2 Star Shots
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
Caribbean Volcano
1 1/2 oz. Jose Cuervo Especial gold tequila
1 1/2 oz. Myers (Jamaican) dark rum
3 pinches cayenne peppers
3 dashes horseradish
3 dashes Tabasco sauce
Pour the rum and the tequila into a tall shot glass. Add the horseradish, pepper, and then the tabasco sauce. Serve. Enjoy !
After a final weekend of decadence celebrating my 40th birthday before I start making some serious changes for my health, I admit that I need a good wake-up call for today’s shot. Much like a bunch of New Year’s resolutions, I’ve set a handful of goals to start pursuing now that I reached the big 4-0. For instance, I’d like to lose 15-20 lbs. And a real quick way to doing that (almost cheating I’d lose it so fast) would be to seriously cut back on my drinking outside of ShareMyShot and maybe eliminate…………pizza. With a little bit of exercise.
I’d probably lose 20 lbs in 30 days.
But after celebrating Thursday thru Saturday and then losing an hour’s sleep due to turning the clocks back for Daylight Savings time on Sunday morning, I need a shot that qualifies as a hangover remedy. A shot that will slap my ass awake. Get me going with some gusto on a lunchtime walk with the apple I brought in.
Say hello to the Caribbean Volcano.
A couple of the panel members, including myself, were slightly tricked when one of the other panelists announced the Caribbean Volcano as today’s shot. Often a Caribbean themed shooter has some fruit juices in there and some sweeter ingredients to make a refreshing tropical shot. But this one is different. This shot is meant to heat you up. Thus, the volcano in the name.
The shot’s liquor ingredients aren’t too weak. You have a mix of Jose Cuervo tequila and Jamaican dark rum. An interesting combination.
And then you spice it up for the lava-hot element of the volcano. You toss in some horseradish, some cayenne pepper, and Tabasco sauce. That’s some serious hot seasoning!
I and many people have had tequila with a few drops of tabasco sauce in there. And I’ve added pepper to many drinks. I like my Bloody Marys pretty spicy and have used cayenne pepper in those before. But here we have the triple threat. All three ingredients that are commonly used to add a little spice “kick” to mixed drinks and shots.
The panel unanimously agreed that the triple threat provided all the kick we needed out of this shooter. It was freakin’ spicy ! A couple of the female members and one guy stopped after two rounds. I did three in pursuit of that pick-me-up I was after.
And I got my pick-me-up.
Nobody did more than three rounds of the Caribbean Volcano. While the taste wasn’t exactly bad, it is (almost obviously) not a shot meant to massage your tastebuds. It’s meant to assault them. And it does. The tequila, the Tabasco, and the cayenne were the three flavors identified most prominently by the panel.
ShareMyShot gives the Caribbean Volcano a 2 on a scale of 5. While somewhat creative, the spices used in the shot are pretty much the traditional options. The taste is pretty suspect—-although we acknowledge it is a shot meant to torture more than tickle. And while you might catch a pretty good buzz if you drank 5 or 6 of these, we don’t see too many people wanting 5 or 6 of these.
This volcanic shooter spits out just a bit too much lava for our tastes.
Cheers !!
Posted in 2 Star Shots, Bacardi dark rum, Bundaberg dark rum, Caribbean, Jamaican rum, Jose Cuervo gold, Myers dark rum, Patron, Patron Silver tequila, Sauza tequila, Tabasco sauce, Tequila 1800, cayenne pepper, flavored rum, hangover remedies, horseradish, hot sauce, peppers, rum, tequila | No Responses »
Monday, February 22nd, 2010
Psychedelic Tiger
3/4 oz. Kahlua coffee liqueur
3/4 oz. Monin Gomme Syrup
3/4 oz. Grenadine syrup
1 1/2 oz. Blue Curacao liqueur
First, put the Kahlua at the bottom of a large shot-glass. Next pour in the gomme syrup. The gomme syrup sinks to the bottom. Then add a splash of the grenadine in the middle. It will sink through the kahlua and create a lava-lamp type of effect. Finally, add the Blue Curacau on top of the Kahlua. Enjoy !
