Earful of Cocktail: Episode 1 (0:00:00 - 0:05:00) The Uncle Pat

The Uncle Pat


1.5 oz potcheen
2 oz flat beer through rusty pipes
0.5 oz grenadine

Carve a dollar sign into rind of half a lime and garnish

Served on the rocks in double old-fashioned glass.
The Uncle Pat image

Beer prepared by leaving out two ounces of lowest grade beer at hand (Corona) to go flat for an hour, metallic taste aided by the addition of four pennies (which hopefully also contributed the kind of gunk that doubtless clings to every inch of Pat's Tavern). Ice added first, grenadine glopped on top, which immediately sunk to bottom. Lime was initially halved, then carved into with dollar sign, then squeezed to completion (juice discarded), finally put in an toaster oven for a few minutes. Nothing was stirred.

The nose reeked of potcheen's weird melon-like funk. The first sip stung with sour and intense potcheen kick, evoking spoiled dairy and antiseptic, mellowed with the stale beer's texture of a stagnant creek. It's the kind of drink a Pat's Cavern patron would love, the punishing sort of drink that makes you feel that you *earned* your insobriety, and keeps you safe from the troubling notion that you may for a moment ever enjoy your life. The grenadine only comes into play late in the drink. At this point, all you have is the remainder of the ice, an overlarge lime rind, and the grenadine you never wanted in the first place. You indifferently try to sip it for a while, but eventually dump it out.

- Hervey Okkles

From rusty pipes come terrible drinks. Potcheen should not be in anything. The Uncle Pat is bad.

- Alan Joyce

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 2 (0:05:00 - 0:10:00) Big Apple Interview

Big Apple Interview


1.5 oz vodka
0.5 oz apple juice
2 oz seltzer
Pernod float

Stir, serve up in oversized cocktail glass.

Garnish with atomic fireball candy, sliced if possible.
Big Apple Interview image

For the record, it is *not* possible to slice atomic fireball candy.

In capturing the airy lustrousness of the gray Manhattan interview rooms, Stoli was selected, which seemed to be adequately '80s glitzy. As someone who does not like vodka cocktails and does not like apple juice, it's uncanny how *good* this is―almost certainly the best drink of its kind. Both the apple juice and pernod swim faintly against the big nothingness of vodka and seltzer; strong flavors in small quantities, it gives you the impression of a noisy street-level hubbub wafting 30 floors up, at the threshold of audibility. (The apple in particular gives the drink a certain honest bulkiness.) As you make you way through, the outer layer of the atomic fireball dissolves, lending an unsubtle satire of the cutthroat business world: stick around long enough and you're ankle-deep in blood.

- Hervey Okkles

I don't like vodka cocktails much but this one was OK. More subtle than expected. For best results let it sit a day until the Atomic Fireball fully dissolves.

- Alan Joyce

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 3 (0:10:00 - 0:15:00) Ding-A-Ling

Ding-A-Ling


0.25 oz vodka
1 oz Kahlua
1 oz ouzo
1 oz creme de cacao, perfect (half white half dark)
2 oz heavy cream

First lay Twizzler, soaked in Vodka in cocktail glass.

Shake all ingredients to mix, and strain into glass.

Garnish with maraschino cherry. Also garnish with sprinkles.
Ding-A-Ling image

In designing the perfect TGI Fridays-style cocktail, it's important to balance two necessary subcomponents: the actual cocktail itself (comprising the essential substance of the drink) and the corporate-mandated elements (comprising gimmick, spectacle, and profit). Let's quickly dispense with the former concern: the Ding-A-Ling is a solid cocktail. The hazy licorice smell initially pervades, eventually subsiding into soft cream, then souring subtly into shades of harsh coffee and sweet. Essentially a White Russian with tuned-down base spirit and tuned-up cacao and anise, the Ding-A-Ling is a can't miss sort of concoction that we knocked out of the park. Soft and spicy, rich and mysterious, I can recommend it without reservation.

