Amaretto almond liqueur

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Love Potion

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Love Potion

1 oz.           Absolut vodka
1 oz.           Amaretto almond liqueur
1 oz.           99  Peaches schnapps
1 oz.           Tropicana orange juice (no pulp)
1 oz.           cranberry juice 

Pour all of the ingredients into a shaker with ice.  Shake well and serve on the rocks (or without ice in a double shot glass).  Enjoy !

If you read yesterday’s column, then you know that today’s recipe was submitted by Keith, whom we usually refer to as the office lackey. However, he is a lackey no more. Today and for the rest of the week, he is a full-fledged member of the taste team panel.

We had told him to do a little research and select what he really believed to be a tasty shot for us to try. And we made it clear he was to be absolutely certain that it was not a shot we have already sampled or reviewed. So what does this promising young kid do? He brings in three different recipes just to be safe and said he thought this one was a shooter that ” both the women and the guys might like “.

I think he’s aiming for a full-time spot on our panel.

So today, courtesy of Keith, we’d like to share the Love Potion shot with you.

The vodka and orange juice combination is a quite natural pair (screwdriver). And none of us thought factoring in a little cranberry juice would exactly hurt anything. So the interesting part would be seeing how the amaretto and the peach schnapps blended in. You can feel free to substitute your favorite brand of vodka for this drink. We used both Absolut and Skyy labels and they both worked well within the recipe.

Now one thing we do want to point out is that not only does the recipe call for shaking the ingredients in a shaker with ice, but it also suggests that you serve it in a glass on the rocks. The insinuation being a hi-ball glass or something similar. We did not do that. The orange juice and the cranberry juice were already cold as obviously we keep them refrigerated. And upon shaking all of the ingredients with ice in a shaker, we didn’t feel the need to then also serve it on the rocks. We taste test shots at ShareMyShot….not cocktails exactly. So we just poured the concoction into double shot glasses and it was chilled enough for our palates.

The Love Potion provided for some lively discussion by the panel. Ironically enough, Keith wasn’t a huge fan of the shot, although he didn’t make any faces or think it outright sucked. But the rest of us seemed to enjoy it more than he did. This may be because we have tasted a shot that combined Absolut, amaretto, and orange juice before in a shot called the Dirty Diaper. That is not to say that this was a duplicate recipe, though. There were additional ingredients in the Dirty Diaper such as Midori melon liqueur and Chambord raspberry liqueur. So this was definately something different.

The Dirty Diaper earned a 4 out of 5 from our panel, so we obviously thought the flavor combination tasted good. However, this shot didn’t have quite the exotic fruit flavor. A few of us aren’t huge fans of peach schnapps and having that in the mix versus Chambord raspberry liqueur might have been the difference maker. As strange as it may sound, the Love Potion just wasn’t quite as good as the Dirty Diaper.

It’s kind of funny to even find myself typing that.

But we gave the Love Potion a 3 on a scale of 5. It was still decent tasting and somewhat creative. It doesn’t pack that much of a punch. So we thought that since it wasn’t quite on a level with the Dirty Diaper, it deserved a solid 3 on our scale.

Thanks for doing a good job on your homework Keith, and maybe tomorrow we’ll find a recipe more to your liking.

Cheers !!

Dirty Bong Water

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Dirty Bong Water
 
1/2 oz.         Chambord raspberry liqueur
1/2 oz.         Blue Curacao liqueur
1/2 oz.         Amaretto almond liqueur
1/2 oz.         Captain Morgan spiced rum
1/2 oz.         Mr and Mrs T Sweet and Sour mix 

Pour ingredients in a cocktail mixer with ice. Shake gently and pour into a large shot glass. Enjoy !

Today’s recipe for Dirty Bong Water is one of those that can be served as a shot or a full-fledged drink. If you wanted to double the ingredients, or multiple them by 1.5, you can simply pour it into an old fashioned glass on the rocks and enjoy it as a regular drink. But as in many cocktails, you can also fraction the ingredients and create a shooter as we have done for today’s formula.

Usually when one thinks of dirty bong water, the image is not too appealing. Back in high school when we were passing around a bingo, sometimes there was one guy who would pull the slider (the bowl part) to clear the tube and inhale a bit too hard—–pulling a nasty dose of dirty bong water into his mouth and onto his lips. For the rest of us, it was pretty damn funny. But if you were ever on the receiving end of that vile splash of resinated water, it wasn’t too comical.