Today we have a rather interesting shot to share with you. In our never-ending pursuit of great tasting shooters, sometimes we come across one with a real aesthetic quality as well. For shots such as these, they have to be prepared correctly to enjoy the full visual effect. And as we’ve done in the past, we called on Tony from the sales department to assist us. He’s the guy who does some part-time bartending occasionally and prepared the Tiger Tail for us previously.
Now we have another tiger of a shot for him to prepare. With the Tiger Tail, there was color combination of white, dark, and orange that were layered to resemble the color of a tiger’s fur. In today’s shot, the goal is not so much to resemble the colors of a tiger rather than create the cool lava lamp effect as one component bounces off another as it is prepared.
I believe this is the first recipe that we have employed gomme syrup—which at its root is a sugar and water mixture commonly used in drinks to add a sweetening effect. It is also used frequently as a sweetener for iced coffee in Japan. We had to send the office lackey Keith down to the liquor store to score us a bottle for today’s recipe. You can pick up a bottle of Monin gomme syrup for about $8–9 which is what we used in our shots.
So by calling on both Keith and Tony for today’s Psychedelic Tiger, it really was a team effort and we thank them for their contributions.
Unfortunately, seeing the shot being prepared was a better experience than drinking the shooter itself. Tony was able to effectively capture the lava lamp effect after his first few tries. When the grenadine is added, it kind of exploded off the Kahlua and gomme syrup on the bottom. And the Blue Curcao stayed on top as it it was too thin to sink and kind of perched itself on top of the other ingredients.
However, the taste of the shot wasn’t that great. It wasn’t the worst shot we have tried by any means. But it was very sweet with both gomme syrup and grenadine involved. I’m not the hugest fan of Kahlua and the whole combination just had a funky ass flavor. Plus, it was a little thick. You have the thin Blue Curacao on top and then it got a wee bit sludge-y underneath. Not a great thing in a shot.
ShareMyShot gives this psychedelic shooter a 2 on a scale of 5. We give it credit for creativity and the visual effect. But the taste and the kick were pretty lacking. And it’s not a shot anyone was too willing to try too many of in order to see just how many it takes to give you a zing.
If you want a lava lamp effect, we suggest you go to Spencer’s or Walmart or somewhere and buy yourself a damn lava lamp. The Psychedelic Tiger really isn’t worth the effort.
Cheers !!
Posted in 2 Star Shots, Blue Curacao liqueur, Grenadine, Kahlua coffee liqueur, Monin gomme syrup, Tia Maria coffee liqueur, coffee liqueur, flavored liqueurs, gomme syrup, liqueurs | No Responses »
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Stinky Weasel
1 oz. 1800 Tequila
1 oz. Bacardi 151 rum
1 oz. lemon juice
1 dash sugar
Put the tequila into the shot glass. Add the 151 rum and then the lemon juice. Add the dash of sugar last and stir it slightly with a toothpick.
Whenever we have a new recipe to sample that isn’t really well known like Jagerbombs and Buttery Nipples are, the first question posed around the discussion table is whether anyone on the taste team is familiar with the shot or has tried it before. Not exactly a earth shattering revelation on how we operate.
Today when that question was asked about the Stinky Weasel, everyone said that they hadn’t ever tried the proposed shooter. However, one of the more attractive females on our panel joked that while she hasn’t ever drank a stinky weasel, she’s been up close and personal with a few. That was a ballsy enough statement to make as it was. Literally. But then one of the (self percieved) witty guys at the table replied,
“Well, that’s what happens when you shack up with homeless dudes every weekend.”
Not the most intelligent thing to say to a woman under any circumstances. Dipshit.
Once order was restored and the office furniture back in place, we could get back to the business of alcohol. So we turned our attention back to the Stinky Weasel. The shot, that is.