Technically, the drink is something of a mess, for several reasons. Sprinkles: the sort of can't-miss gimmick that one would see everywhere in the T.G.I.sphere if they worked. They do not. For each sprinkle that successfully rests atop the cream, ten or twenty sink immediately. Sprinkles do not demonstrably add to the presentation of the drink, and they do not demonstrably add to the flavor. The gimmick with the vodka-soaked Twizzler is not worth the awkward process of the soak, and Twizzler-balancing within the cocktail glass without it buckling and collapsing into the center was an impossibility. Finally, the cherry sank like a stone, not to be seen again; simply wasted. A fair amount of work was done trying to balance the cherry against the Twizzler, but it's not doable in a reasonable amount of time, certainly not the amount of time available to a harried Friday's bartender. Upon finishing the drink, the customer is left with an unappetizing layer of gunk.

With a proper R&D budget, TGI Fridays may be able to design a proper glass to allow the ambitious vision of the Ding-A-Ling to function as intended.

- Hervey Okkles

At first, cream. Fluffy, creamy coffee cream. Then a brutal awakening — the violent intrusion of licorice brought by an unfortunate quantity of Ouzo.

It's fair to say there's balance here.

- Alan Joyce

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 4 (0:15:00 - 0:20:00) Finnegan's Obit

Finnegan's Obit


4 oz Remy Martin cognac

Pour into oversize snifter.

Garnish with orange and black sprinkles.
Finnegan's Obit image

There's no way to happily attend the funeral of Tom Cruise, but at least one can sip the proper cocktail while weeping. This drink shares some similarities to drinking "Remy Martin, neat", with several key departures:

1) There are sprinkles floating in it
2) The glass is very big

The sprinkles, somewhat surprisingly, blossom with great majesty into an inky cloud within seconds. Not only contributing to the atmosphere of mourning, this also adds to the taste of the spicy rich deep bloomy cognac, adding a note of sour. Also, the sprinkles are chewy.

The large glass helps direct everything directly to the nose and face, targeting the mulchy spiciness into the sinuses and also presenting a miniature comfortable world to fall into, as one stares into the bottom of the very large snifter. Other see you as carrying a deep and somber reminder of loss, while you discover a deep and rich world for into escape.

- Hervey Okkles

Alas, Finnegan, ye shall be missed. Rémy Martin is enjoyable. Even moreso with spooky sprinkles. The large snifter really impresses upon you the alcoholic aroma of the drink. A modest effort here.

- Alan Joyce

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 5 (0:20:00 - 0:25:00) Silicon Valley Dirty Lyle

Silicon Valley Dirty Lyle


14 oz Soylent
1 oz Everclear

Pour into in a pint glass. Serve lukewarm.
Silicon Valley Dirty Lyle image

For such a simple cocktail―only two ingredients, no ice, no fuss―everything went awry surprisingly quickly. Without a complete explanation of the subtle chemistry at play, I can only report that a careful pour of the Everclear into the pint glass of Soylent led the the glass to *roar*: weird and deeply angry rolls of geyserlike discontent. It was immediately apparent that drinking the Silicon Valley Dirty Lyle would not be a calming experience.

A problem was immediately visible: thin clear pools gathering upon the surface of the drink showed that the two ingredients had separated (with the pure alcohol atop). As a result, the first sip was maximally intense, yet one could still detect the Soylent within it: crisp pancake against bright pricks of fire. The tongue was tossed about, the alcohol activating the tip while the heavy Soylent dominated the sides and back.

The drinker continued to sip carefully and unenthusiastically, each sip less jaunty than the one before. Before very long, a dullness set in. A morning brightness soon dampened into midday beige, the cocktail uncannily simulates the experience of an alcoholic's whole day. By this time, the experience had become a chore: lukewarm and distinctly unrefreshing, far too much and then far too little.

The chore langoured well after finishing the drink: dead-eyed at the sink, one notes a powdery coat of grime on the glass that resists all scrubbing, while at the same time a slightly nutritious coat clings unpleasantly to the back of the throat.

- Hervey Okkles

As it turns out, when you have two liquids of vastly different densities, one of them is prone to rise to the top. This means that the Everclear quickly and persistently rises above the (much less dense) Soylent, effectively resulting in an Everclear float.

