Sip-and-spit specials

Amy Bartner

September 17, 2008 by Amy Bartner

0 votes

Like oil and water, some potent potables should never mix

Big-time Indianapolis Star reporter Francesca Jarosz, Indy.com designer Nina Mehta and I tested some gross-sounding drink recipes found in "The Bartender's Black Book."

We had hopes of finding at least one we liked to make again or order while out, and we were a little surprised about what we tasted. Some of the weirdest combinations mixed into an entirely new flavor. A few were good. One was so bad, we dumped it down the sink. You can guess which.

Here's our yuck-ocktail* menu for the evening.

*We could only buy the cute little 2-ounce bottles, and as it turns out, those bottles only come in hard liquors. So we improvised. Standing in for Sambuca is the talented crème de menthe. In the place of orange liqueur is 99 Oranges, and the beer is the always-sophisticated Miller High Life.

Mike Tyson

Ingredients:

1 ounce of Jagermeister

1 ounce of coffee liqueur

1 ounce of anisette or Sambuca (in our case, crème de menthe)

Commentary:

Nina: It'It's good. Really good. It's got a nice little zing at the end. It looks chunkier than it is. It does the same thing that a gin and tonic does, only minty-er.

Amy: Ooh, it's potent. It tastes like you should shudder, but you don't. It's refreshing without being one of those thick milky drinks.

Francesca: I couldn't have more than one. It has kind of a bad aftertaste. It's sweet, which I like.

Spitting Hamster

Ingredients:

1 ounce of tequila

1 ounce of orange liqueur (cough, 99 Oranges, cough)

Dash of Sambuca and crème de menthe (minus the dash of Sambuca, of course.)

Commentary:

Nina: I just want to keep smelling it and not wanting to taste it. This is like the stuff at one of those bad parties with the Tupperware bins that you dip your cup into and you don't want to waste it because you spent $5 for the cup. It's pretty, though.

Amy: (cocks head) This is how I expect antifreeze to taste; it's bright and pretty and sweet tasting in the beginning, but bad in the end.

Francesca: That's awful. Ugh. It tastes like Skol. Yeah, not a fan.

Red Beer

Ingredients:

2 ounces of tomato juice

Fill rest of the glass with beer

Commentary: Nina: This is so bad. It smells like sweat...it tastes like...it tastes like..sloth. I'm deciding if you could pay me to drink that.

Amy: It did exactly what I thought it would do. It takes the chunkiness out of the tomato juice and makes it refreshing by adding fizz from the beer, without watering it down. It's a perfect salty drink for the person who doesn't like girly drinks, i.e. me.

Francesca: I kind of like it. I love Bloody Marys. I feel like you could almost have this with lunch. Like a Saturday lunch.

Dog Nose

Ingredients:

2 ounces of gin

Fill rest of the glass with beer

Commentary:

Nina: It adds that thing that's always been missing from High Life: weight!

Amy: The gin really turns it into the champagne of beers!

Francesca: Uck. Mmm. No. Not a fan. They're both very hard tastes, and there's nothing good about it.

Forum: Talk

Tags: 

beer, 99 oranges, gross concoctions, High Life, sloth, antifreeze, Tupperware, jungle juice

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1 comment

bridgetid
bridgetid, September 18
0 votes

My friends and I used to do these experiments with "The Bartender's Black Book." That is how I found one of my personal favorites: the Midori Sour. I also have one that you guys should try that I found at a restaurant just off the interstate in Illinois (I think). It's called a Carrot Cake Martini and it really does taste like carrot cake! Here's the recipe:

Equal parts: Amarula, Butterscotch, Hot Damn, and Cream.

I have had some trouble finding Amarula, but I'm sure there is something similar out there. I'm not much of a bartender, so my knowledge of liqueur is limited.

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