A friend of mine came over for cocktails the other day and when I asked him what he would like to drink and he immediately said, "A Golden Cadillac!" What a trip down memory lane! I hadn't had one in ages but I do remember them fondly, mostly from my days of what I considered sophisticated drinking in the seventies. Whenever I wanted to seem elegant and ladylike I'd order a Golden Cadillac. I grabbed the Galliano and my friend and I enjoyed several while we talked about trolling in our good old days.
I forget about this cocktail and it usually takes a memory trigger or someone else to remind me of my fondness for it and then I'll blend one or two up for a little happy hour nostalgia. I never make this with ice cream as some do, I stick with the classic and enjoy the heck out of it. It's too heavy and sugar driven and just not the same with ice cream.
Created by bartender Frank Klein in 1952 at Poor Red's BBQ in El Dorado, California for a newly engaged couple who had driven up to Red's in a brand new Gold Cadillac, the Golden Cadillac is their signature drink and still served up to this very day. It's a creamy, frothy concoction of equal parts Galliano, white crème de cacao and cream blended with ice and traditionally served up in a coupe style glass and dusted with fresh nutmeg. It's damn delicious.
If you happen to be near El Dorado, take a side trip to Red's where they blend these up every day just like it was still 1952. You can also take a few Instagram worthy pics of the Golden Cadillac gifted to Red's by Galliano.
Poor Red's
GOLDEN
CADILLAC
INGREDIENTS
1 Oz. Galliano
1 Oz. White Crème de Cacao
1 Oz. Heavy Cream
DIRECTIONS
Shake ingredients with ice until smooth, strain into a chilled cocktail coupe and garnish with a dusting of freshly grated nutmeg.
VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS:
Updated 7-2021
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HAPPY EARTH DAY!
My whole happy hour emphasis these days is on healthy cocktails. Whenever possible I try to use fresh and organic produce, healthier* sweeteners, garden grown herbal elements and Earth friendly ingredients.
For Earth Day I have listed a few of my favorites below, trying to cover a number of flavors and spirits, but they only cover a small percentage of the original cocktails I've created to be planet and people healthy that are available on my site here. Feel free to check out my cocktail lists to the left and use my search bar for your favorite spirits and flavors for more recipes.
How to Drink Earth Friendly at Happy Hour
Spirits themselves are basically Earth friendly because fermentation is a natural process, but low cost liquors tend to use inferior grains and ingredients so stay in the mid to higher range priced brands. There are also numerous commercial spirit brands out there whose products are intentionally organic and planet friendly. As for flavored liqueurs and spirits, you can buy any neutral organic spirit and infuse them yourself with your own fresh organic herbs, fruits and vegetables. Make your own Homemade Liqueurs with organic produce, start a small organic herb garden, visit your local farmer's markets for organically grown produce. You can use local honeys for sweeteners and even create your own organic fruit based simple syrups and mixers as well. Even tonic water and grenadine can be made Earth friendly. Make your own Homemade Pomegranate Syrup, dump those chemical, GMO laden bottled cherries for clean and delicious Homemade Maraschino or Bourbon Cherries.
I encourage you to be creative and healthy at happy hour and look for ways to make the Earth happy as well when mixing your cocktails!
EARTH DAY
COCKTAILS
APRICOT LAVENDER BOURBON SOUR COCKTAIL
Spiced Lavender BEES KNEES COCKTAIL
BLACKBERRY MOJITO
BLACK EYED SUSAN
CANTALOUPE DAIQUIRI
CUCUMBER GIN & TONIC
DRAGON'S BREATH COCKTAIL
GARDEN IN A GLASS MARTINI
LUCKY CHARM SPINACH CUCUMBER COCKTAIL
MELON CUCUMBER MARTINI
MIND YOUR Ps & Qs CUCUMBER PEA SHOOT COCKTAIL
RASPBERRY TARRAGON DAIQUIRI
STRAWBERRY BLUEBERRY MARGARITA
THYME FOR A LEMON CHERRY SLING
TIPSY MISS SPICED PINEAPPLE COCKTAIL
WHISKEY PEACH SMASH
Happy Earth Day and Here's to an Earth Friendly and Healthy Happy Hour!
