Drink 117: What's White and White and White All Over?

So white it
broke my camera

For the third time this week, we have a drink that features cream.  Some of you may recall that we already had a cream-themed week this year and you may think that we forgot.  I assure you we did not.  It just so happens that Mrs. Bottle opened a carton of cream and we hate to waste food so we are having a lot of creamy drinks this week.  Spoiler Alert: More cream tomorrow!

Today’s creamy concoction is the Peppermint Stick, a combination of peppermint schnapps, crème de cacao, and light cream (we used half and half).  This drink was very good, one of the better cream drinks we’ve had so far.  It had a nice combination of peppermint and chocolate.  The only downside is that mint-flavored drinks don’t really go with any other foods.  It certainly did not mesh well with the orange chicken I was eating at the time.  It might be good with some chocolate cake.

Artist Conception

The other quibble is the presentation.  The drink actually looked pretty nifty with its whiter-than-white color.  The problem is that a traditional peppermint stick has a red stripe and the Peppermint Stick had no stripe of any color.  They need to do something to add some red or change the name to something more appropriate.  I suggest The Albino Peppermint.

Overall Rating for the Peppermint Stick

Taste: 4

Presentation: 3 – Looks kind of cool but nothing like a peppermint stick

Ease of Preparation: 4

Drinks Until Blackout: 7– 16% Alcohol

Ingredients

1 oz Peppermint Schnapps

1.5 oz Crème de Cacao

1 oz Light Cream

Drinks 84, 85, 86: One of These Drinks Is Not Like the Others

We’re finally back and I promise this post will be worth the wait.  As long as your expectations are very low.  I’m not joking about that.  I think that having a couple of days with no posts has destroyed my rhythm. One of the reasons we decided to post a little less frequently was that it was getting hard to keep up with the daily posts, but in some ways it seems harder now.

We used an olive pick
for the cherry in the Carrol Cocktail,
Classed it up don't you think?

We are still trying to figure out the best way to structure the blog on the new non-daily basis.  Our initial thought was to keep having a drink per day and then bombard you with multiple reviews in a single post.  This way we can still work through the Mr. Boston guide and finish sometime in 2015.  As long as the world doesn’t end before then.  I know some may have thought the world may have ended on April 4 when there wasn’t a new post but the sun still came up.

It turns out that I’m not sure the multi-drink format is going to work, but here it is nonetheless.  We did think it might be fun for the drinks to be related in some way, so today we bring you the Bikini, the Hot Pants, and the Carrol Cocktail.  I’m sure that I don’t need to tell you what the mini theme is: Sexy Clothes.  And Carrol. It turns out we didn’t come up with that idea until after we had already had the Carrol Cocktail.  This idea really hasn’t been properly thought through.

Itsy-Bitsy Teeny-Weeny
Milky Sour Lemon Bikini

The Carrol Cocktail is a simple mix of brandy and sweet vermouth.   It mostly tasted like brandy which just a hint of funny-tasting vermouth. At least that’s what I think it tasted like, since we had it almost a week ago and I barely remember it.  Next time I should probably make a note or something. 

Next up is the Bikini, which has vodka, rum, milk, lemon juice, and sugar.  This one had a nice lemon flavor but it was just a hair too tart.  I was going to make a joke about hair and bikinis here, but that would be in poor taste.  Strangely, the drink had sugar in it instead of simple syrup.  Simple syrup probably would have been a little better since it would have mixed in more easily. The vodka and rum combined to provide a noticeable alcohol burn, but it conveniently had some milk to coat your resultant ulcer.

Remember what it was like before you tasted
the Hot Pants? You will wish you did

Finally we have the Hot Pants, a surprising combination of tequila, peppermint schnapps, grapefruit juice, and sugar.  In the 70’s Southwest Airlines had a commercial that said “Remember what it was like before Southwest Airlines? You didn't have hostesses in hot pants. Remember?“  I don’t remember that, but I do remember that before Southwest Airlines I didn’t have airplanes with sunroofs. Getting sucked out of a plane hole might be the preferable alternative to drinking a Hot Pants, though. I never would have guessed that tequila, peppermint, and grapefruit juice would not complement each other. 

Overall Rating for Carrol Cocktail

Taste: 3

Presentation: 4

Ease of Preparation: 4

Drinks Until Blackout: 4 – 32% Alcohol

Ingredients

1.5 oz Brandy

0.75 oz Sweet Vermouth

           

Overall Rating for the Bikini

Taste: 3

Presentation: 2 – Doesn’t look like something I want to drink

Ease of Preparation: 5

Drinks Until Blackout: 5 – 26% Alcohol

Ingredients

2 oz Vodka

1 oz Light Rum

0.5 oz Milk

1 oz Lemon Juice

1 tsp Sugar

Overall Rating for Hot Pants

Taste: 2

Presentation: 3

Ease of Preparation: 2

Drinks Until Blackout: 5 – 25% Alcohol

Ingredients

1.5 oz Tequila

0.5 oz Peppermint Schnapps

1 tbsp Grapefruit Juice

1 tsp Sugar

Day 47: Carrion My Wayward Son



Glass doubles as a weapon

I have never smelled a buzzard’s breath.  I once made a list of all animals ordering them by estimated freshness of breath and buzzards scored fairly low.   They were far below koala bears but just above dogs.  As you might have surmised, I spend a lot of time thinking about animal breath and I believe that a buzzard’s would smell like a combination of rotting garbage and rotting flesh. For most people that would be unappetizing.  It was therefore with trepidation that we approached today’s drink, the Buzzard’s Breath.

It turns out that the Buzzard’s Breath is made with amaretto, coffee liqueur, and peppermint schnapps. I was both relieved and surprisingly disappointed that there was no carrion in the recipe.  I guess the buzzard that inspired this drink lived somewhere with access to almonds, coffee, and mints. The best I can tell is that it must be from near the Cincinnati airport.  It is right next to a Mentos factory and, like every other place in America, there are plenty of Starbucks around.  There are no almond trees nearby, but I’m sure they sell them for $8 a bag at the airport

Our Buzzard’s Breath tasted vaguely like a mint coffee.  I thought it was pretty pleasant but Mrs. Bottle didn’t care for it all that much.  I found that puzzling since she has won a lifetime achievement award from Starbucks.  She did say that it left her mouth feeling nice, though, so that is a plus. I imagine that was due to the peppermint schnapps leaving a hint of minty aftertaste.  Even though the drink had a bit of a syrupy texture, it was not overly sweet.  It also looks quite a bit like coffee, so you could probably substitute this for your morning joe and no one would be the wiser. The only clue would be that you wouldn't have horrible coffee breath.



Two famous buzzards



Overall Rating for the Buzzard’s Breath

Taste: 3

Presentation: 3

Ease of Preparation: 4

Drinks Until Blackout: 6 – 20% Alcohol

Ingredients

0.5 oz Amaretto

0.5 oz Coffee Liqueur

0.5 oz Peppermint Schnapps