French 75 Cocktail Adventure

May 12, 2022 by Alyssa D in drinks

“Always keep a bottle of Champagne in the fridge for special occasions,” author Hester Browne once said. “Sometimes the special occasion is that you’ve got a bottle of Champagne in the fridge.”

Well, it was actually Asti Spumante sparkling Italian white wine, but we were still excited to open the bottle. The happy occasion was getting together with our wonderful neighbor Jen for the first time since the Marshall Fire.

She brought over delicious appetizers and we toasted to survival and friendship with my riff on a French 75 cocktail. The company was fantastic. The cocktail, uh, needed work.

Not a Mai Tai Adventure

July 22, 2021 by Alyssa D in drinks

The orgeat separated. Almond-flavor-loving me had sprung for an artisanal version of this important mai tai ingredient, a special syrup with a floral, nutty flavor.

At the time, friends who lived in Hawaii before returning to Colorado inspired the doomed purchase. They’d brought back incredible rum — bottles, plural — and concocted the most incredible mai tais I’d ever sipped. On reflection, they were actually my first mai tais. Spoiled forever.

Cooperative Gaming Cocktail Adventure

January 28, 2021 by Alyssa D in drinks

Although I could hold my own in Uno after school at the local YMCA, competitive gaming wasn’t really my thing.

As little kids, my best friend Sarah and I turned Monopoly into a cooperative endeavor, pooling resources to help each other. Overhearing our conversation, Dad came into the living room and tried to explain the real rules to us.

French Lavender Cocktail Adventure

August 08, 2019 by Alyssa D in drinks

The old French men thought we were crazy. I remember their amused expressions as our young co-ed American college student group played pétanque at a park in Southern France. Someone brought pastis that we diluted with water and sipped surreptitiously.

Nobody cared who won. What stuck with me was that feeling of easy-going enjoyment. The Mediterranean sun shining, ice melting in a tall glass, relaxed smiles all around. That, to me, is the Midi.

Mastiha Liqueur Adventure

January 10, 2019 by Alyssa D in drinks

Mom texted me from the liquor store in Vermont. They had three bottles of a mastiha liqueur brand that had become impossible to get in Colorado. Did I want one? We’d finished off ours during the “house cooling” party to send off the old apartment.

What is mastiha? After a few minutes of trying to describe the crystalized Mediterranean tree resin that generally comes from the Greek island of Chios, I’d just remove the stopper so guests could smell the unusual ingredient.

To me, the slightly woody and citrusy flavor is synonymous with joy. It reminds me of how the whole house smells after my dad bakes his famous Greek bread. Tasting the liqueur recalls the refreshing cocktail my mom created. Everything about mastiha says, “Slow down. Relax. Let’s just sit here a while.”

Basically the opposite of how I felt in Vermont when finally holding the white bottle that Mom had given us for Christmas and pondering how to get it back to Colorado.

Fall Blush Floral Cocktail Adventure

November 15, 2018 by Alyssa D in drinks

The borage flowers were practically hitting us in the face when we opened the front door over the summer. The edible blue and pink flowers grew in my mom’s plant-your-own-cocktail Christmas present. They clearly liked the weather.

Instructions with the kit suggested freezing the flowers in ice cubes for a gin and elderflower liqueur cocktail. Guillaume became adept at making the sweet-celery-like drink, which called for muddling sizable borage leaves and throwing fresh flowers in at the end.

Before we could blink, summer was over and our planter got covered in snow. But we still had the flowery ice cubes and a bottle of Lillet Rosé in the fridge. I decided to experiment.

White Wine Sangria Adventure

July 10, 2018 by Alyssa D in drinks

At every turn of the car on my way to a Fourth of July party a few years back, I held my breath. Please, please, please don’t let the top of the huge drink dispenser come off and spill white wine sangria everywhere. The wooden cap just rested on the blown-glass-effect plastic base. It didn’t screw in.

This is what I get for getting the stylish looking container on sale for $10: a high stakes booze delivery.

Spicy Bourbon Cocktail Adventure

May 12, 2018 by Alyssa D in drinks

Gina and I sat at Blue Smoke’s bar on East 27th Street in New York City, studying the drink list, wondering which cocktails to splurge on.

This was about a decade ago, and it wasn’t our first visit to the barbecue restaurant from Danny Meyer’s group. I don’t remember much about the previous meal we’d had — the deviled eggs stood out as being yummy — but it was bourbon time.