February, 2010
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Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Just Shoot Me
1/3 oz. Jim Beam bourbon whiskey
1/3 oz. Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey
1/3 oz. Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky
1/3 oz. Jose Cuervo Especial gold tequila
1/3 oz. Jagermeister herbal liqueur
1/3 oz. Bacardi 151 proof rum
Mix over ice and pour into a large shot glass. Enjoy !
Today ShareMyShot.com is very proud to share their 100th recipe with their readers. We’ve been around about 5 months now and when you start a new business as unique as this one, no one is sure exactly how long it will last. When I was first approached to come and work for ShareMyShot and they told me what the job entailed, I was a non-believer. I mean, really? Someone actually wanted me to come into work every day and suggest alcoholic shots to sample? And then give them a write-up/review based on what the entire panel of taste testers felt about the shooter?
It sounded like that episode of Cheers when Norm Peterson was given a job at the beer brewery as a taster.
I knew that the people behind the concept for ShareMyShot had a big office building in the ‘burbs where they actually oversee about 125-150 various websites. They have bloggers and researchers and IT experts and all that good stuff. So I knew it wasn’t some little upstart looking to throw out a little website. I knew they were serious about the concept. But to have a 6 person taste team comprised of three men and three women just to taste shots? Sounded like Xanadu.
Well, it turns out that the shot tasting (and my posts about them) are just a fraction of the job tasks we perform. The taste panel does contribute to several other of the websites on the company roster in various functions. But I’ll be damned if the initial invitation wasn’t true. Come in each day and sample a shot recipe and then share it with our readers.
God Bless America !!
So today…..for our 100th shot recipe…….we give to you the Just Shoot Me shot. We wanted to come up with something a little special. Something creative. Not just your two-ingredient basic shooter. Or something that involved whipped cream or milk or even 7-UP. We thought we owed it to our reader to offer up something today with some balls.
And Just Shoot Me has some balls, lemme tell ya.
The shot could almost be called the Five J’s if the Bacardi 151 wasn’t in the recipe. The first five ingredients all are labels that start with the letter J. But I think the monicker it does have is pretty appropriate. Do not deviate from the exact recipe. It calls for three of the kings in the bourbon/whisky market. It doesn’t get much better than Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, and Johnnie Walker. They’ve been good buddies of mine going back to high school.
Then we have the most recognized name in the tequila market. Many people have a more preferred brand of tequila (I think Patron is the best). But one has to admit that when you ask a ” lay person ” to name a brand of tequila, Jose Cuervo is often the first answer given.
And what would a shot called Just Shoot Me be without a little Bacardi 151 proof rum and some Jagermeister in there?
This is the type of shot that we used to call rocket fuel when we were teenagers. We’d pour a little bit of five or six liquors into a container so the parents wouldn’t notice the lower levels in their stash. All of it mixed together. It was tough as hell to drink, but it accomplished its goal for some 16 and 17 year olds looking to party. This shot reminded a few panel members of those days.
This was a tough shot to assign a ranking. The overall taste was rather spotty. When you mix six different types of liquor together, it’s tough to end up with an awesome tasting shot. The three types of bourbon/whiskey weren’t so bad blended together. But the other three components are so unique in their flavors that it created a hodgepodge that ended up pretty rough.
However, we assign a ranking to a shot also based on creativity, the quality of the ingredients involved, and the kick the shot has. And in these three categories, the shot really shined. So there was a lot of debate on whether to give this bad boy a 3 or a 4 on our scale. So we decided to let our guest panelist for the week Keith make the call.
ShareMyShot gives Just Shoot Me, our 100th shot, a 4 on a scale of 5.
And if you disagree, please send all hate mail to office lackey Keith.
Cheers !!
Posted in 4 Star Shots, Bacardi 151, Jack Daniels, Jagermeister, Jim Beam, Johnnie Walker Black, Johnnie Walker Red, Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky, Jose Cuervo gold, bourbon, flavored liqueurs, herbal liqueurs, liqueurs, rum, tequila, whiskey | No Responses »
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 !!
