Thursday Happy Hour: Cocktail Recipes, Drinks, Music, and Good Times

Cranberry Thyme Crush

Stingy with the Social Lubricant

At a conference on the bay, I was spoiled by a constant presence of libations: dark coffee with real cream, Mighty Leaf hot tea, tiny soda bottles on ice, and sweating silver pitchers of water. Somehow, a drink in hand, any drink, makes chatting with strangers easier.

Drinks and "what do you dos" should come even more easily at the nonsponsored evening networking mixer, right?, considering alcohol is involved. I was disappointed.

$11 later, a tiny glass packed with ice in hand, I slurped up the vapors of gin and tonic before even stepping away from the black cloaked bar-stand.

Lucky for me, G was busy crushing fresh cranberries for my arrival home.

Rangpur Martini

Face to Face

I met one of my clients in person for the first time this week. Technology makes it easy to connect and work with colleagues and clients from afar. But there's something about a face to face -- even just once for no reason other than happy hour -- that is so ... energizing.

When he ordered a Bombay martini straight up, we immediately started discussing different brands of gins -- Boodles, Tanqueray 10, Hendricks. Turns out, his favorite drink is The Vesper, and I had to confess to this side-project of mine. Of course, we didn't just talk about gin, and I now better understand his business and the way his team works.

But the best part? I can't wait to tell him about this limey Rangpur (tm) Martini.

Bronx

Aromatherapy

It may be dark and damp outside, but it's bright and warm somewhere, because the oranges are only pennies per pound at the market. Juicing a pile of oranges and making orange peel twists for cocktails is like winter therapy; the orange oils from the peels spritz the kitchen. By the time our guests are knocking, the wet, tense commute is a just a foggy memory.

Corpse Reviver #2

Things Are Not Always as They Seem

Remember The Suicide: the beverage we made as kids at 7-Eleven when we first could mix our own sodas? That's what I thought of when Phil suggested a Corpse Reviver #2 cocktail for a Halloween happy hour drink.

I might have rejected the idea based on name straight-away. But Phil and I have similar cocktail tastes. We both enjoy Vespers, Journalists, and Moscow Mules.

Gary mixed us up a tester. The Corpse Reviver #2 is ... a laboratory experiment. It's unusual, but grows on you. It seems strong, but it's not. You think you've had enough, but you'll have another. And like it. In a creepy sort of way.

Lemon Rickey

A Simple Distraction

Work was all wrapped up and the sun doesn't set till 7pm, so we had some time. We skeddadled to Doheny Beach with cooler and kayak. The ocean backwash was fierce: the incoming wave crashes into the outgoing pull of the last, causing a collision that claps and sprays straight up, making me think of snapped bones and water in my brain.

But our timing worked and -- paddle, paddle, paddle! -- we made it to open ocean and then Dana Point Harbor for a more sheltered cruise. The journey back to shore was, um ... challenging, and earned us a tasty happy hour beverage. With a good book for distraction.

South Side Fizz

Floating Around on the East Side

Friends with a pool are always appreciated. Friends with a newly surfaced pool who live in the warmer eastern portion of San Diego simply spoil us. Baskets of chips and trail mix, a lazy golden afternoon sun, and a round of poolside "punch" for everyone made this one very happy September evening.

PIMM'S Cup

Fresh as a Cucumber

It's been wicked hot (as our Boston friends like to say), and cocktails at home get warm pretty fast. Instead of drinks in martini glasses, we're serving iced drinks on the patio with salt and pepper kettle chips. The cold, heavy crystal glass, the scent of cucumber each time we take a sip, and only 50 proof, PIMM'S Cups are a surprisingly cooling drink. Like air conditioning for your insides.

How do you make your PIMM'S Cups?

Canteen Cocktail

The Campin' Cocktail Formula

Most of our happy hours are at home, I admit. But we get out too. Whether it's a tiny hotel in Palm Springs, a campsite in Joshua Tree, or a picnic table in the mountains, we bring our portable bar along. Some portable music. And the formula for the perfect cocktail.

