Happy New Years

Tags

Champagne, Cranberry juice, New Year, New Years Eve, Orange Juice, Triple sec

I know that I said I was not going to write about cocktails for New Year’s Eve, but I decided to retract my previous statement. I have a fraternity brother who is throwing a small New Year’s Eve party, and he facebooked me asking if I could help him plan the drinks. I’m sure this is, in part, because I am attending said New Year’s Eve bash.

I think a New Year’s Eve party is the most difficult holiday party to pull off. I know many people think it’s Halloween, with which I would almost agree. However, unlike New Year’s, a Halloween party can be on either Friday or Saturday night before or after Halloween, and it can also be held on Halloween. Party throwers only get one shot at New Year’s Eve per year. It’s not like you can throw a New Year’s Eve party on December 30^th. It’s a one and done evening. So the question is: if you want to, how do you put your New Year’s Eve on the map? How do you make it special?

With all good parties, you need a group of people who will mesh will together, preferably with and without booze. I have often thrown the failed party, where one group of people is in the basement (like law students,) another group is in the kitchen (the gay friends,) and the third group is outside or in the living room (the friends of the straight roommates). Everyone leaves with no one really talking to each other. Unfortunately, this can only be accomplished through trial and error. Please remember this simple rule: New Year’s Eve is not the night for trial and error. It is better to have a small New Year’s Eve party that people will want to come back for, than a large party where no one mingles. People will remember that party and not come back the following year.

Second , the drinks. The drinks needed to be “themed.” I don’t mean that everything needs to be tropical, but New Year’s Eve is a night for celebration, and thus, should be celebrated. Obviously, the good party planner will make sure there is enough champagne for all to have champagne at midnight, but what do you do in advance? An important aspect of any good party planning is that the drinks need to be easy but also complement each other. There is no reason for people to switch from vodka to gin to bourbon to beer to champagne to wine, unless they’re an idiot. I will admit that I have had those nights, even recently, and they have not turned out well. Do not encourage people’s stupidity.

So, how do you piece the drinks together? A good drink menu, like a good dinner menu or mix of people, creates a diverse but harmonious experience. This is my suggestion for my friend:

New Year’s Eve List of Materials for 12

12 bottles of Champagne (1 case)

1 1.75 L bottle of Vodka

1 750 mL bottle of Raspberry Liqueur

1 750 mL bottle of Triple Sec

1 64 oz. container of Orange Juice

1 64 oz. containers of Cranberry Juice

1 64 oz. container of Pineapple Juice

From this list you can make a surprisingly large number of drinks.

In order:

Champagne, by itself

Mimosa

Poinsettia

A Mimosa, but with Cranberry Juice instead of Orange Juice.

Champagne Cosmopolitan

Add 1 oz. Cranberry Juice and 0.5 oz. triple sec, then pour champagne on top.

Kir Royale

The Arthur

Equal parts Vodka, Cranberry Juice, and Champagne

Screwdriver

French Martini

Cape Code

Cosmopolitan

1.5 oz. Vodka

1.5 oz. Cranberry Juice

0.75 oz. Triple Sec

You get a lot of variety from this menu, and all of them are two to three ingredients so it’s easy for people to serve themselves. You can always premix Cosmopolitans and then set them out when the party starts.

Michael says that the good party host will have a bartender, but that’s unnecessary.

Total Cost:

12 bottles of champagne: $60

1 1.75 L bottle of Vodka: $20

1 750 mL bottle of Raspberry Liqueur: $10

1 750 mL bottle of Triple Sec: $5

1 64 oz. container of Orange Juice: $5

1 64 oz. container of Cranberry Juice: $4

1 64 oz. container of Pineapple Juice: $4

Total Cost: $108

This should suffice for a party of about 12.

Happy New Year’s Eve, enjoy ringing and drinking in 2012, and, as always, happy and safe drinking.

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Another Skill Post

Tags

Cranberry juice, Manhattan, Vermouth

Sorry for the delays and lack of posts recently. I have a few notes, but I haven’t gotten around to writing them. I don’t know if I wrote this, but I did get into law school, so I’m prepping to start a joint JD/MLS at North Carolina Central University in the Fall. I’ll be earning two terminal degrees at the same time. WHAT’S UP?! I’m excited. Until then, let me tell you about of the best things about living in the Southeast during the Summer: Beaches! I g0t back from Myrtle Beach last Wednesday. I was so burned I couldn’t walk for almost 48 hours, and in about an hour and a half, I’ll be headed to Wilmington, NC for this coming weekend.

It’s good to be a gay North Carolinian (Thanks, Paul, Bill, and Arthur!)

Now, when I go to the Beach, I can’t very well talk my bar with me. 1) we would need a car for the liquor alone, and 2) it’s ridiculous to take 70 bottles of alcohol for a 3-day trip. So I premix my booze.

When I went to the beach with Paul last weekend, I made Raleigh Iced Tea and the Sicily. As I’m going to the beach with Arthur this weekend, something a little stronger is in order. I made a batch of Manhattans and Cosmopolitans. When I make these to take with me, I used empty alcohol bottles. This is great because it helps reduce waste and consumption. It’s also much cheaper than purchasing something to cart all over the Carolinas. If you want to, you can recycle it at your port of call, rather than bringing it back.

So, as this post is about skills, let’s talk about making pre-mixed drinks for travel by car. (I only take a carry-on when I fly, so I can’t help you with airplanes.)

A couple of things:

1) a 750 mL bottle holds about 25 ounces. This is great because many drinks are proportioned in ratios of 3 or 5. With the batch of Manhattans I made, using the Manhattan, Again post, it’s 1.5 ounces whiskey, 0.5 ounces sweet vermouth, and 0.5 cherry juice, for a total of 2.5 ounces. Multiple that by 10, and you have 15 ounces whiskey, 5 ounces sweet vermouth, and 5 ounces of cherry juice. 25 ounces, 10 cocktails pre-made. You can then pour the drink over ice, and you have a Manhattan with minimal work at the beach or you can refrigerate it and drink it up.

2) Martinis are great because you got a lot more bang for your buck when traveling in terms of space. You also don’t have to worry about topping with a mixer like club soda or ginger ale, etc. If you do decide that you want to do something like that, like a Sloe Gin Fizz, premix everything except the club soda in a bottle. Then, when you are ready to drink add the club soda to the liquor at the beach.

3) When making drinks to travel, start with the cheapest ingredient and add by price, ascending.(This is good general advice for all cocktails.) The following is a true story from the afternoon, an inspiration for this post, and might be a little gross. I haven’t been in my bar for a while because I’ve been gardening, prepping for law school, and taking Atlantic excursions. I had a big party about a month ago and forgot to put open juice in the fridge. I poured 8 oz of vodka in first and then went to add the cranberry juice. As you can imagine, the cranberry juice got a little funky. When I poured it into the measuring cup, I saw a green solid mass floating in the cocktail. I was confused and went to look at it. It looked a little weird, so I looked at the cranberry juice. The juice had molded. Awesome. I then had to dump a third of a bottle of vodka. As a general rule, I don’t like to chance giving myself food poisoning. (Don’t worry, Arthur, I switched measuring cups as well.)

Anyway, I’m almost ready to head to the ocean for the weekend. So, learn from my mistakes, and, as always, happy and safe drinking.