Posted in 3 Star Shots, 99 Peaches schnapps, Absolut, Amaretto almond liqueur, Caribbean, DeKuyper peach schnapps, Grey Goose Vodka, Hiram Walker peach schnapps, Hiram Walker schnapps, Ketel One vodka, Popov vodka, Skyy vodka, Smirnoff's vodka, Southern Comfort peach liqueur, Stolichnaya vodka, Tropicana orange juice, comfort shots, cranberry juice, flavored liqueurs, flavored schnapps, fruit juices, liqueurs, orange juice, peach schnapps, schnapps, tropical fruit shots, vodka | No Responses »
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Butt Pirate
1 1/2 oz. Captain Morgan spiced rum
1 1/2 oz. DeKuyper Buttershots liqueur
Shake both ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a shot glass. Enjoy !
One of the funnier (so he believes) guys on the taste panel brought this one in to the office citing it as his tribute to the Olympics. He said he was watching the men’s figure skating competition and it made him remember this shot recipe. Much like Jay Leno, he was his own best audience as he really cracked himself up with that joke. But he soon stopped laughing when one of the women on the taste team just casually asked him what he was doing watching the men’s figure skating to begin with?
He didn’t have an answer and eventually just cried out, ” Are we going to try this damn shot or not ? ”
Touchy….touchy.
Obviously the shot has nothing to do with the Olympics or men’s figure skating or anything like that. The name is derived from the two ingredients. Captain Morgan rum is named after a famous pirate and they use the pirate theme heavily in their logo and marketing. And the butt in this Butt Pirate obviously is from the DeKuyper Buttershots component.
So once the bad jokes and the insensitive remarks were over with, the group was ready to get up close and personal with the Butt Pirate. See how this bad boy tasted on our wet, wagging tongues.
Lord, I apologize for that there one…and please be with them pygmies down in New Guinea. {Larry the Cable Guy}
Anyway, we finally got down to business and when we tasted the shooter, one of the more serious and intelligent ladies on the panel said it tasted pretty damn close to a shot we tried about three or four months ago. And it hadn’t dawned on any of us how close the recipes were until she pointed it out. Back in September 2009, we tried the shot called Maple Syrup which was comprised of Captain Morgan and butterscotch schnapps.
This shot was basically the same thing with DeKuyper Buttershots replacing regular old butterscotch schnapps. The flavor was very close to tasting like maple syrup although (as we noted in September) it is thinner than a big spoonful of actual maple syrup. It tastes pretty good if you like sweeter tasting shooters.
So not only does this dipshit on our panel:
1) think he’s funny (he’s not)
2) insult the Olympics and our talented US men figure skaters (but he also)
3) brings in a damn recipe that we basically have tried before and already written about
Someone suggested that we kick him off of the panel for the rest of the week and replace him with office lackey Keith. Which is exactly what we did. And we told Keith to do some research and provide tomorrow’s recipe…..one that we haven’t seen before !
You’d have thought Keith just won the gold in the men’s freestyle skate. Talk about excited over a three day promotion. He stopped just short of thanking the Motion Picture Academy of America, the Dalai lama, and Emily Dickinson for chrissakes.
ShareMyShot gives the Butt Pirate a 4 on a scale of 5 —just as we did the Maple Syrup shot. It tasted very good and we gave credit for the creativity of the name. And if you drink enough of these, you just may find yourself watching the men’s figure skating competition yourself. So in the end, the Butt Pirate earned a 4 from the panel.
Cheers !!
Posted in 4 Star Shots, Buttershots, Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, Caribbean, DeKuyper Butterscotch Liqueur, DeKuyper Buttershots liqueur, Hiram Walker Butterscotch schnapps, butterscotch schnapps, flavored liqueurs, flavored rum, flavored schnapps, liqueurs, rum, schnapps | 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, February 18th, 2010
Mounds Bar
1 oz. Bols Creme de Cacao (Dark)
1 oz. Malibu coconut rum
Place the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and serve in a shot glass. Enjoy !