This isn’t one of the more elaborate shots we have tried lately, but not all of them can employ fine French liqueurs or five ingredients at a time. This one calls for specifics and is rather cut-and-dried. You combine powerful components like 1800 Tequila and Bacardi 151 and temper it just a bit with the lemon juice and a pinch of sugar. That’s it. Plain and simple.
I’m not sure how the name applies to be honest with you. But as we’ve learned over the first 90 recipes or so, the name is not always a direct hit for the shooter.
This shot wasn’t near the worst we have tried at ShareMyShot, but it was nowhere near the quality of some of the recent shooters we have sampled. The tequila dominated the taste of the shot. And with the lemon juice being equal part to any of the other components, that sour substance made its presence known as well. Tequila often gives one a rather bitter, sourpuss expression on the faces of those who are not big fans. And the influence of the lemon juice exaggerated that effect. There were some funny-ass faces at today’s session….lemme tell ya.
The taste of the rum seemed to get a little bit lost in the mix, although the kick that 151 proof rum provides was still very evident.
Some team members stopped at three rounds and others “manned up” to do a fourth. Those that tried four rounds felt the punch of the two main liquor ingredients. But as a group, overall we could only reward this shot with a 2 on a scale of 5. The creativity level was low, the taste was so-so, and we did give it points for its power. And in the end, that added up to a 2 out of 5.
Perhaps the greatest lesson to come out of today’s recipe is that when a woman tries to make a joke about her experience with stinky weasels, just give her the laugh and move on. Don’t try to be cute with some half-assed response. It just isn’t worth it.
Cheers !!
Posted in 2 Star Shots, Bacardi 151, Jose Cuervo gold, Patron, Patron Silver tequila, Sauza tequila, Tequila 1800, fruit juices, hangover remedies, lemon, lemon juice, rum, sugar, tequila | No Responses »
Monday, January 11th, 2010
Dirty Sanchez
A coffee and cream tequila-based shot; be sure to take the Dirty Sanchez with a finger between nose and upper lip simulating a moustache!
1 oz. Bailey’s Irish cream
1 oz. Jose Cuervo Especial gold tequila
1 oz. Kahlua coffee liqueur
Pour the ingredients in equal parts into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well, pour into a large shot glass, and serve. Enjoy !
I admit that I came across this shot while browsing the internet over the weekend. The name jumped out at me. While it’s not the most creative shot in the land and it has rather basic ingredients that we have tried in a number of prior recipes, I still felt obligated to bring it in to the office.
And this isn’t the first time that the term Dirty Sanchez has been a humorous topic of discussion in the office(s) that I have worked in.
For those not ” in the know ” , Dirty Sanchez is a term used to describe a rather kinky sex act. Or maybe for you….it is a pleasant sex act. To each his own. When I lived out west, I used to work for an organization that among other interests, maintained a stable of adult websites. My duties were more on the company’s coding and design work for their more mainstream interests. But there was obviously interaction in the office with the adult site department. And we used to joke and laugh around about various material and terms such as the Dirty Sanchez.
I won’t define the Dirty Sanchez here in this family forum about alcohol and libations. After all, there may be children reading ! But you can look it up if you’re that curious.
Then at a warehouse job I had in Chicago a few years later….where humor hits rock bottom….the term showed up again. The warehouse foreman, myself, and a tiny little Mexican laborer used to joke around with each other a lot. Whenever one of the three of us was looking for another worker and we made the mistake of asking if they knew where that worker might be, the automatic reply was that……..
” He’s in the bathroom waiting for you. He wants to give you a Dirty Sanchez. ”
Nice guys that work in a warehouse/factory, huh?
Anyway, the shot called Dirty Sanchez employs the basic ingredients of tequila (feel free to go with whatever brand you desire), Bailey’s Irish Cream, and Kahlua coffee liqueur. Plain and simple…..and just like the heading says, it is a coffee & cream based tequila shot.