An Everclear float is a very bad thing to have in your drink.

Once you get past the float, the rest of the drink is just Soylent. Soylent is fine, but I prefer it colder and with more chocolate.

I cannot recommend the SVDL.

- Alan Joyce

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 6 (0:25:00 - 0:30:00) Yuppie Behind Bars

Yuppie Behind Bars


1.5 oz Wild Turkey
0.5 oz Blue Curaçao
0.5 oz Midori
0.5 oz Peach Schnapps
0.5 Rose's Lime

Shake with crushed ice, pour into tall glass.

Garnish with 5 rose petals and a faux Morning Glory.
Yuppie Behind Bars image

A pretty drink for pretty yuppies; it wows upon first glance with its emerald tones and partially-plastic bouquet. Though one knows that the content will prove false―precisely the point with such a yuppie gimmick―it impresses at first, coming in smooth with clean neon edges. But as per the yuppie lifestyle, as soon as you commit to it, the harshness is upon you. Cough syrup bright, wave after aqua wave of a Sharkleberry Finn immediacy, it's really too much to stand, too ersatz to consume quickly, and quite overbearingly loud. One is quickly convinced to renounce yuppieism and plan the jailbreak. Late, late in the drink, long after reckoning and regret, the actual taste emerges: copper and grain.

- Hervey Okkles

This drink is a feast for the eyes, if not always the tongue. It has three phases:

1) An initial rise of tempered sweetness, not unintriguing
2) An overwhelming spike of sickening syrup
3) A mellowing out into a slightly bitter finish

The evolution of it over these phases is interesting and worth experiencing. While phase 2 does undercut the overall appeal of the drink, I found phase 1 and 3 to be pretty palatable. The peach schnapps shines throughout, making the drink a lot more approachable than it would be otherwise.

Visually, the drink is absolutely stunning.

- Alan Joyce

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 7 (0:30:00 - 0:35:00) Angry Basketball

Angry Basketball


2.0 oz gin
1.0 oz lemon juice
0.25 oz grenadine

In a clear mug, add ingredients and boiling water. Add two cubes of
black Jell-O.

Optionally garnish with cinnamon stick.
Angry Basketball image

I'm skeptical of foods and drinks that are good when hot, but bad at room temperature, like coffee or McNuggets. That said, hot toddies are always a winner. The Angry Basketball is a spin on the classic winter night's drink, transforming into a drink for summer at noonday, to be downed in sweaty and uncomfortable moods.

It has the lemony nose of a hot toddy when coming in, in the mouth a delicate fabric of light and soft citrus flavors, washing into Kool-Aid, bright and gummy. For within mere seconds, the tidy sharp-edged cube had completely dissolved, becoming a murky layer of ink. This gummy artificiality (nothing in nature looks like this) makes it a chore to work all the way through. Soft and sticky, sublimated anger, but the heat makes it bearable.

The cinnamon stick was not meant to be optional, and we had cinnamon sticks prepared. We just screwed up, and it's too bad, because cinnamon would have fixed many of these problems.

I never tasted the gin for a moment.

- Hervey Okkles

If nothing else, let it be said that we utterly succeeded in making a coral-colored drink. Somehow the lemon juice + grenadine + clear liquid combo results in a perfect coral drink.

Beyond the color, there's something fairly special here. As the Jell-O cubes dissolve, the drink goes from rather sour to slightly sweet. Adding extra hot water while drinking both helps this process and improves the overall drinking experience.

I'm not a huge fan of Jell-O, especially the aggressively artificial flavor of grape Jell-O, but it does help to balance this drink and watching it dissolve is quite satisfying.

Overall, this is a drinkable effort with some positive qualities.