* Yes, I do occasionally use sugar in my recipes, sweeteners are one of the vital elements to a balanced cocktail and sometimes there is no alternative to sugar itself, BUT sugar is NOT by nature unhealthy, it's the AMOUNT of sugar and corn syrup, ad nauseum, that is added and/or hidden in processed food and drink that is the culprit to a healthy diet. Turbinado and Demerara are raw sugars and are good alternatives to cane sugars. Remember, balance is the key, to a healthy life and a healthy Earth.
Updated 4-2019
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I like to think of this cocktail as a chocolate cherry Boulevardier or, perhaps closer, a Kentucky Royale but with fresh cherries instead of Cherry Heering. Basically it was something I tossed together the other night when I was goofing around with my Templeton Rye and my Cinzano Rosso trying to come up with a new cocktail. At the last minute I added some orange elements with a drop of orange bitters and an orange twist because I wanted a bit of citrus hitting my nose with the chocolate and cherries.
Damn, it was good for something I just tossed together. I had three and I was one happy little boozer. I also had with my Kentucky Derby - Triple Crown Cocktail for this year. Win, win.
Now, if only my pick for this year's Run for the Roses can also win.
The
DERBY ROYALE
COCKTAIL
INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 Oz. Templeton Rye
6 Frozen Dark Sweet Organic Cherries
1/2 Oz. Cinzano Rosso Vermouth
1 Teaspoon Caffè Borghetti Coffee Liqueur
1 Teaspoon Bordeaux Cherry Syrup
2 Dashes Chocolate Bitters
1 Dash Angostura Orange Bitters
1 Tablespoon Pasteurized Egg White
Garnish: Bordeaux Maraschino Cherry, Orange Twist
Tools: Blender, Cocktail Shaker
Glass: Coupe
DIRECTIONS
Chill the glass.
Toss the ingredients into your blender and whip until volume triples and the drink is nice and foamy. (This is my cheaters version of dry shaking.)
Transfer this to an ice filled cocktail shaker, shake until chilled then strain onto the chilled coupe.
Express the orange peel over the top, add the cherry and serve.
Bailey, of course, did his cocktail wingman duty and tested it out for me:
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Tea infused gin is a hot trend at the moment. I happen to have a huge collection of fun and exotic teas so I tried a few out for tea infused gins this week. One for my Wild Hibiscus Gin & Tonic, one for my Butterfly Pea Flower and Elderflower Gin & Tonic and another, at the last minute, using some mint green tea.
That was a great last minute addition, the mint flavored green tea went wonderfully with the gin I chose, Daffy's Gin, which has strong mint and lemon notes and, with the use of lemon in place of the typical G&T lime, I ended up with a bright and thirst-quenching drink.
There's something about tea and gin and tonic, it's so perfectly British. It's also a great cocktail combination.
The
MINT GREEN TEA
GIN & TONIC
INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 Oz. Mint Green Tea Infused Daffy's Gin*
1 Oz. Lemon Creme Honey Syrup**
Juice of 1 Fresh Lemon
Fever-Tree Tonic Water
Ice
Garnish: Mint Sprig, Lemon Wedge
Tools: Metal Strainer, Stir Stick
Glass: Double Old Fashioned
DIRECTIONS
Preparation:
* An hour or more before serving your cocktails add one tea bag of Mint Green Tea for every one and a half ounces of gin and allow to infuse. Strain and set aside for the cocktails.
** Make the Lemon Créme Honey Syrup by mixing 2 tablespoons of hot water with 2 tablespoons of Honey Ridge Farms Honey Créme Lemon.
For each Cocktail:
Add the mint green tea infused gin to a highball glass filled with ice. Squeeze in the lemon wedges, then drop the wedges in the drink. Add the Lemon Créme Honey Syrup and stir. Top off with the tonuc, stir again, garnish and serve.
