An ongoing adventure of travel and living while using a wheelchair. Tim has been disabled from birth. Darryl is his father and caregiver who travels with him.
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Below is the video for the Hurricane but read the recipe at the bottom for an extra ingredient that made it much better.
The Hurricane is the classic New Orleans drink. Sold in take-out windows so you can drink while perusing the French Quarter, it's a very tasty thirst quencher. It's also quite potent. Many of the recipes I found called for up to six different spirits (yikes!), so I experimented a little before coming up with this lighter version...that is if you can still call something with two shots of rum in each drink light.
In the video above, I used a different grenadine than I usually do. It was weak and wouldn't hold its color so the drinks came out orange. In the recipe below, I added cranberry cocktail. It not only gave the drink its usual red color but also boosted the taste considerably.
HURRICANE - Two Drinks
2oz - light rum 2oz - dark rum 1 1/3 oz - lime juice splash of passion fruit syrup 1/2 oz simple syrum 1/2 oz grenadine 2oz - orange juice 1oz - cranberry cocktail
Mix all ingredients in a shaker 1/3 filled with ice. Strain into two old-fashioned glassed half filled with ice.
I think I count six bars at the Riu Palace in Costa Rica. There may be a couple more but there's definitely not any less. Plus, guests of the Palace also have full bar privileges at the Riu Guanacaste next door. You don't have to walk far to get your buzz on, that's for sure.
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One of the unique bars is Lounge 24, at the back of the lobby behind the coffee and pastry bar. It gets its name by being open and available to guests 24 hours a day. Feel like a nacho and beer craving at 3 in the morning? This is your place. A fairly good selection of quality snacks and bar food line the back wall. It's definitely a step up from the all-night offerings of the last Riu we stayed at in the Dominican Republic. For drinks though? You're on your own. That's not a bad thing, it's just what makes Lounge 24 unique...all the liquor and fixings are there for you to make whatever you want. Think the lobby bartender is making your mai tai too weak? Make it as strong as you want here. It's a nice break and even makes a good arts 'n crafts activity for those who want to play with a little mixology. Watch in the video above as Tim and I demonstrate how to make a mai tai in this little DIY bar off the lobby of the Riu Palace in Costa Rica. As an aside, after we finished, the other people in the bar watching us film the video, had me make mai tais for the whole group. For the rest of the week, wherever we went in the resort, when one of those guests would see me, I'd get a greeting "hey, Mai Tai Man!" Darryl Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick All Rights Reserved
Coming to you from lovely Guanacaste, Costa Rica, it's Tim and Darryl with another new cocktail for you. As you may know, when we travel, we like to create cocktails out of our room's minibar or local drinks. Today, with a free minibar and unlimited liquor courtesy of the Riu Palace Hotel, it's another new cocktail named after the beach we're residing on. This time it's Playa Matapalo.
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So, here we go...take a tall glass and fill completely with ice. Dump in a shot of dark rum, another of brandy and top off with Fanta and soda water. The matapalo which, as you'll see in the video above, tastes remarkably like a picon punch of Basque fame. Cheers from Costa Rica! Darryl
Let's admit it...life's too short to drink bad beer but now Budweiser has a new variety that they claim has...wait for it..."Taste!"
I guess that means that for all these years Budweiser never really had any. Can't argue with that.
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Anyway, Tim and I had to put this to the test. On a nice, sunny Southern California afternoon, we decided to settle it. I went to our local liquor dealer, got a can of original Budweiser and a bottle of the new Budweiser Black Crown, a darker amber 6% alcohol beer. Watch the video above to see the results.
Never say we don't take one for the team here at The World on Wheels... Cheers?
While the Paso Robles area is justifiably famous for its vineyards, wineries, and wine, one of America's most popular microbreweries resides here. Firestone Walker, makers of the Double Barrel Ale (DBA) has a decent sized operation south of town.
They also have a restaurant to the south in Buellton, but we're just here to taste the beers.
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Here at the brewery, they have a nice tasting room with 14 taps (just installed the day before we were here). For $6 you can taste 4 of their brews.
We taste the DBA, Solace...a wheat beer, a hefeweizen, a porter, a honey blonde, and IPA, and a red ale. While we enjoyed the DBA, Solace, and the honey blonde, the rest were average to a bit heavy for us.
So we're kind of indifferent to Firestone Walker. The beers in Denver were much better as was Sierra Nevada up north in Chico, which also serves a vast variety of tastes at no charge...but wait...what's that across the street?
