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Think Pink! Four Favorite Pink Cocktails - FOOD RIOT
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What are your favorite pink cocktails? Let me know on Food Riot!
What’s Your Poison?
I was reading one of my cocktail books a few weeks ago, where the author was talking about how alcohol is “literally a poison,” his exact words. This took me aback as I’d never heard alcohol was poisonous. I’d heard of alcohol poisoning, of course, but not that drinking in moderation might slowly kill you. It seems odd that something humans have been doing since literally the dawn of civilization (the first known recipe for beer dates from 7000 BCE—bonus, you can buy beer made from the recipe!) is actually poisonous. Sure, the Romans drank from led cups, BUT THEN THEY STOPPED THAT. We’re not still drinking from led cups.
Despite my doubts, however, I found myself concerned that I was actually poisoning myself. So I decided to do some research. It turns out that The Science is not in agreement with this idea that alcohol is poison, and calls the statement “misleading at best.” Technically anything can be poisonous in the right amounts, but that does not make it a classified poison. And hundreds of studies have shown that moderate drinkers actually live longer than teetotalers. Even heavy drinkers live longer than teetotalers, actually, by a margin of 3%.
The idea that alcohol was a poison began during Prohibition, started by the Anti-Saloon League. Then the government decided to use it to keep people from drinking, but not just as a propaganda campaign—they LITERALLY poisoned industrial alcohol, killing about 10,000 people before the 18th Amendment was repealed in 1933.
Governments and other anti-alcohol organizations continue to promote the idea that alcohol is a poison. For example, Scotland recently released the Drinking Mirror app, designed to show how drinking will age women (it’s killing you AND your skin cells!) in an effort to “appeal to their vanity” and get them to stop drinking. Hey, doesn’t the sun and mortgages and driving to work every day and having kids and basically being alive also age you? We should get PSAs for that as well. The creators of the app also claim that they’re targeting only heavy drinkers, but the app itself only has options for low- to moderate-drinking as defined by the medical community, and is thus targeting average drinkers (to be fair, heavy drinkers probably wouldn’t stop drinking just because an app told them to).
From what I’ve gathered through these articles, alcohol is only a poison if you overindulge in it or lived during Prohibition. The more you know!
Further Reading:
- “The Chemist’s War” by Deborah Blum on Slate
- “Aged 9,000 Years, Ancient Beer Finally Hits Stores” by Brad Horn on NPR
- “Alcohol is a Poison” by David J. Hanson on SUNY Potsdam
- “Science Is What Society Says It Is: Alcohol’s Poison!” by Stanton Peele on Psychology Today
- “Scotland Launches ‘Drinking Mirror’ App to Scare Vain Women Away from Drinking Alcohol” by Katie JM Baker on Jezebel
- “Alcohol and Public Health” by the CDC
Ingredients: 2 oz blended whiskey, 1 oz lemon juice, 1/2 tsp superfine sugar. Shake with ice and strain into an ice-filled glass; top with soda water.
Source: cocktails.about.com
Kind of a basic fizz, which I was really disappointed in for some reason. I don’t think winter is a good time for fizzes.
Ingredients: 1 oz each light rum, sweet vermouth, and amaretto. Combine in a glass filled with ice and stir, then top with ginger ale.
Source: Mr. Boston
This was delicious! This would make a great punch for a party. Highly recommended.
Ingredients: 1 1/2 bourbon, 3/4 oz dry vermouth, 3/4 oz sweet vermouth, 1/2 lemon juice. Shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass.
Source: Mr. Boston
Manhasset is a neighborhood on Long Island. I found that out on Google. Anywhoooo, this was an interesting twist on the manhattan. If you’re out of bitters and want a perfect manhattan, this could be the recipe for you!
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz light rum, 3/4 oz dry vermouth, 1 dash Angostura bitters. Stir with ice and strain into a chilled glass.
Source: Mr. Boston
According to legend, this cocktail is named el presidente because Cuban president Carmen Menocal tried to serve it to President Calvin Coolidge during a state visit once. But since this was during Prohibition, Coolidge reportedly declined, making him possibly the only person who didn’t drink during Prohibition.
Anywho… I kind of liked this cocktail. It looked very elegant and it tasted surprisingly complex considering there aren’t many ingredients. I recommend it!
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz light rum, 1/2 oz sweet vermouth, 1/4 oz Benedictine, 1/4 oz lemon juice. Shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with lemon twist.
Source: Mr. Boston
I have to say, the irresistible cocktail was not irresistible. And now I have that song by Beyonce stuck in my head.
Ingredients: 1 oz light rum, 1/2 oz brandy, 1/2 oz lemon juice, 1/2 oz orange juice, 1 dash grenadine. Shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass.
Source: Mr. Boston
This is a cute-looking lady drink. Unfortunately, the orange juice did not work for me in this. It just tasted off.
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz Earl Grey-infused gin, 1/2 oz sweet vermouth, dash of lemon juice. Stir with ice and strain into a chilled glass.
I decided to use the leftover Early Grey gin to make a more a traditional martini than the original recipe. It worked really well! It wasn’t too tannin-y and the flavor of the tea and vermouth really worked well together.
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz brandy, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 1/4 oz grenadine. Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
Source: Mr. Boston
Is it just me, or do you want this a bandy grump? Anyway, it’s kind of like a sidecar, but with grenadine instead of triple-sec. I think I’d rather just have a sidecar.