The Kahlua and the Bailey’s definately tone down the typically challenging taste of tequila. They make the consistency of the shot a tad bit thicker and a little easier to toss down. The aftertaste is nowhere near as pronounced—at least from the tequila standpoint—-as usual. There is an aftertaste, but it is more coffee orientated. We tried four of these buggers.
ShareMyShot gives this sexy, little shooter a 2 on a scale of 5. It’s not that it tasted bad. It didn’t, really. But it wasn’t near as good as many of the recent recipes we have tried. And its simplicity held its score down. Plus, there was the somewhat plain ingredients involved. So we couldn’t really reward the shot with a score higher than 2.
Just make sure you hold your finger between your nose and upper lip when downing the shot. If anyone in the group laughs at this gesture, then they have some sort of prior experience with the Dirty Sanchez. Only one girl on the taste team giggled. I’m taking her out this Friday night.
Cheers !!
Posted in 2 Star Shots, Bailey's Irish Cream, Jose Cuervo gold, Kahlua coffee liqueur, Patron, Patron Silver tequila, Sauza tequila, Tequila 1800, flavored liqueurs, hangover remedies, liqueurs, tequila | No Responses »
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
Hair of the Dog
1 oz. 1800 Tequila
1 oz. Jameson Irish whiskey
1/4 oz. Tabasco sauce
1 pinch salt
Pour the Tabasco sauce, the tequila and the whiskey into a shot glass. Lay the salt on top, and serve.
Now this recipe we’re sharing today is a bit of a favor from ShareMyShot.com to you. We thought we better post it before New Year’s Day so that you have time to read it and incorporate it into your holiday morning plans. If you’re like most of the staff at ShareMyShot, you’ll be nursing a hell of a hangover on January 1. So before it’s too late, we present to you the Hair of the Dog.
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying before. The insinuation is that when you are feeling really lousy after a hard night of drinking, the best bet is to have a belt of some sort. To “man-up” and go to that liquor cabinet and toss down a shot of Jack Daniels or Jose Cuervo tequila. It’s like the old western saying, “If you fall off a horse, you get right back up on that sucker“. In the drinking world, the popular phrase is to go and get a little of that hair of the dog.
And damned if ain’t true ! I often feel slightly better after a little hair of the dog.
So we gave this one a try in the hopes we could prescribe it as a hangover remedy for the upcoming holiday. The tough part is that we were only able to sample it for taste and appearance, etc. Nobody shows up for work at ShareMyShot drunk or really hung over. Sometimes we leave work a little tipsy, but no one shows up drunk or clinging to the toilet all morning. So obviously it was tough to determine if this would be an effective hangover cure. We could only base it on taste and whether it made our foreheads and stomachs all warm and settled.
What we can tell you with certainty is that this shooter will definately help you to NOT drink the rest of the day. After a couple of these eye watering pick-me-ups, you’ll probably say to yourself….”OK, that’s it ! I don’t need any more. No really……I feel much better. No more booze for me. I’m good now.”
You know……something along those lines.
Anytime you have a shot that calls for tabasco sauce, it usually gets your attention when you throw it down. Add the top layer of salt and you sit up straight in your chair as it goes down into your belly. I thought it might be a better experience if you put a little dash of salt on your hand like many people do with straight tequila shots. The taste team tried it both ways: as a light dash on top of the actual shot….and also off of the back of our hand as a precursor to the shot. It didn’t matter which way we did it—–this Hair of the Dog is a freakin’ bell ringer !
ShareMyShot.com gives this stiff smack in the face a 2 out of 5. And we endorse it as a hangover remedy. It made the back of my damn neck warm. And I’ll tell you this…like an old fashioned spoonful of castor oil, it cured me of whatever pains I had. When someone proposed we try a 4th round, the team said almost simultaneously,
“No….no !! I’m good. No more shots necessary ! I’ve had enough to form my opinion.”
Try one of these on the morning of January 1 right when you get out of bed. I triple-Dog dare ya.
Cheers !!
