#55: American Graffiti

1/2 oz Light Rum
1/2 oz Dark Rum
1/2 oz Southern Comfort
1/2 oz Sloe Gin
Pour ingredients into a tall glass filled with ice, add a dash of sweetened lime juice, and fill with equal amounts sour mix and pineapple juice.
Shake, and garnish with lime.

Here's an interesting tidbit I dug up today. It looks like drinking can help you save weight!



Calories in Various Foods

Beer, 12 fl. oz.         145
Beer, light, 12 fl. oz.     100
Liquor, 100 proof, 1 fl. oz.     83
Liquor, 80 proof, 1 fl. oz.     65
Liquor, 86 proof, 1 fl. oz.     70
Liquor, 90 proof, 1 fl. oz.     74

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George Lucas and Harrison Ford need not apply here.

This is a nice looking drink, turning much more red than I imagined while looking at the ingredients. It smelled quite strongly of pineapple juice, which isn't so bad, but I was a bit wary as I have not had great luck with previous drinks containing it.

Flavor-wise, the sour mix and the pineapple juice blended perfectly though, and the different rums floated nicely in the background, while the Southern Comfort spiciness layered on top. Overall it was not too sweet, and surprisingly quite refreshing. Interestingly it did not have as much of an alcohol "bite" as I had imagined.

I would make this drink anytime, especially on hot summer evenings. I'm sure most of us would agree about this time of year that we could use some of those.

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#31: Alabama Slammer (frozen)

1/2 cup ice
1 oz Vodka or Orange Vodka
1 oz Southern Comfort
Dash of Sloe Gin or Grenadine
Scoop of Orange Sherbet
Combine in blender, blend until smooth. If too thick add orange juice, if too thin add ice or sherbet.
Garnish with orange.

Several years ago I was home from work for the day, and my teenage daughter and I hung out for the afternoon watching TV and cracking inapropriate jokes about the news stories of the day. Now, teenage girls are not known for their immediate grasp of the current events of the day, unless they involve Snooky or some horrible "music" act. I think at one point she had to ask me if they had misspelled Iraq when they meant Iran. No honey, they are different countries, really.

Anyway, remember when Michael J. Fox was testifying in front of Congress on behalf of Parkinson's research? Several minutes passed with Marty McFly speaking, and showing the world the extent to which the disease had made his life more difficult by his intense shaking. Finally my daughter turned to me and asked:
"Isn't he a famous actor? Why is he so nervous up there?"

Maybe that's why I drink.

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Well, our first frozen drink. And the last of the Alabama Slammers. This took a bit more work than the previous drinks, getting out the blender and all. The small amount of alcohol in the recipe led me to think that this would be a relatively weak drink, but the vodka and Southern Comfort really came through. It was much stronger than what I thought it would be.

I like my smoothies thick, so I added just a touch more ice and 1/2 a scoop more of sherbet. The drink was still strong, but tasty. The orange sherbet surprisingly worked well with the different alcohols. I anticipated that this would come out too sweet for my taste, but that wasn't the case. It really did taste like a frozen version of an Alabama Slammer 2, although creamier from the orange sherbet, and a bit less of a bite without the orange juice.

Overall this is a mild tasting drink that goes down well. It's great for sipping (gulp and you get a brain freeze). The alcohol keeps the ice and sherbet from melting too quickly, which is a nice effect.

When the kids run off to the ice cream truck on hot summer days, make yourself one of these.

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#30: Alabama Slammer 5

1/2 oz Whiskey
1/2 oz Southern Comfort
1/2 oz Amaretto
1/2 Sloe Gin
Combine all ingredients in a tall glass filled with ice, fill with orange juice, shake, and garnish with an orange.

My dog took me for a bit of a walk today. There's a nice path by the local lagoon that is fairly flat and wide. We ambled out and back for about 3 miles. Along the way she got to greet a few other dogs, and some people. Most of the people were really nice, especially since I have the cutest dog in the world. All of the dogs were nice though, which says something about people.