It’s been a little while since we shared a shot where it’s supposed to taste like a delicious food. Today we believe we have a pretty good one for you. Previously, we shared a recipe for Liquid Snickers. It received a 5 on our scale of 5 and tasted awesome. Today we present to you the Mounds Bar.
Now in that December 30 recipe for Liquid Snickers, I said that I absolutely love a Snickers bar. More than Mounds or Kit Kat. And that is true. But don’t get me wrong; a Mounds Bar or an Almond Joy are pretty freakin’ good too ! And I’ve never been one to turn my back on a Watchamacallit either. Or even just a regular ol’ Hershey’s Bar. Or M&M’s.
But I digress.
With its tasty combination of chocolate and coconut, a Mounds Bar has always been a sweet snack or lunch dessert. And the simple ingredients in today’s recipe do a really admirable job of capturing this fine confection. All you need is Malibu coconut rum—which just about any self-respecting home bar should have on its shelf. And you need a good label of creme de cacao (the dark variety). While the posted recipe calls for Bols Creme de Cacao, you can also feel free to use the slightly more expensive Marie Brizard Creme de Cacao. Both will suffice just fine for this scrumptious shooter.
And as simple as this 1-2 punch is, the panel positively loved it. The coconut and chocolate meld together to taste like a melted (or liquid) Mounds candy bar. It is pretty sweet tasting without being overwhelming or too rich. It goes down very smooth, although I myself am not even sure you need to shake it over ice. It tastes wonderful chilled…..and I know many people keep candy bars in their refrigerator….but I think it would be just as delicious if it were served at room temp. Just as many people keep their candy bars in a cupboard and eat them “warm” —-for lack of a better term.
Either way, this shot was enjoyed by all. However, we feel we can only give it a 4 on our scale of 5. That mark is almost entirely based on the awesome taste. But you’d have to drink a number of these to light your fire. And while the two-ingredient combination is interesting and a touch creative, it is still only two ingredients. The Liquid Snickers employed four components. We simply felt that of the two, the Liquid Snickers deserved a slightly higher mark for its creativity and multiple ingredients. But we certainly wanted to reward the Mounds Bar fairly for being as good as it is.
So if you are having a little dinner party with friends who would enjoy a sweet dessert shot, make up a batch of each. Let them decide which one is better. It would generate some fun conversation and you’ll save money on getting a more expensive traditional dessert.
Cheers !!
Posted in 4 Star Shots, Bols Dark Creme de Cacao, Godiva Chocolate Cream Liqueur, Lady Godiva chocolate liqueur, Malibu Rum, Marie Brizard Creme de Cacao Dark, Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream Liqueur, chocolate cream liqueur, coconut rum, comfort shots, creme de cacao, dessert shots, flavored rum, rum | No Responses »
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Jimmy Conway
1 oz. Jim Beam bourbon whiskey
1 oz. Seagram’s 7 whisky
1 oz. Romana black sambuca
Combine all ingredients together in a large shot glass. Stir and serve. Enjoy !
After one of the ladies on our panel brought in her Tarheel Shot recipe that was shared yesterday, one of the other guys on the team brought one in for today. It’s a trend we see often at ShareMyShot. When one person gets one of their contributions posted, then we have a string of suggestions from other people who don’t want to be left out. But that’s a good thing. Management doesn’t care where the recipes come from; we just want to share ideas with the rest of the shot drinking public.
So today Paul brought in a recipe called Jimmy Conway.
This caught my attention right away just out of irony. While we were on the flight to New Orleans to enjoy the corporate trip to the Super Bowl, I read the Nicholas Pileggi book Wise Guy again. For those who don’t know, this is the book that spawned the movie Goodfellas with Ray Liotta as mobster-wannabe Henry Hill and Robert De Niro as hoodlum Jimmy Conway.
