The History of BLACK TOT DAY - The End of the Royal Navy Daily Rum Ration

  BLACK TOT DAY
Before modern technology long sea voyages created a drinking problem. Back in the 1600's sailors were given a daily gallon of beer as their drink ration. Unfortunately the volume of the beer was a storage issue so a half pint of rum replaced the beer on sea voyages. The switch was popular among the crew but drunkenness became an issue so in 1740 Admiral Edward Vernon ordered the rum be mixed with water in a ration of 4 water to 1 rum and split into two separate servings a day per sailor.  

Continuing issues with alcohol related disciplinary problems caused this half pint to be reduced to a quarter pint in 1824 and later, in 1850, to an eighth pint served once a day. In 1881 the navy ended the officers ration and in 1918 the warrant officers ration.  Finally, in answer questions regarding the validity of the daily rum tot, the Admiralty Board issued the following statement in 1969:
"The Admiralty Board concludes that the rum issue is no longer compatible with the high standards of efficiency required now that the individual's tasks in ships are concerned with complex, and often delicate, machinery and systems on the correct functioning of which people's lives may depend".
This led to the famous House of Commons "Great Rum Debate" of 1970 which eventually concluded that the Royal Navy's daily rum ration, or tot, was deemed no longer appropriate and on July 31st, 1970, after 300 years of Naval Tradition, the final rum rations were poured at 11 a.m. (6 bells in the forenoon watch) after the pipe of up spirits*. Despite an extra can of beer being added to the daily rations, the decision was not popular among many and some took to wearing black arm bands, tots were "buried at sea" and even mock funerals occurred.

July 31st, 1970 then became BLACK TOT DAY, the last day the Royal Navy issued their sailors their daily tot of rum.  
Rest In Peace, Daily Tot.

What shall we do with a drunken sailor?
What shall we do with a drunken sailor?
What shall we do with a drunken sailor?
Early in the morning?
Take away his tot and keep him sober!
Take away his tot and keep him sober!
Take away his tot and keep him sober!
Early in the morning!

* The time when the rum ration was distributed was called "Up Spirits", usually between 11 am and 12 noon.   PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY  

The SIDECAR COCKTAIL

 
The Sidecar is a classic Cognac cocktail that dates back to World War I.  It makes use of one of my sipping favorites, Cognac.
Here's some great background information about the Sidecar from my friends over at The Alcohol Professor  (@TheAlcoholProf)

The
SIDECAR   INGREDIENTS 2 Oz. Cognac
1 Oz. Cointreau
1 Oz. Lemon Juice
DIRECTIONS Rim glass with sugar.
Shake ingredients with ice.
Garnish with orange twist or wedge.
VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS:

National Sidecar Day is July 30th, National Cognac Day is June 4th.
Updated 6-2021 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

The Not So WHITE RUSSIAN Cocktail Recipe

I happened to really like whipped cream vodkas, my favorite brand being Pinnacle Whipped Vodka because you really do get the flavor of whipped cream.

After doing a review on several of Pinnacle flavored vodkas a while back I experimented with several recipes and this was one of the first and it's still a favorite because it's easy and delicious.
The Not So WHITE RUSSIAN
INGREDIENTS 1 Oz. Cold Espresso 1 Oz. Whipped Cream Vodka 1 Oz. Original Kahlua 1 Oz. Half & Half
Garnish: Instant Espresso Powder Rim, Milk Chocolate Curls
Tools: Vegetable peeler to make chocolate curls, Cocktail shaker
Glass: Large (5 ounce) Cocktail (Martini)
DIRECTIONS Rim glass then chill in the freezer. Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake until well chilled. Strain into your chilled cocktail glass. Sprinkle on the chocolate curls and serve.
You can purchase recipes cards for this cocktail here: Not So White Russian Cocktail recipe cards

PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

STORMBORN COCKTAIL for Game Of Thrones

Inspired by Season 7, Episode 2 of Game Of Thrones, this rum drink is named after the episode title and Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of her Name, The Unburnt Queen of the Andals, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea. (Enough titles for ya, Dany??)
It's also named for the storms coming, both Daenerys and the White Walkers.
I wanted to create something that looked like an incoming storm descending upon the Land of Ice and Fire. The Butterfly PeaFlower Tea float gave me exactly the color and visual effect I wanted while adding a very subtle floral essence to the tropical style cocktail of coconut and rum.

