Voting with your glass

I was recently reading a press release from DISCUS talking about how several states still have an Election Day alcohol sale ban. The press release said that Kentucky, Indiana and South Carolina banned Election day alcohol sales in restaurants, bars and package stores. Utah, West Virginia, Alaska and Massachusetts don't allow alcohol sales at package stores, though Alaska and Massachusetts governments can provide exemption.

Certainly didn't seem like there were still such laws in place in some states considering all the press material I've managed to collect about places offering drinks with some sort of election theme. So let's take a look at what I have here.

Some went with red vs. blue. Hudson River Cafe in New York announced it'd be offering a Blueberry-Acai Caipirosca (muddled lime, fresh mint, Van Gogh blueberry-acai vodka) and a 12th Ave. Secret Red Sangria (a red wine sangria with calvados) for you to sip on election night as you watch everything go down live on TV.

SushiSamba also went two-toned, offering both The Obamarama and The Maverick (both $11). The Obamarama is a blueberry lemonade made by muddling lemon and blueberries with sugar then adding Pearl Bluberry Vodka, blue Curacao, and shaking all the ingredients. The drink is then topped with club soda and garnished with a lemon wheel.



The Maverick is a raspberry white tea drink, made by muddling four raspberries with sugar, then adding raspberry rum, triple sec, grenadine and unsweetened white tea. The shaken and strained drink is garnished with an orchid.

Another New York establishment, the organic and vegetarian-friendly Counter, departs from the color theme with its drinks, and instead mixologist Tonia Guffey decided to play with names (all $12). The McCain Campaign on the Rocks is a Penn 1861 vodka "in celebration of the year McCain was born." The Palin Whine Spritzer is American white wine with a splash of club soda and homemade grenadine. The Obama Mama is Papagayo white rum, Papagayo spiced rum, coconut milk, muddled blueberries. The Joe the Plummer, a plum-infused vodka with homemade lemonade.

Indebleu in Washington, D.C. has had candidates' home state-themed cocktails available since early October. The drinks will be available until Nov. 4. Note that the vice presidential cocktails cost less than the presidential ones. They include:

Arizona Hard Iced Tea ($12), a savina pepper-infused Long Island Iced Tea, is made with Hangar One Chipotle Vodka, rum, gin, and whiskey. It also includes home-made sour mix and grenadine and is garnished with dried whole red chilis.

Bleu Illinois ($12), a version of the Cosmo made with Bombay Sapphire Gin mixed with home-made sour mix and blue Curacao then garnished with an orange wheel.

Drunken Baked Alaska ($10), a martini made with Stoli Vanilla Vodka, Frangelico, and pineapple juice. A whipped cream topping is supposed to be an homage both to the state's mountains and the eponymous dessert item.

Delaware Stinger ($10), a version of the Stinger made with green Creme de Menthe blended with Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey.

DISCUS sent out a their own suggestions of electoral elixirs created by Jonathan Pogash:

The Maverick

1 oz. Bourbon
3/4 oz. Simple Syrup
3 Lemon Wedges
1/2 of a Ripe Peach
1 oz. Champagne

Directions: Muddle the peach and lemon in the simple syrup. Then add the Rye and ice and shake well. Strain into an ice-filled old fashioned glass. Top off with champagne and garnish with a peach slice.

Cocktail for a Change

1 oz. Gin
1/4 oz. Biscotti Liqueur
1/4 oz. Dry Vermouth
2 dashes Orange Bitters

Directions: Stir ingredients in a mixing glass with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with an orange peel.

Red State Round-Up

1 oz. Tequila
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
3/4 oz. Homemade Grenadine**
1/4 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Egg White
Club Soda

Directions: First, shake the egg white to emulsify. Then add remaining ingredients to cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Top with sparkling water and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg and lemon wheel.

**to make home-made grenadine, simply take 1 cup of store-bought pomegranate juice, and 1 cup of superfine sugar, and shake until all the sugar is dissolved.