I am a bit of a student on mob history and have read the book a few times and watched the movie four or five times. Jimmy Conway was actually known as Jimmy Burke to his associates. Although even he didn’t know many details of his birth and actual parents, he was born to a woman with the last name Conway. He bounced around from foster family to foster family (and prison at a pretty young age). By the time he was an adult in the Paul Vario crew, he was going by the moniker Jimmy Burke. But in the movie, they just went with Jimmy Conway.
Because the character was played by the world’s greatest actor in De Niro, the character was quite memorable and quirky. As was the real Jimmy Conway. He was a mean and dangerous SOB for sure. So it’s not out of the ordinary to hear that there is a shot named after him. I don’t know if this is what he drank in the film or not—-or how this concoction is directly attributed to him—–but I was curious to give it a try.
I drink a ton of Jim Beam as it is. So that component was not intimidating. The shot then calls for Seagrams 7 and Romana sambuca. This triple play seemed an interesting combination and the group dove right in. We also replaced the Jim Beam with Jack Daniels whiskey on the third round to see if it had a marked effect on the taste of the shot. We even used Jim Beam and Jack Daniels together in place of the Seagrams.
The reason we did this is because the shot didn’t go over very well with the taste panel. As I’ve stated before, I am not a huge fan of black licorice flavoring. But we couldn’t remove or replace the Romana black sambuca as it is a key ingredient in the recipe and not too flexible. So we thought we would try to switch out the whiskey element. Neither the Jim Beam nor the Jack Daniels was enough to snuff out the licorice flavor to the point of real enjoyment.
There was a suggestion to try a few other labels of whiskey to replace the Seagrams. But the consensus was that the sambuca would dominate the shot no matter what whiskey blend we tried. And there is a corporate policy that no taste session is to surpass five rounds. So we ran out of options in that regard too. The best we could give this shot was a 1 on a scale of 5. And that was only for the punch it delivered.
Like the real Jimmy (Burke) Conway, the shooter was just a little bit harsh. It was the type of shot that left a few of the panel members making a face after forcing it down. The aftertaste wasn’t that savory either.
While downing a shot of Jimmy Conway is definately better than getting on the wrong side of the gangster Jimmy Conway, personally I’d rather do neither.
Your health will be worse for wear either way.
Cheers !!
Posted in 1 Star Shots, Black Sambuca, Canadian whisky, Evan Williams whiskey, Goodfellas, Irish whiskey, Jack Daniels, Jameson Irish whiskey, Jim Beam, Knob Creek, Romana Sambuca, Sambuca, Seagrams 7, whiskey | No Responses »
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Tarheel Shot
1 oz. Smirnoff Vanilla Twist vodka
1 oz. Godiva white chocolate liqueur
1/2 oz. Blue Curacao liqueur
Shake the first two ingredients in a cocktail mixer with ice. Strain into a shot glass. Add the Blue Curacao slowly until the appropriate color blue (North Carolina Tarheel blue) is obtained.
Today’s shot was brought in by one of the women on our panel that I’ve always gotten along with pretty well. Besides the obvious common interest we share of enjoying the pleasure in throwing down shots, she is a graduate of the University of North Carolina.
I’ve always been a huge Tarheels basketball fan since I was an adolescent. And I didn’t just hop on in 1983 when Michael Jordan was there. I had already been a fan a few years earlier when the likes of James Worthy and Sam Perkins hit the scene. And to me, Dean Smith is the best college coach ever. Of course, Jordan enhanced the program even more. But the stars just never stopped coming….Brad Daugherty, J.R. Reid, Rasheed Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse, Vince Carter, and most recently Tyler Hansbrough.
It never ends out there in Chapel Hill. They just keep winning.
Except this year, the Heels are only 14-11. Katie (the girl on our taste test panel) and I have been suffering. But when one is suffering, there’s always downing a few shots to drown your sorrows. So today Katie brought in her recipe for the Tarheel shot. And after a few groans from some of the other panel members who have grown tired of our North Carolina banter, the mood swung around when she gave us the ingredients.
