155 Belmont

Wow… New scene. Nice place, I think I’ll hang out here for a while.

Hiya folks! Welcome back to New Drink Thursday reviews! I took a bit of a hiatus from the reviews, but be sure, I missed being able to discuss my opinions of the new beverages each and every week. So, that said, lets get into it.

Wow. Just wow. The 155 Belmont, classy name, lush of a drink.

• 1 shot Dark Rum
• 2 shots Light Rum
• 1 shot Vodka
• 1 shot Orange Juice

As some of you know, I use an app on my phone to get the new drinks for every week. Recently, I have acquired a Samsung Galaxy Tablet (it’s fantastic, even if the battery life is a bit lacking). So, I promptly went to find the same application on that (they both run Android, so I figured it could work the same way). I instead found a new application, one that works a little more the way I was hoping that the previous one did. Also, it has some different recipes in it.

So, while searching through, I found the 155 Belmont, sounded classy enough so I thought I would give it a shot. Added bonus, gamers will also appreciate the name of it. I didn’t really pay too much attention to the drink beyond the name, so when it came out I took my first sip and HOLY CRAP THAT’S A LOT OF BOOZE! I quickly came to realize that I had just ordered what amounts to a Screwdriver’s big, angry brother. Jeez. This thing hits you like a freakin’ freight train. As I finished it, I was glad I didn’t have to worry about driving home.

To be quick, if you’re looking to get yourself good and hammered quickly, order two of these and you’re good all night.

Fog Cutter

All right, while I was very excited for a change to the color palette last week, I’m not so sure I want this new red trend to continue. This week we had the Fog Cutter. Check below to see how well it cuts.

• 2 shots Light Rum
• 1 shot Brandy
• 1/2 shot Gin
• 2 shots Lemon Juice
• 1 shot Orange Juice
• Grenadine

The word “Supersweet” begins to describe this drink. The reason I don’t particularly want this trend to continue is because one of the main things that will make beverages red is Grenadine. Grenadine tastes like the “Cherry” syrup flavoring and boy-oh-boy is it ever sweet.

This drink is built in a shaker and then poured over ice. After that, the grenadine is added and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall of it settles to the bottom. Basically, drinking this from a straw is about half a glass of grenadine and then a LOT of diluted alcohol and citrusy juices. I’m sure that if had mixed a little better, it would have benefited greatly. After finishing one, I foolishly ordered another in hopes that it would fare better, I couldn’t even get more than one drink it. This drink made me ill. Unless you really loved cherry snow cones, avoid this drink at all costs.

Yuck.

It gets two for looking nice.

Next week: (shudder) The Alien Secretion

Sloe Comfortable Squeeze

Tall, red feller, ain't he?

Ooh! An addition to the color palette! Finally, something that isn’t yellow. Also, quite an interesting name, read on to find out if I felt it was fitting.

• 3/4 shot Sloe Gin
• 3/4 shot Vodka
• 3/4 shot Southern Comfort
• Orange Juice

I have to start this review with a confession. This was my first time ever having Sloe Gin, so when the drink came out red, I was baffled. I was very pleasantly surprised however. This was an excellent combination of flavors. One summation I came up with was V8 Splash that wants to get you wasted. As I was drinking it I remember thinking to myself “I shouldn’t enjoy this as much as I do because I’m a guy.” To preserve my masculinity, I probably won’t order another one. But keep in mind, that’s the ONLY reason.

but tell my guy friends I said

Next Week: The Fog Cutter

BONUS!

Andrew saw my review of the Sidecar and decided I needed to try a proper one. Check out my review to see how it fared.

Stone Sour

HoooooWhee! This one is quite an interesting little drink.  With an ingredient listing such as “…or spirit of choice”, you’re going to have an interesting time. Anyway, let’s check out the Stone Sour, this could get fun.

• 1 1/4 Shot Whiskey or spirit of choice
• 1 Splash orange juice
• 1 Splash sour mix

“… Or spirit of choice” That can lead someone down a variety of pathways. I myself decided to start with the Whiskey and from there I went on to Southern Comfort and then to Amaretto. I decided to keep them all in the brown hue.

The Whiskey was the least impressive of the three. Not because of the whiskey taste, but the lack of it. As I drank this one, I had a hard time finding the taste of any actual liquor at all. I see this as something that someone feeling clever would order so that they could tell their friends that it has Whiskey in it… Then ask them to feel their manly muscles.

The Southern Comfort was easily my favorite of the three. The flavor of the liquor actually was present and set up a very interesting flavor whether sipped from a straw or from the glass itself. Good job SoCo, you get a gold star.

Amaretto… You, on the other hand, have no business in this drink. Take a look at those ingredients, do you honestly think you need to be hanging around sweetening things up even more. Eesh. The addition of Amaretto caused the drink to taste like a Roy Rogers (no, not a Rob Roy, thank god). You know, the boy version of a Shirley Temple? It gave me a freakin’ toothache.

Results:

Whiskey:

Southern Comfort:

Amaretto:

As I said, I kept everything to brown liquors. If anyone has an idea to try something else, Vodka, Gin or any other interesting ideas, let me know how it was in the comment box below.