Posted in 2 Star Shots, Irish whiskey, Jameson Irish whiskey, Jose Cuervo gold, New Years Eve, Patron, Patron Silver tequila, Sauza tequila, Tabasco sauce, Tequila 1800, hangover remedies, holiday shots, salt, tequila, whiskey | No Responses »
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
Disgruntled Elf
1 oz. Bacardi (light) white rum
1 oz. Cointreau triple sec
1 oz. Jose Cuervo gold tequila
1 oz. Tanqueray gin
2 oz. sour apple mix
3 oz. Sierra Mist soda
Pour in the rum, the triple sec, the tequila, the gin, and the sour apple martini mix to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake the contents. Pour into a double shot glass (or a hi-ball glass). Then top it off with the Sierra Mist.
For our final Christmas-themed shot, we’re sharing a recipe that you can either trim down to a big shot (like a bomb), or you can drink it more slowly as a cocktail. What we have posted is for a bomb-type of shot. To make it into a cocktail, simply use a larger glass like a hi ball glass—and top it off with more of the Sierra Mist soda. The alcohol content (measurements) remain the same. Drinking it as a bomb-type shot will likely just give you a heavier kick without the extra soda in there.
So it’s all up to you…..pick your poison !
One way or the other, you have a Disgruntled Elf on your hands. Being December 23, we had a few reservations about the Disgruntled Elf. This pissed off bastard is probably working 16 hours days for the fat guy so the sleigh can take off tomorrow night at its scheduled departure time. That slave driving SOB (that’s right…..slave driving….not sleigh riding) puts those elves through hell in the days leading up to Christmas. Everyone knows that. It’s like a Honduran sweat shop over there at the North Pole.
But the sample team fought past our fears that this may be a revenge-oriented shooter and gave it a try.
While we didn’t do much “substitution testing” on this drink, you could probably use a different brand of tequila if you prefer. And you could also step down to a more affordable brand of gin. We did try the bomb with both Tanqueray and Fleischmann’s gin. There really wasn’t a significant difference as far as the team could tell.
The Sierra Mist soda (and to me, the gin to a slight degree) made the shooter somewhat fizzy and carbonated—-as one would expect. I say that the gin contributes to this element simply because the soda kind of served as the tonic water that it is traditionally paired with, and the result is somewhat fizzy when I drink gin & tonics. In the same token, the soda replaced the Red Bull I often have in “bomb shots”…..again providing the fizzy element.
However, overall the team wasn’t exactly impressed. There seemed to be too many things at work here. Especially for a bomb shot. Usually when you drink a bomb, you turn the glass up and start guzzling it down. It has a couple of ingredients. With the Disgruntled Elf, there were a number of flavors competing for their spotlight and it just didn’t blend together all that well.
ShareMyShot.com gives this irritated elf’s recipe a 2 on a scale of 5.
We knew that little bastard was out to get us. Just because he has to work some long hours right before Christmas is no reason to take it out on the staff of ShareMyShot.
I’m telling his boss about this.
Cheers !!
{And Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of our readers from everyone at ShareMyShot.com !!!!!!!! }
Posted in 2 Star Shots, BOMBS, Bacardi white/light rum, Christmas, Cointreau Triple Sec, DeKuyper Triple Sec, Fleischmann's gin, Gordon's gin, Jose Cuervo gold, Red Bull, Sierra Mist, Sprite, Tanqueray, Tequila 1800, Triple Sec, gin, holiday shots, rum, sour apple mix, tequila | No Responses »
Friday, December 18th, 2009
Mrs. Santa Claus
1/2 oz. chilled Firewater cinnamon schnapps
1/2 oz. chilled Tequila Rose strawberry cream liqueur
Pour the Firewater into a shot glass. Top with the Tequila Rose liqueur, and serve.
Today we have a fairly simple shot. And I’ll tell you why.
Last night we had the ShareMyShot company Christmas party. Everyone had a fantastic time and the shots were flowing. You see what we drink during the day in the name of research. But at a holiday party with everyone in a festive mood……yikes ! There’s quite a few people moving around very slowly and low-key today. The kind of day where you pass someone in the hall and say “Good morning” and you get a semi-audible grunt in return.