And God help you if someone knocked the bong over and the water poured out on your mother’s carpet. The stink was terrible and the stain didn’t come out all that easy.

But as if often the case, original uneasiness was tamed a bit when we were given the ingredients. Since starting at ShareMyShot, I can’t recall having a terrible experience with any shot involving Chambord raspberry liqueur. And when I’m not doing shots, I drink Captain Morgan rum like they’re about to pull it off the market or something. Of course, I wasn’t sure how well the two would go together. I know that we combined Chambord and amaretto in the recipe for the Dirty Diaper, which earned a 4 on our rating scale. So those two elements are a solid pairing.

Anyway, we had all of the ingredients on hand and got down to business. It turns out that the four main ingredients worked well together and the whole mixture was balanced nicely by the sweet and sour mix. Blue Curacao has a slight orangish taste, but can be a tad bitter for some people. And sweet and sour mix has a lemon, lime, and sugar base that is sweet in one regard and can be slightly tart at the same time. These ingredients, with their almost contradictory personalities, were complemented nicely by the Chambord raspberry liqueur. The rum and the amaretto did not interfere with the fruity aspect of the other libations. At least not in any foul, negative way. They were present, but did not dominate.

ShareMyShot gives this soothing shooter a 4 on a scale of 5. It would be a wonderful shot to throw down after enjoying a spliff (or a good cigar for those who don’t partake). Sort of a chaser after a fine smoke, if you will. It is tasty and somewhat fruity with a pleasant, lingering aftertaste.

And probably not as many calories as scarfing down a whole bag of potato chips or a box of Mac n’ Cheese to cure those munchies.

Cheers !!

ABC

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

ABC

1 oz.          Amaretto almond liqueur
1 oz.          Bailey’s Irish cream
1 oz.          Courvoisier cognac
 

Layer the ingredients in ABC order in a large shot glass. Enjoy!

Folks, it doesn’t get much easier than this. We shouldn’t have to tell anyone where this shot derives its name from…..but since you’re drinkers, we will anyway. Quite obviously, the three ingredients start with the first three letters of the alphabet. And per the instructions, you pour them into your shot glass in alphabetical order. It’s all part of the fun of doing the ABC shot.

We actually have been sitting on this recipe for some time. Not for any special occasion, although we were tempted to post this one when the King of Pop Michael Jackson died. It would have been meant as a tribute. You know……per the song he did with his brothers. But we didn’t want to stir up anyone’s ire at the time either. So we just decided to stash it away for another day. And today is that day.

While we strongly encourage you to adhere to the recipe just as it is for the sake of a true ABC, we will pass along this one little ” cheat ” tip. If you absolutely have to, we suppose you could go with a different brand of cognac other than Courvoisier. While that is one fine brand of cognac—made all the more popular by Tim Meadows as ” The Ladies Man ” on the old Saturday Night Live gig, we will concede that the word cognac itself starts with the letter C. So if you have a bottle of Remy Martin, Martell, or Hennessy behind your bar already, we guess you can go with one of those and still call it an ABC.

But if you like Courvoisier and have a bottle in your stash, you should use this brand and you definately can consider yourself a Ladies Man ! A Ladies Man drinking a true ABC shot.

Amaretto and Bailey’s is a rather popular combination as it is. And adding in a little cognac actually turned out to be a very nice touch. Cognac is the most popular/famous variety of brandy. It traces its origins to the town of Cognac in France. But if you want to get down to brass tacks, this is a nice triple threat of amaretto, Bailey’s, and fine brandy.

It had a warm and inviting taste and went down very smooth. The women on the team gave this shooter more kudos than the men did. And the men seemed to have a fine appreciation for the drink. After all, none of us didn’t want to NOT be viewed as a true Ladies Man. Especially not in front of the females present in the tasting chamber. But it had a bold, rich flavor that was soothing on the throat and the palate.

ShareMyShot gives this scholarly shot a 4 on a scale of 5. While the ingredients are not the most creative trifecta we’ve seen, they work very well together and taste pretty damn good. And we’re sure that if you drink enough of these alpha shooters, you and your fine lady will catch a nice little “cuddle buzz”. But we couldn’t give it our highest score as it just wasn’t quite on that most elite level.

But it is definately another one of those shots for in front of the fireplace with your special someone.

Cheers !!

American Dream

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

American Dream

1/2 oz.         Kahlua coffee liqueur
1/2 oz.         Amaretto almond liqueur
1/2 oz.         Frangelico hazelnut liqueur
1/2 oz.         (dark) Creme de cacao
 

Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake gently. Strain into shot glass. Serve and enjoy !

