Boozy Cocktails

"If it wasn't for the olives in his martini, he'd starve to death." - Milton Berle

Today's theme is boozy foods; but let's be honest: the best way to enjoy liquor is in a cocktail. So, that's what we'll do here. Beer, wine, they're just fine; but cocktails, they're divine!

I like cocktails; specifically, gin cocktails. Hang with me even if you think gin tastes like pine needles. I purchased my home a few years ago, and noticed its 100th birthday would be in 2016. Inspiration hit! Why not host a cocktail party in honor of the birthday, and focus on 100 year old recipes (when gin was celebrated in all its glory.) Imagine my utter joy when I discovered an online scanned copy of Recipes of American and Other Iced Drinks from 1916.

First, extremely important step, is to a host a pre-party cocktail recipe sampling party with a friend or two. You need to have quality control (and another excuse to make fancy cocktails at home.) We perused the recipes and made a list of what sounded good and doable with some of our on hand alcohol. Notably, vodka really was not a thing in American cocktails 100 years ago which is just fine by me. There was also at least three types of gins used in the recipes (my kind of recipe book!)  Interestingly, there was a series of cocktails that allowed you to choose the alcohol base: gin, brandy, or whiskey. The series of cocktails included: Smashes; Slings, Fizz and Daisies.

Smash: playfully flavorful muddled mint, orange slice and a real maraschino cherry.
Sling: enjoyably light lemon, orange and soda. (Note: Slings in bars can be very different featuring grenadine.)
Fizz: simply refreshing lemon juice and peel, soda water, powdered sugar (note: some gin fizzes use egg white, so be careful ordering at a bar.)
Daisy: fancy, fruity maraschino syrup, orgeat (almond) syrup, lemon and seltzer.

We decided on three signature cocktails: Fisherman's Prayer, Gin Daisy, and the Night Cap shot (as the farewell drink, of course.) We chose Night Cap mostly because it featured alcohol that I had not tried before (Benedictine) and for the story from the recipe book: "take off at a single draught, after which say 'good night.'"

Before the party you want to prep the cocktail mixers, adornments and signature drink by the pitcher. This will ensure you get to enjoy the party; rather than, serving as an amateur on-call bartender all night. Truthfully, most of our guests chose to just enjoy the three course signature cocktails we arranged. Though a few brave souls used the tablet version of the 1916 recipe book to choose their own cocktail adventure. Note: some vegans do not eat sugar that is made using bone char. You can make your own powdered sugar if you're worried about that by using a food processor on raw sugar (cover the top tightly or you will have dust everywhere), or use a vegan sugar-based simple syrup.

I knew I would have a few guests who would want a non-alcoholic option, and wanted them to experience the century throwback too. Lucky for me, Pepsi released a 1893 recipe version of cola and ginger cola in 2016. The 1916 recipe book also includes non-alcoholic options like almond (orgeat) lemonade and soda.

What party is complete without some snacks? Sticking to the century old theme and staying vegan, the food spread included: ghiradelli dark chocolates, twizzlers, pretzels, potato chips and dum dum suckers.

For entertainment, we set up a projector showing silent Charlie Chaplin movies and old-time cartoons (beware, some are pretty racist and sexist.) We also had a playlist of music from that era. The piece de resistance for entertainment? Blow Football (straws and a cotton ball or ping pong ball if you're fancy.)

There were some gin converts at the party (success!), and we had a blast sipping on some truly remarkable cocktails (success!) The theme was just enough reason to make a get together a "special occasion." What's your tip to make an occasion special?