Kaelah's Cocktail Hour: Bartender Knows Best

Two weeks ago I shared my first cocktail recipe here on Little Chief Honeybee! (Can you believe two weeks have passed already?! Yikes! I'm a little embarrassed for my lack of promptness!) I shared my all-time favorite-drink-ever no-one-makes-it-like-i-do (yes, I'm proud!) New Old Lady recipe! Then I realized, um, ya probably want to know what it looks like! If you're like me, you judge your food and drink heavily on the way it looks. That's simply how it works for me. There aren't many things I'll eat that don't look appetizing (no-bake cookies and pasta bake are my exceptions!). Today I'm going to share with you not one, but five (!!!) fantastic cocktail recipes that I use frequently at my bar (including my newest creation from Saturday night!).

One of the coolest things about bartending is you can just make up recipes. Mix a little of this and a little of that, then come up with a really cool name. It may exist somewhere else by some totally different calling, but it can be your little creation in your little bar (even if your "bar" is just your home or circle of friends!) Here's a rainbow of beverages for your next night out, party, or if you're feeling fancy on a night at home!

Blue Valium

This is a drink we make all too often at our bar. It's a simple two-liquor drink and it tastes pretty darn good! It's a bright blue and it gets a lot of attention. More often than not I have eager patrons coming to the bar asking "What is that blue drink you just made? I want that!" simply because it's pretty. Looks sell in a bar, that's for sure!

The recipe:

1 ounce vodka

1/2 ounce blue curacao

Equal parts sweet 'n sour mix + Sprite

Garnish with a cherry

Liquid Marijuana

This is without a doubt our most popular drink at my bar. It has only since become the favorite this year, but we sell them like hotcakes. It got so crazy trying to pour all of the liquors for each one that we actually started pre-mixing the alcohol so we can do a simple 1.5 oz pour. If you decide to pour each one you'll undoubtedly get more alcohol, so be careful! This one can add up quick and you might be stumbling around! We don't want that!

The recipe:

1/2 ounce Malibu rum

1/2 ounce light rum

1/2 ounce blue curacao

1/2 ounce apple pucker (or melon liqueur)

Equal parts sweet 'n sour mix + pineapple juice

Garnish with a cherry

Peached Whale

This is my newest creation! I came up with it Saturday night at work and boy oh boy... it's good! I polled my Twitter followers for a name and Baily came up with the winner: Peached Whale! It's absolutely perfect for a drink with Malibu and peach schnapps! I actually ended up selling quite a few Saturday night as I told everyone about them! I brought my own passionfruit juice but we might just have to start stocking it! I promise you won't regret this one! Most bars don't have passionfruit juice so this is a great drink to make at home!

The recipe:

1/2 ounce Malibu rum

1/2 ounce Bacardi rum

1/2 ounce peach schnapps

1/2 ounce amaretto

Fill passionfruit juice

Garnish with a cherry (or three!)

Tootie Fruity

We make this one quite a bit at my bar too. It's a great drink that is super easy to make at home. I'm not really a fan of vodka but I know a lot of people are so if you like vodka and fruity drinks (but hate that you always get handed a Sex on the Beach), this is your calling! 

The recipe:

1 ounce vodka

1/2 ounce triple sec

Equal parts grenadine (or cranberry juice!), orange juice, and pineapple juice

Garnish with a cherry

Cape Cod

This is as simple as they come. It really needs no explanation! If you're a no-fuss-or-frills kind of gal, you might really like the Cape Cod!

The recipe:

1.5 ounces vodka

Fill cranberry juice

Garnish with a lime

So now I'm curious... Did any of you try the New Old Ladies I blogged about the first Kaelah's Cocktail Hour?! Did you like them? (If you're ever in Tennessee, stop by my bar! I promise to make them better!) How about these? Think you'll give any of them a go?!

Kaelah's Cocktail Hour: New Old Lady

I've been bartending for over 5 and a half years now (holy crap!) so it goes without saying that I've found certain drinks to be my favorite to make and consume. I decided to start a new feature here on LCH sharing some of my absolute favorite cocktails from my bar. Some originated there. Some originated from me. Some came from goodness knows where but made an impression at my little bar. But they have one thing in common: they're all delicious. I'm biased to a few and this first one I'm sharing is my all time favorite. I might as well not drink anything else because 99% of the time, it's a New Old Lady.

In my 5+ years I have never had a single person tell me they didn't like the NOL when I suggest it. I get a lot of customers who have no idea what they want and this is always my first suggestion. It's kind of my baby!

Below you'll find the illustrated (and very simplistic) recipe, and I'll include ways to change it up to suit your mood underneath! 

For everyone afraid of taking a "recipe" to a bartender, worried that they'll roll their eyes at you and tell you they can't make it, don't be scared! I love when customers bring me new recipes and I love sharing my concoctions with other bartenders! Other bartenders (or you!) may recognize some of the drinks I feature by a different name, and that's all well and good! Every place tends to call it by a different name, and every bar may mix a Sex on the Beach differently! We don't actually abide by a little black book of recipes so don't be alarmed if I share something you think is wrong... it's just how we do it! Enjoy! (Click on the image below to see it full size!)

Ways to mix it up:

+ Add a splash of Sprite and/or pineapple juice. This is especially tasty if you serve it on ice as a drink!

+ Like the subtext reads, do equal parts whiskey and schnapps if you want to ease your way into it.

+ Add a tiny splash of grenadine for a fruity kick.

Most bartenders will understand what you mean when you say "one parts" and "two parts" and "splash"... but if you want to make it at home and you have no idea what that means, think of all alcohol equaling 1.5 ounces (2 or 2.5 if you're feeling wild!). 3 parts of 1.5 oz would be .5 oz each. 1 oz whiskey and .5 oz peach schnapps. I don't actually measure this as I've grown accustomed to just knowing when to pour/stop, but if you have a jig on your liquor, start to pour it and count to five fairly quickly. That is roughly between 1 and 1.5 oz. I tend to say counting to 3 is half an ounce but that's fudging it a bit! (ex: count to 5 quickly for the whiskey and count to 3 for the schnapps!) Okay, I may tend to give a wee bit more alcohol than the recipe calls for but oh well! If you're mixing it at home you can mix to taste so don't sweat it too much! If it's too strong you can always dilute it a bit with sweet ' sour mix. Be careful if you're prone to heartburn as the sweet 'n sour might set it off!

New Old Lady is without a doubt my favorite drink so if you find yourself craving something new when you're out and about (or even at home), give it a try! Let me know if you decide to try it and what you think! It's absolutely yummy! xo

What's your favorite cocktail to have when you go out?

PS; I'll also be sure to include some mock-tail recipes for all of you readers who are underage or choose not to drink alcohol! I can't leave you out! ;)