Today we wanted to share the American Dream with you. With so many people struggling in today’s economy and the job market in dire straits, not too many people are living the American dream. So if you can’t live it, at least you can drink it !

We thought this recipe might resemble the recent post for Liquid Snickers a bit too closely. Both recipes call for Creme de cacao (dark) and Frangelico hazelnut liqueur. But this recipe factors in a couple of other interesting elements and we thought we’d see if it turned out as good as the Liquid Snickers which garnered a 5 out of 5 on our scale. We figured even if it is only 3/4 as good as the other recipe, it’ll still be a pretty damn good shooter.

The Frangelico hazelnut liqueur was one of the components that carried the day with the Liquid Snickers. Do not deviate or go with a cheaper brand. We still had a half-bottle from the last time it was utilized. And both the Amaretto and the Kahlua are always in stock in our corporate liquor cabinet. You could also go with Tia Maria coffee liqueur if you have it in your arsenal.

Once again, we want to stress that there are two types of creme de cacao on the market—light and dark. We explained the difference in color and texture in the Liquid Snickers recipe. Be sure to use the dark blend for both recipes. Of course, we still had a solid supply of that spirit from our recent Snickers dalliance as well. Ours happens to be Marie Brizard Creme de Cacao, but you can try a less expensive label.

The American Dream did have a slightly similar taste to the Liquid Snickers shot. However, the American Dream tasted more like a good cup of nut-flavored premium coffee as compared to a chocolate candy bar. As a blue collar guy, I enjoy some of the flavored coffees you can get at a 7-11 or a good convenience store. They’re often quite tasty. And this shot was even a touch better than that. I hate to give Starbucks or Gevalia a free nod here, but the rich, savory flavor was more on a level with their products. And they both offer a hazelnut blend as well as a mocha blend. I know that Gevalia even offers an amaretto flavor too.

So that was the impression that the taste team agreed upon. It was comparable to the Liquid Snickers and delicious, but when we held them up directly against each other, four of the five team members preferred the Liquid Snickers. I myself like candy bars more than I like coffee. So my vote went to the Liquid Snickers.

Still, ShareMyShot.com gives this exotic little blend a 4 on a scale of 5. The nutty influence was warm and comforting even though the shot is served chilled. It is a satisfying combination of flavors that isn’t bitter or harsh…..a nice shot to do with a few friends on a cold winter night. Or snuggling up with your lover in front of the fireplace. It creates a relaxing and pleasant mood.

So if your American Dream has been a bit of a nightmare lately, whip up a batch of these and settle in for a nice, romantic evening. You deserve it.

Cheers !!

Dirty Diaper

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Dirty Diaper

1/2 oz.    Absolut vodka
1/2 oz.    Amaretto almond liqueur
1/2 oz.    Southern Comfort peach liqueur
1/2 oz.    Midori melon liqueur
1/2 oz.    Chambord raspberry liqueur
1/2 oz.    orange juice

Pour equal parts of all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into shot glass. Enjoy.

The office staff here at ShareMyShot looks a little haggard today. A few of us made a little pact before we went on our short holiday break to do a lot of field research for our readers. I know I held up my end pretty well. And from the looks of our IT guy and the boss, it looks like they did their jobs as well.

But that allows us to come back strong here with a shot that is seemingly the best of all worlds. ShareMyShot.com is proud to share a Dirty Diaper with you !

What’s that? You say, “A dirty diaper? Thanks, but no thanks? You’ll pass on that?”

We thought the same thing at first. Sometimes the name of a shot can be a deterrent right from the start. I admit I was a little stand-offish at first too. Who the hell wants to get cozy and comfortable with a Dirty Diaper for chrissakes?

But then the ingredients were laid out and I have to admit that it seemed like a combination of many of the libations we have touted in recent weeks. We’ve got the Midori melon liqueur which is pretty tasty. We have the Chambord raspberry liqueur which I am quickly falling for. We’ve got orange juice…….which I probably could’ve used a little bit more of this morning before I even came into the office…….

The root of the drink is pretty basic. The vodka element and the orange juice—your common screwdriver. You can feel free to substitute Absolut with any brand of vodka you choose; top shelf or otherwise. With Christmas shopping in full swing now, perhaps you are ready to ration your supply of Absolut, Skyy, or Grey Goose vodka. So if you want to use Smirnoff or even Stoli, you go right ahead. It’s going to be mixed in with several other flavors and is only 1/6 of the overall blend. So almost any decent vodka will work here.

