Room 788 - Lights, Camera, . . . Action !

Cut, it’s a Drink ! A liquid salute to the Oscars

The stage is set for another performance and a long, busy night behind the bar. So suck up the drama because life is a Cabaret old chum. In a cocktail glass, stir chill together and strain 1oz Martin Miller's gin, ½ oz dry vermouth, ½ oz Benedictine, and two dashes of Angostura bitters. Garnish with a cherry.

As the audience encores for a Curtain Call and you only have time for a shot, the cast of ingredients goes like this: ½ oz Midori, ½ oz Jagermeister, and ½ oz Jack Daniels – chill & strain in a cold shot glass.

Hello Norma Jean, the boulevard of broken dreams will never forget you. Some like it hot, but Marilyn Monroe liked it bubbly. To prepare her, start with a chilled champagne flute and add in the following: 1oz Calvados apple brandy, 1 teaspoon grenadine, and fill with 4 oz Dom Perignon, and garnish with two cherries and a spear.

After a long day on the set in the 50’s, you could sneak into a jazz club to hear Julie London sing or Chet Baker play, and order a Hollywood Martini to christen the end of day into night. It sounds a little something like this: In an iced martini glass, shake & strain the following: 2 ½ oz Tanqueray gin, ½ oz Goldwasser, ½ oz Noilly Prat dry vermouth, and garnish with a blue cheese-stuffed olive.

Take a trip down the Congo River with Kate and Bogie by first preparing the
African Queen. This steamboat contained the recipe - 1oz Amarula cream liqueur, ½ oz Chopin vodka, ½ oz Kahlua coffee liqueur. Dust over the top with cocoa.

Last year we said goodbye to a godfather of acting, so we salute Marlon Brando with a recipe of Italian fare to be served On the Waterfront. In a rocks glass filled with cracked ice, pour the following over: 1 ½ oz Chivas Regal scotch, ½ oz amaretto, and a ½ oz cream – garnish or no, your choice.

And here’s to you Mrs. Robinson, bartenders love you more than you will know. Come over, head for the house bar, chill a martini glass, and shake this familar combination together: 2 oz Ketel One vodka, ½ oz orange juice, ¼ oz Galliano. Garnish with a small wedge of orange.

Los Angeles wouldn’t be what it is today without the one thing it needed the most in order to grow – Water. In 1906, when William Mulholland led the way in creating the Owens Valley Project, it resulted in an explosion of opportunity, not to mention population. Water rights and corruption leads you to the making of Chinatown: Into a shaker, add ¾ oz each of Beefeater's gin, Gallo dry vermouth, Cinzano sweet vermouth, and top with a dash of Korbel brandy. Shake & strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon or a cherry.

Hats, boots and spurs is a style belonging more in the open spaces of country, not so fitting in the city. But that didn’t stop the Midnight Cowboy from seeking his dreams, as Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo did their best to survive in the 35th anniversary of this classic. This drink is for them. By way of martini glass, shake & strain in 2 oz Maker's Mark bourbon, 1oz Bacardi dark rum, and a ½ oz heavy cream.

Whether you like your orange juice with or without Pulp, there is no Fiction when it comes to ordering a royale with cheese. Here’s to Vincent Vega and his knack for the odd thought. In a tumbler, pour the following over cubed or cracked ice: 1 ½ oz Absolut Citron vodka, 5 oz cold Martinelli's apple juice. Garn with an apple slice.

On an Asian slant, with flavors of passionfruit and melon, attending
Madame Butterfly may be to your tastes. In a coupette glass with crushed ice, shake & strain 1oz Passoa, ½ oz Midori, ½ oz Bols white creme de cacao, and 1oz Dole pineapple juice. Strain in, and layer pour 1oz cream and ½ oz Midori over the top.

Film buffs who enjoyed To Catch a Thief, Charade, or An Affair to Remember will find
the Cary Grant Cocktail to your desires. In a champagne flute, stir & strain 2 oz Roth vodka, ½ oz dry Sherry, and ½ oz lime juice. Garnish with a twist of lime.

And for those of you who merely dream of living the Glamourous Life, this drink is for you: In a martini glass, shake & strain 2 oz Belvedere vodka, a splash of Hiram Walker orange liqueur, ¼ oz grapefruit juice, and ¼ oz orange juice. Garnish with an orange wheel.