But one lady really ticked me off. Sasha (my dog), went up to greet her and her friend when we got close by each other on the path. They both commented on how cute Sasha is, and the older lady shoved her hands down to my dog's level, palms open, and squealed for her to come greet her. The younger lady just leaned over a bit and let her hands hang down. Of course Sasha ignored the older lady and went straight to the younger, calmer lady. The older lady got a little miffed, commenting on my dog having a preference for her friend for no apparent reason (to her).

Sasha told me later that Doggy Jazz Hands shoved in her face just don't appeal to her.

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Here we swap out the vodka for whiskey, add in a bit more Sloe Gin, and her you go. This version had an awesome color, nice and deep. It was much sweeter than the others, but most of that did not come from the orange juice. I could still taste the Southern Comfort, but not as much as before.

Considering the ingredients, I thought that this one would be sweeter, but everything blended really nicely, like all of the Alabama Slammers. You really can't go wrong with any of them.

I think I am starting to get tired of all the orange juice. After the heat of the southern summer afternoon, let's head to the kitchen. We have one more Alabama Slammer tomorrow, the frozen version, and then we can move on to another state.

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#29: Alabama Slammer 4

1/2 oz Southern Comfort
1/2 oz Triple Sec
1/2 oz Galliano
1/2 oz Sloe Gin
Combine all ingredients in a tall glass filled with ice, fill with orange juice, shake, and garnish with an orange.

Years ago, I had a Kung-Fu Grip GI Joe. He was awesome. He stood a commanding 12" tall, and oozed bad-ass. I don't mean oozed like his nemesis (in my backyard) Stretch Armstrong, he just seemed like he was unstoppable in the little made up world of my summers. Joe could do anything. He was flexible, unbeatable, and with those tough plastic boots and soft rubber hands, he defeated many another action figure foes.

Until he became a POW. Remember, Joe was a GI. That spells Army, and during the 70s, that meant POWs. I may have been too young to really know what Vietnam was all about, but I could certainly hear the news every night. Especially since I didn't have other distractions, like cable, or the internet, or social niceties like friends.

It just seemed reasonable that at some point in his varied and exciting career, an Army guy like Joe would be taken prisoner. Of course, I always knew that Joe was too tough to be held for long, so I wasn't worried that this would be a permanent state of affairs. How Joe was captured wasn't important. That kind of detail to my 10 year old minds seemed irrelevant, and boring. Getting captured was for weaklings. Joe did exciting stuff, like escape! The entire adventure that summer morning revolved around Joe escaping. A daring, mad, fight to the finish, real hero escape from the jungle hell of his backyard captors, the faceless bad guys who surrounded him.

An elaborate plot developed, with Joe breaking free from his primitive holding cell dug in the ground, bursting through the logs (twigs) that created a door to his hell. Of course, getting away from the guards and out of the camp was his priority. Joe used his Kung Fu Grip to grab a log (twig) and knock a guard unconscious. He used his Kung Fu Grip to climb the guard tower (small tree), grab another guard's rifle (toy rifle), and shoot the guard (Stretch Armstrong himself). Joe used his Kung Fu Grip to leap to his salvation, a rope (string) leading out of the camp from the tower (small tree) to a clearing outside, and freedom. Joe used his Kung Fu Grip to grab that rope (string) and start his ascent to liberation and a the celebration of another mission accomplished.

That ended up being Joe's last mission. Its pretty hard for a guy to be all tough ass and kicking butt when he has no fingers. One by one, the string sliced into Joe's soft, rubbery hands. Like a cheese slicer in slow motion, I watched as Joe's digits came off one by one, as he dropped lower and lower to freedom, and a life of VA benefits and the obscurity and darkness that was the bottom of the toy chest. Joe ended up on the ground, clubs for hands, never able to pick up his standard issue rifle again.

Maybe that's why I drink.

Finally, a Slammer version that has something different. The drink looked very nice, having a deeper color, with much more red than orange. This one also had a totally different taste from the previous versions. The orange juice was not the strongest flavor here, and the Southern Comfort came through strong and spicy. The Triple Sec and Sloe Gin added just the right amount of sweetness, and the Galliano provided just a hint more of spice and some sweetness. A very nice combo overall.

