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Showing posts with label Coolers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coolers. Show all posts

Friday, February 1, 2013

Why not make your Super Bowl party a cocktail party?

If nothing listed below works for you, try a Mai Tai!

Super Bowl Sunday is always a great excuse for a party.  While “beer” may pop into your mind as you plan your Super Bowl party, Utah cocktailians know that less filling cocktails are a better choice.  The secret of success is to offer tall (and therefore more dilute) drinks.  For Super Bowl cocktails, your best bet is to have ingredients for a variety of easy-to-mix, long drinks available to please all of your guests.  Select some cocktail recipes based on three or four liquors (e.g. Rum, Gin, and Tequila) so you have something to please everyone, invest in some citrus and mixers, grab some glasses and straws, and you’re ready for the kick-off. 

Cocktails or beer, you should keep in mind that four or five hours of drinking is too much. Pace yourself, have lots of soft-drinks and water available, encourage your guests (and yourself) to take it easy and alternate hard and soft drinks, and, of course, know when to stop.  Always drink responsibly…

Here are some simple, classic long drink recipes, check out the ingredients and find some that sound good, then stock up and enjoy your cocktail fueled Super Bowl party!  Find a cocktail that sounds good and find the link to the left.

Margarita Cooler – starts with the ingredients of your favorite Margarita, but you mix this Tequila-based cocktail cooler style. Think of it as a Margarita without the salt.  I recommend a Blanco or Plata (Silver) Tequila in this cooler.

The spicy tartness of this dark Rum cooler makes the Dark and Stormy one of my favorites.  The Dark and Stormy is a simple cocktail with only three ingredients: Gosling’s Black Seal® dark rum, ginger beer, and lime juice, and in Bermuda (home of the D&S) they generally leave out the lime.  I prefer lime in mine, but you should experiment to determine your preference.

El Diablo is a Tequila-based cocktail that counts Crème de Cassis and Ginger Beer among the ingredients is even spicier than a Dark and Stormy.  The combination of Plata Tequila with the heat of the Ginger Beer is, well, diabolical.

The name Gin and Tonic is a dead giveaway of what’s in this Gin classic, but don’t forget to serve it with a lime wedge.  The Gin and Tonic was invented by the British in eighteenth century India to offset the taste of the quinine they were drinking to combat malaria.

Rum and Coke is a long-time favorite that is simplicity itself, but don’t forget the lime.  I consider it an essential ingredient of a Rum and Coke, rendering the Cuba Libre non-existent.  (I used to make snap judgments of bartenders based on whether or not they automatically gave me lime with my Rum and Coke.)

For the Tom Collins I have a unique recipe; one taste of this cooler should overcome any objections your friends might have to the blue color.  You may consider the venerable Tom Collins to be too pedestrian for your tastes, but when made correctly it can be quite a treat. 

Gin Rickey: it shouldn’t take long to gather the three ingredients for this 100+ year old cocktail, and even less time to mix it.  Legend says it was invented by Colonel “Joe” Rickey who was a lobbyist in Washington, DC. Finally, a lobbyist does something useful for everyone.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Labor Day week-end: last chance for summer coolers?

There’s a big storm back east, but it looks like Utah will enjoy a beautiful Labor Day week-end this year.  The forecast is for hardly a cloud in the sky until Monday, when it will start to cool off.  Saturday and Sunday, though, will be in the high 80s or low 90s: just right for a nice trip to the pool and then a cook-out when you get home, complete with an array of summer coolers to help you and your guests relax and enjoy the barbecue.  When selecting cocktails for a Labor Day barbecue, keep it simple.  Have the ingredients for a small selection of summer coolers ready to mix and enjoy.  Your guests will be grateful.  Even if you’re not having a cook-out, these coolers are great to enjoy watching the sun go down from your deck or back yard.

Here are ten great summer cooler cocktails in time for the Labor Day.  Summer coolers may not taste strong, but they have as much alcohol as any other cocktail, so pay attention to how much you’re drinking.  Links to the recipes follow, but first view the slide show.  Find some coolers you like the looks of, and then return here to click through to the full articles for some of my favorites that are listed below.  Personally, there’s a nice, bushy mint plant on the south side of the house that’s been telling me it’s time for a Mojito.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Cocktail Coolers for Memorial Day

AP Photo/Toby Talbot

Memorial Day is a time to remember those who have died in the service of our country. It is also the first long week-end of summer (although it’s hard to tell since May has been cool and wet so far) and a chance to get together with family and friends for the traditional cook-out on a beautiful, partly cloudy day.  One of these days the heat of summer will arrive in Salt Lake City, even if that day may still seem far away… 

When the heat does arrive, it will do so with a vengeance and we will need these summer coolers.  When that happens, your best bet is to have ingredients for a selection of summer cooler cocktail recipes available to mix and enjoy on those hot week-end days as you sit and contemplate the weeding or painting you should be doing.  Better yet, have the fixin’s available for two or three of your favorite coolers at your next summer cook-out.  Your guests will be very grateful.  Even if you’re not having a cook-out, these cocktails are great to enjoy while relaxing in your lawn chair and encouraging your wife as she mows the lawn.

So here are ten favorite summer cooler cocktails in time for the Memorial Day week-end.  Be sure to pay attention to how much you’re drinking, though.  These coolers may not taste strong, but they have as much alcohol as any other cocktail.  Cook-out reminder: drink responsibly and don’t play with fire! And don’t forget to remember…


Links to the recipes follow, but first view this slide show.  Find a cooler you like the looks of, and then return here to click through to the full article (or articles).