Absolut For Everyone

Admittedly Absolut is not my first choice of vodka. On the other hand if I was at the store and I saw one of these on my way to a party I would probably have to take a second look. Unfortunately they do not seem to be for sale in the US. So if you REALLY wanted one, check on good ol’ Ebay.

Absolut Art Of Sharing

Absolut Recipes

 

 Click HERE for more pictures.

Beer as Art

This was a pretty cool video that leaves me thinking one thing. What happened to all the beer he was pouring while he was making this? 

Becks Artvertising

Appleton Cocktail Challange

This looks like another cool cocktail challenge. Why not submit something? I will post my submission later.

Appleton Challange

Winos Are Not Left Out

We all have bottle openers as key chains. Personally I have the SuckUK skeleton key bottle opener.  What about all the wine drinkers? This is one of the coolest wine opener key chains  have ever seen.

Cork Screw Key Chain

 You can see another cool SuckUK wine key chain HERE

Marge’s Brandy Old Fashioned Recipe

Apparently the only way to make an Old Fashioned in Wisconsin is to do it with Brandy. Seemed interesting to me, so I made myself one. To my surprise I really enjoyed it. I had some Presedente that I normally use for cooking and it turned out great.

 

  

Marge’s Brandy Old Fashioned Recipe

 

• 1 Sugar Cube
• Several Dashes Angostura Bitters
• Soda Water
• Orange slice
• 2 to 3 Citrus Brandied Cocktail Cherries or Maraschino Cherries
• Ice
• 2 oz Brandy

  

Place sugar cube in an Old Fashioned glass and splash with bitters. Add a dash of soda water (just enough to dissolve the sugar), the orange slice, and 1 cherry. Gently muddle to crush the fruit but not pulverize it. Fill the glass with ice cubes and add brandy. Top off with soda. Garnish with another cherry or two. 

This was taken from CHOW.com. For the original Article, CLICK HERE

Cocktail Competitions – LeNell It All

This is an article I found on AOL’s news site.

Cocktail Competition

I began bartending many moons ago when hardly anyone had heard of a cocktail competition. I’ve judged a few, but only ever competed in one, so I sometimes feel quite old when the young whipper snapper bartenders boast how many competitions they’ve won.

My initial training in Birmingham, Alabama came from a bartender who used to take me to T.G.I. Friday’s so I could see how the “serious bartenders” worked. The flashy, bottle flingin’ bartenders there competed to see who had the best flair — and I’m not just talking about the number of decorative stick pins and message buttons on their suspenders. Friday’s actually held the first ever “flair bartending competition” in the mid 1980’s, inspired by one of their pourers who had a knack for juggling bottles. A few years later, they held the first world championship bartending competition. Fun fact: The winner trained Tom Cruise for the movie Cocktail.

Flair competitions now occur worldwide with large liquor company sponsorship. However, the cocktail competition world has also taken a turn towards actual mixing talent and not just showmanship. Perhaps the Japanese culinary show Iron Chef (with a cult US following) is partially to blame for the rise in competitive drink mixing.
These days it’s almost impossible to keep up with the numerous competitions. Many drink companies solicit recipes to allow bartenders to compete for money, travel, bar tools and so-called glory. Points are awarded for creativity, attractiveness of garnishes, showmanship and personality, use of the (sponsoring) companies’ products, and hopefully flavor. Many times a cocktail recipe entered into a contest is never even reproduced to taste, but just judged on how it appears in a photo, how well-known the bartender already is, and other factors outside of the actual taste. When a contest receives hundreds of recipes, did you really think that each one gets made and tasted?

That being said, the winners aren’t always the bartenders with the best drinks. Sometimes a mixologist’s culinary methods cannot easily be reproduced by the majority of bartenders, so the best-tasting and most creative drink may not win out. If the winning drink is to be rolled out in a nationwide marketing campaign, difficult methods and super expensive or esoteric ingredients could count against a contestant no matter how amazing the flavor turns out.

