Suffering Bastard.  A great drink.  Unless you have a few too many.  Then in the morning you will feel like the name of this drink.

1 1/2 oz. Rum

1 oz 151 Rum

3/4 oz Orange Curacao

1/2 oz Orgeat Syrup

1 oz Lime Juice (Fresh Lime Juice)

2 oz Orange Juice (Fresh Orange Juice)

Pour all of the ingredients into a shaker.  Shake well.  Pour into your favorite tiki mug.

This is not the recipe for the red stuff you find in the grocery store.  If that is what you are looking for go to your grocery and buy it.  This is for a much more delicate and alcoholic punch.  If you are having a luau and want to serve a punch this is the drink to make.  Here is waht you need:

• 4 cups of Orange Juice
• 4 Cups of Guava Juice
• 4 Cups of Pineapple Juice
• 1/2 cup of Grenadine
• 1 Cup of Ginger Ale
• 3 Cups of Light Rum
• 1/2 Cup of Dark Rum
• Splash of 151.  You don’t have to add the 151 if you don’t want but I like to kick it up a notch with a splash or two.

Start with the top ingredient and go down the list mixing them in a large punch bowl.  Add ice and stir.  No that is some good Hawaiian Punch. 

A lot of people don’t associate drinking with St. Patrick’s Day.  Irish people are known to be some of the most sober people around.  I am trying to change that.  Here is a drink that you are sure to enjoy.  It is great anytime but even better at St. Patrick’s Day.  The name of the drink is the Irish Car Bomb.  Some politcally correct bars call it the Guiness Bomb.  I don’t drink at those places and you shouldn’t either.

All it takes is three ingredients.  Here we go.

Half a glass of Guiness

1/2 shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream

1/2 shot of Irish Whiskey

Fill half a shot glass with Bailey’s.  Take the Irish Whiskey and fill the remaining half of the shot glass.  Grab shot glass and drop it in the Guiness.  Drink and drink fast.  The whole thing can curdle.  Slainte!

Two years ago I took a tour of the St. Louis Anheuser Busch Brewery.  It was worth the trip out there.  At the end they take you into a room with an open bar and you can taste some of their tried and true products along with some that they are testing.  I tasted a few.  One of them was a beer with blueberry flavoring.  I like blueberry’s but did not care for this beer.  Mrs. Mai Tai gave it a try.  She usually likes fruity beers.  She drank it but it wasn’t her favorite either.  I just read that they are releasing Wild Blue.  It is a premium lager with as they describe it “a bite of blueberry.”  It looks different than the version we tried.  If I can find it I might give it another go.  You really need to try something twice before you say it is no good.

Back in July I posted about a new drink that Anheuser Busch was introducing.  That drink was the Chelada.  A delicious mix of beer, tomato juice and clamato.  I have received e-mails and comments about the beverage asking where can I get it.  Well the good people at Anheuser Busch just sent me an e-mail and gave me the low down on the product.  The good news is that as of 1/14/08 the beverage is now available nation wide.  It is being stocked at my local grocery store so it should be in a store near you.  If you are not familiar with the beverage this is how they describe it. 

This distinctive beverage is a refreshing, authentic combination of Budweiser and Bud Light mixed with Clamato® Tomato Cocktail. It is perfect with a lime garnish or with a little hot sauce if you like it spicy! Grab some chips and salsa, call up some friends and you’ll be the life of the party.

So go on out and grab a Budweiser Chelada or a Bud Lite Chelada and the taste sensation that is sweeping the nation.

Today is President’s Day.  How do I salute great presidents like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln?  With a drink of course but not just any drink.  A drink fit for the occasion.  I drink the El Presidente.  You can too.  Here is what you need.

•  2 oz. White Rum
• 1/2 oz. Orange Curacoa
• 3/4 oz. Dry Vermouth
• 1 Dash Grenadine

Pour the ingredients in a shaker over cracked ice.  Give it a stir.  Strain into a martini glass.  Here’s to you Mr. President.

There are plenty of ways to open a champagne bottle. You could do it discreetly. Place a bar towel over the top and gently twist the cork out. No big pop but you won’t bruise the champagne. In a celebratory mood? Then go ahead and pop that cork out. Beware of the shooting cork. You don’t want to shoot your eye out. Just won the Super Bowl? Then shake that bad boy up, pop the cork and stand back. That used to be my preferred method. That is until I learned how to open a bottle with a sabre. Nothing says I am a sexy, dangerous, mysterious man more than a sword and a bottle of champagne. The women will be all a quiver when you show them your prowess with a sword and how you can slice through glass.

Coming to a store near you is the Krups Heineken Beertender.  It has been available in Europe for awhile but will now be sold in the good old U.S. of A.  Williams-Sonoma is going to be selling it first and other retailers should be picking it up later.  It holds a 5 liter beer keg.  It is a cool idea if you don’t have a kegerator.  The downside is that it looks like it only accepts Heineken.  Heineken isn’t my first choice when it comes to beer.  If it is exclusively a Heineken dispenser I will pass on this but it is a cool idea.

It finally got cold in Florida.  It probably won’t last long but while it does it would be nice to have a drink that warms you from the inside.  Kentucky Cider is one of those drinks and it is easy to make.  Here is what you need:

• Warm apple cider 
• 1 1/2 oz Makers Mark Bourbon
• Allspice

Pour the Makers Mark into a mug.  Fill the rest of the mug with warm apple cider.  Add a dash of allspice.  Stir and garnish with a cinnamon stick.  It doesn’t get any easier than that. 

Shopping for the person who has everything is hard.  If you search long enough you usually stumble across something they don’t have.  This year I did all the work for you.  I am pretty sure that person doesn’t have a leather beer holster.  The people at Brew Holster Cult have three styles to choose from.  The holster will fit both cans and bottles.  I suggest you buy two.  One for each leg.  You can have your own beer duels with this.  Meet your buddies at high noon and see who can draw and drink their beer the fastet.