The next four ingredients are what provide most of the flavor. This is a pretty tasty shot, although the flavors pretty much all blend together to make a tropical fruit cocktail. It’s very smooth and palatable. There’s no harshness at all…especially with the shot being served chilled. My impression—–and that shared by others in the office—–is like we put a bunch of fruit in a blender with some orange juice and made a blended fruit smoothie. It’s just not as thick as most smoothies. It almost tastes like it could be a healthy drink after a hard day of work.

It is very, very good though. ShareMyShot gives this strangely named shooter a 4 on a scale of 5. You can probably drink 9 or 10 of these before you feel any kind of zing. But they are definatly refreshing and delicious.

Certainly not the usual thoughts you have when considering a Dirty Diaper.

Cheers !!

Turkeyball

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Turkeyball

1 oz.          Wild Turkey bourbon whiskey
3/4 oz.       Amaretto almond liqueur
1 splash      pineapple juice

Combine the Wild Turkey, the Amaretto, and a splash of pineapple juice with ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into a shot glass. Enjoy.

We have another Thanksgiving shot to share with you today. Like the previous recipe for the Hobble Gobble, this shooter also employs Wild Turkey bourbon whiskey. I already covered my tradition of Wild Turkey on Thanksgiving day with my brother and my cousin. So I won’t repeat it here.

This shot is different from the Hobble Gobble in that the HG was just a simple combination of Bacardi 151 and the Wild Turkey. Pure and simple.

This one is a little bit more creative going with a more “experimental” flavor with the Amaretto almond liqueur. This is actually the third recipe this month calling for Amaretto and the second post in a row. {Although yesterday’s recipe didn’t do this liqueur proper justice}. But let’s explore this popular libation just a bit more. Amaretto is a sweet, almond-flavored liqueur of Italian origin. It is made from a base of apricot or almond pits, or sometimes both. It is frequently used in cooking…particularly in fine desserts. And it’s almost redundant to call it Amaretto almond liqueur. Almost.

The most popular brand of Amaretto on the market is Disaronno Originale. It’s known for it’s distinctive bottle. They also trumpet the fact that even with its characteristic almond taste, the liqueur contains no almonds…and no nuts at all. {That’s why it’s not quite redundant to sometimes refer to it as Amaretto almond liqueur—someone may want a brand specifically containing natural almond flavoring}.

Another label that is over 150 years old is Lazzaroni Amaretto. You should definitely be able to find Disaronno at the liquor store you shop it. You may not be so lucky with the Lazzaroni. If they don’t at least have Disaronno, find yourself a better damn liquor store already.

Coincidentally, we didn’t care for either of the previous recipes containing Amaretto at ShareMyShot.com

I myself am not a huge fan of it all by itself. However, I have enjoyed it big-time in fancy desserts like fine (real) ice cream. And I’m always willing to give it a chance as an ingredient in a shot or mixed drink. Others in the ShareMyShot office enjoy it much more than I. Honestly, none of us believe that the Amaretto element was the weak link in the other shots. One of them contained milk for chrissakes. And the other had peach schnapps being combined with whiskey. Not good.

So perhaps the Amaretto hasn’t gotten a fair shake to this point. Thus, we sampled the Turkyball !  

ShareMyShot.com gives this tasty turkey-day treat a 4 on a scale of 5. The Wild Turkey actually blended very well with the Amaretto. It’s nice that there wasn’t any peach schnapps or milk to spoil things. There is the pineapple juice. We tried the shot with the pineapple juice and without it. And the consensus is that the shot tastes slightly better with the  pineapple juice. It makes the shot just that much sweeter whereas Amaretto has a bittersweet almond taste. The ingredients all work together to make a pleasurable shooter.

So have a ball on Thanksgiving this Thursday. Better yet, have a Turkeyball. Or three.

Cheers !!!

 

Grizzly Bear

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Grizzly Bear

1/2 oz.       Amaretto almond liqueur
1/2 oz.       Jagermeister herbal liqueur
1/2 oz.       Kahlua coffee liqueur
1 1/2 oz.    milk 

Serve over ice. It doesn’t sound too appealing, but we were told it tastes pretty good.

