Spring Specialty Drink Menu...

I'm working on a Spring themed specialty cocktail menu and should be able to perfect it in a few days. Stay tuned!

Delicious Libations on the Hollywood Tower Rooftop

What could be better than sipping tasty cocktails at a hype party on a beautiful Saturday night? Doing so on top of the historical Hollywood Tower. Last night I bartended for an awesome young lady on the occasion of her 25th birthday. There were about 60 guests at the party, enjoying the fresh grilled burgers, the airbrush artist who painted custom t-shirts, and the amazing view of the Los Angeles cityscape.

As for the bar, I offered four specialty cocktails: the Russian Rose (the birthday girl happens to be of Russian heritage), the Hemingway, the Lynchburg Lemonade, and the Cuba Libre. The Cuba Libre is a very popular drink, as its basically just a fancy name for a rum and coke with a lime. The Lynchburg Lemonade is a great whiskey drink, mixing Jack Daniels, Triple Sec, Sweet and Sour, and Sprite (it's potent, sweet, and tangy...so perfect for summer).

The two most popular drinks of the evening were the Russian Rose and the Hemingway. The Russian Rose is a sweet, vodka based drink which is usually comprised of vodka, grenadine, and orange bitters. To make it less strong we switched out orange bitters with orange juice, which makes the drink taste quite different from the original recipe (bitters have a very aromatic, unique taste), but it was still delicious. My favorite drink of the evening was the Hemingway. This drink is usually comprised of a light rum, maraschino cherry liquor, lime juice, and grapefruit juice. I substituted pineapple juice for the grapefruit juice with great results (I mean honestly, does pineapple juice not taste amazing with anything?). The maraschino cherry liquor we used was Luxardo brand and adds a fresh, complicated, almost floral flavor to the drink. I am definitely going to be experimenting more with this stuff. Absolutely delicious!

Custom Drinks for Vintage Inspired Wedding

So I will be bartending a wedding in a few months, and I spoke with the bride this week regarding her bar needs. She was going pretty simple, some beer, margaritas, and a signature drink. She said that she'd like the signature drink to reflect the wedding's theme, vintage Hollywood. She is a big fan of fruity drinks and not a big drinker, so would prefer a cocktail without any bite. And so I went off to the drawing board and came up with the following ideas:

Shutter Island:
Vodka, Passion fruit liqueur, Mango liqueur, Pineapple Juice

Great Gatsby:
Muddled fresh blackberries, Vodka, Peach Schnapps, Creme de Cassis (black currant flavor), Sour Mix

Hemmingway:
Vodka, Elderflower liqueur, Vanilla-infused simple syrup, Strawberry Lemonade

The bride is going to try them out this weekend and let me know which drink will be HER drink. Can't wait to hear what she thinks!

Take Me to The Moon!

There's an interesting article in the LA Times about the resurgence of "Moonshine"- the liquor so named because it was brewed illegally (under the moonlight) during the time of prohibition. Moonshine, in this sense, refers to whiskey. Whiskey, easily distinguished by the brownish-caramel hue, obtains this coloring through being aged in wood. Moonshine, however, is a sort of juvenile Whiskey lacking contact with the wood and thus, is clear in color. It's flavor is still intense, and mixes differently than wood-aged Whiskey. Check out the article below!

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-moonshine-20110113,0,3897667.story