Watch the video above as we find a very nice ringer, right across the street from the FW premises.
Kicking off our Midwest Baseball Tour last year, we started with an impromtu pub crawl along the Ohio River. The "Cincinnati" part of the title is a bit misleading, it's actually in Newport, Kentucky at the Levee District, just across the river from The Great American Ballpark, home of the Reds.
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We started before the baseball game going on that night so we got a lot of the pre-game party flavor. We didn't go to the game that night (our tickets were for the next day), so we stayed behind at a bar called Bulldogs, watching the game on TV. That was a bit surreal, the actual game was a thousand feet away. We could hear it both from the stadium and on TV.
So here is the crawl. We start off at a place called the Beer Sellar, which sits on a floating barge in the river that it shares with Hooters. There's a large patio crowded with baseball fans getting ready for the game with their two-dollar Huddy Light specials. They will soon depart for the game on a ferry that leaves right from the barge.
Next, it's over to a branch of Munich's famous Hofbrauhaus, just up the street, where we sample their delicious beers in about as authentic of a German beer garden you'll find in the states. It's not quite up to Munich quality but darn good for over here. We sample the hefeweizen, dunkel, and meibier. Ending up the crawl, we're at Bulldog's where we try the Shafly wheat and rasberry ale from St. Louis and the house brand light beer, pretty good and a deal during the game at $2.50 for a 24 oz. mug.
We enjoyed them all, probably the Hofbrau brands the best. Enjoy the video.
In honor of Toby Keith and his song, here's a concoction guaranteed to impress, easy and cheap to make...the Red Solo Cup! Here's the recipe, don't go overboard on high quality ingredients...the supermarket generic stuff will do:
INGREDIENTS
3 oz. white rum 1 oz. amaretto 3-4 oz. cranberry cocktail Juice of 1 lime splash of grenadine
Take rum, amaretto, lime juice, and cranberry cocktail and put in a shaker half full of ice. Shake well, pour into two red solo cups...not blue, not yellow...filled with ice. Float the grenadine on top.
Remember the ice cream man coming down the street on those hot summer days when we were kids? Running outside, flagging him down and...for me...spending a quarter for a big, cold, red, white, and blue Bomb Pop.
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Well we're all grown up now but we don't have to give all of our childish ways up. Here is my adult version of a bomb pop... INGREDIENTS half ounce grenadine juice of half a lime 2 ounces cranberry cocktail 2 ounces blue curacao 2 ounces white spiced rum Use a pint glass. Put the grenadine and lime juice in the bottom. Fill the glass with crushed ice. Carefully pour in the cranberry juice, followed by carefully pouring in the curacao to make a blue layer over the red. Float the rum on top. You can drink as is, or after admiring for a couple of minutes, stir it up and it becomes a grapecicle. Cheers!
I have a theory...that my wife likes Moscow mules so much not because they taste good (they do!) and have a good kick but that it gives her a reason to go shopping for the copper mugs used for the drink.
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After being very picky about it, I just went ahead and ordered a set on Amazon. They came in last week so, already having the ginger beer and vodka in stock, Tim and I set out to try our hand at it. The results can be seen in the video, above. INGREDIENTS - (1 drink) 2-oz vodka 6-oz ginger beer juice of one lime sprig of mint Pour the vodka into the mug. Cut off a few leaves of mint from the sprig and put into the mug. Muddle the mint in the vodka. Put in the lime juice, fill cup with ice, fill with ginger beer and stir. Garnish with the rest of the mint sprig and a slice of lime. Option 2 is to add a splash of Cointreau or Grand Marnier to the drink Option 3 is to add a splash of sweet and sour If you want it sweeter, you can also add a splash of grenadine. Postcript: my wife returned the mugs and will buy a set she likes better.
Idaho Street...or highway 535...is the main thorough fare of Elko, Nevada. You'll find all the main gas stations, hotels, fast food joints, and casinos along this street. A block south is a square, with no name that I can find, that is bordered by 3rd Street on the west, 8th Street on the east (where the centennial railroad water tower is) with storefronts lining Railroad and Commercial Streets on the north and south. In the middle is a large parking lot with room for hundreds of cars.
Since no one else has seemed to name it, I'll call it "Railroad Square" because the parking lot is where the train tracks used to be long ago.
Along the edges of this square, I count eight bars and one casino. Not all are open the afternoon we're here but it looks like we'll be able to hit most of them that are.
