Sundowners Podcast

According to Liquor.com, the Mojito is the drink bartenders love to hate. It takes too much time to make, it’s a pain to clean up and it’s ordered in quantities far too large by drinkers far too unadventurous. Yet the Mojito remains one of the most popular cocktails, and for a solid reason: It’s a very, very good drink. It deserves to be constructed with respect and care. Mojito Recipe: 2 SPRIGS MINT 2 TEASPOONS SUGAR 1 LIME, QUARTERED 2 OUNCES LIGHT RUM SODA WATER In a Collins glass, add mint sprigs and sugar. Muddle by pressing lightly with a muddler to release oils. Drop in lime quarters and muddle to release juice. Add rum, stir, and add ice. Top with soda water. Garnish with a mint sprig and a lime slice. Leave us some feedback, and share with a pirate or two! Music: Brave Pirates by fri.events Orchestra

A gin and tonic is a highball cocktail made with gin and tonic water poured over ice. It is usually garnished with a slice or wedge of lime. The amount of gin varies according to taste. Suggested ratios of gin to tonic are between 1:1 and 1:3. Gin & Tonic Recipe: 2 OUNCES GIN TONIC WATER TO TOP Add gin to a highball glass and fill with ice. Fill the glass with tonic water. Garnish with a lime wedge. Leave us some feedback, and share with your friends who need a refreshing drink on a hot American summer day! Music: Victory Gin by Computer Magic

This heady and heavy-handed punch is made for lazy summer afternoons (or—when heated and mulled—lazy, winter weekends), so we’d recommend refraining from following a punch bowl up with any sort of plans, angling or otherwise. An early-known print reference to Fish-House Punch is in “The Cook” (1885): Fish-House Punch There’s a little place just out of town, Where, if you go to lunch, They’ll make you forget your mother-in-law With a drink called Fish-House Punch. Philadelphia Fish House Punch Recipe: ½ CUP SUGAR 2 LEMONS, PEELED AND JUICE RESERVED 2 CUPS BLACK TEA OR WATER, WARM 2 CUPS JAMAICAN RUM 1 CUP COGNAC ¼ CUP PEACH BRANDY In a large bowl, add sugar and lemon peels, and rub together to release the citrus oils into the sugar. Allow to infuse for at least 30 minutes. Add warm tea (or water) and stir to dissolve sugar. Add rum, Cognac, lemon juice and peach brandy and stir to mix. Add a block of ice to chill, and add smaller pieces of ice for desired dilution. Garnish with lemon wheels studded with whole cloves. Ladle into individual glasses. Leave us some feedback, and make a bowl to share with your friends at your 4th […]

This simple “gin and juice” concoction was a hit among the scores of illegal drinkers during the years of Prohibition. While there’s not a lot of history behind the cocktail itself, aside from being named as one of the worst drinks of the decade in 1934 by Esquire magazine (along with the Bronx, the Brandy Alexander and the Clover Club), it has been a part of a number of different historical figures’ lives. Orange Blossom Recipe: 1 OZ GIN 1 OZ SWEET VERMOUTH 1 OZ ORANGE JUICE Add all the ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange wheel. Leave us some feedback, and share with the same friends who you would share a bathtub full of gin, OJ and vermouth! Music: prohibition brew and pork chops by Tha Silent Partner

Today we are celebrating National Martini Day, which is Tuesday this week, with a variation of Hailey‘s go-to, called the Fitty Fitty Martini, aka the 50-50 Martini, aka the Perfect Martini. For the original martini, head back to our first episode, but if you’re gearing up to celebrate with a bit more vermouth, the Fitty Fitty is the way to go! Fitty Fitty Martini Recipe: 1 ½ OUNCES GIN 1 ½ OUNCES DRY VERMOUTH 2 DASHES ORANGE BITTERS Add all ingredients to a mixing glass. Add ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist. Leave us some feedback, and share with your friends who will be celebrating National Martini Day! Music: bathtub gin by Dee Yan-Key

