Cocktail of the Week: Royal Tea

Oh man, sometimes I am really stupid. If you know me-- and chances are you do, since you're reading this blog-- I do some dumb fucking things.

Today's cocktail comes from my new favorite slightly upscale new Italian-American drinking restaurant, Spill the Wine. I figured it was about time to review the cocktail while under its influence, and so here I am, a little buzzed on a Royal Tea.

I'm pretty stupid because I thought they just had the original thought of putting all this top shelf liquor in a glass-- crown, plymouth, belvedere, some fancy rum, chambord, and a lemon-- and calling it "tea." I mean, who would ever do that? Granted, I've probably had about 3 long islands in my entire life, which is good for me, considering my propensity for being a general lush. Still. It took me halfway through the drink to realize what "Royal Tea" actually referred to.

After the drink was over, the bartender asked me if I had an opinion, as if he knew I was going to write about it in my blog. I said that it tasted like a glass full of liquor, albeit very good liquor. There was no use putting much else but rum and vodka in the drink-- maybe the whiskey was pretty okay-- but the gin and chambord, especially the chambord, were useless in this particular concoction. Still, it was a drink with the taste distinction of being high-class and badass. Yes, a good drink it was.

Anyway, I'm also dumb for ordering that drink at 5 when I can't just pass out and now have to spend the rest of my evening deciding whether I like Robert DeNiro in 1900.

Cocktail of the Week: The Negroni

Oh man, here is the first thing I like! After first discovering the ol' G&T and floating a couple years on the classic Martini, I have a new favorite cocktail. I have not strayed from gin, the king of all liquors. I find in gin drinkers a distinction and willingness to become belligerent unmatched amongst those who prefer other liquors, save for the drinkers of maybe a nice scotch.

Anyway, I ordered a Negroni, knowing it involved Campari, about a month ago when I was in Pittsburgh. I was already drunk, and I was trying to impress people I didn't know. When they asked what was in it, I said, "I dunno. Campari and something else." It was an impressive moment.

It was also one of the greater moments for my tongue. Here was a drink what was pink and still felt like it could put hair on my chest. It tasted like Campari but not really. And when I looked it up on Wikipedia the next day, it said there was gin in it. I was saved! I had found the ultimate androgynous, classy, complicated, potent beverage!

A Negroni is one part gin, one part Campari, and one part sweet vermouth. It is not an old man drink, like most drinks involving Campari. Also, Wikipedia says that its name is not racist, but Italian-- a drink of many subtleties, the Negroni.

In a variation, I had a Negroni topped with Prosecco at a local restaurant the other day. This combined my favorite sparkling white wine with my favorite cocktail. It won for the moment, as I was craving something sweet, although I wouldn't go for it all the time.

So it's my new pretty great thing that I order when I only want one drink. The Negroni is the cocktail of champions and of me.