Before we start drinking, we check out the Cowboy Arts and Gear Museum, located in the former saddelry of G.S. Garcia who fabricated western saddles and gear here from 1894 through 1933. After that, we spend a few minutes two doors down at a still functioning saddle and gear store, JM Capriola.
Now, we can start our crawl. First up is Machi's Saloon. A few patrons are sipping the appropriate Basque libation, picon punch, while we strike up a converstation with them over our whiskey sours.
One of the cowboys at the bar tells us of the syndicate he runs to buy a horse to run in the big horse race that is run during the county fair each September. His buddy tells us about where this desert town's water comes from (underground) and the dozen or so commercial gold mines that still operate in the region.
Next up is another couple of sours at the Stockmen's Casino where, since I'm feeding the video poker machine at the bar, are free. Well, I do spend two bucks on poker but the free drinks are a pretty good trade.
We come across a lovely little dive bar called Goldie's on the other side of the square. They don't have the ingredients necessary for a whiskey sour so it's just shots of Maker's Mark for us while we get to know some more locals and their young, friendly pit bull who gets lonely whenever one of them goes to the bathroom.
Lastly, we head a couple of blocks away to the Toki Ona, a local Basque watering hole and restaurant, to have a couple of picon punches while deciding to stay for dinner.
It's a nice taste of what this small city has in store and we vow to come back and try some of the other closed locations on another trip.
Darryl Musick Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved
This week's cocktail is a traditional Basque drink. While Basque restaurants are renowned for their great food...and equally awesome portions...they are also known for the bars that everybody hangs out in while waiting for meal service to begin.
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Although most of them offer traditional table service these days, most Basque restaurants also set aside some meals to be served "family style." That means everybody sits at one long table and passes the dishes of food, just like going to your Aunt Gloria's house on Thanksgiving. It's a wonderfully social way of dining but you will be sitting with strangers. What to do? That's right...a "Cocktail Hour!" Most arrive a little early to enjoy a tipple in the bar and get to know the people a little bit before the meal is served and for many, that means the traditional but strong Picon Punch.
Picon Punch uses a liqueur called Amer Picon as a base. This is an orange based libation that is very hard to find in our area so we substitute triple sec and bitters. Here's the recipe:
INGREDIENTS: 2 1/2 oz. - triple sec 1 oz. - brandy 2-3 oz. soda water 1 oz. lemon juice dash of bitters dash of grenadine
In an old fashioned glass half filled with ice, pour in bitters, triple sec, grenadine, and lemon juice. Fill with soda water. Float brandy on top.
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue...oh wait, I'm getting off track but we are doing something blue today.
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We're visiting the land of blue cocktails today with this one. Actually, I was just playing around but this came out so good, I had to add it to the Cocktail Hour Canon. Here's the recipe... 2 oz. coconut rum 1 oz. blue caracao 1 oz. lemon juice In a glass full to the rim of ice, pour in the lemon juice, rum, and blue caracao...in that order. Enjoy. Cheers!
Looking for something a little different, I stumbled across this one with a bottle of whiskey in hand in the kitchen.
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As noted, it's a whiskey based drink, imparting that sweet, southern taste into the glass. Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and pour into a highball or pint glass over ice. INGREDIENTS (two drinks): 3 oz. whiskey 2 oz. Grand Marnier or triple sec 4 drops bitters Cranberry Cocktail Cheers!
On location in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, join us for a drinking tour of the island.
In the video below, we visit one of the island's legendary rum distilleries.
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While Cruzan is the traditional St. Croix rum, it's facilities are old and inaccessible to wheelchairs. Fortunately, Captain Morgan rums relocated here a year ago and their brand new, state-of-the-art distillery is.
We also turn into a bunch of posers as we learn the official Captain Morgan pose.
Next, it's on to frozen banana daiquiris at the Mt. Pellier Domino Club, more famous for the residents that make beer-swilling pigs of themselves but the drinks are still cool and refreshing at the bamboo bar in the middle of the jungle.
We make sure we get all the free booze we can get at the hotel by going to the weekly happy hour, the wine tasting, and the rum tasting (there's Cruzan!).
We almost lived at the beautiful waterfront Fort Christian Brewpub where, in addition to the great beer, we meet the chicken wing eating tarpon of St. Croix. It's all in the video above, come along...
This week, Tim and I are coming to you from the beautiful island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Our quandary: we're not staying at an all-inclusive resort and have to pay for the majority of our drinks. Our solution: make a new, very easy to make, delicious cocktail that we can mix using cheap local ingredients.