It was a great party, though. Thank you to the higher-ups here at ShareMyShot for giving the employees a wonderful, generous party to end this difficult year for so many.
Which brings us to today’s rather “easy” shot. When we say easy, we mean it is easy to prepare. And it’s easy to toss down. You wouldn’t expect Mrs Santa Claus to be a raving bitch of a shot, would you? It’s my understanding the woman is very nice.
So you basically have a shot of Firewater cinnamon schnapps and you top it off with a sweet, creamy topping of the Tequila Rose. Now while I do drink tequila, I’m not a regular consumer of the Tequila Rose. A handful of the girls I know drink it. At one of the bars I hang out at in the Chicago suburbs {Georges Too in Lyons, Illinois}, I throw down a few shots with the bartender whom I’m friendly with. And she drinks the stuff. It is very creamy and has a very pink hue to it. It does look kind of delicious. But it’s a bit too “foo-foo” for me.
As a topping on a shot of Firewater cinnamon schnapps however, I can tolerate it. And it really lent something to the shot. The strawberry cream took some of the bite out of the Firewater. Is that a good thing? I’d normally say that muffling the strength of the one ingredient meant to ‘pack the punch’ in a shot is a negative. But in this shooter, the strawberry blended well with the cinnamon flavor. And with both of the ingredients served chilled, it went down a lot smoother than the normal warm and “burny” flow of Firewater.
ShareMyShot can still only give this shot a 2 on a scale of 5. While it tasted pleasant enough, it was nowhere near the level of the top shots we have shared. And it’s simplicity was another thing going against it. Finally, there is the lack of punch. If we deducted a point each for all three of these shortcomings, you get a 2 out of 5.
Mrs Santa Claus is a sweet woman. She really is. What she really needs are some balls.
Cheers !!
Posted in 2 Star Shots, Christmas, Firewater cinnamon schnapps, Tequila Rose strawberry cream liqueur, Uncategorized, cinnamon schnapps, flavored liqueurs, holiday shots, liqueurs, schnapps, tequila | No Responses »
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
Kick Me in the Jimmy
1/2 oz. Jagermeister herbal liqueur
1/2 oz. Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey
1/2 oz. Jose Cuervo Especial gold tequila
1/2 oz. Firewater cinnamon schnapps
Combine in cocktail mixer with ice. Shake and strain into a double shot glass. Try to enjoy !
Here’s a shot that screams Merry Christmas, doesn’t it? It’s not exactly what I asked Santa for Christmas last year, but………
We’ve tried some shots recently that were more dessert shots and thought it was time to try another ass-kicker. At least on paper. This one has been on our “to do” list for over a month. It’s amazing how few people wanna experience a no-holds barred Kick Me in the Jimmy. I don’t know if it’s bad memories from a childhood fight or everyone racked themselves on their car door coming to work. But you don’t have to ask me twice for Kick Me in the Jimmy.
I’m down. Totally down if you wanna Kick Me in the Jimmy.
If you look at the ingredients, this shooter is meant to make men out of boys. It’s an all-star lineup of heavy hitters. You have my personal favorite brand of whiskey in the Jack Daniels. Toss in the most recognized brand of tequila in the world with the Jose Cuervo. And for shits and giggles, why don’t we pour in a splash of good old fashioned Jagermeister too?
Finally, we have a new label of cinnamon schnapps to play with today. Yes, we’ve monkeyed around with Aftershock and Goldschlager and some of the other big boys in this niche. But we do believe this is the first recipe we’ve shared utilizing Firewater cinnamon schnapps. This is an elite brand and is 100 proof. You can probably secure a bottle anywhere from $17-22 at a decent liquor store that carries it.
