A Nice Piece...

This is a quickie, a nooner if you will...it's called a Piece of Ass.  Because *everybody* wants one, everybody is looking for one, and anyone who says they ain't is a plain, straight up liar.

Piece of Ass

1 shot amaretto almond liqueur
1 shot Southern Comfort® peach liqueur
fill with sweet and sour mix

Pour liquors over ice in a glass. Fill with sour mix and serve.
All right?  All right.  'Til next time, SEE YA!

Scotch From Scotland: Highlands Whiskey

Today we are going to look at a couple of Scotch cocktails--cocktails made using Scotch.  To quote the great Max Riffner, a Scotch purist if ever there was one, "If you don't drink Scotch, you are missing out on an essential part of being human.

The first cocktail is a Highlands Sling.  The Scottish Highlands are an area dominated by the Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain range in the UK--essentially the Highlands divide Eastern and Western Scotland.

These days, the Highlands are rural and not well populated, largely due to the outlawing of the Highlands way of life as a result of the Jacobite Uprising, when Charles Stuart tried to regain the British Crown.  Also, as has happened all over the world, the traditional rural ways of life have been abandoned; people are traveling to the cities to seek their fortunes (the migration of people from rural areas to industrial areas has been typical since the dawn of modern industry).

1 tsp superfine sugar
2 tsp water
1 oz lemon juice
2 oz Scotch whisky
1 twist lemon peel

In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine the sugar, water, lemon juice, and scotch. Shake well. Strain into a highball glass. Garnish with the lemon twist.









That's a Highland Sling.  Another good Scotch drink is a Pat Quinn--the Scotch settles your nerves while the orange soda cools you off and refreshes your palate.  This is a perfect drink for this unseasonable heat/humidity wave we seem to be experiencing.

Pat Quinn:

1 oz Scotch whisky
4 oz orange soda

Pour the orange pop into a highball glass. Add the scotch whiskey, stir, and serve

All right?  All right.  'Til Next time, SEE YA!

Drambuie! HOOOO-EEEE!

Well, it's time for some fall-ish drinks.  At this time of year, cocktails shift away from passion fruit as an ingredient and more into things like Tia Maria, Kahlua, cider--things that are warm rather than things designed to keep you cool while partying the night away.  Fall nights are less for partying and more for taking slow and enjoying.  A Sunday evening in the fall means dinner with the family, a football game, maybe a roll with honey in bed. 

The fall evenings make their way to the thick and cold of winter--not so far off now.  Sometimes the setting sun seems very warm on your face, when you know that winter is right around the corner.  The shooter below is a good one for a Sunday evening in the fall, at the bar, watching the Jets or the Giants.

It's called a Battlestar Galactica.  Actually, Battlestar Galactica was one of the first shows I remember watching on Sunday evenings with my Pops, in the late seventies;  it starred Dirk Benedict who later played Lt. Templeton Peck of the A-Team.  As a child, the Cylons fascinated me.

Here's a Battlestar Galactica shooter.

1/2 oz. demerara rum
1/2 oz coffee liqueur
1/2 oz. Drambuie Liqueur


Instructions
Mix in a shot glass

All right?  All right.  'Til next time, SEE YA!

CRUISING into the 80's...

This drink is called an OREO SPEEDWAGON.  So grab your hair gel, your flourescent shirt, and CRUISE into the 80s.  Enjoy!

Oreo Speedwagon

Kahlua 2 oz
Vanilla ice cream 2 scoops
Oreo cookies 2

Preparation:
Crush the cookies. Pour kahlua into a blender. Add the cookies and ice cream. Blend until smooth. Serve in a balloon wine glass.

All right?  'Til next time, SEE YA!

A Heather 81...

What can I say? This is one *heck* of a libation. I'm told that the honeycomb is good to chew on if you are trying to sleep.

Heather 81

2 parts vodka
3/4 parts honey
1/2 part hot water
6 mint leaves, plus more mint leaves for garnish
1/2 part Drambuie
piece of honeycomb for garnish

In a cocktail shaker combine honey, hot water and 6 mint leaves and muddle well. Add ice, Vodka and Drambuie. Shake well and strain into rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with mint leaves and piece of honeycomb

All right?  That ought to keep everyone busy for a while.  'Til next time, SEE YA!

Cider Sangria

Fall, of course, is the apple harvest.  Many of the high school kids, back in the day when the drinking age was 18 (it changed around 1980, largely due to the efforts of a lobbyist group called MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving), would spend the weekend evenings in the early fall passing around a bottle of "hooch"--usually something like Boone's Farm Apple (which Bradley Liquors also sells, for those of you feeling nostalgic).

But as we get older, and our tastes get more aquiline, we can't put our lips to a bottle of cheap wine and guzzle it anymore.  We require more--*refined* ways to do what we do.

Try this.  It'll put a nice warm feeling in your gut.