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The result is this rum punch using rum, cranberry-raspberry cocktail, and lime juice. Here's the recipe... INGREDIENTS 1.5 oz rum 2 oz cranberry-raspberry cocktail juice of half a lime In a lowball glass filled with ice, squeeze in lime juice. Pour rum in, then cranberry-raspberry cocktail. Drink. It's that easy...
I'm looking up calories for a pina colada and see this..."a pina colada has more calories than a Big Mac." At 644 calories per drink, yeah, that's pretty heavy. Unfortunately, I've got two colada drinkers in family, my wife and Tim. What to do?
Come up with my own.
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With a little experimenting, most of which you can see on the video above, I did it. Here is my version of a pina colada. It tastes exactly like a regular one but only has 125 calories. If you like pina coladas...whether or not you like walking in the rain...you'll love this Catalina colada.
INGREDIENTS (one drink)
1 1/2 oz Malibu (or other coconut infused) rum
1/2 oz brandy
dash of bitters
1 oz pineapple juice
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
Pour rum and brandy into old fashioned glass. Mix in lime juice and a dash of bitters. Fill with ice. Pour in pineapple juice.
Cheers!
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I know we've done a margarita recipe before but this is special.
We wanted to adopt a healthier lifestyle, lose a little weight, and get into better shape. So far, it's been working. The bad part is that cocktails are usually full of empty calories. Hey, we like to drink too but we need to retool.
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So, we've cut way back on the heavy drinks, switched to wine for the most part, and experimented with making a lighter cocktail. Here is the first result of that retooling. (Note: In the video, I miscalculated a say it's about 125 calories...it's actually about 150, see below)
Our new margarita lite recipe is just as good as our original margarita recipe but with about 80 less calories. The alcohol is the same, 3 parts tequila, 2 parts triple sec, and 1 part brandy. The difference is the mixer...we're using Sunkist Diet Sparkling Lemonade instead of sweet 'n sour mix.
Total Calories - 305 calories Calories per drink - 153 calories
(A Cadillac margarita at most restaurants, which this closely resembles, is about 325 calories per drink)
Fill a cocktail shaker 1/2 full with ice. Put in all ingredients except for lemon soda and shake. Pour lemon soda over ice into margarita glasses or cocktail glasses rimmed with salt (about half the depth of the ice). Pour ingredients from shaker over that. Enjoy the results - beware, these are still strong drinks.
This is the drink to make for that time you don't want a real strong drink. Lighter in alcohol than drinks such as the daquiri or margarita that we featured. Way less than the Latin passion...this is a refreshing cocktail that will sit well on a hot day and won't knock you out if you have a couple.
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Here is the recipe for two drinks:
INGREDIENTS 2 oz. - Amaretto 1 oz. - Triple Sec 4-5 oz. - Sweet and Sour mix splash of marischino syrup orange wedge
Fill a cocktail shaker 1/3- 1/2 full of ice. Put in amaretto and triple sec. Fill to top with sweet and sour. Add a dash of marischino syrup. Shake and strain into old fashioned glass. Add orange wedge as garnish.
To me, Belgium is the beer capitol of the world. In this small country, over 250 breweries make the best beer on earth. Today, we’re tasting a tiny sliver of that tradition with our Belgian sour ale taste off.
Belgium is divided into two linguistic regions, Wallonia and Flanders. French is spoken in Wallonia and Flemish (similar to German) is spoken in the northern region. This area along the Dutch border is where the sour ales generally hail from.
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Sour ale is a beer that, just like the name says, tastes sour. Sometimes it’s just a hint of sourness and other times you’ll think you’re swilling vinegar. It’s definitely an acquired taste for most people. It’s a taste I’m trying to acquire…sour beer is pretty difficult for me to get a handle on. My wife, on the other hand, loves sour ales and it’s her favorite beer type. Unfortunately for her, most beer drinkers in our area aren’t big fans of the stuff so it’s pretty hard to find.
We’re lucky that we have a few pubs nearby that serve a selection of Belgian beers. One, Lucky Baldwin’s, has a Belgian Beer Festival each year and this is where my wife found out she liked the sours.
The second ale is Duchesse de Bourgogne, a Flanders red ale. This one is a little sourer but still drinkable to me. It’s just slightly redder than Monk’s. It’s brewed farther south, about 50 miles south of Brugges.