The Game of Thrones STORMBORN COCKTAIL
INGREDIENTS 1 Oz. Spiced Sailor Jerry Rum 1 Oz. Light Rum 1/2 Oz. Honey Ridge Coconut Creme Honey 1/2 Oz. Cream of Coconut Cold Wild Hibiscus Blue PeaFlower Tea Crushed Ice
DIRECTIONS Fill a chilled flute with enough crushed ice to create a domed top. Add in the spiced rum, light rum, cream of coconut and coconut honey then float the Blue Peaflower Tea over the top. Add a color coordinated, biodegradable paper straw and serve.
"We have an army, A fleet and three dragons. We should hit King's Landing now."
Winter is no longer coming, it is here.

PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

The BIKINI MARTINI Cocktail Recipe

The Bikini Martini was created by Dick Bradsell for a swimwear launch in 1999. Supposedly he named the drink in honor of the Bikini Atoll where atom and hydrogen bombs were tested after World War II. Some say the name was because the shock of the cocktail was supposed to be on the level of an A-bomb, I would rather think it was the color of the ocean in the Marshall Island area that inspired the drink. (Sadly, the Bikini Atoll still remains uninhabitable nearly 70 years after the tests.)

Whatever reason, it's a beautiful blue cocktail with refreshing tropical notes that packs a decided kick.

The

BIKINI

MARTINI

INGREDIENTS

2 Oz. Bombay Sapphire Gin

1/4 Oz. Blue Curacao

1/2 Oz. Peach Liqueur

1/2 Oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

Garnish: Blue Sugar Rim and a Lemon Twist

DIRECTIONS

Rub glass with lemon then dip into blue sugar then chill in freezer. Shake ingredients in an ice filled cocktail shaker, strain into the glass, garnish and serve.

VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS:

National Bikini Day is July 5th.

  Updated 7-2021 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

PRICKLY PEAR ( Cactus) MARTINI

Living in the dessert I don't have much of a garden. I keep a few herbs on the back deck protected from the deadly Arizona sun but fresh veggies and fruits are more work than I have time for. The one thing I do have in abundance are a variety of cactus and one day it occurred to me that I do have at least one fruit in my yard that could be used in a cocktail and other goodies. I grabbed my barbecue tongs, gloves and went a-harvesting.
Prickly pears protect themselves from the fauna of the desert with long, nasty spikes so you don't want to attempt to pick them with bare hands. If you just use gloves the gloves will get impregnated by the stickers and you'll be stuck sooner or later, so tongs are the perfect answer. You simply grab the fruit completely in the tongs and twist them off the nopales (the "Leaf").

My prickly pear fruits had a decidedly watermelon/kiwi flavor to them with, to my palate at least, a hint of cucumber. The fruit is heavily populated in the center with tough, black seeds which are supposedly edible but I strained them out along with any pulp. The fruit is a wonderful, dark magenta if perfectly ripe which brings a great amount of color to your cocktails. According to the U.C. Small Farm Program, the flavor of the fruit “depends on the variety but includes strawberries, watermelons, honeydew melons, figs, bananas, and citrus. You can eat them raw, at room temperature or chilled, and alone or with lemon juice. They can be cooked into jams and preserves or cooked down into a syrup as a base for jelly and candy. This syrup can be reduced even further into a dark red or black paste that is fermented into a potent alcoholic drink called 'coloncha'. The fruit pulp can be dried and ground into flour for baking into small sweet cakes, or stored for future use.”
The reddish-purple prickly pear fruit (tuna) is high in antioxidants, Vitamin C and is purported to be prized as a hangover cure. Also known as the Cactus Pear and Indian Fig, the Prickly Pear is a part of the genus Opunti.
Here are the steps I took to get my Prickly Pear Juice: First I washed all the pears in a strong stream of water, to clean them and remove as many of the soft glochids* as possible. Put on gardening gloves to do this! Grab the pear by both ends in several layers of paper towels and scrape off the rest of the glochids with a sharp paring knife. Rinse the pear again to wash any of glochids off everything.
Slice off both ends, split the fruit down the middle and scrap the fruit out of the skin. Puree all the fruit in a blender or food processor.
Strain this into a container through a fine metal strainer to remove seeds and pulp. Have some tweezers and a magnifying glass handy in case you missed any glochids and they found their way onto your poor body.
I got one ounce of fresh juice from about eight small, ripe prickly pears. The darker purple the fruit the more ripe it is. Try to get to them before the critters do, we have wild javelina out here and they love prickly pear fruit.
While it was a fun and educating experience, after the day long, painful process with its disappointing yield, I have come to the conclusion that the javelina can have the prickly pear tunas in my yard. I'm just going to buy ready made cactus products.

