Twilight Espresso

This is what vampires drink to keep them up all night.

11/2 part Kahlua
1 part vodka
1 part espresso shot
Blood of your latest victim for garnish.

Hot and Dirty

We like a dirty martini. We also like it hot. Trader Joe's jalapeno stuffed olives and its juice gives the right amount of kick but we upped the heat factor with this and made it with chili infused vodka (Stoli Hot) and an Aribibi pepper which looks like a yellow grub floating in it. Creepy!

With Halloween approaching I upped the creepy factor with ‘bugs’(olives with rosemary legs) frozen in ice. Creepier.

Drink it if you dare!

4 parts Stoli hot

½ part dry vermouth

½ brine from olives
Grubs & bugs to taste

Spear-tini

This has been a while in the making and we’ve gone through a few versions but think we’ve finally settled on a decent spear-tini which is ideal for these fall evenings for the more sophisticated college football viewer in this house (Not that I’m more sophisticated nor a ‘viewer of football’ per se but any excuse to make a Saturday feel like an occasion).

Of course it’s inspired by the garnet and gold of FSU and originally I thought of renaming our pomegranate martini (no doubt had a few last year!) but wanted to get the ‘gold’ in there and couldn’t find a vodka with gold flakes which I know is out there somewhere (We got a wedding present of one so we know it exists!). Instead we tried Goldschlager but the cinnamon flavor jus didn’t do it. This year we started with spiked apple cider but it wasn’t ‘garnet’ enough but we were on the right track. When we used a cranberry/apple cider mix we got the perfect pairing with the cinnamon schnapps. Add some dark or spiced rum and the spear-tini was made.

2 oz dark/spiced rum

1 oz cinnamon schnapps

4-5 oz cranberry/apple cider cocktail.

Stab an apple slice with a spear for garnish.

I even think that this would translate very well heated for some hot spear-tini – say on a chilly day when tailgating. Maybe I’ll find out later in the season!