National Gin & Tonic Day is April 9th.
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While making a hibiscus tea infused gin for my Wild Hibiscus Gin & Tonic I also spied my butterfly pea flower tea in the cupboard and decided to add that to my tea infused gin session. Butterfly pea flowers are one of nature's few naturally blue foods. They're also a little magic because when you add something acidic to blue pea flower teas or essences, they will turn purple in front of your eyes. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity for a color changing gin and tonic.
I also decided to add a bit of elderflower liqueur to amp up the elderflower floral notes of the Hendrick's Gin and to complement the pea flower, then I used a light lavender honey simple syrup to sweeten the drink. The final cocktail was a gorgeous, deep blue violet/violet cocktail that tasted like a floral, lightly alcoholic lemonade. It was amazingly refreshing and tasted like spring.
BUTTERFLY PEA FLOWER
& ELDERFLOWER
GIN & TONIC
INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 Oz. Butterfly Pea Flower Tea Infused Hendrick's Gin (Instructions Below*)
1/2 Oz. St. Germaine Elderflower Liqueur
Lavender Honey Syrup (Recipe below**) to Taste
1 Fresh Lime, Quartered
Fever Tree Tonic Water
Ice
Garnish: Lime Wedge
Tools: Metal Strainer, Bar Spoon
Glass: Highball
DIRECTIONS
* Preparation: An hour or two before serving your cocktails add one tea bag of Wild Hibiscus Butterfly Pea Flower Tea for every one and a half ounces of gin and allow to infuse, the longer the infusion, the stronger the flavor. Strain and set aside for the cocktails.
** Prepare the Lavender Honey Simple Syrup by combining 2 tablespoons of hot water with 2 tablespoons of Honey Ridge Farms Honey Creme Lavender then set aside to cool.
For each Cocktail:
Add the pea flower tea infused gin, the lavender honey syrup and the elderflower liqueur to a highball glass filled with ice. Top off with tonic water and stir. Slowly squeeze then drop in the lime quarters, the drink will turn from bright blue to deep purple just as you serve it.
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Tea infused gin is a thing lately and, for Gin & Tonic Day (April 9th), I went a little wild with one of my favorite teas and did a Wild Hibiscus Tea infused gin. It was easy to infuse the gin, only took a few hours and I got a fragrant, rich, red colored hibiscus gin for my G&T which I finished off with Wild Hibiscus Rose Syrup and a wild hibiscus garnish.
It was a gorgeous, deep magenta cocktail with a tart, citrus and floral taste from the hibiscus rose syrup and fresh limes. Pretty as heck and a great way to bling up a classic gin and tonic, if I do say so myself.
The
WILD HIBISCUS
GIN & TONIC
INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 Oz. Wild Hibiscus Tea Infused Gin*
Wild Hibiscus Rose Syrup to Taste
(Use the syrup the hibiscus flowers are packed in!)
Fresh Lime Juice to Taste
Fever-Tree Tonic Water
Ice
Garnish: Wild Hibiscus Flower, Lime Wedge
Tools: Metal Strainer, Stir Stick
Glass: Double Old Fashioned
DIRECTIONS
* Preparation: An hour or two before serving your cocktails add one tea bag of Wild Hibiscus Tea for every one and a half ounces of gin and allow to infuse. Strain and set aside for the cocktails.
For each Cocktail:
Add the wild hibiscus infused gin to a chilled glass filled with ice. Squeeze in lime wedges to taste, then drop the limes in the drink. Add Wild Hibiscus Rose Syrup to taste, stir then top off with the Fever Tree Tonic Water. Garnish with a wild hibiscus flower and serve.
National, International and/or World Gin and Tonic Day is April 9th.
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Today is #SoylentGreenDay.
Yes, there IS a Soylent Green #Cocktail.NOT my recipe ... I'd have enough sense not to put cream in this combination!
No, this is not an #AprilFools joke!
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