The shot is a nice combination of vanilla vodka and a high quality white chocolate liqueur that we have used previously—-Godiva. Actually, we have used Godiva’s chocolate liqueur in the past. Their white chocolate liqueur is outstanding as well. It is exceptionally rich, silky smooth, creamy, and delicious.
The blue curacao is chiefly used to shade the shot into a light blue color that is the trademark of North Carolina sports teams. If you are a fan, the motto is that you “bleed blue”.
Which Katie and I do.
The shot itself was delicious and we may have even earned a few converts to the Tarheels. The vanilla vodka meshed beautifully with the white chocolate liqueur to make a creamy concoction that tasted like a little piece of white chocolate candy bar that you let dissolve on your tongue. However, it wasn’t so thick that it tasted like melted ice cream or anything. The thinness of the vodka prevents that from happening.
You have to carefully add the blue curacao so as not to make the drink too blue. It isn’t supposed to be a dark shade; it is closer to “sky blue”. Maybe just a tiny little bit more blue than that….but not much. So this is why you should add that last ingredient after you have poured the vodka and white chocolate liqueur into the shot glass.
ShareMyShot gives this first team All American, NCAA champion of shots a 4 on a scale of 5. The creativity and unique appearance of the shot were there. The taste was awesome. The only thing missing from a perfect score was the power behind the shot. It would likely take several of these to ring your bell. But I could see myself doing several when the Tarheels win their next NCAA Tournament crown.
Perhaps the greatest part of today’s taste session was watching another panel member reluctantly acknowledge how good this shooter was.
He graduated from Duke University. And if you know anything about college basketball rivalries, you know how painful and difficult that was for him.
Cheers !!
Posted in 4 Star Shots, Blue Curacao liqueur, Godiva Chocolate Cream Liqueur, Godiva White Chocolate cream liqueur, Lady Godiva chocolate liqueur, Marie Brizard Creme de Cacao White, Potters Creme de Cacao White, Smirnoff Vanilla Twist vodka, Smirnoff's vodka, chocolate cream liqueur, comfort shots, dessert shots, flavored liqueurs, flavored vodka, liqueurs, vodka | No Responses »
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Oompa Loompa
1 oz. Bacardi Razz rum
1 oz. Stoli Razberi vodka
Pour the Bacardi Razz raspberry-flavored rum and the Stoli Razberi raspberry-flavored vodka into a large shot glass in equal parts. Enjoy !
After a short hiatus wherein the generous ownership group of the ShareMyShot corporation sent the staff of its handful of websites out to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl, we are back and ready to share more unique and delicious shot recipes. Before I get down to today’s shooter, I do want to thank the owner of the company and our Vice President for giving the staff such a wonderful experience when times are so tough. While in Vegas for the big game, we were able to do a lot of research and picked up a number of recipes from some of the club bartenders that we will be posting in the weeks to come.
Today’s shot is not one we picked up on in Vegas. But it does have a Las Vegas connection. There’s a rather infamous picture of me from about five years ago when I was standing on Fremont street in the older part of Vegas under the incredible canopy of colored lights. I have one of those football-sized beers in my hand (literally served in a full-size plastic football) and I’m obviously standing under a stretch of red lighting. Although I was not sun-burned in the least, my skin looks worse than John Candy’s burn in the movie Summer Rental.
I literally looked like I spent 24 hours in a tanning bed. My girlfriend and my best buddy give me shit to this day that I looked like an Oompa Loompa from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. To this day, whenever we are all hanging out together, they will both inevitably bring up the picture and start chanting the damn song……” Oompa, Loompa, doompadee doo. Oompa, Loompa, I’ve got another puzzle for you! “
Drives me nuts. Although I do admit I look pretty damn red in the picture.
Anyway, today’s shot is indeed an Oompa Loompa and it too is red in hue. It is a somewhat basic combination of two libations and you should not deviate from them. They are specific to getting the proper taste and color of a true Oompa Loompa. One ingredient is Bacardi Razz rum and the other is Stoli Razberi vodka. We have posted recipes utilizing both of these components in the past. They just weren’t combined together.
