Caipirinha/Caprihinia, What everyone else in the world is drinking this summer.

The fun of traveling to Europe is always experiencing fun new things: archaeological ruins, great food, and ... new cocktails! If you want to know what the rage is for the rest of the world, go to a bar in delightful Spain. This Spring, the drink taking the Europeans by leaps and bounds is the Caipirinha/Caprihinia (kay-pree-heen-yah).

Already extremely popular in South America and in the Caribbean islands, it's made from a cane liquor from Brazil similar to dark rum called "Cachaca". This drink is very similar to our already favorite friend - The Mojito - from Cuba, but without the mint.

By the way, caipirinha in Portuguese literally translates to a country person or "hillbilly" but don't assume this is moonshine, it's the national drink of Brazil and while deceptively simple, you have to be ready when you order one of these (or several) they are as strong or stronger than most other cocktails (ah, those wacky Brazilians!).

The AlwaysHappyHour.com version of The Caipirinha
For EACH drink place into a cocktail shaker, preferable a see-thru 'Boston' shaker or other clear shaker so your guests can enjoy the process.

• 1/2 a fresh lime squeezed, then drop those squeezed lime wedges into the shaker
  
• 1 tablespoon or more of table sugar or better yet bar sugar (start with one and increase to taste as needed later, don't skip the sugar, it's important to the taste. You can substitute Splenda, but Equal and SweetNLow don't seem to work at all)

Crush these two ingredients in the bottom of the shaker using a wooden or stainless steel muddler (see picture) to release the lime essence into the sugar

• add 1 or 2 shots (per drink) of half dark rum and half silver tequila (or Brazilian Cachaca, if you can find it!) and ice

Cover shaker and shake vigorously and dramatically in front of your guests

• pour into tall Tom Collins glass, large rocks glass, or better yet one of several Mojito glasses or sets available from AlwaysHappyHour.com
• Do NOT strain the mixture from the shaker, allow the crushed limes to go into the serving glass along with the muddled liquid, that's part of the look and taste!
• Add ice to just below the top of each glass as needed
• Fill the rest of the drink with sparking water, seltzer, club soda, or 7UP and stir gently with a long bar spoon or cocktail mixing stick
• Garnish with a fresh lime wedge on the top edge of the glass and serve with a tall drinking straw

When making Caprihinia's for a group (or yourself) in a pitcher or perhaps our 1/2 gallon King Kong Shaker or stainless steel 1/2 gallon Party Mega Shakers, here are few tricks for crowd-size Caprihinias:

1. Use frozen lime-ade and/or bottled lime juice instead of squeezing all those limes,
2. use a food processor to COARSELY chop the limes in bulk,
   
3. use 7UP or other lemon-lime soda instead of the sparkling water and table sugar
4. Substitute the limes for your choice of any crushed fresh fruit (tangerine, grapefruit, kiwi, passion fruit, pineapple, berries, grapes, mango,) and the name changes from Caipirinha to Caipifrutas. yummmmmmm.
   

If you think this might sound good with vodka, you're right! The name changes from a Caipirinha to a "Caipiroska."

Enjoy!!!!

Oprah-Tini, Pom-Tini, call it what you will. Delish!

The one and only Oprah made Pomegranate Juice and the Pomegranate martini super popular on her show in the Fall of 2005. Her website has had typographical problems with the recipes, though, in our opinion. So, here's our suggestions based on what we served at the recent Red Lite Night in the Thrid Ward

Here is the basic STRONG one you might get in most bars and nightclubs, the POM is just barely for color and flavor on the first one, like a Sex In the City Cosmo almost, but with POM instead of cranberry:

2 oz citrus flavor vodka
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/4 oz fresh pomegranate juice, such as POM brand
1 oz simple syrup (sugar water)

Shake all ingredients well with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with orange peel, and serve.


This is the Oprah version which is a lot weaker (or probably it's a typo and should be ozs instead of cups?):

* 1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice
* 2 oz. Absolute Citron vodka
* 1 oz. Cointreau (orange) liquor
* Cup of ice
* Optional: Splash of sparkling water
* Optional: Squeeze of lemon


Shake ingredients in a shaker (except sparkling water) and put in chilled martini glasses. Put pomegranate fruit into glass as garnish.