Once in awhile, a little known bartender from a small town gets the chance to get great press and attention for a winning cocktail. But more often than not, other factors can play a role in determining who comes out ahead. Sometimes the winner earns points for having a pretty, marketing campaign-friendly face. Other times it’s about the marketability of a bartender’s already known name (whether they’re pretty-faced or not). And once, I observed a competition where all the finalists made great cocktails. Although tasty, the winning drink was not my personal favorite. The prize for winning the competition was entry into a bartender training program, and the winner was the only one of the finalists who had not previously attended the school.

No matter how the winner is chosen, competitions inspire creativity and are often great fun for all involved. The nervous energy of the contest makes even the most experienced hands shake a little bit sometimes. Those nervous hands, at least, are shaking up great new recipes for us all to enjoy.

Alabama-born LeNell Smothers defines herself first and foremost as a bartender, but she’s been called many things — most recently, the proprietress of Casa Cóctel with partner Demián Camacho Santa Ana. She’s owned her own whiskey label, called Red Hook Rye, and has been recognized by her home state as an honorary Colonel. Other interests include gin, sin and men.

Read more: http://www.slashfood.com/2010/06/11/cocktail-competitions-lenell-it-all/#ixzz0ruQBSnUK

NATIONS Flair Competition

NATIONS Prizes and Qualifying Rules have been posted!

Nations Flair Competition

We are excited to have a new home for NATIONS International Flair Challenge at the brand new ROCK and RITA’s Flair Bar in Circus Circus Hotel & Casino.

Finals rules are being worked on as you read this.  Budgets are tight, but we are doing everything we can to save costs and increase the prize money.  We were able to pay out to the Top 15 Pros and Top 10 Advanced competitors!

REGISTRATION IS OPEN!!

What we will tell you right now is the finals format will be like no other competition in history.  Keep tuned!!!

Go to The Flair Bartenders Association for more info.

Jalapeno Martini

 More of a Jalapeno Margarita served in a cocktail glass, this drink adds a spicy twist to something we all know. Rather than muddling fresh jalapeno into the drink I chose to use a Jalapeno infused tequilla (Hornitos Reposado). The main reason is I didn’t want jalapeno all over the bar because it has, and will end up all over everything.  In your eyes, other drinks, glassware, anywhere ese it doesn’t belong. Just add two full jalapeno sliced, seeds and all, to a liter of tequilla, let it sit for a week or so, checking frequently for desired flavor. After that just pour it through a cheese cloth and funnel it back into a bottle. As a substitution you could freshly muddle a few slices of jalapeno into the drink with a small splash of agave nectar, but like I said, be carefull. 

Jalapeno Martini

 

Jalapeno Martini 

• 1 1/2oz Jalapeno Tequilla
• 1/2oz Cointreau
• 1/2 Lime, Juiced
• 1/2 – 1 oz Sweet & Sour

   

   

 Combine all ingredients in a shaker and pour  into a cocktail glass with half of the rim salted. Generally I would garnish this with a lime wheel but for the picture we opted for a jalapeno.

Bitters Shortage

Remember a few months back when you thought cocktails as you knew them were going to change? My favorite ingredient ever was in a terrible shortage that brought the cocktail community to a near panic. Well, once again you can go to the store and not have to worry about if they are going to have any Bitters, or how long it will be on backorder, or having to listen to the clerk telling you “I just don’t know when it will be in.” Now you can just do what I did and go to Target and find that they have so much that its on clearance.  So for now at least, lets all say goodbye to that miserable Bitters shortage. 

No more shortage

Experience Magazine

Experience Magazine

This was an article written about the Matador Cantina written in e\Experience Magazine. Again my Jalapeno Martini received a lot of discussion as well as my Mango Dulce martini which were the top two specialty cocktails that were served there. This restaurant is one of the many that I created the entire drink menu for. It was well-balanced and featured a few liquors that gave us discounts for including them on the list. A few girly drinks and some that were directed more toward men.