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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, November 14, 2003

It's your wedding, so serve something special at the bar

• The Wedding Planner's Web log

By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer

The wedding-planning guides say you can save money at your reception by serving a signature drink at the bar along with beer, wine and soda. I'm not sure it would cost us less than serving other drinks, but we like the idea of doing something different.

Calling all bartenders: We're in search of the perfect cocktail.

Being that my guy is a Scotch drinker and I'm more of a gin fan, we're thinking of switching gears and going for something sweet (mai-tais, perhaps, with a sappier name, like Our Tais?)

So far, I haven't come up with any catchy names or party drinks beyond my family's always-popular recipe for Kentucky bourbon slush.

Kentucky Bourbon Slush

  • 2 cups cold water
  • 4 cups hot water
  • 3 cups bourbon
  • 12-ounce can of frozen lemonade
  • 6-ounce can of frozen orange juice
  • 1-1/2 cups of sugar
  • 4 tea bags

To make: First, clear room in your freezer. Use hot water to make the tea.

In a large plastic container, mix ingredients. Freeze. When ready to serve, scoop into glasses. If it's too strong, add some Sprite.

• • •

It's good, but it's more of a backyard-barbeque kind of drink. What about something more sophisticated?

For that, I had to consult the experts: bartenders.

The beach bar at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider has concocted some specialty drinks for couples renewing their wedding vows, and Darrell Kawasaki, the hotel's beverage manager, recommends something he calls Always and Forever.

Always and Forever

  • 3/4 ounce Ultra Violet Orange Vodka
  • 3/4 ounce peach schnapps
  • 1 ounce grapefruit juice
  • 1 ounce pineapple juice
  • 1/2 ounce lime juice
  • a dash of strawberry puree

Mix all ingredients in your favorite glass over ice. Garnish with a fresh strawberry and a flower.

If that doesn't suit you, he also has drinks with names like Can't Help Falling in Love, What a Wonderful Life and

I Only Have Eyes for You.

• • •

Grant Cooper, president and instructor at the Honolulu branch of ABC Bartending Schools, says the cosmopolitan, a drink made famous by Madonna and the "Sex and the City" girls, can work for a wedding.

"You can use different holiday time fruits or vegetables to cut into interesting shapes for drink garnishes," he said. For a Thanksgiving time cosmo, he suggests spearing fresh cranberries and an orange slice on a plastic cocktail sword as a garnish. And the recipe:

The Couple's Cosmo

  • 1/4 ounce Grand Marnier
  • 1 ounce citrus vodka
  • splash of cranberry juice

Serve chilled up or on the rocks with cranberry-orange garnish.

• • •

Other flavored martinis also are the rage this year, said Sandra Miano, owner of Nashville Waikiki and an instructor with the Hawaii Professional School of Bartending. A variation on the martini theme is:

The Pucker Up Apple Martini

  • 1-1/2 ounces of Absolut Vodka
  • 1/2 ounce of Green Apple Pucker
  • 1/2 ounce of sweet-and-sour mix

To make: Shake up over ice and pour into a cocktail glass. Serve with a cherry in it.

"It's a pretty drink," Miano said.

Wonder what my guy will think of pretty drinks? I doubt a Scotch-tini would be a hit. We'll have to sample some possibilities. I think a little toasting is in order.

Share your recipe online for the perfect cocktail concoction by posting it here. Speak now or hold your peace. The wedding blogs, posted Tuesdays and Fridays, come to an end next week. After that, the bride is taking off to tie the knot.


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