Room 448 - Kings, Queens, and The Guillotine

The past is never forgotten. It’s always remembered in the names, titles, and stories in history. This period selection of drink calls for a toast to those of us who wish we could have lived in other times, had we the choice. Then again, maybe not!

Let’s do it the medieval way. Off with your head, and To Hell with Swords and Garter.
A Scottish way of starting off things. This cocktail is to be shaken & strained over ice in an old fashioned glass. 1 ½ oz Chivas Regal scotch, 1oz Cinzano dry vermouth, and 1 ½ oz Dole pineapple juice.

A member of a royal family other than the monarch, she may be a whiskey drinkin’ woman nonetheless. Bop the Princess is a bunch of ice put in a tumbler and pour 1 ½ oz Phillips Union cherry whiskey, then half fill the glass with Sprite, and top with Ocean Spray cranberry juice. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel and a cherry.

Abstaining from unlawful sex can be a tall order for some. Therefore, you’ll have to try a Chastity Belt on for size. In a tall shot glass, layer pour in equal amounts of the following: Tia Maria coffee liqueur, Frangelico hazelnut liqueur , Voyant Chai cream liqueur, and cream.

This gentlemen-soldier of the brotherhood has a French base and a totally organic liqueur developed and kept secret by a silent order of Carthusian monks in Grenoble since 1605. Sir Knight is to be shaken & strained in either a cocktail or martini glass. The recipe calls for 2 oz Remy Martin cognac, ½ oz Cointreau, ½ oz yellow Chartreuse, and a dash of Angostura bitters. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel.

Also known as Kangaroo Valley, Earl’s Court is an area in West London with hostels, conventions, and other activities. There is a drink named after this place, and the preparation goes like this: Fill cracked ice in an old fashioned glass, and shake & strain these ingredients over the ice – 1 ¼ oz Bundaberg rum, ½ oz Dekuyper peachtree schnapps, ¼ oz Pimms No.1, 1oz mandarin juice & 1oz Santa Cruz organic lemonade.

First buried in Petersborough Cathedral, her tomb is now in Westminster Abbey. Marie
Stuart, Mary Queen of Scots, was born December 8th 1542 at Linlithgow Palace in West
Lothian. On February 8th 1587, she was executed in the Great Hall of Fotheringway between the hours of nine and ten in the morning. This next cocktail is dedicated in her name. Rim a chilled cocktail glass with lemon juice, and dip into sugar. Shake & strain in the following: 1oz Compass Box scotch, ½ oz Drambuie, and ½ oz of green Chartreuse. Garnish with a cherry.

Lord Chamberlain’s men is a theatrical company with which Shakespeare was intimately
connected for most of his professional career as a dramatist, in and around the 1590’s. Therefore, the drink Lord Chamberlain is in honor of them. Stir with ice in a shaker tin,1oz Christian Brothers brandy, ½ oz Fonseca Port, ½ oz Martini Rossi dry vermouth, and 3 dashes of Fee Brothers old fashioned bitters. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel.

Born on May 2nd 1729 in the Baltic seaport town of Stettin, Catherine II,
Catherine the Great, rose to be Empress of all Russia from 1762 up until her death in 1796. Her drink is to be shaken & strained in a goblet glass. Pour in the following: 1 ½ oz Stolichnaya Russian vodka, a splash of fresh squeezed lemon juice, a splash of Cointreau, and a dash of Framboise. Strain in, and top with Veuve Cliquot champagne. The garnish is a slice of orange.

Denmark has one of the longest running unbroken lines of succession in the world, second only to that of the Japanese Emperors. Poured straight in over cubed or cracked ice in an old fashioned glass, the ingredients to the King of Denmark is 1 ½ oz Pernod, 1oz Rodriques black currant cordial, and a simple fill with ice cold water.

Your time of execution has now been set. You’re to have your Death in the Afternoon.
At least you’ll be going out with a little bit of the bubbly. In a chilled champagne flute, pour ½ oz Pernod in the bottom of the glass and fill with cold Dom Perignon champagne. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel.

A heavy blade that falls between upright guides to behead a condemned prisoner. The machine was designed by the French doctor J. Guillotin (1738-1814). Now that it’s time, the Guillotine will taste like this: In a one-off shot glass, layer pour ¾ oz Dekuyper butterscotch schnapps, ¼ oz Brady’s Irish cream, and ¼ oz Aftershock. Definetly no garnish necessary!