Galliano is a sweet and spicy, bright yellow brandy-based Italian liquer. The recipe is still somewhat secret, but contains over 30 herbs, flowers, spices, roots, and berries. The main ingredients are star anise, ginger, citrus, and vanilla. Supposedly the bright yellow color symbolizes the Gold Rushes of the 1890s. It is mainly used as a "marrying" ingredient, as it adds no intrusive flavor in and of itself, but deepens and gives character to the other ingredients in a drink. We'll be seeing more of the Galliano when we get to the Harvey Wallbanger and many of its variations, as it is the key ingredient in those drinks.

Still lounging outside during the summer, but now I have moved over to the swing under the tree in the backyard.

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#28: Alabama Slammer 3

1 oz Southern Comfort
1 oz Amaretto
Dash of Sloe Gin or Grenadine
Combine all ingredients in a tall glass filled with ice, fill with orange juice, shake, and garnish with an orange.

We've crossed to the other side of the tracks. Dropped the vodka, and added the Amaretto back in. I wrote about this a few days ago, and now we have come almost full circle. I feel better knowing that if I am going to have this many Slammers, I am covering the bases for everyone out there and seeing what the differences are.

The spices of the Southern Comfort blended much better with the orange juice in this variation. It made for a weaker drink from an alcohol standpoint, but the flavors were more intense. Personally I sort of miss the vodka. This option is by far the spiciest and the sweetest so far. The vodka in the earlier versions seemed to tone down some of the other flavors. No complaints here though.

This is a good option for people who don't like vodka, or want a drink with a bit less alcohol. Still great for hanging out on the porch.

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#27: Alabama Slammer 2

1 oz Vodka
1 oz Southern Comfort
Dash of Sloe Gin or Grenadine
Combine all ingredients in a tall glass filled with ice, fill with orange juice, shake, and garnish with an orange.

By dropping the Amaretto, the drink has a lighter, more orange color. With slightly more vodka, this is a bit stronger than the original Alabama Slammer. It also seemed to lose a touch of the spice from the Southern Comfort, even thought there was actually a bit more. Perhaps the larger quantity of orange juice masked the spices. It was slightly less sweet as well, without the Amaretto. This was still very good though.

Still hanging out on the porch. This is a good option if you don't have any Amaretto around.

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#26: Alabama Slammer

3/4 oz Vodka or Orange Vodka
3/4 oz Southern Comfort
3/4 oz Amaretto
Dash of Sloe Gin or Grenadine
Combine all ingredients in a tall glass filled with ice, fill with orange juice, shake, and garnish with an orange.

Let's start by talking about some ingredients we haven't encountered up to this point. Southern Comfort is a liquer made from bourbon, peach, and citrus, created by a bartender in New Orleans in 1874. It will show up in many drinks as we move forward.

Sloe Gin is a gin-based liquer, bright red in color, flavored with sloe (also called blackthorn) berries, a small relative of the plum, and can add both color and sweetness to a drink.

The Alabama Slammer here starts off a series of 6 drinks with the same name. Glancing through the ingredients for these drinks, it looks like it will be interesting to see and taste the differences a few minor variations in ingredients can make.

On to the tasting. The orange juice was not overpowering. I could really taste the spice of the Southern Comfort, but as a pleasant tone to the drink. I could not taste the Amaretto, but it definitely colored the orange juice to a nice deep color. I don't see the need for the Sloe Gin, as this drink is already sweet. It is very refreshing. Not too strong, not too weak. Overall a very nice balance of flavors. I am not sure where the vodka got introduced to this drink, but about half of the variation that I can find use vodka, the other half do not. Not that I'm complaining, I just find it interesting that The Good Book differs in such a substantial way on such a popular drink. If I had my druthers, I would prefer the vodka. Guess it's better to have an ingredient in the recipe that people can take out, rather than trying to figure out what to add in.

Ahh, but we have many more variations on this to come. The other half, the vodka-fearing from the other side of the tracks, may yet have their day.

Have this when hanging out on the porch on a hot, humid summer day.

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