Happy Negroni Week! This week – this entire week – has been devoted to Negronis, so clearly, that is what we are drinking today. While the drink’s origins are unknown, the Negroni is an iconic Italian cocktail, considered an apéritif. Let us know if you participated in Negroni week and we’ll get you a shout out in an upcoming episode! Negroni Recipe: 1 OUNCE GIN 1 OUNCE CAMPARI 1 OUNCE SWEET VERMOUTH Add all ingredients to a mixing glass. Add ice and stir until chilled. If on the rocks, strain over ice into a rocks glass. If up, strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange peel. Leave us some feedback, and share with your friends who participated in Negroni Week. Music: Sad French Accordion by Dana Boulé

Today we are drinking the Rob Roy – not to be confused with Roy Rogers cocktail, or the Roy Rogers burger chain for that matter, the Rob Roy is a cocktail consisting primarily of whisky and vermouth. A Rob Roy cocktail is similar to a Manhattan but is made exclusively with Scotch whisky, while the Manhattan (as we’ve discussed in an earlier episode) is traditionally made with rye, and today commonly made with bourbon or Canadian whisky. Rob Roy Recipe: 2 OUNCES SCOTCH, PREFERABLY BLENDED 1 OUNCE SWEET VERMOUTH 2 DASHES ANGOSTURA BITTERS Add all ingredients to a mixing glass. Add ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Garnish with a brandied cherry or a lemon peel. Leave us some feedback, and share with your kilt-wearing kinsmen and kinswomen. Music: Whiskey all night long by The Underscore Orkestra

A Cosmopolitan, or informally a “cosmo,” is a cocktail made with citron vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice, and freshly squeezed, or sweetened, lime juice. Although originally created sometime in the 70s or 80s, it wasn’t until the airing of Sex in the City that the Cosmopolitan really launched into pop culture icon status. In the late ’90s and early 2000s, it topped the lists of bars across the country and became synonymous with working women, the budding cocktail revolution, and men ordering cocktails in rocks glasses because they didn’t want to seem too girly. Cosmo Recipe: 2 OUNCES CITRON VODKA, PREFERABLY ABSOLUT 1 OUNCE COINTREAU 1 OUNCE LIME JUICE ½ OUNCE CRANBERRY JUICE Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Leave us some feedback, and share with your Charlottes, Mirandas, and Samanthas, you Carrie, you. Music: Cosmopolitan – Margarita – Bellini by Dee Yan-Key

The gimlet (pronounced with a hard ‘g’) is a cocktail typically made of gin, lime juice, and simple syrup. A 1928 description of the drink was: “gin, a spot of lime, and soda”. While originally an English cocktail, as esquire.com points out, the gimlet today has closer connotations to the hard boiled detectives and gangsters of Raymond Chandler novels. In a sense, Chandler’s character, a hard-boiled detective named Marlowe, did for the gimlet what James Bond did for the martini, according to The World’s Best Bartender’s Guide. Gimlet Recipe: 2 OUNCES GIN ¾ OUNCE LIME JUICE 3/4 OUNCE SIMPLE SYRUP GARNISH: LIME WHEEL Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass, or over ice into a rocks glass, if you prefer. Garnish with a lime wheel. Leave us some feedback, and share with your hard-drinking or sailing buddies. Music: Lundi by Seem Art Ensemble

A margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila, orange liqueur, and lime juice, often served with salt on the rim of the glass. The drink is served shaken with ice (on the rocks), blended with ice (frozen margarita), or without ice (straight up). While you can serve a margarita in a variety of glass types, ranging from cocktail and wine glasses to pint glasses and even large schooners, the drink is traditionally served in the eponymous margarita glass, a stepped-diameter variant of a cocktail glass or champagne coupe. Margarita Recipe: 1 ½ OUNCES BLANCO TEQUILA ¾ OUNCE ORANGE LIQUEUR, PREFERABLY COINTREAU ¾ OUNCE LIME JUICE 1 TEASPOON AGAVE NECTAR GARNISH: LIME WHEEL Prepare a rocks, coupe, or cocktail glass with a salted rim, if desired. Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake until chilled. Strain into prepared glass, over ice if desired. Garnish with a lime wheel. Note: if you’re using an orange liqueur other than Cointreau, adjust the lime juice up according to the liqueur’s sweetness. Leave us some feedback, and share with your Mexican American friends. Feliz Cinco de Mayo. ¡Salud! Music: Big Foot (Cuántos Años) by El Niño del Parking