Blue State Build-Up

1 oz. Light Rum
1 tsp. Blue Curacao
1/2 oz. Elderflower Liqueur
1/2 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 dash Aromatic Bitters

Directions: Stir ingredients in a mixing glass with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with 3 floating blueberries.

In my social circle at least, it seems like many people are planning to make an event of the evening on election day to go out and enjoy a drink and meal to watch the polls close like the would a sporting event. Whatever reason you find yourself drinking tomorrow night, at least remember to vote before doing so.

Edit: As we go into election day I'm getting more notices. It looks like Employees Only is also hosting an Election Night Radio Coverage Party from 6pm-4am. Looks like they're taking dinner reservations, so call them up.

Hudson River Cafe's new summer cocktail menu

The last time I stepped foot in the Hudson River Cafe, it was still partially under construction. It was a little over a year ago that I was shown around as I conducted an interview for a story I was writing about all the restaurant development happening along a particular stretch of West Harlem along the Hudson River.

It was easier to be in that neighborhood to pick up some Dinosaur BBQ back when I still lived up in the Inwood/Washington Heights Area, since it was on my way home on the uptown 1 train. However, even after the place was up and running I never got a chance to stop in. Now that I'm out in Astoria, it's kind of out of the way to say the least. So it was a bit of nostalgia to find myself on the uptown 1 again for the cocktail party debuting the new summer drink menu.

Walking past the Cotton Club and hanging a right, I passed by Dinosaur BBQ on the right and Fairway on the left under a scene probably not unlike the one under Knoxville's Henley Bridge that Cormac McCarthy described as a "long aisle of arches" in Suttree.

I entered the courtyard area of the Hudson River Cafe that was littered with building materials on my last visit, but was now filled with people and tables instead. I gazed upon...oh, bother, this is getting to be a bit much. Enough with the descriptive writing, on to what we're all here for — the drinks!

Mixologist Alex Ott, who's consulting Hudson River Cafe on their cocktail menu created this lineup of summer drinks. He was behind the bar somehow managing to mix up several a large amount of cocktails. He seemed to be able to accomplish this by attacking the situation in waves. Go through several glasses of one cocktail, break, then move on to the next.

Alex Ott is a busy man, telling me at one point he's working on about 150 cocktail menu deals all around the world as he was negotiating three different shakers at once. He said he created the drinks on the menu so that the could be paired with the food served at the restaurant; the lemongrass the Courtesan with ceviche or the wine in the Hudson River Caipirinha to go with beef, Alex explained.

The drinks were generally divided between fruity-up-front or the more subtle fruit-as-an-undertone categories. In the latter category, for example, I'd place the Lychee Fizz, and in the former, the Manhattanville.

The Harlem Renaissance, which is a dessert drink meant to be served "instead of dessert," according to Alex, came with a "virtual campfire" according to the menu. I didn't get to see it at the bar, but I did catch a glimpse of a red wine glass filled with smoke overturned on a platter brought out to one table, the glass lifted, then waved about. I'm guessing the smoke smelled like a campfire in some way. I didn't smell the smoke myself so I can only presume, but now I'm all kinds of puzzled as to what that's about. I didn't get a chance to ask since I didn't notice this detail until later. I tried to reason with myself that maybe its some kind of approximation of s'mores, but that doesn't sound right either.

Honeysuckle
Zacapa Rum, liquified honey, fresh lime juice

Manhattanville
fresh strawberries, guava juice, Grand Marnier, Belvedere Vodka, lime juice

Courtesan
Ginji Sake, Svedka Vodka, fresh lemongrass, fresh ginger, fresh mint, soda

Little Bird
Ocucaje Pisco, fresh mango, egg white, fresh lime juice, cinnamon, lime zest

Harlem Nights
Patron Silver, Creme de Peche, fresh mango, fresh lime, fresh mint

Lychee Fizz
Svedka citron vodka, fresh grapefruit, fresh lychee, agave nectar, soda water

Hudson River Caipirinha
Merlot, fresh limes, agave nectar

Harlem Renaissance
Chianti, fresh raspberry, Godiva Dark Chocolate Liqueur, fresh whipped cream, 23 carat gold "Virtual Campfire"