This is a shot called Alien Brain Hemorrhage. I am sure you can see the drink and understand the name 🙂 This drink comes as a special request from my favorite friend Jennifer Munroe and with some tips from one of my most favorite bartenders – Chris Wilson from Azul Agave Bar!

Today is a shot not cocktail. It is called Baby Guinness. Patron Cafe with Bailey’s Irish Cream floating on it….

It is champagne, vodka and melon liquor mostly. I did have both – the proper garnish and proper glass for a change..

Vodka, pineapple juice, cranberry juice etc. Usually served in a highball or Collins glass. Fortunately, this does not need any garnishes (I never seem to have them with me).

Bikini Martini!
Vodka, rum and pineapple juice among other things. Theoretically speaking, I should put in a cherry but Sharmila hates cherries. And per her, I should stay away from anything that has bikini. So, it is just one glass for her tonight 🙂

Made with lime juice, Smirnoff vodka and ginger beer. Garnishes can include wedge of lime or even mint sprig but I have none 🙂

I did make up for the lack of proper garnishes by serving in the proper glass for this drink – a copper mug!

This cocktail has an unique history. There was a Martin in the 30s who was struggling to sell vodka in USA (he had bought this business from a Kunett who had fled Russia a few years back). Whiskey was the drink of choice in US. Vodka was little appreciated those days. He was a great sales guy though. He even sold it illegally as “White Whiskey – no smell no taste”!! One day while commiserating with a Morgan who was himself struggling to sell something he had started brewing – ginger beer in his Cock-’n-Bull store, they concocted this drink – by essentially mixing two failed drinks. To add to the aura, they added another element – it had to be had in a copper mug only – which by the way was a failing business for another friend of theirs.

Professional bartenders hated it. The people loved it! It became – especially in LA – in the early forties, the most popular cocktail. And thus Smirnoff vodka got a boost in this country. So three failed businesses added up to an outstanding success!

There are stories of Martin’s legendary selling skills. Evidently, he would get a bartender to mix a Moscow Mule for him and then request a picture to be taken with him. Promptly he would fish out his Polaroid camera that he had invested in for this purpose and have a picture of the bartender with the drink. And then he would simply finish the drink and walk to the next bar and tell the bartender there that this drink was the biggest hit in the previous bar. And show the picture as a proof. And kept repeating it!!!

Called Bianca. Vodka based with pomegranate, lime and lemon juice. I think the proper one is served with pomegranate seeds as garnishing of which I have none. So I am going to settle for this…