Avery's Gimlet Up

Improving on a Classic
Have you ever had a favorite bar for appetizers and happy hour -- only to be royally disappointed when the bartender moves on and the drinks tank? That happened to us at Roy's in La Jolla a while back. The drinks became syrupy touristy concoctions. We stopped going.

Then our friends invited us to join them there -- and we were in for a head-spin. A new-to-us bartender named Avery not only made up drinks for us when we described what we like -- the Square One Cucumber & Lemon was a summer's garden in a glass -- he also improved on one of our own house favorites: the Gimlet Up. 

How is this possible?

The Income Tax Cocktail

If You Haven't Finished Your Taxes, You'll Need One of These 
And if you have finished your taxes, congratulations! You get to celebrate Thursday Happy Hour one day early!

The Negroni

Sweet and Bitter Hellos and Goodbyes
The first time I met Jake and his wife Rebekah, Jake was mixing Negroni's to go along with a big Italian feast he made for Chase Jarvis's crew. Shelly arrived later and missed out on the sweet, bitter Italian cocktail. I had had Negroni's before, but never with Jake's secret ingredient. Now Jake's off on his next Big Bicycling Adventure in Italy (he's a wheelin' tour guide for Trek), and I just hope he returns with more secret ingredients for old school cocktails. We'll be ready and waiting.

Pegu

Join Us Tonight for Thursday Happy Hour on Twitter!
We've been experimenting with new ways to stay in touch with friends and family who live far away. Skype is super fun to see friends while chatting, but it's also just one connection at a time and you have to sit very still (or carefully carry your computer and drink around -- not recommended). 

So tonight, Thursday, April 2, at 6pm PST, we're inviting all our friends (and followers) to join us on Twitter for a digital cocktail party. It's a bit of a social experiment. And it's taking some ... oh, persuasion ... to get certain people signed up.

Imagine, fearful newbies, experienced Tweeting pros, and us all sipping cocktails together -- virtually. I really can't wait. Oh, what will we talk about?

Check out the virtual party here: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=thh01
If you need instructions to join us, look here.
For the Pegu cocktail recipe that we're drinking tonight, continue reading.

Thursday Happy Hour Is Throwing a Twitter Party!

The Digital Cocktail Experiment Begins!

And you're invited! Join us this Thursday April 2, 2009, at 6pm PST on Twitter. Here's how:

1. Sign in or join Twitter and follow us.
2. Type @Thurshappyhour on Twitter and say hello. End with #THH01
3. Search for #THH01 to follow the conversation. http://search.twitter.com/

We'll be drinking Pegus -- but you can join us with whatever beverage you have on hand. If you're not sure how to make a Pegu, check back here on Thursday morning for the cocktail recipe.

Here are the ingredients for a Pegu cocktail: orange liqueur, limes (or lemons), gin, Angostura bitters. Get shopping!

See you on Twitter! http://twitter.com/thurshappyhour

Cheers!

~Shelly & Gary

The Digital Cocktail Experiment

Swallow Your Digital Guilt Once and for All 
We've been super busy lately, and our friendly correspondence has sadly gotten stuck in the folds of dinner, laundry, and errands. So this past Thursday, we invited the Mac to join us for happy hour. We watched nephew videos, flipped through our friends' vacation pictures, and replied to e-mail and FB updates. Being social online usually means being anti-social in the real world, but not this time.

Which reminded us ... our friends have been bugging us to get on Skype for digital happy hours. We'll be trying that this Thursday for sure. Oh, and there's a Twitter experiment coming soon ...

Orange Tabby

What Do You Do with Kumquats, Anyway?     
My sister brought over a bag of gobstopper-sized oranges -- kumquats, actually. From a neighbor. Or maybe it was the farmer's market, I'm not sure. They're sweet and tart and bitter. The peels are soft enough to eat.

For happy hour, Gary created a spin on my favorite, the Journalist. The Orange Tabby is like sucking on the best orange candy you've ever had, but not that sweet and more complex.

Kind of like our businesses (the topic of vigorous conversation at this happy hour). Rufus, the orange tabby cat, couldn't agree more.