Now and then, I make & serve drinks at my “normal” workplace on the odd Friday afternoon (Yes, JJ has two jobs – tending the Tiki Bar, of course, and another more “nine to five” one. And YES, the bosses are ok with the consumption of cocktails at work so long as we limit it to one drink, and we keep it as a “special occassion” kind of thing).

One of the ladies at my office, the lovely and ever-so-organized Lori, is a HUGE fan of the Bellinis they serve at this local restaurant chain called Milestones. However, Milestones uses this ten thousand dollar machine to spit out this peachy slushy treat (of which they must serve hundreds a day, if not thousands). I, of course, have no such machine at my disposal – I’ve got a funny hat and a metal shaker. Undaunted, I wanted to make a Bellini-esque treat for Lori (and forty of my co-workers) so I set out to find a Bellini emulating recipe that could be created with my stainless steel cocktail shaker (and not the ten thousand dollar machine).

I eventually hunted down a recipe from another cocktail podcast called “The Art of the Drink“, which is hosted by BarStar Anthony Caporale. He’s also aided by a fleet of what seem to be very nice girls, but between you and me and the fencepost, these girls? They’re no Lala, if you know what I mean (and by that I mean they have NEVER exhibited the slightest knowldge of robotics, or the displayed any sort of skillz regarding the inner working of “l33t culture”).

Still, Anthony does have some dandy recipes, so I borrowed his recipe for a “Beach Bellini” and tinkered with it a bit – upping the booze ratio a little (because I was making three at a time and wanted an even number to work with – and, well, because I like booze). It seemed to work – Lori snuck back and quietly asked for a second one!
so here’s the recipe for…

The Bellini you can make in a cocktail shaker!

1 ounce of Lemon Rum
1 ounce of Peach Schnapps
4 ounces of Peach Nectar (or regular Peach Juice in a pinch)
2 ounces of Champagne / Sparking Wine

Add all the ingredients except the bubbly to a shaker and fire away for about 30 seconds. Toss the Champers in a tiki mug at the bottom, then pour in the beverage. Add some ice to make it nice, throw in a straw, sit back, and enjoy.

This one comes to us from the The Great Tiki Drink Book.

This is a gorgeous lime green drink which is both amazingly refreshing and wonderfully fruity without being too sweet. Peach, Pineapple and Midori… what more do you want?

The Tropical Moment

1 1/2 ounces of WHITE RUM
1/2 ounce of PEACH SCHNAPPS
1 ounce of MIDORI
1 ounce of PINEAPPLE JUICE
1 ounce of SOUR MIX*
1/4 of lime (for garnish)

Combine all the ingredients (except for the lime wedge, silly; that goes on the glass when we’re done) in your handy-dandy cocktail shaker along with a bunch of ice.

Shake, shake, shake;

Drain the delicious looking mixture into a highball glass which is loaded with fresh ice. NOW you can add that yummy lime to the rim of the glass, toss in a straw, kick back, and relax.

*OH! Hey, this recipe calls for Sour Mix. Most decent booze supply stores or grocery stores will have it in the “mixes” section, but it’s also not terribly hard to make at home using frozen concentrate. Take 1 part frozen lemonade concentrate, 2 parts frozen limeade concentrate, and mix with half the amount of water that they tell you to use on the cans (that’s what they suggest in the Great Tiki Drink book above).

ALTERNATELY, you can make your own sour mix like this: mix one part sugar syrup (which is 3 parts sugar, 2 parts water – boil it for a couple of minutes, then let it cool) with one part lemon juice. So, for the above: you’d use 1/2 oz of lemon juice, and 1/2 oz of sugar syrup.

Enjoy!