If you like raspberry flavor—-which personally I do—-then you will likely find this shooter to be a nice treat. The vodka and the rum work well together and there is a distinct raspberry jolt that makes it go down nice and smooth. A shot like this is hard-pressed to earn our highest marks because of its simplicity and small number of ingredients. But ShareMyShot does give it as high of a rating as we thought possible in rewarding it a 3 on a scale of 5.
There was a lot of discussion of giving the shot a 4, but with just the two ingredients we concluded that a 3 was as high as we could go. It would also take a good five or six rounds of this fruity shooter to rev your engines. So that was the deciding factor in sticking with a rating of 3.
Still, it is a shot that would make Willy Wonka and his whole team of Oompa Loompas proud. It is sweet in nature and very flavorful. A great shot for a group of friends out having fun that aren’t trying to prove their manhood or put hair on their chests.
Perhaps the only bad part of this shot is that now I’m gonna have that damn song in my head the rest of the day.
Cheers !!
Posted in 3 Star Shots, Bacardi Razz rum, Stoli Razberi vodka, berry flavored shots, comfort shots, dessert shots, flavored rum, flavored vodka, rum, vodka | No Responses »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Fainting Goat
1/2 oz. Bacardi Limon rum
1/2 oz. Bacardi Coco rum
1/2 oz. Bacardi Vanila rum
1/2 oz. Bacardi O rum
1/2 oz. Bacardi Razz rum
1 splash cranberry juice
Combine all of the rums into a tumbler with ice. Add enough cranberry to turn the drink a light red color. Shake well and strain into a large shot glass. Enjoy !
No, we aren’t being paid a promotional fee by the folks at Bacardi to try this shooter. It was suggested to us by a bartender we know named Kathy. She works at the Smilin’ Goat Pub on 47th Street in Lyons, Illinois.
Actually, I was a little surprised that she was able to come up with this shot when I stopped in there the other day for a couple of cold ones. The Smilin’ Goat is definately a beer-and-a-shot bar. Don’t get me wrong…..it’s a cool little place with some friendly regulars and cutie pie Kathy there behind the bar. But it is a small place. And it’s definately not the type of place you associate with exotic drinks or expensive, creative shots. I wouldn’t have thought that they had all of these varieties of Bacardi behind the counter to fix this shot.
Well, it turns out (per Kathy) that they do not claim to have invented this shot at all. They heard about it elsewhere. But the name they were given was the Fainting Goat and both she and the owner of the Smilin’ Goat tried it and really liked it. So they thought it would be a nice “house shot” to offer at the Smilin’ Goat. They admit that not too many people order it, but they always have the Bacardi fixings “at the ready” for whenever someone does ask for one. The price deters many of the regulars at $8.50 per shot. But they say that sometimes a group of three or four of the “younger crowd will order a round when they’re celebrating something or just getting happy“.
Good enough explanation for us. We’re happy to give this rummy shot a try.
Obviously, it’s not all that hard to make; equal parts of the (5) different blends of Bacardi rum, and as the recipe states…enough cranberry to make the overall hue slightly reddish. It’s served chilled.
We found it to be a pretty tasty mix. We’ve used Bacardi O somewhat recently in the recipe for the G Spot. And almost all of us on the taste panel have tried the other flavors too—-the Bacardi vanilla blend, the Bacardi Limon, etc. So none of the ingredients were exactly foreign to us. It was just a matter of how good they would taste in one, single invention.
And as I said, the answer was pretty good. The lemon / lime citrus flavor of the Limon was pretty evident, as was the taste of raspberry from the Razz. Although we do acknowledge that particular tinge may have been enhanced or complemented by the addition of the cranberry juice. As far as the least evident flavor, it was somewhat hard to identify the vanilla thru all of the tangy fruit flavors. The coconut from the Coco blend may have disguised it somewhat.
