I’m back!

I’m healing up after the horrible dental nightmare I had on Christmas Eve, and I’m looking forward to making up for it on New Year’s Eve. So, this week, I’m posting a few New Year’s Eve drinks, and then, on January 1st, I’ll probably post up a bunch of hangover remedies.

Actually, I think I’ll do that early on the 31st – if you have a hangover on the first, you probably won’t want to be staring into a computer screen. I suppose that leaves us with only two New Years-y drinks, so I’ll make these good ones; starting off with the Kir Royale. This is a great drink for this particular year: the economy stinks, so most of us aren’t going to be buying up multiple bottles of Armand de Brignac – or as it’s colloquially known nowadays, “that Ace of Spades.” You can make this with a few bottles of America’s favorite inexpensive champagne, Korbel Brut, and still come off as pretty fancy.

Kir Royale – Recipe:

• 1 tbsp Chambord
• Balance Champagne

This is a pretty easy one – pour the Chambord into a champagne flute, add the champagne, and serve. If you’re really hurting for cash or having a really big party, you can substitute Creme de Cassis for Chambord. If you’re feeling extra-fancy, you can garnish this drink by placing an odd number of raspberries or blackberries in the glass.

There aren’t really any Hanukkah themed cocktails that I know of that are also blue; so I’m just going to post one of my favorite blue drinks. I wanted to post this one yesterday, but what interrupted me was an apparent need for emergency dental surgery. It was even worse than that sounds. Anyhow, what follows is my blue drink, in observance of Hanukkah, on Christmas day.

At least we keep ya guessing, here at Underground Bartender. Merry Christmas, everybody.

Blue Lagoon – Recipe:

• 2 oz Vodka
• 1 oz Blue Curaçao
• Balance Lemonade
• Lime Wedge

Combine the Vodka and Blue Curaçao in a highball glass. Balance with lemonade (fill the remainder of the glass with lemonade), and garnish with a lime wedge. L’chaim!

Today’s late, late post (sorry, holiday rush stuff) brings us one of my personal concoctions. I can’t – and won’t – say that I was the first person to come up with this drink, but I can say that I came up with it on my own, while having guests over at my place last Christmas. I just won’t say I created it first, because: 1)I’m not an egomaniac; and 2) I don’t want to start one of those epic “who invented which cocktail” battles that you see on Wikipedia. Anyhow, as the name (and picture) suggests, this is meant to taste somewhat akin to a red delicious apple.

The Underground “Red Delicious” Martini – Recipe:

• 2 oz. Vodka
• 1 oz. Green Apple Schnapps
• 0.5 oz. Triple Sec
• 1 oz. Grenadine
• Splash of Rose’s Lime Juice
• 1 Green Maraschino Cherry

Chill the martini glass before mixing. Pour the ingredients into a shaker with ice cubes. Shake well. Place a cherry into the martini glass, then strain into the glass. Serve and/or enjoy.

Since the holidays all start this week, and because I’m a dork, the theme this week is holiday colored drinks. The catch, however, is that I have to make somewhat holiday-appropriate stuff as well. I’m not sure what that means; it was something that was suggested to me by a friend. Let’s see if I can make it through the week! Up first is the Grasshopper – it’s great; it’s like an After 8 mint in a glass.

Grasshopper – Recipe (makes 2 servings):

• 1.5 oz Green Creme de Menthe
• 1.5 oz Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur
• 1 oz Half and Half

Mix all three ingredients in a cocktail shaker (like the one some lucky commenter will win! – shameless plug over) with ice, and strain into two glasses. Rocks/Old fashioned glasses are good for this drink. If you don’t want to shell out for the Godiva brand, white creme de cacao will work just fine as a less expensive replacement. If you’re looking to garnish this drink, top with whipped cream and green sprinkles.

It tastes a lot better than it sounds – I swear.

Sorry about no post yesterday, folks – I was a little swamped with my day job; I guess it’s the pre-holiday rush. Which is fine, because tonight I’m going to whip up a batch of my homemade Egg Nog. Since I always bring a bottle to a party, and keep one for when guests come by during the holidays, my recipe is for 30-40 servings. Just an obvious reminder – since these are raw eggs you’ll be working with, you should make sure to buy pasteurized eggs or egg substitutes.

