Here is something different to try if you like Bloody Caesars or Bloody Maries. The recipe is very close to the original Caesar but will be stronger as a Martini since the ratio juice/vodka is very different. The chipotle Tabasco gives it a distinctive smoky taste.
Chipotle Caesar-tini
Ingredients
2 Parts Vodka
3 Parts Clamato Juice
1/4 Part Lemon Juice
5 drops of Chipotle Tabasco
2 Dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Pepper
Celery Salt
A Cucumber Slice for Garnish
Preparation
Start by rimming a chilled martini glass with lemon juice and celery salt. Be generous.
Pour the vodka, Clamato juice, lemon juice, chipotle tabasco and Worcestershire sauce in a shaker with cracked ice and shake until cold. Pour in the rimmed glass and top with freshly grounded pepper to taste.
Garnish with a fresh green vegetable, either a cucumber slice or a celery stalk.
You can skip the vodka and make this one a virgin.
I know, I know! It would have been cleverer to post this cocktail before the 29th so you could drink it at your Halloween Party on Saturday! Sorry about that ;).
Anyway…Each holiday, you can find cool themed drinks to try on About.com cocktail section. The following martini comes from this year’s list of Halloween cocktails. The idea is good and the drink seems to be flavorful. Let’s see if it works.
The Halloween Hpnotist
Ingredients
2 Parts Hpnotiq
1 Part Vodka
Splash of Lemon Juice
A Glow Stick for Garnish (Don’t eat it!)
Preparation
Pour the ingredients, except the glow stick, in a shaker filled with ice and shake it! (You can moan like a zombie if you wish). Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a glow stick!
Appreciation
The drink is very good…it tastes like Hpnotiq…really, that’s pretty much all there is. Hpnotiq is a vodka based spirit that tastes like tropical fruits. The effect with the glow stick is what’s very cool about it. When your guests or you will take a sip of the ghostly drink it will light your spooky Halloween face. Of course, it will only work in dark areas.
Be sure you don’t do like me and take a glow stick that is too long or it will look silly in the glass. Take a martini glass that’s thinner and deeper, the effect is going to be much better. Also, be careful not to get an orange, green or pink glow stick! Choose blue or white.
The Halloween Hpnotist is Perfect for Halloween, to bad it’s already over!
In my quest for interesting martinis, I’ve stumbled on this quite unique recipe on the web, which is apparently a classic: the Balsamic Vinegar Martini. Seriously, Balsamic vinegar! I had to try it!
Balsamic Vinegar Martini
Ingredients
3 Shots of Chilled Vodka (75 ml)
1 Dash Balsamic Vinegar (or more)
1 Big Strawberry
Orange Peel
Preparation
First off, be sure your vodka has been in the freezer for a while…like overnight. You need it to be cold as this recipe doesn’t involves any shaker (no water!). Choose a very good balsamic vinegar, it should be thick. If your vinegar is watery, you can always reduce it by heating it. Be sure to wait until it’s cooled down to do the martini!
Pour some vinegar on a plate. Skew the strawberry and roll it in the vinegar so it is generously coated. Put the strawberry in the chilled martini glass. Pour 75 ml of your favorite chilled vodka on the strawberry.
Shave a large slice of peel from an orange and twist it over the cocktail. This will release the orange essential oil for intense flavor. Then rim the glass with the peel. Once done, throw the peel away, you don’t need it.
Appreciation
I really enjoyed this martini’s taste but also its preparation. It was fun and different to make. I though the vinegar would be too intense but it actually balances with the vodka. Drinking them at the same moment will smooth the vinegar acidic taste and the vodka strong taste to create a nice combined flavor. When done with the liquid, treat yourself with the strawberry which will be infused with the balsamic and vodka flavor. It’s like the desert of the cocktail.
The key to enjoying fully this martini is to find the right balance of Balsamic vinegar for you. I had to adjust mine with 1 tsp of vinegar to really like it. If your first sip tastes like pure vodka to you, there isn’t enough vinegar.
Today, I worked hard on the house and honestly, I am NOT feeling like having a martini. A beer sounds way more appropriate! My lovely wife decided to help me in the marathon by having the cocktail tonight. Isn’t she sweet. 🙂 Thinking of what she wanted, it was leaning toward a Cosmo. This is just what I need: a revenge on the extra dry cosmopolitan made earlier this week.
