The Void and Neztra

I don't know what has happened to me lately, but the Fourth of July weekend finally broke my distaste for beer. Historically, I have never been a drinker of beer. Sure, when at a party or barbecue and there is nothing else to drink, I've been known to imbibe, but when strolling down the aisles of my local booze boutique, I rarely head for the beer section. A good bottle of reisling, gewurtztrameiner, merlot or cab is usually in my basket along with a bottle of Malibu Rum and fixings for some fruity-tooty cocktails, but rarely do I slip a six-pack of lager into the mix unless I am having beer-drinking buds over.

A few months ago, a work buddy of mine introduced me to Budweiser Select. Not my favorite drink, but something I decided I could actually enjoy if I were forced to drink beer. Then the weekend before last, my little bro conned me into drinking a bottle of Becks. Yum! So fourth of July weekend, I decided to be a good little American and buy some beer, for ME to drink at our family barbecue. And I enjoyed it! So I guess, in my 30's, I have finally aquired a taste for beer.

I don't know whether to be disappointed with myself or resigned to my fate as a barley-hound.

Still - I love a good cocktail. Here's a couple I concocted for my mum this past weekend. She said they were (and I quote) "aweshum". She was feeling no pain at that point...

Tropical Twilight (hey! my drink - I get to name it)
2 oz. Malibu Rum
.5 oz. Dark Rum
Juice of 1/2 lime
3 oz. coke or diet coke
2.5 oz. 7up or diet 7up
1/2 tsp. raw sugar
crushed ice
sugar cane swizzle stick or regular swizzle stick.

Squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lime into a large tumber. Add the raw sugar and stir.

Add crushed ice to fill 1/3 of the glass.

Pour in the malibu rum, dark rum, and 7Up. Shake a little to combine.
Gently pour the coke on top of the other ingredients. If you do this right, you'll have a nice gradient of light to dark from the bottom of the glass to the top.

Add the swizzle stick down the side of the glass, but do not stir. Serve.

I'll try to take a picture and add it so that you all can see what it looks like. It is yummy!

Second drink I made this weekend:

Sun Beams (working title - this is a sort of less sweet, more punchy pina colada)
2 oz. dark rum
1/2 oz. triple sec
2.5 oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. coconut milk
2 oz. orange juice
juice of 1 small lime
crushed ice
3 Pineapple chunks and a slice of lime for garnish
swizzle stick

In a large tumbler, shake together rum, triple sec and crushed ice (enough to fill the glass 1 3rd of the way).
Add the pineapple juice, coconut milk, orange juice and all but 1 tsp of the lime juice. Stir well.
Float the last tsp. of lime juice on top of the glass. Stick the pineapple chunks on the swizzle stick and submerge into the liquid. Float the lime slice on top of the drink. Serve.