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RUM- It’s Not Just for Pirates!

RUM!!!!

August 16 is National Rum Day…. As if we needed an excuse to indulge in some delicious Rum drinks!  For years my go-to vacation drink was a Captain and Coke.  To this day it is still my fallback plan if I ever freeze up at a bar.  When I was 19 years old Bacardi had a low-proof Lime flavor and Diet Coke had just released a Lime flavor- it was a match made in heaven for my little underaged heart.

Over the years I’ve had a lot of fun with rum.  And Bacardi relaunched a high-proof version Lime Rum, so for National Rum Day I wanted to use it to make the BEST cocktail to close out your summer with!

It’s slightly labor intensive, but oh so worth it!  It would be very easy to triple or quadruple the recipe to make a Punch for a pool party. 

  • Watermelon Crawl-
  • 1.5 ounces Bacardi Lime
  • 5 ounces Watermelon Juice
  • A drizzle of Blackberry Nectar
  • Garnish with a slice of Lime or Blackberry or Watermelon slice (or all three!) and enjoy!

Watermelon Juice- Select the best looking Watermelon you can find- Black Diamond varieties are my favorite, but are not always available.  To save yourself a little bit of work, pick a seedless.  Once you found your perfect melon, cut it off the rind and into chunks (watch out for seeds!) and cram the chunks into a blender.  Put the lid on the blender and pulse a few times.  It won’t take long at all.  When it looks like a liquid stop pulsing.  Then pour it through a fine mesh strainer to remover any pulp and wayward seeds. 

Now let’s talk Mojitos.  What a classic cocktail!  A few years ago they came flooding back into popularity, even though they never really did go out of style.  I mean, who doesn’t love that crisp lime flavor balanced with sweet mint?  The only thing I REALLY don’t like about Mojitos is when the mint is muddled in the glass leaving a murky, swampy looking drink.  Plus who wants to worry about a stray piece of mint getting caught in your teeth?  So I prefer to make my Mojitos with a Mint Simple Syrup… yes, ok this adds a few more steps to the recipe.  BUT, you can make a large batch of the syrup and use it in other things- Iced Tea, Desserts, Other Cocktails, that sort of thing.  Plus when you make your own Simple Syrup YOU get to decide just how sweet you make it.  Ok, here we go!

  • Mojito-
    •  1.5 ounces Bacardi Silver
  • 1.5 ounces Mint Syrup (or more for a sweeter drink)
  • Splash of Lime Juice (Fresh juice or Roses Lime both work, just a matter of preference)
  • Build and Serve Over Ice, Stir to Combine and Top with Club Soda.  Garnish with a Slice of Lime and Sprig of Mint

I hope you enjoy these cocktails and National Rum Day!  What are some of your favorite Rum Drinks?

  • Mint Simple Syrup-
  • 2 Cups Water. If you like your tap water, go ahead and use that. If you don’t like your tap water please use your favorite bottled water.
  • 1 Cup Pure Can Sugar. A traditional simple service has a 1:1 water to sugar ratio. I prefer a less sweet cocktail, but feel free to increase the sugar ratio if you like a sweeter drink.
  • Bring to a Boil to dissolve the sugar and add 5-6 sprigs of Mint and remover from heat.
  • Let the Mint steep for 20-30 minutes and then strain into a container, and store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Patròn Perfectionist

I’ve been in the hospitality industry for a while now but it’s been the last few years that I’ve transitioned (as has the venue where I work) from high volume, shot-slinging kind of bartending into creating more intricate, well thought out libations.  When I create a new drink menu for a bar event, I try to keep it approachable and the ingredients recognizable.  I keep in mind that we are still a high volume bar.  I’ll play around with high-end ingredients, top shelf liquors and in-season fruits and vegetables.  On a typical bar menu of mine, you won’t find too many “muddled” ingredients, but you will find homemade Simple Syrups, Reductions, and Infusions.  I do my best to keep my event recipes streamlined and fairly quick to produce.

When I enter a competition, that is when I break out the muddler.  I triple shake and double strain the cocktails.  I hand craft my garnishes.  I slowly layer each ingredient.  The competitions are where I get to get a little weird with the ingredients.  Where I can try a new technique.  I love it.

When I entered to Patròn Perfectionist Competition, the only specification I had to follow was use Patròn Silver, Reposado, or Anejo.  After some trial and error I decided to use the Silver and slowly my Perfectionist Creation was born. 

Ibiscus Frizzante

2 ounces of Patron Silver

  • 3-4 Dried Hibiscus Blossoms
  • 1 scant Bar Spoon of Lemon Curd
  • 1/2 ounce Lemon Juice
  • 2 1/2 ounces Peach Nectar
  • 2 drops of Orange Bitters
  • 2 1/2 ounces Martini & Rossi Prosecco

Place Patron Silver and Hibiscus Blossoms in a tumbler and stir.In a Shaker combine the Lemon Curd, Lemon Juice, Peach Nectar, and Orange Bitters.  Add ice and shake vigorously to combine. Strain the Patron Silver into the Shaker and stir to combine. Double Strain into a Flute and top with Martini & Rossi Prosecco

My inspiration for this drink came from my hometown, Cincinnati Ohio which is a beautiful place.  We experience the best of all four seasons, from crisp snowy wintes to hot humid summers.  I was inspired by a Cincinnati Summer in my mothers yard.  Most of the early summer was spent helping her transform our yard from the bright new greens of spring to a wonderland of color!  Our humid summers are perfect for a tropical plants, like Hibiscus.  I was always drawn to the bright, oversized blooms- and so were the bees and hummingbirds.  As I grew older I started drinking Hibiscus tea, with a squeeze of lemon, and the aroma always brought me back to those summer days. 

