Thanksgiving: LET’S DRINK TO IT

The holiday crunch is upon us. And while you may have planned your Thanksgiving menu — traditional or something with a twist — if you haven’t decided what to serve your guests pre, during and post meal, here are a few suggestions.

Pre-dinner: Apple Pie Cocktail
3/4 ounce Bacardi Traditional White    
Rum
1/4 ounce Martini & Rossi Rosso
Vermouth
1/4 ounce Apple Brandy
1/2 ounce Lemon Juice
dash of Major Peters’ Grenadine

Stir in a mixing glass with ice, and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.


Chocolate Pumpkin Pie-tini

3⁄4 ounce vanilla flavored vodka,
Smirnoff®
1/2 ounce Irish cream liqueur, Baileys®
1⁄2 ounce coffee liqueur, Kaluha®
1⁄2 ounce crème de cacao
1⁄8 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

In a cocktail shaker, combine vodka, Irish cream, coffee liqueur, crème de cacao, pumpkin pie spice, and cayenne pepper. Add ice; cover and shake until very cold. Strain into a chilled martini glass.




During Dinner: Wine

Serving wine at Thanksgiving, can be a challenge because of the variety of dishes and flavors. If the dish is sweet (sweet potatoes), look for wine with fruitiness. If the dish is spicy, look for wine with low alcohol content to minimize the heat. Acidic foods such as cranberry sauce or collard greens, call for a wine with acidity, for it to stand up to tart tastes. Pinot Noir is a great silky, sensuous red wine that meets all of those characteristics. With its typical tart-berry fruit, warm spices, and earthy aroma, it’s a slam dunk for Thanksgiving. A pinot can do right by almost all the exuberant side dishes a turkey requires.

You might also want to try mulling wine in a crock pot. Mulling spices are available in most fine wine stores and specialty food markets. It’s a great and cozy addition for a holiday meal, that you may just want to make a holiday tradition.

Post-Dinner: The Ciroc Truffletini
1/2 ounce Ciroc Vodka
1 ounce Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur
1/2 ounce Godiva Chocolate Liqueur

Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with Godiva Milk Chocolate Truffle or White Chocolate shavings.

The Most Affordable Cocktails for Holiday and Pigskin Parties — Make It A Potent Punch

Thanksgiving is coming soon, and it’s time to think about making drinks en masse for guests who will gather at your home for the holiday or a Sunday afternoon football game — or both. In general punches with alcohol are the best and most affordable way to accommodate revelers. I suggest moderately priced alcohol — not the bottom of the cask that causes those awful hangovers but it doesn’t have to be top shelf, either. That goes for all the alcohols — something moderately priced and for moderate consumption — if you can manage the latter. –roz edward

Cranberry and Pineapple Champagne Brunch
Start off your party with this festive punch made with pineapple juice, cranberry-raspberry juice concentrate, and seltzer or champagne.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 11 cups

1 can (48 ounces) pineapple juice, chilled
1 container (8.5 ounces) cranberry-    raspberry juice concentrate
1 liter seltzer water or 1 bottle champagne, chilled

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a 3-quart pitcher or punch bowl. Serve over ice. Makes 11 cups.

Hennessy KAWS N’ Effect

1 ounce Hennessy VS
1/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce mango juice
1/2 ounce pineapple juice
1/2 ounce passion fruit juice
1 ounce Amaretto liqueur
2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
A splash of Grenadine

Garnish with orange and lemon slices.

The Big Brew
A great game day cocktail. The ease of making the Big Brew makes it ideal for holidays, football parties and tailgating.
   
Make a whole pitcher of the mixture:
20 ounces Ginger Beer
4 slices of ginger
2 tablespoons of lime juice
5 mint leaves, torn up

1. Combine in a pitcher keep in fridge, set a liter of Bombay Sapphire gin near the pitcher in the fridge with instructions on how much to pour.

2. Pour 2 ounces  Bombay Sapphire in a pint glass.

3. Pack with ice, top with mixture.

Check this one out. This is one potent punch!!!

The Chatham Punch was created in Savannah, Ga., to accommodate as many as 200 guests. We scaled this one back for a party of 20.

4 cups Bacardi White Rum
2 cups Bombay Sapphire Gin
2 cups Jim Beam Bourbon
2 cups Christian Brothers Brand
1 1/2 bottle sweet red wine
1 gallon strong cold tea
1 cup maraschino cherries, drained
1/4 pound pineapple chunks (fresh)
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
Juice of 4 lemons
1 bottle dry champagne

HIP-HOP INSPIRED COCKTAILS TO BUILD YOUR PRE-THANKSGIVING SWAG

MCs rappers and hip-hop artists have made their mark on the culture on so many different fronts, from fashion to food and even the language, they are shaping a brave new world on urban scenes across the nation. And most tend to have a drink du jour, whether it’s “poppin’ corks,” “sippin on gin and juice” or just plain “blame it on the alcohol” it’s big business for the clubs, the artists and the companies looking to connect with young African American urbanites.
So, every time Luda or Diddy name-drops a product, sales automatically shoot up — so here’s to them. –roz edward





Conjure
As Luda says of his premier cognac,
“We get straight to it. We’re straight no chaser …
I might put a little lime in there but I like mine just on the rocks. You’ve gotta taste the essence of what’s going on.”

 Thug Passion
This drink is one of 2Pac’s favorites, which he references in the song of the same name. But instead of a $350 bottle of Cristal, use any champagne that fits your personal tastes and finances.

2 ounces Hennessy® Cognac
2 ounces Alize® liqueur
2 ounces champagne

Mix all ingredients in shaker with ice and pour into champagne flute.

Babygirl
Both 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes signed on to promote Leyrat premier cognac. But we caution, “Not a lot, baby girl, just a lil bit.”
2 ounces Leyrat cognac
2 ounces Baileys® Irish Cream
2 ounces Kahlua® coffee liqueur
Pour all three ingredients into a cocktail shaker half-filled with cracked ice. Shake well, and strain into a highball glass filled with cracked ice. Top with whipped cream, if you’re into it.
Shake ingredients over ice and serve.

Tap That Ass  
Swizz Beatz debuted on May 5 as the new frontman for Hennessy Black with his live performance in New York of “When I Step Into the Club,” alongside the JabbaWockeez of “America’s Best Dance Crew.”  Here’s one of the label’s hottest new cocktails.

1 ounce Hennessy Black® cognac
1 ounce Alize® Red Passion liqueur
1 ounce Alize® Gold Passion liqueur
1 splash cranberry juice
top with soda water

Fill the hurricane glass with ice. Pour the Hennessy, Red Alize and Yellow Alize. Splash in some cranberry juice and top it off with soda. Add blackberry to garnish.

Ciroc Peach Vodka
The newest entry in hip-hop-influenced libations is Diddy’s CIROC Peach Vodka. The music mogul and branding beast dropped the newest and fourth in CIROC’s line of flavored vodkas on Oct. 21 at Love nightclub in D.C. to celebrate Howard’s homecoming weekend.


The Georgia Dome
2/3 ounce Peach CIROC
1/3 ounce ginger ale
Pour in tall glass and fill  with Mango Fruitista.