This was a fun shot. We enjoyed trying to discern the various components. ShareMyShot gives this house shooter at the Smilin’ Goat in Lyons, Illinois a 4 on a scale of 5.
Stop on in and see our friend Kathy behind the bar. And order yourself a Fainting Goat while you’re at the Smilin’ Goat.
Cheers !!
Posted in 4 Star Shots, Bacardi Coco rum, Bacardi Limon rum, Bacardi O, Bacardi Razz rum, Bacardi Vanila rum, Caribbean, Smilin Goat, citrus rum, coconut rum, comfort shots, cranberry juice, fruit juices, rum, tropical fruit shots, vanilla rum | No Responses »
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Homeless in Beijing
2 oz. Dynasty (Chinese) medium dry white wine
1/2 oz. 1800 Tequila
1/2 oz. Romana Sambuca
1 splash lime juice
Layer the (chilled) Chinese wine in the bottom of a large shot glass. Add a mixture of tequila, sambuca and lime juice on the top from a cocktail shaker (either chilled or unchilled). Enjoy !!
We thought it was time we tried something really daring today. Not necessarily daring in the sense of Everclear. And not daring in the sense of another 4-5 ingredient shooter of traditional libations. Yesterday we tried a recipe that didn’t have any of the hard hitters in it like vodka or rum. That wasn’t really the goal today either. We didn’t mind if today’s shot really packed a punch.
But we did want to sample something that didn’t have Bailey’s Irish Cream or Kahlua in it. We wanted to try and avoid rum as many recipes call for Bacardi 151 or another variety. We were seeking a recipe that didn’t call for banana, raspberry, or hazelnut liqueurs. We just sought a real change of pace….such as when we tried Ouzo a few weeks back. We try to keep things evolving here at ShareMyShot and after some scouring of some of our in-house literature and a few phone calls to some of our bartender friends, we believed we found something really unique to share.
Today we offer you Homeless in Beijing.
This is the first recipe we have shared that employs Chinese wine. China has been known for its grape wine for not just centuries…it has actually been traced back thousands of years. Typically rather strong, Chinese wine is itself evolving as there has been a recent French influence that has many more varieties penetrating the marketplace. The shot Homeless in Beijing calls for a pretty popular label known as Dynasty. They offer white and red wines along with a few other varieties. For today’s shot, you need their medium dry white wine.
Office lackey Keith had to go to three liquor stores here in the city before he could locate it.
And after trying three rounds of Homeless in Beijing, we could see why not too many liquor stores carry this crap. The shot tasted like I took a big glob of hair gel and shoved it in my mouth. It sucked big-time. I mean, expectations were a little reserved when we saw the recipe and the odd assortment of ingredients. But at the same time, we were seeking a new experience; something radically different. So we did go in with an open mind.
We should have stuck to a recipe that had some rum or something in there. This combination of Chinese wine, tequila, and sambuca was like chewing on a dirty dish towel. The kind of shot where even our toughest panel members were reaching for the salt crackers we set out to cleanse our palates. And reaching for them quickly I might add. Before they dry-heaved.
We even tried the wine by itself and while much better than the shot, it didn’t score high with the more educated wine drinkers in our group. And Dynasty is one of the more popular and rising labels in the Chinese wine market.
ShareMyShot gives this worldly wickedness a ZERO on a scale of 5. This tasted like we took a black marker and licked the tip for a couple of minutes. Like licking the blackboard in a schoolroom. We couldn’t figure out how the name applied until we had tried a few rounds of this nasty nectar. But now we know.
You would be better of being dressed in rags, starving, and Homeless in Beijing than drinking a bunch of these sorry shooters.
Cheers !!
Posted in 0 Star Shots, Black Sambuca, Chinese wine, Dynasty Chinese white wine, Romana Sambuca, Sambuca, Tequila 1800, flavored liqueurs, fruit juices, hangover remedies, herbal liqueurs, lime juice, liqueurs, tequila, white wine, wine | No Responses »