So one of the guys I watch pro football with regularly brought this recipe with him last night for the nationally televised Chicago Bears—Philadelphia Eagles game. While he’s not a member of the ShareMyShot staff, this friend of mine reads the recipes on the site daily and has wanted to share one for a while. While he has others he says are “more his style“, he thought this one would go great with all of us watching the Bears game here in Chicago.

And it’s jack-ass recipes such as this one as to why he is not on the ShareMyShot.com staff. Those of us who partook of the shot couldn’t decide which was shittier: the Grizzly Bear shot or the Chicago Bears football team? Just about all of us were pretty reluctant from the start. Quite simply, I don’t drink shots with milk and alcohol in them. Who the hell does?

We implored this character to offer up one of his other, more traditional suggestions. But he wanted to connect the Grizzly Bear to the football game and have a gay little theme , I guess. Perhaps I’m just holding a grudge from him exposing me to this crap-ass concoction. And I’m a little bit pissed at the Chicago Bears too. Let’s just say everything with the word “Bear” in it sucked bad on Sunday night.

None of the ingredients (except milk) are among my favorite beverages. I can tolerate Jagermeister. But I’ve never been a huge fan of almond amaretto nor Kahlua for that matter. Mix them with the Jager and some cold milk and you have one horseshit mixture. I literally had a stomach lurch as I drank the shot. Nothing ugly happened (except on the television). But it reminded me of taking Pepto-Bismol as a kid.

 You know….that thicker pink shit that was supposed to do something for your stomach. For me, it usually induced vomiting. And I think I had an instant of flashback as I brought this shot to my lips. I started drinking it and my stomach gave a little lurch. It could have been the shot, OR it could have been another lame-ass pass from Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. I’m not sure.

But I forced it down and then had that sensation where your mouth gets real watery as you try to hold something bad down. I swallowed about fifteen times until the taste was gone. And then almost all at once, we hurled insults and put-downs on our buddy.

ShareMyShot gives this bear of a shot a ZERO on a scale of 5. It blew. Please don’t ever share a shot with me that contains milk. I can handle lime juice or even whipped cream. But for the love of God, please…no milk.

Cheers !!!

Bart Simpson

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Bart Simpson
 
1/2 oz.       Crown Royal Canadian whiskey
1/2 oz.       Amaretto almond liqueur
1/2 oz.       peach schnapps
1 splash     cranberry juice 

Chill and serve in large shot glass.

We’re going with something a little different today. A bartender friend and big fan of ShareMyShot made me try this shot simply because she knows I’ve been a long-time fan of the Simpsons. Neither she nor I can make a connection between the shot or its ingredients and the name of it. But the bar was kind of empty on a chilly Sunday afternoon and after trying a couple of previously posted recipes together, she came up with this bright idea. Said she heard about it from another girl who works there, but hadn’t tried it yet.

And it just goes to show ya. We should have left well-enough alone. I had tossed back a couple of belts of Jack Daniels watching the Bears beat up on the Cleveland Browns. And I was happy. When she suggested the shot and said it had Crown Royal in it, I didn’t think that was such a huge leap and was agreeable. When she told me the rest of the ingredients, I knew my tastebuds and/or stomach might object after an afternoon of JD. But yet I pushed onward.

I’ve never been a big fan of libations such as Amaretto almond liqueur or even peach schnapps for that matter. I do like most flavored schnapps, but peach isn’t one of them. And the whole Amaretto thing is what I remember my dear mother used to go for on holidays. Me not so much. But with my friend’s encouragement and in the name of research for ShareMyShot.com we trudged further on.

I hated it. It sucked. Really blew. The Amaretto and the peach schnapps were still prominent in the flavor. The whiskey and the cranberry juice didn’t do enough to mask those two pungent tastes. But instead of two seperate flavors that I really don’t care for, it was one big splash of a single bad flavor. My bartender friend’s boyfriend was the only other one there and he refused to try one. Smart kid.

It’s a creative combination to whomever thought of it. And the name is intriguing just because I don’t know what the hell the connection is. But all-in-all, we have a weirdly named shot with half of it made from liqueurs that I don’t care for. And the taste reminded me of when dear old mom made eggplant for the first time and the family almost revolted. Or take a slug of milk from a carton that’s 8-9 days past the expiration date. There’s a taste that is just as enjoyable.

ShareMyShot gives this cartoonish concoction a zero on a scale of 5. As good ol’ Bart Simpson would say, “Aye caramba, man” !!!! This shot is not highly recommended. Or maybe Bart would say “Eat my shorts” because that’s what this shot almost tasted like.

Cheers !!