THE PRICKLY PEAR (CACTUS PEAR) MARTINI A Little Bit of the Arizona Desert in a Cocktail Glass
INGREDIENTS 1-1/2 Oz. Vodka Juice of 1 Fresh Lime Juice of 1/2 Fresh Lemon 1 Oz. Prickly Pear Juice (If using Prickly Pear Syrup instead of juice, use 1/2 ounce and leave out the agave syrup!**) 1/2 Tsp. Dark Agave Syrup Several Drops of Chipotle Sauce 1/8 Tsp of Lime Salt
Garnish: Jalapeno (Spicy) Chili Gummy Candies, Lime Wedge
Tools: Cocktail Shaker
Glass: Cocktail (Martini)
DIRECTIONS Chill your cocktail glass in the freezer. Fill your cocktail shaker with ice, add the ingredients and shake until well chilled. Strain into your chilled glass, garnish and serve.
A few days later I also made this fun, loaded Cactus Pear Margarita.

I found this lovely Cheri's Prickly Pear Syrup at the Tucson botanical gardens, but it is available on Amazon:

* Glochids are those teeny, fuzzy little stickers you can barely see and they are most irritating as they seem to be able to travel to unsuspecting areas. (When I was scrubbing, scraping and scooping out my fruit, several of the little buggers ended up in my fingers but one even ended up in a toe! There are so fine that you have to backlight them just to see them so you can grab the tops with tweezers and get them out. Nasty little buggers.)
PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

HOMEMADE BERRY LIQUEURS, Raspberry and Blackberry

HOMEMADE BERRY LIQUEURS Today's Infusions? Raspberry and Blackberry!
Homemade berry liqueurs are a great addition to your bar and they are so easy to make there's no reason not to start adding a collection of your favorites to happy hour. It's just a matter of picking your favorite berries, adding 2 more ingredients and giving them some time to infuse.
You can use fresh or frozen berries, pick one or make some combos, it's your creative choice. My two choices this time were individual bottles of raspberry and blackberry. Primarily because berries were on sale and I can only eat and cook with so many before they go bad!
If you're using fresh berries, just make sure that there is no mold or soft spots and they are properly cleaned and dried. Frozen berries, without added sugar, are ready to use as is. All you need next is some good quality vodka. 100 proof spirits are best because the higher proof draws more flavor out of the berries quicker, but 80 proof works too. I find the 80 proof makes a milder sipping liqueur.
You can also infuse rum, whiskey and brandy and a vodka base with a bit of brandy added can be a nice touch as well. 
HOMEMADE BERRY LIQUEUR
Ingredients 3 Cups Vodka (Whiskey, Rum, Brandy) 2 Cups Fresh or Frozen Berries, your choice 1 Cup Rich* Simple Syrup
Directions Add the berries to a large, sterilized mason jar or capped bottle. Pour in the spirits. Shake daily and allow to infuse for 3 weeks. Add the simple syrup, continue to shake daily and allowed to infuse for another week or two, taste testing for flavor. Strain through cheesecloth (save the berries!) into a sterilized, caped bottle. For extra depth of flavor and smoothness allow this to infuse for another week or two.
Remember I told you to save the berries? That's because these beautiful alcohol-infused berries are great as toppings on ice cream, pound cake and even pureed as a sauce. One tip, while infusing you will notice that the color might get drained from the berries along with the flavor so add some fresh or frozen berries to the boozy ones to put that color back in.
* Rich simple syrup is simply two cups of sugar and 1 cup of water heated until the sugar dissolves to create a syrup. Once the sugar has dissolved remove the simple syrup to cool then bottle. This will keep in your refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY