1. January 29 | #
    I think a man ought to get drunk at least twice a year just on principle, so he won’t let himself get snotty about it.
    — Raymond Chandler

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  2. January 28 | #

    How to say "Cheers" in other languages

    Afrikaans : Gesondheid! : (Ge-sund-hide)

    Albanian : Gëzuar! : (Géschuar)

    Arabic (Egyptian) : في صحتكم! : (Fee-sa-ha-tak)

    Armenian : Armenia : (Gen-ots-it)

    Azerbaijani : Afiyët oslun! : (Afeeyet Ohs-lun)

    Basque : On egin! : (On egín)

    Bosnian : Živjeli! : (Zhee-vi-lee)

    Bulgarian : Наздраве! : (NAZ-dra-vey)

    Chinese (Mandarin) : 乾杯! [干杯!] : (Gan BAY)

    Chinese : (Cantonese) : (Gom bui)

    Czech : Na zdravi : (NAZ-drah vi)

    Croatian : Živjeli! : (ZHEE-vi-lee)

    Danish : Skål! : (Skol)

    Dutch : Prosit! : (Prowst)

    Esperanto : Je via sano! Toston! : (YEH VEE-ah SAH-no/Tóston)

    Estonian : Terviseks! : (Ter-vi-seks)

    Ethiopian (Amharic) : Letenachin : (L’-TAY-nah-chin)

    Farsi : (Ba-sal-a-ma-TEE)

    Finnish : Kippis! : (KEEP-us)

    French : A Votre Sante! : (Ah Vot-ruh Sahn-tay)

    Gaelic (Irish) : Sláinte! : (Slawn-che)

    German : Prost! : (Prohst)

    Greek : στην υγειά σας! : (Stin Eyiassou/Stin Eye-ee-yass-ooh)

    Hawaiian : Okole Maluna! : (Å’kålè ma’luna)

    Hebrew : לְחַיִּים!/L’Chaim! : (Le Chy-em)

    Hungarian : Egeszsegere! : (Egg-esh Ay-ged-reh)

    Italian : Salute! : Cin cin! (Salu-tay/Chin Chin)

    Japanese : /Kampai! : (Kam-pie)

    Korean : 위하여 (Chukbae) : (Sheet seki yah)

    Latvian : Prieka! : (Pree-eh-ka)

    Lithuanian i : sveikata! : (Ee sweh-kata)

    Luxembourgish : Prost! : (Prohst)

    Maltese : Evviva! : (A-vee-va)

    Mongolian : Эрүүл мэндийн төлөө! : (Erüül mehdiin tölöö)

    Norwegian : Skål! : (Skoal)

    Persian : به سلامتی! : (beh salamati)

    Polish Na : zdrowie! : (Naz-droh-vee-ay)

    Portuguese : Saúde! : (Sow-ooh-jee)

    Romanian : Noroc! : (No-roak)

    Russian : Будем здоровы! : (Boo-dem Zdo-ro-vee-eh)

    Serbian : Ziveli! : (ZHEE-vi-lee)

    Slovak : Na zdravie! : (Naz-drah-vee-ay)

    Spanish : ¡Salud!/Salut! : (Sah-lud/Sah-lute)

    Swedish : Skål! : (Skol)

    Thai : ไชโย! : (Chuc-dee)

    Turkish : Şerefe! : (Sher-i-feh)

    Vietnamese : Chúc sức khoẻ! : (chook-sa-koi-ah)

    Yiddish : געזונטערהייט! Zei Gazunt! : (Zye GAH-zoont)

    Zulu : Oogy wawa! : (oogee-wawa)

    Do you know of any other ways to say cheers?

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  3. January 22 | #
    Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.
    — Ernest Hemingway

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  4. January 21 | #

    A Secret Cocktail Society Exposed

    I started writing this post way back in 2009 with the working title of, “The Interweb’s Most Awesome Cocktail Blogs”, but as I sifted through my RSS subscriptions I began to notice something peculiar.

    Most of the blogs were operated by members of a super-top-secret cocktail society called the Cocktail and Spirits Online Writers Group (CSOWG).

    Here’s how this select group of über writers describe themselves:

    The Cocktail & Spirits Online Writers Group is the largest organization representing the interests of online cocktail, spirits, and bartending writers in the United States and parts of Canada.

    Originally founded in 2007, the CSOWG benefits the spirits and beverage industry – as well as the consumer – by promoting the highest levels of professionalism, ethics, and credibility by educating its members and the public on trends in cocktails, drinking, and quality.

    Members of this high society include:

    If you know how to become a member of the CSOWG, let us know. We want in.

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  5. January 20 | #

    101 Ways To Say You're Drunk

    1. Annihilated
    2. Befuddled
    3. Bent
    4. Besotted
    5. Blind drunk
    6. Blitzed
    7. Blitzkrieged
    8. Blotto
    9. Bombed
    10. Booze-blind
    11. Borracho
    12. Bottle fever, to have or be afflicted with
    13. Brined
    14. Cocked and loaded
    15. Cockeyed
    16. Corned
    17. Crippled
    18. Demolished
    19. Dizzy
    20. Drenched
    21. Drunk, Drunked up
    22. Faced
    23. Faded
    24. Flat-faced
    25. Floored or floor-hammered
    26. FUBAR (eff’d up beyond all recognition)
    27. eff’d up
    28. Gathered a talking load
    29. Glazed
    30. Greased
    31. Guttered
    32. Hammered
    33. In your cups
    34. Inebriated
    35. Intoxicated
    36. Jiggered
    37. Jimjams
    38. Jugged, in the jug
    39. Knee-walking drunk
    40. Leathered
    41. Liquored up
    42. Lit, Lit up
    43. Loaded
    44. Loopy or looped
    45. Loose
    46. Mangled
    47. Mashed
    48. Maudlin
    49. Mellow
    50. Numb
    51. Obliterated
    52. On a bender
    53. On autopilot
    54. Ossified
    55. Pickled
    56. Pie-eyed
    57. Piqued
    58. Pissed
    59. Plastered
    60. Plotzed
    61. Plowed
    62. Potted
    63. Pottzed
    64. Pot-valiant
    65. Pounded
    66. Put a load on
    67. Rat-assed
    68. Reeling
    69. Relaxed
    70. Retarded
    71. Riotous
    72. Sauced
    73. Senseless
    74. Shattered
    75. Shellacked
    76. Shitbombed
    77. Shit-faced
    78. Skewered
    79. Skunked
    80. Slagged
    81. Slammed
    82. Slaughtered
    83. Slopped
    84. Sloshed
    85. Smashed
    86. Soaked
    87. Soused
    88. Spins, to have the
    89. Staggers, to have the
    90. Staying afloat
    91. Stewed
    92. Stinking drunk
    93. Stupid
    94. Tangle-footed
    95. Tanked, Tanked up
    96. Tied one on
    97. Tight
    98. Tipsy
    99. Torn up
    100. Tossed

    Bonus!

    1. Trashed
    2. Trousered
    3. Trucked
    4. Tub-thumped
    5. Tweaked
    6. Under the influence
    7. Wasted
    8. Well-oiled
    9. Whacked
    10. Zoned

    What are some other ways you’ve said you had a little too much to drink?

    Comments

  6. January 19 | #

    Bartender Interview: 10 Questions with Tiare Olson

    Helena Tiare Olson hails from Stockholm, Sweden and is a passionate cocktail and spirits geek with a special love for tropical and tiki drinks.You’ll usually find her mixing up a range of drinks, crushing ice, making garnishes, syrups, infusions and bitters and photographing all her experiments, which find their way onto her blog ”A Mountain of Crushed Ice.”

    We asked Tiare a few questions to get to know her better.