We had to try two recipes tonight. The first one is not worth mentioning as it tasted exactly like a bad cough syrup! Blha! The second one we tried, the Cupid’s Cosmicpolitan, was way more enjoyable:
Cupid’s Cosmicpolitan Ingredients
4 parts Cranberry Juice
1 1/2 parts Vodka
1 part Grand Marnier
1 part Lemon Juice
A Maraschino Cherry for Garnish
Preparation
Pour the liquids in a shaker filled with cracked ice and shake until very cold. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a Maraschino Cherry. Appreciation
For me, a “Real” or “Classic” Cosmo is made with just a dash of cranberry juice, for a stronger, yet fruity taste. This version is for anyone who prefers a higher juice ratio in their cocktail to “camouflage” the alcohol taste. 🙂
It’s Monday, it’s beautiful outside, let’s celebrate. I was rummaging through my cocktail books and found this recipe: the Monday cosmopolitan. I saw it as a sign 😉 and decided to try it. At first glance, it looks like it is going to taste like the classic cosmopolitan but drier. Let’s see…
Monday Cosmopolitan Ingredients
2 parts Vodka
1 part Extra Dry Vermouth
1 part Cranberry Juice
1/2 part Orange Liqueur (Triple Sec, Cointreau)
Orange Slice for Garnish
Preparation
Pour all ingredients except the orange slice in a shaker filled with cracked ice. Shake until you get frostbite. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with an orange slice. (or wedge!) Appreciation
Even though it’s pretty, the Monday Cosmopolitan is not a hit for me. The extra dry vermouth is too strong compared to the orange and cranberry flavors. It’s also missing the lime, which I think is key to the perfect cosmopolitan. Next time, I will stick to the classic :). Still, if you prefer your cocktails dry and never could appreciate a cosmo, try this recipe, maybe you will enjoy it.
Why Cinderellatini? No idea! Should be called "Liquid Skittles".
Tonight I am home alone with my kid so of course I need to be the responsible dad, which I am, and stay 100% sober, or if you prefer: 0% drunk. Oh no! Tragedy! What about the Martini Marathon, is that over?! …and comes the Mocktini to the rescue :).
The following cocktail is a nice surprise. Even though it’s virgin and “just” a mix of juices, the result is incredible! It looks really nice in a cocktail glass (the photo doesn’t do it justice), but it is so good that you might as well make yourself a bucket of the stuff. It tastes like refreshing liquid Skittles, no kidding. If that makes any sense. Of course you can always add 1 part of vodka to make it a “real” cocktail.
Cinderellatini
1 part Orange Juice
1 part Pineapple Juice
1/2 part Sour Mix
Club Soda
1 dash Grenadine
A Maraschino Cherry for Garnish
First thing, put the maraschino cherry in your glass. Pour the orange juice, pineapple juice and sour mix in a shaker with cracked ice and shake until your hands hurt. Strain into a cocktail glass and top with club soda by being careful to keep the nice juice foam on top. Now find the Jackson Pollock in you and drizzle grenadine syrup on top to create spots and lines (I use a spoon handle).
I needed some color today because the weather has been grey for a week. Even though I LOVE the rainy weather of autumn, it doesn’t mean I can’t lighten it up a bit with a colorful cocktail with tropical notes.
The Bikini Martini has many variants out there, some with gin and some without juice. Here is mine:
Bikini Martini
1 part Coconut Rum
1 part Vodka
1 part pineapple juice
Grenadine
An orange wedge for garnish
Pour everything but the grenadine in your favorite shaker with cracked ice and shake until froth. Strain into a cocktail glass. Slowly add a dash of grenadine and garnish with an orange wedge.
After a hard day of work on the house, I think I totally deserve the following treat made with frikin’ hazelnut liqueur. If you never tried this particular liqueur, you are in for a treat! If you like anything hazelnut, like the infamous Nutella for example, try it, you won’t regret it!
Buckly Martini
5 parts Vodka
1 part Frangelico Hazelnut Liqueur
Pour everything in your favorite shaker with cracked ice and shake well. Strain into a martini glass. No garnish…wait what?
By the way, this is the original recipe, but I prefer to make it with a ratio closer to half and half. Like almost anything, cocktails are a matter of preferences. So if you prefer the hazelnut taste, don’t hesitate to change the ratio of the alcohols, the cocktail police won’t get you for that…they’ll let you off with a warning.
Too much to do, no time to write! Here’s a martini recipe! 🙂
Stinger = Minty!
Stingertini
2 parts Brandy
1 part Vodka
1 part White Crème de menthe
A sprig of mint for garnish
Pour the brandy, vodka and crème de menthe in a shaker with cracked ice and shake well. Strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a sprig of mint. Be sure to use white crème de menthe or your drink will look gross!
Oh yeah! My holidays are starting soon, like really soon…they are starting right about…now! It is thus time to tell you about the challenge I’ve thrown in my own face: the Martini Marathon! For the next month or so, in which I’m off work (yeah I know, amazing right! sorry guys at the office, don’t hate me 😉 ), I will try a new martini recipe each single day and post it here. When I say martini, I use the word very loosely, what I mean is cocktails that are similar to Martinis…anyway, you’ll see, I’m pretty much making the rules as I go.
For today I really wanted to make the Martinez, which is the grand-father of the Martini. It would’ve been quite appropriate to start with it. Unfortunately I can’t! Ingredients for this old cocktail are rare and hard to find (in the short-term anyway). But this is a story for another time. Instead, tonight I choose a Martini I like very much: the Vesper, also known as the James Bond’s Martini.
For me, this is an all time classic. It’s cold, large, strong and tastes so good. Here is the recipe:
The Vesper (or James Bond’s Martini)
3Â parts Gin
1 part Vodka
1/2 part Lillet
Lemon peel
Pour all the ingredients in a shaker with cracked ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a large thin slice of lemon peel. Et voila! A martini à la James Bond.
By the way, Lillet is a french aperitif wine that isn’t too hard to find.
The Bosstopus 