Don’t change up any of the ingredients if you can help it. Other than the Firewater schnapps, you should have a bottle of the other three ingredients on-hand. If you don’t, you need to build up a more diverse stock of booze, chief. But stick to Jack Daniels because it has a bite that we feel is required to give you the full Kick Me in the Jimmy experience. And don’t deviate to Aftershock or a weaker label of cinnamon schnapps. Like we said, Firewater is 100 proof and it has the taste/kick to back it up. When you accept a Kick Me in the Jimmy, you want to feel it, right?
Drinking this reminded me of throwing down a shot of my buddy’s homemade Yugoslavian moonshine—except it tasted better than gasoline. Which is what my friend’s moonshine tastes like.
It’s like sticking a lit match on your tongue. It tasted like I took a gulp of that liquid fire that pranksters put in a guy’s jockstrap. Imagine you drank a liquid habanero pepper.
The taste is hard to describe other than what I have tried to express here. You swallow it fast and there isn’t exactly a plethora of tasty sensations. Just a burning one on your freakin’ tongue. We at ShareMyShot.com give this flamethrower a 2 on a scale of 5.
A couple of people on the taste team said they’d rather take a real Kick Me in the Jimmy than do a second round of the shot. I actually participated in a second round.
I should’ve just taken a foot to the nuts and called it a day.
Cheers !!!
Posted in 2 Star Shots, Firewater cinnamon schnapps, Jack Daniels, Jagermeister, Jose Cuervo gold, cinnamon schnapps, herbal liqueurs, schnapps, tequila, whiskey | No Responses »
Friday, December 4th, 2009
Jimmy Page
1/2 oz. Jim Beam bourbon whiskey
1/2 oz. Popov vodka
1/2 oz. Tia Maria coffee liqueur
1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
Pour into a double shot glass in the order listed. Be sure to add the grapefruit juice last. Serve and enjoy.
To complete this week’s run on shots named after legendary musicians, someone brought this idea into the office today. This is a person whose opinions the rest of us trust pretty well. She’s on the taste test team and can throw down shooters with the best of ‘em. When she came in with the recipe for the Jimmy Page shot, a few people were like, “Oh come on. We did the Ray Charles shot. We did a Bob Marley shot. Is there really any such thing as a Jimmy Page shot ?? ”
It turns out, there is indeed. Our colleague did admit that she did a little looking around on-line to come up with it. She just wanted to be able to come in with a rock star shot. She cited that Ray Charles was a bluesy, gospel singer. And Bob Marley was the king of reggae. So she wanted her style of music to get in on this theme. And she found the Jimmy Page shot. That’s taking a chance, but we trust her judgement.
Most of us had no familiarity with Tia Maria coffee liqueur. We didn’t have any in the corporate cabinet, so we sent our boy on a quick trip to the liquor store. We actually hit the store at least twice per week. Sometimes to get an ingredient we are completely lacking—and at least once per week to re-stock the traditional lables. We go thru the juice pretty fast over here.
Tia Maria is a coffee liqueur made originally in Jamaica using Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee beans. The main flavor ingredients are coffee beans, cane spirit, vanilla, and sugar fermented into its alcohol form. It can be consumed pure, or with ice. It is also frequently used as an ingredient for cocktails, as a complement with coffee, or in desserts. It may also be mixed with milk and ice.
All-in-all, it sounded pretty damn good to the rest of us and we had no reservations about trying this recipe from our classic rock colleague.
Plus, I have always been a huge follower of Jimmy Page since about 6th grade when I discovered Led Zeppelin. I wrote more than one book report over the years in school about the Zeppelin biography Hammer of the Gods. Always got an A on it too. Much like the band, in my younger years there were trashed rooms and crazy, wild times mostly fueled by alcohol and other medicines.
Strange that I would end up working for a corporation that samples and shares shot recipes, huh?
Unfortunately, ShareMyShot.com gives this classic rock creation a 2 on a scale of 5. I had a slight fear going in that the whiskey element and the coffee liqueur wouldn’t play well together—especially with some grapefruit juice thrown in. But I trusted my coworker. My initial thought was that it would have a funky taste. And it sure did. I’m not huge on grapefruit juice and that was the first thing my tastebuds identified. Then the rest of the concoction tasted like some of the rocket fuel my friends and I made as adolescent kids. {The quick mixture of the first three bottles we yanked from my parent’s liquor supply…..no matter what they were}. Always tasted like anti-freeze or something. This blend reminded me of those days. Not good.