    1. How did you get started?
    Well…it’s a combination of me coming out from the restaurant business as I have always been interested in working with flavors. I used to cook in various restaurants but I’ve done everything from waitress to washing dishes too. Now I did but a very short time in a bar before I chronically hurt my foot and that was the end I believe, so now I work with sales, and only occasionally I do bartend at private parties. How it happened that I became a cocktail blogger started with a mini bottle of El Dorado 15 year old rum.*

    2. What’s the least glamorous thing you do in the line of duty?
    Do or done? Well gotta be washing drainers on the floor or rather picking up shit from those drainers.

    3. What skill would you most like to improve?
    Learning more about classical cocktails and how to perfect them.

    4. If you could go back and do something differently, what would it be?
    Instead of starting to work in the restaurant business I should have started with the bar.

    5. What part of your job would you gladly give up?
    Anything that is backbreaking, but I also had to give that up eventually as my back nowadays is not so good.

    6. Do you have a signature cocktail or one you really enjoy making?
    The cocktail I always will love the most is Trader Vic´s Mai Tai. Then I have one that I make called Pineapple Delight which was first inspired by another cocktail and contains fresh pineapple juice, honey-mix, orgeat, Jwray and rhum agricole blanc.

    7. What tip would you give a novice?
    Whether you want to work in a bar or a restaurant, start from the bottom, watch and learn and be prepared to work hard. Its all about giving service and having fun along the way, making customers feel good.

    8. What’s the most fun you have ever had at work?
    At a Caribbean party that 3 companies held. There was a couple pregnant women there who wanted me to create a cocktail for them that was tropical and exotic. So I made one and they kept coming back for more and then other people came and asked for the ”pregnant cocktail” but with rum. It was so nice to see how they appreciated that drink. The evening and party as a whole was also a blast, everything went just smooth.

    9. What do you like about GarnishBar so far?
    I like that rather than listing as many drink recipes as possible like so many are doing, you list fewer and deal with quality rather than quantity.

    10. And lastly, who should we interview next?
    Jay Hepburn from ”Oh Gosh!” he´s doing a lot of interesting things.

    Thanks Tiare.

    *You can read the complete story of Tiare’s start down the cocktail path at Scofflawsden.com

    What questions would you like to ask Tiare?

    Comments

  7. January 18 | #

    NYTimes.com: A Good Decade to Have a Drink

    The decade’s over and NYTimes’ Shaken and Stirred remarks that the last 10 years were the decade of the cocktail. Bottle service was out, carefully crafted drinks like the the French 75 were in.

    The article was going so well, until I read this:

    Of course, not everyone drank well this past decade. Twenty years from now, when bars are promoting nostalgic ’00s theme nights, the dominant drink special will almost certainly be vodka and Red Bull…

    Say it ain’t so! Is my future son going to be rocking a crunchy faux hawk and a RB&V when he goes to Naughties parties in college?

    Unfortunately, Mr. Miles is probably right about that concoction. Good thing he pointed out some great rekindled cocktails: The Aviation, for starters. And suffice it to say that most of the other drinks he mentioned are in GarnishBar. Except for Red Bull and Vodka.

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  8. January 14 | #

    Cocktails for the Films of Dakota Fanning

    folkinz:

    Here is a collection of cocktails I compiled to enjoy while watching some Dakota Fanning classics.

    I Am Sam: Little Dakota stars in this film as an intelligent girl with a mentally challenged father (Academy Award Winner Sean Penn).  This cocktail may be my most offensive choice and was inspired by an episode of Strangers with Candy, specifically this: “Hi. This is Wilford Brimley. Welcome to Retardation: A Celebration. Now, hopefully with this book, I’m gonna dispel a few myths, a few rumors. First off, the retarded don’t rule the night. They don’t rule it. Nobody does. And they don’t run in packs. And while they may not be as strong as apes, don’t lock eyes with ‘em, don’t do it. Puts ‘em on edge. They might go into berzerker mode; come at you like a whirling dervish, all fists and elbows. You might be screaming “No, no, no” and all they hear is “Who wants cake?” Let me tell you something: They all do. They all want cake.”

