Floradora

The guys over at the IGN Podcasts have been drinking Floradoras a lot lately. So of course that means we need to try them (even tho we didnt know what they were)

But reading the recipe, this really looks amazing

Floradora Ingredients:

1 1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz framboise liqueur
ginger ale
lime wedge for garnish

Our neighbor always keeps gin around, lime juice and ginger ale are easy enough to come by, all we need is the raspberry liqueur. i wonder if we can sneak rasberry lambic instead...

Greatest Cocktail EVER

I'm in a few weddings in the next few months so I've been trying to cut down my alcohol intake & lose a few pounds. Now when I do drink, I've been trying to cut down on the calories from mixers, so i've been making big batches of iced tea and figuring out what is drinkable with it.

Here is the greatest cocktail ever

2 parts Bacardi Dragonberry Rum (although i think any of these flavors will probably work)

1 part simply lemonade with rasberry

5 parts fresh brewed black tea. I use twinnings black currant.

I'll have to actually measure next time and make sure this is right. If you're looking to make this even skinnier, use fresh squeezed lemon juice instead of lemonade. Still totally drinkable. I made a pitcher of these a few weeks ago and we both ended up unbelievably wasted, and didnt gain a pound ;D

Drinking the Kool-aid

i was at panini's last night-- my first time there in the last 8 years (since i moved to columbus). besides the time i went there to apply for a job. i was in the mood for a cape cod but i wanted to get a flavored vodka. it was bar prices, of course, so i wanted to go with a safe bet. so i picked smirnoff citrus, and forwent the lime wedge. the results were fabulous. its like really really good kool-aid, but even better. its bright and refreshing, and surprisingly not too sour. Ideal summer drink! Plus there's only two ingredients, they are both ridiculously easy to find, and neither are expensive

Taste score: * * * * *
Price score: * * * * *
Convinience: * * * * *
Overall Avg: * * * * *

Triminic

one thing i've noticed over the years about flavored liquor is that with raspberry, you never really know what you're going to get. no flavor is more different across brands.

We decided to go back to an old favorite of ours the other day, Cabana Boy raspberry rum. it makes your head hurt, but it tastes really good without being overpowering or too sweet. we just happened to have some grape soda at home, so we made a mixed drink with it and some creme de cassis we still have.

first we froze the rum to make the water in it freeze so the drinks would be stronger. then, about 1 part rum, 2 parts grape soda, and a splash of creme de cassis. it tasted like the grape cold medicine my mom would give me when i was a kid, generic brand triaminic. aleks liked it. while it was nostalgic for me, i wouldnt drink it again.

Outcome: Fail

however, just the rum and grape soda tasted like just grape soda, so that was pretty good! i dont think this same outcome would happen with any other raspberry flavored liquor tho, cuz they are so all over the place. and it wasnt really worth the headache that crept up while we were still drinking. so, overall, wouldn't do it again.

Jelly Belly Jelly Beans

This post is not about liquor

I love jelly belly jelly beans

to the right is my personal top 10 list

here is a list of new and current flavors i havent tried yet that i'd like to

1. Cafe latte
2. crushed pineapple
3. kiwi
4. lemon drop
5. mango
6. orange juice
7. orange sherbert
8. wild blackberry - a reviewer says about this one: Flavors burst out of the bean to fill your entire mouth with blackberriness.
9. pomegranate
10. cinnamon toast
11. apricot
12. honey graham cracker
    
13. orange crush
14. grape crush
15. 7 up

i'm not so sure about the roasted garlic and the baked bean, but i'm sure the tobasco, and dark chocolate will be big hits

They have a new line of coldstone creamery inspired beans that look good.  especially the apple pie a la coldstone

check out their new line of prank jelly bellys that are look-alikes to regular flavors which are both mixed in together so you never know what you're getting:

"Skunk Spray" (looks like "Licorice")

"Pencil Shavings" (looks like "Top Banana")

"Moldy Cheese" (looks like "Caramel Corn")

"Baby Wipes" (looks like "Coconut")

"Toothpaste" (looks like "Berry Blue")

"Rotten Egg" (looks like "Buttered Popcorn")

"Ear Wax" (looks like "Cafe Latte")

"Booger" (looks like "Juicy Pear")

"Vomit" (looks like "Peach")

"Black Pepper" (looks like "Plum")

a few from bertie botts on there. i think pencil shavings, baby wipes, skunk spray, and black pepper sound like the most shocking pranks.  in my opinion, the candy corn tasted like moldy cheese to begin with!

and how about new mystery flavor ice cream sandwich, and new contest winner acai berry?  yikes!

Mango fizz

1 part mango vodka (i use 3 olives)

3 parts orange fanta

Its sort of a riff on a screwdriver.  except way tastier

Crazy Berry

2 parts blackberry vodka

1 part cranberry vodka

3 parts red bull

2 parts raspberry soda, or raspberry flavored carbonated water, like Canada Dry Raspberry Sparkling soda--it has no sugar, AND no fake sweetener

riff: trade the raspberry soda for cranberry ginger ale, available around the holidays, and the cranberry vodka for raspberry

this is a very tart drink, not as sweet as you expect, so its good if you're trying to keep the calories down, but you still like fruity drinks.  you can even use sugar free red bull.

If you find it is not sweet enough for your tastes, try pomegranate liquer, or creme de cassis (black currant liquer).  Both are available at your regular liquor store, offered by DeKuyper, the people who do Pucker.  It sounds exotic but its really not.  If you can't find them, use whatever else berry flavored you can find--raspberry, cherry, whatever