprisingly not as sweet as expected.  The first sip had a bite, but soon mellowed.  I give this drink 3 M's on the Mmm scale.  As the week progresses we will try different ratios of our ingredients to improve it. 

Bill

This is Bill.  See Bill make appletinis.  Bill will probably appear on this blog from time to time.  Bill's your pal.  Bill's your buddy.  Bill's the kind of guy who doesn't mind if you puke in his foyer.  Bill.

Where it all happens!

This is my bar.  This where it all happens!

Actually... not really.  To be honest, I only store the booze here.  It's not a full-service bar, and that's probably because it's supposed to be a kitchen island.  I think.  I was never really sure about it.  All I know is that I saw it in Home Goods, and I thought it would look nice in the house.

Look at those beauties.

Drink of the Week- APPLETINI

This weeks drink is the Appletini.  A delicious classic served in a martini glass. (note to self: need to get new martini glasses) We made ours with Grey Goose vodka, DeKuyper Sour Apple Pucker and apple juice.  For our first attempt, we followed the standard recipe of  2oz of vodka, 1/2 oz of apple pucker and a 1/2 oz of apple juice.  While the result was fine, we decided it had just too much bite.  So after some discussion we arrived at the following recipe that everyone loved. 1 1/2 ox of vodka, 1 1/2oz of green pucker and 1 1/2 oz of apple juice.  Just equal measures of each. Nice and simple.

We give this drink 5 M's on the Mmm scale!