    The Cake Shot

    • 1/2 oz vodka
    • 1/2 Frangelico
    • one slice lemon
    • 2 T sugar

      To take the shot take one slice of lemon, dip both sides of it in the sugar. Now lick the sugar off the lemon (don’t swallow it yet), take the shot, swallow, and bite the lemon slice.

    Sweet Home Alabama: Dakota plays a young Reese Witherspoon in this southern romantic comedy.  And what white trash southern girl turned new york socialite doesn’t like a little alcoholic beverage named after their home state?

    Alabama Slammer

    • 1/2 oz vodka
    • 1/2 oz Southern Comfort
    • 1/2 oz amaretto
    • 1/2 oz sloe gin
    • orange juice
    Pour the liquors into a highball glass filled with ice. Fill with orange juice.

    Uptown Girls:

    Pour one out for Brittany Murphy, preferably something cheap like Miller Lite.

    The Cat in the Hat: Mike Myers inspires me to drink, but no so much for his talent, but probably to escape this movie. Dr. Seuss inspired this drink, not so much from this movie, but from the book “Green Eggs & Ham”.

    Green Egg & Bacon Martini

    • 1 oz Eggnog
    • 1 oz Frangelico
    • 1 oz Bacon infused vodka
    • 2 T crushed ice
    • 1 Whole nutmeg to grate for garnish
    • 1 Drop of green food coloring
    Place all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake well for about 20 to 30 seconds. Pour the mix through a strainer into a martini glass; grate nutmeg over the drink and serve.

    Man on Fire: This Dakota Fanning vehicle also stars Denzel Washington and takes place in Mexico City, so it only seemed natural to have some tequila.  What better way to have tequila than in a margarita?

    Margarita

    • Finely grated lime zest
    • Coarse kosher salt
    • Lime slice or wedge
    • 2 oz tequila (my fave is Silver Patron)
    • 1 oz Grand Marnier or Cointreau
    • 1 1/2 oz lime juice, or more, to taste
    • 1 1/2 C ice cubes

    In a small shallow bowl or rimmed saucer combine the lime zest and salt and mix well. Run the lime slice around the rim of a stemmed, wide mouthed glass to moisten it, then turn the glass upside down and press the rim in the salt mixture. Set glass aside. In a cocktail shaker combine all remaining ingredients and shake well to chill. Strain into the prepared glass and serve immediately.

    Hide & Seek:This was a thriller starring Dakota & Robert De Niro.  It only seemed fitting to honor Mr. De Niro with a drink from one of his best films since this one…eh…not so much.

    The Raging Bull

    • 2 oz vodka
    • 2 oz 1800 Tequila
    • Red Bull energy drink
    • 1 splash lime juice
    Pour vodka and tequila into a highball glass half-filled with ice cubes. Fill with red bull. Add a splash of lime juice, and serve.

    War of the Worlds: Aliens takeover the world, Tom Cruise, whatever. Drink this.

    Alien Secretions

    • 1.5 oz Melon Liquor
    • 2 oz Pineapple Juice
    • 1.5 oz Malibu Rum
    Mix on ice & strain into a highball glass.

    Charlotte’s Web: This book was heartbreaking, and the movie also heartbreaking, but only because it sucked.  “Some pig” gets me every time.  In honor of Charlotte:

    Spider Martini

    • 1 part Midori Melon Liqueur
    • 1 part Vodka
    • Juice from 1/2 Lemon
    • Chocolate syrup
    • Grenadine
    • chocolate dipped orange slice for garnish

    Draw a chocolate web into a martini glass.  Place in freezer and chill. for a ghostly effect.  Shake all ingredients and strain into glass.  For a blood effect, drizzle grenadine down the side of the glass. Garnish with a chocolate dipped orange slice

    Hounddog: What better way to celebrate Dakota’s most controversial film role than with a drink to drown her sorrows and fitting of course since it’s named after an Elvis Presley song.