The shot did not do the legendary guitar player justice. You’re better off jamming some old Led Zep records than trying this shooter. And we no longer trust that colleague as much as we used to.
Cheers !!!
Posted in 2 Star Shots, Absolut, Evan Williams whiskey, Grey Goose Vodka, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Knob Creek, Popov vodka, Skyy vodka, Smirnoff's vodka, Stolichnaya vodka, Tia Maria coffee liqueur, bourbon, flavored liqueurs, fruit juices, grapefruit juice, liqueurs, vodka, whiskey | No Responses »
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Unabomber
1/2 oz. Tanqueray gin
1/2 oz. Grey Goose vodka
1/2 oz. Cointreau triple sec
1/2 oz. lime juice
Pour all ingredients into a large shot glass. Make the formal introduction of your mouth to the shot glass. Enjoy.
This was an interesting shot for the staff of ShareMyShot.com to sample recently. We’ve shared almost 50 recipes thus far, but this was really the first blend of these ingredients we’ve come close to. We’ve only posted two prior recipes calling for triple sec, and those were early on. There also haven’t been too many mixtures calling for lime juice. So we thought this would be something a little different we could offer.
We wanted to discuss triple sec for just a minute and suggest a few brands. Triple sec is an orange-flavored liqueur made from the dried peel of oranges from the Caribbean. Its name means triple distilled. It is widely used in mixed drinks and recipes as a sweetening and flavoring agent. One of the best known brands among American drinkers is Cointreau. Many brands are colorless, although some of the finer brands may have a golden hue in-line with their brandy base. A form of triple sec known as Orange Curaçao is made from oranges from the Caribbean island of Haiti. This is often recognized as an elite label. Triple sec typically contains 30% alcohol (by volume). That is 60 proof, though brands may have anywhere from 15% to 40% alcohol.
We did a lot of experimentation and substitution of brands playing with this recipe. Honestly, we ran out of Tanqueray after a couple of rounds and had to step over to Gordon’s. But in the name of research, we pushed on. You could also probably get away with Fleischmann’s or Seagram’s with this shot. I personally am a Tanqueray man. And I thought the best blends we tried were the first few using the last of the Tanqueray.
We also used Absolut and Skyy vodka in our mixology tests.
We used Cointreau as the recipe suggested for the triple sec; chiefly because that was the only brand we had in the office. Our office gopher Keith was dispatched pronto to the liquor store to secure a finer brand of triple sec and another bottle of Tanqueray.
The shot wasn’t stomach-lurching bad. But even the best blends didn’t rate as superior. My highest vote came with the first two mixes we tried. The first blend we sampled was directly from the recipe we have posted. And the second blend we tried—including the last of the Tanqueray—–had substituted the Grey Goose for the Skyy vodka. Not an earth-shattering switch. I gave both of those first two samples a 3 on the scale of 5.
But the rest of the blends earned no better than a 2 on the 5 point scale. Some of the staff gave the shot a 2 on all samples. So collectively, we agreed that the Unabomber gets a 2 on a scale of 5. It’s a nice effort at a refreshing, subtly Caribbean shot. But for most of us, the lime juice and the triple sec didn’t go very well with the gin/vodka combo.
We’d rather have a cold marguerita or a mojito.
Cheers !!!!
Posted in 2 Star Shots, Absolut, Bacardi white/light rum, Caribbean, Cointreau Triple Sec, DeKuyper Triple Sec, Fleischmann's gin, Gordon's gin, Grey Goose Vodka, Orange Curacao, Skyy vodka, Smirnoff's vodka, Stolichnaya vodka, Tanqueray, Triple Sec, fruit juices, gin, lime juice, vodka | No Responses »