Actually we prefer equal amounts of vodka and pomegranate juice, that seems to make it just strong enough so OUR own is a variation on both martinis:

2 oz citrus vodka
2 oz fresh pomegranate juice
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Shake all ingredients well with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with orange peel, and DRINK to your health.

Mojito's! Mohito's! Yum!

Get on the Mojito - Mohito Bandwagon!

During our recent return trip to Europe, we confirmed the drink taking the US (and apparently the world) by storm this season, very popular in cocktail lounges on both sides of the Atlantic - The Mojito (sometimes spelled Mohito, pronouced MOW-HEE-TOW) .

A refreshing sparkling drink originally from Cuba, great for mid day, after work, clubbing, afterhours, or whenever that drinking mood strikes.... AND fun to make, impressive to serve to your friends and guests.

This treat debuted at our shop during our quarterly Gallery Night this Fall in Milwaukee, and of course, we ran thru FIVE GALLONS of it before the night was over!

For EACH drink place into a cocktail shaker:

• 1 sprig of fresh mint leaves from your garden or local market, removed from their stems (don't use dried, but frozen fresh is okay)
• 1/2 a fresh lime squeezed
  
• 1 tablespoon or more of table sugar or bar sugar (start with one and increase to taste as needed later, don't skip the sugar, it's important to the taste. You can substitute Splenda, but Equal and SweetNLow don't seem to work at all)
  

Crush these three ingredients in the bottom of the shaker using a wooden muddler (see picture) to release the mint essence from the leaves into the sugar and lime juice

• pour 1 or 2 shots (per drink) of white rum (or citrus rum!) over ice

Cover shaker and shake vigorously and dramatically in front of your guests

• pour into tall Tom Collins glass filled with ice cubes, or better yet one of several Mojito glasses or sets available from AlwaysHappyHour.com
• Do not strain the mixture from the shaker, allow the crushed mint leaves to go into the serving glass as well, that's part of the look and taste!
• Fill the glass with sparking water, seltzer, or club soda and stir with a long spoon or cocktail mixing stick
• Garnish with a fresh mint leave floating on top and serve with a tall drinking straw

When making Mojito's for a group in a pitcher or perhaps either our 1/2 gallon King Kong Shaker or Mega Shaker, here are few tricks for crowd-size Mojitos:

1. Use frozen lime-ade and/or bottled lime juice instead of squeezing all those limes,
   
2. use a food processor to chop the mint leaves in bulk,
   
3. use 7UP or other lemon-lime soda instead of sparkling water and table sugar

Enjoy!!!!

Sangria De Cava (Champagne Sangria)

Direct from Las Ramblas in beautiful Barcelona!

During our recent return trip to Spain, we discoverd a delightful twist on an old favorite, all the rage at the tree lined sidewalk cafes on the wide boulevards of one of the finest cities in the world. Sangria made with the local Cava (fermented in the bottle - just like champagne - but drier and lighter than it's French rival).

Refreshing and delicious, just right after a day of siteseeing, shopping, snacking, whatever.... AND deceptively simple to make.

This treat just debuted at our shop during our quarterly Gallery Night this summer in Milwaukee, and of course, we ran out before the night was over!

Mix in a pitcher with ice cubes:

• 1 bottle spanish cava (champagne or sparkling white wine will do, too)
• 1/2 liter (or about 2 cans) cold lemon lime soda like 7up or Sierra Mist, diet or regular [club soda also works well, for a more sophisticated and less sweet taste]
• 1 quart of fresh squeezed (not from concentrate) cold orange juice
• slices of fresh limes, fresh lemons, and fresh oranges
• a few sprigs of fresh mint leaves

Pour and serve cold in large goblets, either strained or over ice.

!Salud!

Happy Hooker

Don't let the name or the picture scare you. This Sinfully-Rich after dinner martini is perfect for the holidays or a cold winter's night between the sheets! Guaranteed to rapidly melt away inhibitions...
who knows where you'll end up?
Perhaps under the host!

This recipe was created by your always-experimenting Always Happy Hour staff:

The "Happy Hooker" Martini

Mix together in a large cocktail shaker with ice:

1 oz. Kahlua
1 oz. Bailey's Irish Creme
1 oz. Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
1 oz. Creme de Cacao
1 oz. chocolate vodka
1 oz. raspberry vodka
1 oz. plain vodka
3 oz. half-and-half

Shake, strain into an exotic cocktail glass, and enjoy liberally