    Peanut Butter & Banana Shot

    • 1 1/2 oz Vodka
    • 1/2 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream
    • 1 oz Creme de Banana
    • 1 oz Frangelico

    Pour ingredients in a shaker half filled with ice and shake hard. Then strain into a shot glass. Serve in a Shot Glass

    The Secret Lives of Bees:This has something to do with bees.  IDK.

    Honey Bee Cocktail

    • 2 oz Jamaican dark rum
    • 1/4 oz honey
    • 1/2 oz lemon juice
    Pour the rum, honey and lemon juice into a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes. Shake well, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.

    New Moon: Vampires! Werewolves! Dakota Fanning! Oh My.  Let’s celebrate her foray into the teen movie craze with a drink for those adult Twilighters!

    The Twilight Martini

    • 1 oz of white Crème de Cocoa
    • 1 oz of vanilla Stolichnaya
    • 1 oz of Lady Godiva white chocolate liqueur
    • Chambord raspberry liqueur
    Layer the first three ingredients in a martini glass in this order: Crème de Cocoa, vanilla vodka, finally the white chocolate liqueur. Drop in a dollop of the Chambord.The Chambord will sink to the bottom, so the white cocktail has a blood-red base (which adds a nice kick at the end.)

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  9. January 13 | #
    Ever since I heard about el Bulli’s foam margarita served in a block of ice, I’ve been interested in how molecular gastronomy could be used into the mixology world. Well, apparently lots of other forward-thinking cocktail artists have too.
The Old Fashioned is, well, old fashioned. It’s a stalwart classic. But check out how Jamie Boudreau spun this tried-and-true cocktail using cotton candy*.

BRANDY NEW FASHIONED

2 oz cognac
2 dashes cherry bitters
1 dash Fee’s Aromatic bitters
orange flavored cotton candy

Fill rocks glass with orange flavored cotton candy. Stir all other ingredients with ice and strain into a sidecar. Pour sidecar over orange candy floss, melting instantly take a bow when applause occurs

Next time I’m Seattle, I can’t wait to give this a taste at VESSEL.
* I’d apologize for that dastardly pun if I wasn’t sort of proud of myself.

    Ever since I heard about el Bulli’s foam margarita served in a block of ice, I’ve been interested in how molecular gastronomy could be used into the mixology world. Well, apparently lots of other forward-thinking cocktail artists have too.

    The Old Fashioned is, well, old fashioned. It’s a stalwart classic. But check out how Jamie Boudreau spun this tried-and-true cocktail using cotton candy*.

    BRANDY NEW FASHIONED

    • 2 oz cognac
    • 2 dashes cherry bitters
    • 1 dash Fee’s Aromatic bitters
    • orange flavored cotton candy

    Fill rocks glass with orange flavored cotton candy. Stir all other ingredients with ice and strain into a sidecar. Pour sidecar over orange candy floss, melting instantly take a bow when applause occurs

    Next time I’m Seattle, I can’t wait to give this a taste at VESSEL.

    * I’d apologize for that dastardly pun if I wasn’t sort of proud of myself.

    Comments

  10. January 12 | #

    Jack Rose II

    adales:

    • 1 cup ice cubes
    • 1/2 cup applejack or apple brandy
    • 1/4 cup sweet and sour mix
    • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
    • 1 teaspoon sugar
    • 1 teaspoon grenadine syrup
    • 1 thin round lime slice, cut crosswise in half

    preparation

    Combine all ingredients except lime slice in shaker or pitcher. Shake or stir until blended and cold. Strain into 2 chilled martini glasses. Cut slit in each lime half. Attach to rim of glasses.

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