- Alan Joyce

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 8 (0:35:00 - 0:40:00) The Kokomo Brochure

The Kokomo Brochure


2.0 oz white Jamaican rum
juice from 1.0 whole orange
0.5 oz Cointreau
0.5 oz Grand Marnier
0.5 oz Licor 43
Orangina to fill

Shake everything but Orangina with ice. Finely filter into zombie
glass half-full with crushed ice. Fill with Orangina.
The Kokomo Brochure image

On first sip, the carbonated taste of Origina can be strongly sensed. Upon more sips, you sense deeper, grasping, fresh orange flavor: orange after orange wave of orange flavor. Almost creamy, the alcohol content comes in sideways, a spoiled rotten orange. Then back (!) with fresh and perky fresh juice. Not especially syrupy, as expected, it in truth contains the languid viscous waves of fresh juicy waters. On a beach, such an experience seems nearly essential, and I can comprehend why a beach resort would issue a coupon to comp the experience.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES TIDBIT: Alan and I had to split one Kokomo Brochure between the two of us, owing to lack of orange ("orange" orange). Such a raw deal made me feel short-changed, in the same manner of the irate tourist in the movie.

- Hervey Okkles

You might think that orange on top of Orangina on top of multiple types of orange liqueur would be too much orange. You would be wrong.

The Brochure tastes and feels (thanks to the shake) a bit like an Orange Julius, which is a very good thing. Maybe it’s the subtle hint of Licor 43. Do they put Licor 43 in Orange Juliuses? Probably not.

It’s remarkable how creamy this tastes, despite not having any cream in it. Is it possible that your mind fills in “creamsicle” when it tastes orange and spices?

Above all else, this drink is pure Kokomo.

- Alan Joyce

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 9 (0:40:00 - 0:45:00) Purgatory Happy Hour

Purgatory Happy Hour


1.0 oz Jim Beam Apple
1.0 oz Donut Vodka
0.5 oz Lagavulin
0.75 oz Rose's Lime
0.5 oz Midori
0.25 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with crushed ice, pour into double old-fashioned glass.
Purgatory Happy Hour image

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 10 (0:45:00 - 0:50:00) Fight on the Beach

Fight on the Beach


5.0 oz seltzer
Fresh Ground Pepper (to taste)
2.5 oz Diet 7-Up
1.0 oz Good Gin
0.75 oz Dry Vermouth

Pour into large glass with ice. Garnish with a cocktail onion (if you
support Shue in the fight) or a lengthwise-quartered pickle (if you
support Brian Flanagan).

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 11 (0:50:00 - 0:55:00) Millionaire's Waterfall

Millionaire's Waterfall


IN A BIG OL' GLASS:
2.0 oz Light Rum (PR)
0.5 oz Passionfruit Nectar
1.0 oz Lime Juice

Stir with crushed ice, garnish with cocktail umbrella.

IN AN ASHTRAY:
1.0 oz Dark Rum
4.0 Cucumber slices
1.0 cube of sugar
1.0 clean shoelace

Collect ingredients in ashtray, pour into main glass to recreate waterfall.

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 12 (0:55:00 - 1:00:00) Nothing Special

Nothing Special


1.5 oz Remy Martin cognac
1.0 oz Guava nectar
2.0 oz still water (melted ice, lukewarm)
151 Lemon Hart Rum (substitute Hamilton or other demerara rum) float

Attempt to light the rum float on fire.

Sprinkle gold leaf into fire.

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 13 (1:00:00 - 1:05:00) The Tony Scaduto

The Tony Scaduto


1.5 oz Tequila
1.0 oz carrot juice
1.0 tbsp Pineapple preserves
0.5 oz Lime juice

Shake with ice, strain into large cocktail glass rimmed with Himalayan pink salt.

Garnish with lime slice
The Tony Scaduto image

Perfect.

This is a perfect cocktail; a historic moment has been realized on-air, easily tantamount to the mythical coupling of gin and vermouth in Martinez, CA. The Tony Scaduto is one of the four or five most important cocktails ever created.

Notes on acquisition: unlike Bonnie's 1980s, it's hard to find carrot juices these days; the large local supermarket only had one in stock. The pineapple preserves had to be bought in bulk (it isn't the easiest ingredient to deal with, a sticky ball of goo, and as a small nit, it leaves a bit of preserve residue at the end.)