If you are spared at the last minute by an unforeseen cause, your life may be saved, but you still could be thrown straight into the Asylum. An old fashioned glass filled with cracked ice, pour over 1oz Martin Miller’s gin, 1oz Pernod, and a dash of Trader Vic’s grenadine. Just garnish me!

Update – Well, as of about 1 hour ago, I finally finished the mountain climbing task of typing the complete A–Z alphabetized drink index for The Hotel of Naughty Cocktails. This Cd Book is a 1000-pager in its entirety, and after taking a breather from completing the book over a year ago and finishing up some other projects that were on the table, I was able to tackle the 50-hour typing project and 20 pages later it’s done. The things I do for cocktail history . . . . .? See you next week. kb

Room 118 - Flowers for the Lady

Top Shelf specialties for the month of the Valentine

In a chilled martini glass, the English Rose Cocktail begins with a
1 ½ oz shot of Boodles gin in a shaker, followed by ¾ oz Bols apricot brandy and ¾ oz Cinzano dry vermouth. With a dash of Rose’s grenadine along with a dash of lemon juice, shake to cold. But before you strain, rim the glass with lemon juice and dip half the glass in sugar. Strain in and garnish with a cherry. Cheers!

Just over the border from here, enjoy a cool sip on a balmy day with the
Bird of Paradise. With many a tequila to choose from, ¾ oz of
Milagro Silver gets moving in a shaker with ice. Add on ¾ oz of Hiram Walker white creme de cacao and ¼ oz Di Saronno amaretto. Top with 1 ½ oz cream and rock in the shaker to desired temperature. Garnish with flower petals.

This various colored botanical has it all going for it. Dangerous Violets goes in a large highball filled with cubed or cracked ice. Shake & strain 1oz Lemon Hart rum, 1oz Tanqueray Ten, and 1oz of Marie Brizard Parfait Amour liqueur. Strain in glass and fill with cold lemonade. Garnish with a violet petal.

This next plant grows in a tall stemmed martini glass. Shake & strain 2 oz of
Suntory vodka, ½ oz Grand Marnier and a splash of orange juice. Strain in
and garn with a thin but full round slice of orange. Welcome the ice cold Sunflower to the party.

Lay back in this cabaret setting and get into the creamy Gardenia. Shake the following together and strain in a cold martini glass: 1oz Bombay Sapphire gin, 1oz Dole pineapple juice, 1oz cream, and a splash of Trader Vic’s grenadine. Strain in and garn with a small wedge of pineapple, a mint sprig, and a cherry.

The Peach Blossom Martini is a very tasty plant fruit concoction, starting off with 2 ½ oz Wyborowa peach vodka, ½ oz Dubonnet rouge, and ½ oz Luxardo maraschino liqueur. Stir chill all over some serious iceage in your shaker. Strain in and garnish with a slice of peach.

Finally, the champagne pours. This tropical scarlet schrub will go in a crystal flute. Strain in a chilled mix of 1 ¼ oz Shakers Rose vodka and ¾ oz Mountain Sun cranberry juice. Top off the glass with Taittinger champagne, and the Poinsettia is poured.

The fragrant and many petaled White Carnation is built in over ice in a highball glass, with 2 oz of 42 Below vodka, ½ oz Dekuyper peach schnapps, 2 oz orange juice, a partial fill of Canada Dry club soda, top with a splash of fresh cream, and an orange slice.

The Golden Orchid is a double-cordial drink for a cocktail glass, chilling in a shaker 1oz Compass Box scotch, 1oz Holland’s Advocaat eggnog liqueur, and ½ oz Rene Niel maraschino liqueur. Garnish with a matching flower petal.

Shake & strain this sweetheart of a cocktail in a double-shot glass. Over ice in
a shaker, rock together ¾ oz Grey Goose La Vanille vodka, ¾ oz Dekuyper dark creme de cacao, ½ oz Santa Cruz cherry juice and a splash of cream. Strain in and top with
a splash of Schweppes club soda. The Chocolate Valentine is served.

If you want to check out my cool Cocktail Art DVD's Summer Quenchers (2002) and The Entertainer (2004), go to Amazon.com - click-on "DVD" and type in the keyword
"Drinks". If you want to check out my cool CD Books Liquid Masters (2002/04) and The Hotel of Naughty Cocktails (2004), go to CDBaby.com and type in the titles.