Underground Egg Nog – Recipe:

• 12 Eggs – separated
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 quart heavy cream
• 1 quart milk
• 1 pint bourbon
• 1 cup dark rum or brandy

Beat the egg yolks with sugar until it dissolves. Add the cream, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and liquor and stir. Beat the egg whites until they become fluffy, then add that in as well. Chill for several hours, then serve sprinked with nutmeg, or garnished with a cinnamon stick.

At the behest of our current mathematical favorite to win our first ever contest, I am posting a tutorial on how to make Simple Syrup, for those of you who’d rather make your own than purchasing one in the store. Homemade Simple Syrup is usually better than storebought anyway; it’s made by you, with sugar, as opposed to by a factory, with High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Some people know it as Simple Sugar – although that name doesn’t make much sense to me; as regular granulated sugar is already a simple sugar. But I digress. Here’s how you can make you own Simple Syrup.

Simple Syrup – Recipe:

• 2 parts pure granulated sugar
• 1 part water

Bring your water to a boil, and slowly add the sugar to the boiling water to dissolve it. Stirring with a wooden spoon helps if you’re impatient, but the water is hot enough to do the job for you. Once youve added all of the sugar, and it has dissolved completely, turn off the stove, allow the mixture to cool back down to room temperature, then bottle it up.

If you want to add a certain flavor to the syrup, all you have to do is boil that ingredient in with the water. For instance, if you wanted mint flavored Simple Syrup, add mint leaves to the pot with the water before boiling, then dissolve the sugar as you would normally. After it has cooled off, remember to strain out the extra ingredient you’re adding to enhance the flavor.

Today’s a pretty big day here at Underground Bartender. We’re throwing our first giveaway, and the prize is a fancy martini set. The best part of all is – you barely have to do anything in order to win!

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment anywhere on the site (any post before and after this one is also fair game). On New Year’s Eve – the last day of the contest – we’re going to count up all of the comments made on the site since today, and then pick a number between the current amount of comments and the final tally. Then, we’ll email the person who left the comment that goes with that number, and tell them that they’re our winner! There is no limit to the amount of comments you can post; just no spamming please.

Basically, we’ll do all the work, you just leave comments, and somehow, you get a free martini set. Why? Well, why not? It’s the holidays, and we never really did anything special to celebrate the launch of the site until now. This is really just a fun way of saying thank you for being a part of our blog.

Martini Set – Contents:

• 4 Martini Glasses
• 4 Glass olive picks
• 1 Glass Shaker with stainless steel Lid
• 1 stainless steel tray

This is another cocktail that represents my inability to cope with the weather. Right now in New York, it’s cold and rainy, and has been like that all week. So, to escape, I’ve been thinking of cocktails associated with warm, sunny tropical environments. If you’re like me – in a cold place; dreaming of a warm summer evening at an outdoor bar by the ocean side – then try this Mojito recipe, and have one for me.

Mojito – Recipe:

• 3 mint sprigs (should be fresh)
• 0.5 oz simple syrup
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• 1.5 oz light rum
• club soda

Muddle some mint leaves at the bottom of the glass. Add the simple syrup and lime juice and stir well. Next, add some ice cubes to the glass, then add the rum. Mix the ingredients, then top off with cold club soda (don’t use seltzer unless you have nothing else around). Garnish with the lime slice and the un-muddled mint sprig, and serve.

After yesterday’s post, a lot of my friends who read the blog (thanks btw) were asking me questions related to Cachaça; mostly, what it is, and where to get some. Fair enough. So, here’s the deal with Cachaça:

Cachaça (pronounced Kah-sha-ssa) is hands-down the most popular liquor in Brazil; despite being virtually unheard of everywhere else (in fact, more people know about Caipirhinas than Cachaça outside of Brazil). It’s produced in a manner similar to rum; that is, it’s made with sugarcane. The method is very different, however – which makes for a very distinct flavor. If you can find it, it’s worth trying, because Caipirhinas are awesome. And after the jump (yes, today, there’s a jump) you can find a list of places that sell Cachaça.

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