The Tony Scaduto opens with a deep carrot nose, bristly and rooty. This begins something of a back-to-the-soil narrative: in the Scaduto, an inverted daquiri of sorts, we see the crisp wistfulness of Havana bars transformed into the rustic, vegetables replacing fruit. The masculine drink of Hemingway's day transformed into the pastel feminine shades of Bonnie's 1980s NYC apartment.

The drink gains width into arena of lime, balanced against brackish rim, furthering widening into earthy carrot and agave, wow. Widening further and further, almost to excess, it's a peaceful lazy river sort of vibe, delicate and with an elegant haiku bliss.

Like all the best cocktails, the Tony Scaduto feels weightless.

Perfect.

- Hervey Okkles

This is a good drink. It feels basic and elementary, like it should be a standard staple at every bar in the world. The earthiness of the carrot juice balanced well with the lime and tequila, creating something pleasant and not too sweet. The world may one day come to love the Tony Scaduto.

- Alan Joyce

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 14 (1:05:00 - 1:10:00) Art World Orientation

Art World Orientation


1.0 oz Bourbon
1.0 oz Pimm's no. 1
1.0 tsp liquid smoke (or some uncomfortable amount)
1.0 strip of cooked bacon (Maple)
1.0 pkg Pop Rocks

Shake with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass, then add Pop
Rocks and bacon

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 15 (1:10:00 - 1:15:00) Unwanted Pregnancy

Unwanted Pregnancy


1.5 oz Fireball "Whisky"
1.0 oz Jägermeister
3.0 oz Diet Coke
0.75 oz Root Beer Schnapps
1.0 Frozen Milk Disk

Shake everything except Diet Coke and frozen milk disc with crushed
ice, pour into double Old-Fashioned glass. Add the Diet Coke, and then
additional splash of Fireball. Drop in Frozen Milk Disk. Stab Frozen
Milk Disk with plastic sword with pimento already on it.

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 16 (1:15:00 - 1:20:00) Penthouse Daddy

Penthouse Daddy


12 oz Tomato Juice
12 oz Miller High Life
2.0 oz Gin
1.0 Pickled (Chicken) Egg, Sliced Thinly
0.75 oz Crystal Hot Sauce

Pepper (to taste)
Garlic salt rim (to taste)

Stir, serve in LARGE SNIFTER, with 1.0 log of celery.

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 17 (1:20:00 - 1:25:00) Kerry's Dream

Kerry's Dream


4.0 oz Proseco
0.75 oz Sloe Gin
0.5 oz Hpnotiq liqueur
2.0 dashes Angostura Orange Bitters

Shake with cracked ice, strain into wine glass. Take apple slice
(randomly selected from red/green), cut so to be impaled into rim of
glass.

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 18 (1:25:00 - 1:30:00) Boat Brain On The Rocks

Boat Brain On The Rocks


0.5 oz Nice Cognac
1.5 oz Apple Brandy
3.0 bright yellow butterscotch candies
Lots of chunks of peaches, torn by hand

Mix and stir in snifter, drink with a bamboo straw.

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 19 (1:30:00 - 1:35:00) Funeral Helper

Funeral Helper


0.333 oz Raspberry Syrup
0.5 oz Jagermeister
2.0 oz Irish Whisky
1.0 oz Dry Vermouth

Mix all but syrup, shake and strain into cocktail class. Drizzle.

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 20 (1:35:00 - 1:40:00) FUTURE TWINZ

FUTURE TWINZ


1.5 oz Scotch whisky (recc. Cutty Sark)
0.5 oz Maraschino liqueur
MGD
"twin" (2.0) Maraschino cherries (sword thru them)

Shake the maraschino and scotch and train into Double old-fashioned
glass, fill glass with MGD and add garnish

Earful of Cocktail: Episode 21 (1:40:00 - 1:43:23) The "Cocktail" (1988) Cocktail

The "Cocktail" (1988) Cocktail


1.5 oz Vodka
0.5 oz Grain alcohol
0.5 oz Blue Curacao
1.0 oz Blood orange sour mix

Garnish with celery, and also sugarcubes, with toothpicks poked into them