White Wine and Sparkling Cider Sangria

1 bottle dry white wine, such as Vinho Verde or Pinot Grigio
1 cup fresh orange juice
Juice of 2 limes
10 strawberries, thickly sliced (optional)
Orange and lime slices
1 1/2 cups sparkling sweet cider
Ice

In a large glass pitcher, combine the first 5 ingredients and set aside to macerate for 15 minutes. Just before serving, add the sparking cider and ice. Stir well and serve at once.

All right?  All right.  SEE YA!

Hunting Season, Halloween Too..

Well, it's deer hunting season. There is an aphorism among deer hunters--when you take a boy hunting for the first time, show him a deer track and a tree stand. If he follows the deer track, he's a tracker. If he sets the bait, climbs up into the stand and waits for the deer to come to him, he's a stand hunter.

Whichever you are, and whichever your children (sons or daughters--for both sons and daughters hunt) are, you'll find this cocktail a great libation to have waiting for you when you get back to camp, or home.


Ingredients:

1 1/2 oz whiskey
1/2 oz cherry brandy
maraschino cherry for garnish

Preparation:
1.Pour the whiskey and cherry brandy into an old-fashioned glass with ice.
2.Stir well.
3.Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

This next recipe is a great recipe for a Thanksgiving punch--that one day when family comes together, from near and far.  Also great for Halloween.












Ingredients
• 1 gallon apple juice
• 1 gallon apple cider
• 3 cups white sugar
• 8 cinnamon sticks
• 1 bottle 190 proof grain alcohol (750 ml)

Directions
1. In a large pot, combine juice, cidar, sugar and cinnamon sticks. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let cool completely.
2. When cool, stir in grain alcohol.
3. Transfer to large serving dish and let guests ladle into cups. Garnish with additional cinnamon sticks or apple slices, if desired.

All Right?  All right.  'Til Next time, SEE YA!

Fall N All

Fall n All is the title of a great poetry collection by a New Jersey poet named Dave Roskos. (Dave got the title from another brilliant NJ poet, William Carlos Williams, a doctor who published a book of poetry called "Spring and All")

Dave can be found at Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books. He's one of the best New Jersey has to offer; he writes real poetry about the real world of real people and things. Another New Jersey Poet worth reading of course is Joe Weil, whose "ode to Elizabeth" is one of the best modern American poems.

And if you need something to keep you warm while sitting in your comfy armchair as the rain falls outside (because it's Fall, and all...) try one of these. It's called a Cinnamon Toast.

• 1 1/4 ounce(s) Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
• 6 ounce(s) hot apple cider
• 1 tablespoon(s) sugar
• 1 tablespoon(s) cinnamon

---

Directions

1. Add hot apple cider and Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum to a glass rimmed with sugar and cinnamon.

All right? All right. 'Til next time, SEE YA!

Beah Heah!

"Beah heah...:

Yeah, you know what that means. Almost that time of year. For the NFL, it is that time of year.

But why pay expensive stadium prices for beer? $14 for a beer at the New Yankee Stadium?

For those of you heading to a baseball or football game in North Jersey or New York, you should know that if you take the train--a safer, easier bet than driving--you can pregame on the train.

That's right; unofficially, you can drink alcohol from your own stock on a New Jersey Transit train.

A lot of people head to the games with paint buckets full of ice and beer--some people bring coolers--and everybody wears their team jerseys. You can make new friends, indulge friendly rivalries, and generally have a good time.

Did I mention that Bradley Liquors is located directly across from the Bradley Beach train station? Stop in on game day for beer, hard liquor, even ice to fill that paint bucket. Bradley Liquors carries many, many different varieties of beer, bottles and cans. We carry Land Shark, Guinness, Heinekin, Natty Ice, and many, many others.

We'll even talk up the game with you. Check Bradley Liquors out for pregame fun! 'Til then, SEE YA!

Scatch on da Racks...

Scotch is whisky made in Scotland. There are five basic kinds of scotch: Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Single Grain Scotch Whisky, Blended Malt Scotch Whisky (formerly called "vatted malt" or "pure malt"), Blended Grain Scotch Whisky, and Blended Scotch Whisky.

At Bradley Liquors, we mostly sell single malts and blended scotches. We carry a great selection of single malts like the Balvenie and Carolan. For one customer we got a bottle of the Macallan 21--a 21 year old single malt scotch considered to be the best in the world.

For blended Scotches, we carry the gold standard--Johnnie Walker Black, as well as Johnnie Walker Red. We also carry other types of Johnnie Walker, the Dimple Pinch, Clan MacGregor, Dewar's White Horse, and basic Seagram's, and more.

Scotch tends to be high in alcohol content--it runs from 80 proof to 188 proof--and is best enjoyed unmixed, neat or on the rocks. It is typically served in a rocks glass--a half tumbler. It is sometimes mixed with water or club soda.

Scotch is considered the classic "man's" drink although in these modern times, many women drink it also. It's the drink they enjoy on the television show, "Mad Men". Scotch is a classic drink enjoyed among gatherings of friends, where the company is warm and the conversation lasts long into the night.

All right? If you'd like a bottle of good Scotch for under $20, stop by Bradley Liquors on Main Street in Bradley and we'll help you pick something out. Until then, stay dry in this rainy weather. SEE YA!