Next Weeks Drink: Sloe Comfortable Squeeze

Havana Cocktail

Havana Cocktail, hopefully next week's won't be yellow in a small glass.

Another week, another drink. This week, we hit the sweet with the Havana Cocktail.

• 3/4 shot Rum
• 1 1/4 Pineapple Juice
• Lemon Juice

This one, while not unfavorable, was a bit too sweet for my tastes. I think I would have preferred the ingredients be switched. Really, there isn’t much to say about it.

• It tasted like pineapple juice because pineapple juice makes up the majority of the drink.
• I’m sure pirates liked it.

Review done.

Results:

Next Week: Stone Sour

Salty Dog

Oh! SALTy Dog, I see what you did there. Cute.

Well now, well now. This one was pretty good. It came in two varieties, one with Vodka and the other with Gin, since I didn’t detest the thing, I tried both. Read on to see what my thoughts were.

• 1 1/4 shot Gin/Vodka
• Grapefruit juice
• Margarita salt around the rim

As I said, I was quite pleased with this selection. Granted, it wasn’t much, and the Vodka variation was pretty much like drinking plain ol’ grapefruit juice. Since there was another option, I gave the Gin version a try. What came back was an interesting mix of the Gin taste and grapefruit juice that I still can’t quite describe. Gin was definitely my favorite of the two because it actually added something to the drink. The salt on the rim was up for discussion. Some of my fellow patrons disliked the salt because of its difference in taste. I didn’t mind either way, however, I think I preferred it with the salt.

Results

Vodka:

Gin:

Next week’s drink: The Havana Cocktail

Rob Roy

Ugh, Rob Roy. That guy sucks. All right, I’m talking about the drink, not a person. But you get my point.

• 1 1/2 shot Scotch
• 1/2 shot Vermouth
• Dash Bitters
• 2 Maraschino cherries

It could be because I don’t do scotch, but GAWD this drink is awful. The first taste is a scotch filled punch in the face, and it doesn’t get any better from there. A short while afterward, your mouth tastes as though you’ve licked an ashtray. I don’t eat cherries, so I didn’t eat the maraschino cherries skewered at the bottom of the glass, but after the faces my cohorts made, I was convinced that I wanted to steer clear of them.

This drink sucks. End of story.

Next Week’s Drink: Salty Dog

Contents Under Pressure

Contents Under Pressure - Lighting compliments of Andrew Koupal

This drink makes very little sense to me. Contents Under Pressure? What, exactly is under pressure? There was no carbonation, it didn’t come from a pressurized can, nothing at all to explain the name of this drink. However, I digress. Let’s check out the absurdly named Contents Under Pressure.

• 1 1/2 shot Vodka
• 1/2 shot Galliano
• 1/2 shot Grand Marnier
• 1/2 shot Captain Morgan

As you might expect by reading the ingredients list, this drink has quite a punch to it. There is a brief, half second sweet taste immediately after drinking, then the rest of the drink comes to the party in a very strange overpowering mix of Vodka, Rum and Cognac, which I’ve taken to calling Vodrumgnac. Overall, it isn’t the worst drink I’ve had, but I certainly won’t be making it a regular drink.

Rating:

Next Week: Rob Roy

Author’s Note: I have discovered that ThatsTheSpirit.com’s drink histories aren’t quite as robust as I had initially hoped, so from this point on, I will no longer be using their site to provide insights to each new drink. Sorry folks.

The Sidecar

The Sidecar, ain't it pretty?

Ah, what bliss it is to be back in swing of New Drink Thursdays. To kick things off, I decided to go with a suggestion from my friend Michael.

Sidecar Recipe:

• 1 shot Cognac
• 1 shot Triple Sec
• Sweet & Sour Mix

I was surprised by the lack of the taste of the cognac in this drink. However, I did find it to be a little too sweet for my tastes. I was told by the bartender that it was traditionally made with lemon juice instead of sweet & sour mix, I wonder if I would have liked it more then… Hmmm.

Anyway, that was my first entry into New Drink Thursdays. I am looking forward to many many more. I’ve decided to leave you with the article postings about each drink from the site That’s the Spirit. Be sure to check it out after the jump.

Cheers!
D

Next week: Contents Under Pressure

The differences are numerous!

UPDATE!

Andrew saw my review of the Sidecar and decided to try making it with lemon juice. As I imagined, the drink was drastically different, and MUCH better. He also put sugar on the rim of the glass to add just a little sweetness to the whole thing. As I said above, the sweet and sour mix made the drink just a sweet mess, using lemon juice really makes the whole drink have a flavor to it, as opposed to just being yet another mixed drink with sweet and sour mix.

To sum up, never have this drink unless you can have it properly. You’ll be sorry if you don’t.

(more…)

New Drink Thursday is…

Just plain awesome…

One million years ago, two awesome dudes decided that, every thursday, we would try a new drink that was passed down to us from the great bartenders book of the sky. This book is sacred, this book is awesome, this book is beer-stained. The spirit of New Drink Thursday (here-to-forth known as NDT) has led us to The Holy Ground of Paddy O’Neils Pub… Every Thursday.

You are invited to join us and help us judge this Divine weekly beverage. All you must do is accompany our weekly crusade at Paddy O’Neils Pub (click here for map) every Thursday and tell us what you think. (more…)