We would go Peach picking at a local farm, and the Peaches would be so juicy we had to eat them outside, with the juice dripping down our arms.  Peach and Hibiscus are one of my favorite flavor combinations.

The name, Ibiscus Frizzante, and the Martini & Rossi Prosecco are a nod to my Italian heritage as well as my families love of sparking wine.  Martini and Rossi had been a long time favorite and we mark every holiday, big and small, with a glass.

With this cocktail I’ve found a way to combine a few favorite flavors, and memories, of my Cincinnati Summers.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Take a Sip Out of Shark Week

Who doesn’t love Shark Week?  Growing up my brother loved the Hammerheads.  I was fascinated with the Great Whites.  Whale Sharks always looked silly to me.  Goblin Sharks look like something out of a childhood nightmare.  I’ve spent many hours watching the Shark Week specials- does it get any better than a mockumentary about Megalodon?  (Part of me thinks it’s real and lives in the deep ocean!)  Or watching some guy free dive with Great Whites?  Basically I love everything about Shark Week.

I don’t know how, but it always falls on the hottest week of the summer.  And what’s better than staying inside and basking in the sweet sweet AC and sipping an even cooler cocktail?

For Shark Week 2019 I’m unleashing some Great (White) cocktails! You might want to Nurse (Shark) these libations, or you might end up Hammer(Head)ed!
And that’s no Bull(Shark)!

Deep Blue Sea-

  • 2 ounces Sauza Silver Tequila
  • 1 ounce Triple Sec
  • 2 ounces Sweet & Sour
  • Splash Roses Lime Juice
  • 1 ounce Blue Curacao
  • Shake and Serve in a 16 ounce Glass (or Fishbowl!) with a Shark Lollipop

Great White-

  • 1.5 ounce Bacardi White Rum
  • 1.5 ounce Bacardi Limon
  • Splash Melon Schnapps
  • Top with Blue-Raspberry Kool-Aid
  • Serve Over Ice with a Shark Gummy

Sunset Beach

  • 2 ounce Deep Eddy Orange Vodka
  • 4 ounces Pineapple Juice
  • Drizzle of Grenadince
  • Serve Over Ice, Garnish with a Cherry (Or Surfboard)

National Bourbon Day

My Bourbon Day Tri0

Today, June 14 is a very special day.  It’s National Bourbon Day!  Since I live in Cincinnati, and Kentucky is just across the river, Bourbon is pretty special in my region.  I first started drinking bourbon shortly after I turned 21.  I decided that the Whiskey Sour would be my go to drink (this was replaced after about 5 months with the Tequila Sunrise, but that’s another story).  I spent many nights feeling oh so classy sipping on my well whiskey sour, with extra cherries please!  It didn’t take me long to figure out that higher quality ingredients meant a much tastier cocktail, and a much more comfortable morning, if you know what I mean!  From cheap well whiskey, to Maker’s Mark and Basil Hayden’s.  From bright red maraschino cherries to the luxurious Luxardo.  It’s safe to say I’ve upped my whiskey game over the years.

My taste for and appreciation of Bourbon has grown so much since my first few sours.  As a bartender I hear all the time how people hate “brown liquor” (what does that even mean?) or that they can’t stand the “burn” with bourbon.  Professionally I see this as a challenge.  I firmly believe that if you don’t like a liquor you just haven’t had it in the correct drink yet- and I’m here to help!

So here are my three offerings for National Bourbon Day.  I’ll list them, from I feel, is the most approachable, easy drinking, to the boldest, biggest bourbon flavors.

Tart Cherry Limeade

Tart Cherry Limeade-

1.5 ounces Red Stag

1 ounce Tart Cherry Simple Syrup*

 topped with Lime Seltzer, right now I’m obsesses with a brand called Bubbly

Fill a Collins glass with ice, add the Red Stag, Cherry Syrup, and soda.  Stir gently to combine and top with a couple of cherries.

Bourbon Bramble-

Bourbon Bramble

1.5 ounces Maker’s Mark

1 ounce Blackberry-Honey Syrup*

.5ounce Lemon Juice

Splash of soda water

I like to feel fancy with this drink, so I put it in a Wine glass.  Combine the Maker’s, Syrup, and Lemon Juice in a Shaker, add ice, and shake vigorously for 20 seconds.  Pour into the Wine glass, add a little more ice and soda for bubbles.  Add a couple of blackberries to the glass and enjoy!

Blood Orange Old Fashioned-

2 ounces Woodford Reserve

1 ounce Blood Orange Simple Syrup* (I make my own, but you can find some at most liquor stores)

Blood Orange Old Fashioned

2 dashes Orange Bitters

Add ingredients to a rocks glass, stir to combine, top with ice and garnish with an orange or blood orange wedge and a Luxardo cherry if you have it.

*I’ll add some syrup recipes in the next couple of days.  It is so worth it to make your own, especially if you can get the ingredients when they are in season!

Welcome!

Hi Everyone! I’m Elvis, the manager of O’Neal’s Tavern. I’ve been a part of the O’Neal’s crew for around 9 years now and over that time I’ve learned a lot! From making my very first Margarita (it was soooo bad) to perfecting my Peach Madras (you HAVE to try one- I love it with Titos or Sauza)! I’ve cultivated my love of craft beer but now that I live a mostly wheat free life I’m enjoying finding cider and gluten free craft options. I still love visiting all of our Cincinnati Breweries and I travel every chance I get! Exploring that great new restaurant down the street or the new-to-me gospel brunch at Stubbs BBQ in Austin, I’m always ready to try new things! So this morning I made myself a cup of coffee in my favorite Cincinnati mug that I bought at the top of Carew Tower and I started writing. I want to share some of my crazy cocktail ideas and wild adventures with all of you! I hope you enjoy!