Happy Hour – Drinks To Ease Into Valentine’s Day With or Without A Date

by Bambi Weavil (Out Impact on Facebook, Out Impact on Twitter)

Valentine’s Day is coming up, the ‘holiday for lovers’ where store displays come up right up after Christmas, but who wants to spend one day celebrating the haves and have nots?  If you’re looking to try some drinks for your next Happy Hour after a long day at work, or to get a pick-me-up from the commercialization of Valentine’s Day, check out these hot picks!  Bols has been a long-time supporter of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails, an all-women’s classic cocktail society with chapters in several markets that raise money for local women’s charities.  Our friends in Boston’s chapter of LUPEC (Facebook, Twitter) have worked with Bols in sponsorship for their local women’s charity On the Rise, which helps support homeless women in the Boston Area, as well as a benefit for the Science Club for Girls, an organization that helps increase self-confidence and literacy in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for K-12th grade girls in the Boston area. Good times for a good cause and a good cocktail….that’s something I can raise my glass to!

Want a drink that packs on a punch?  Koopstoje, the Dutch take on a beer and a shot of Bols Genever, is one way of taking it on, as is the simpler, Dutch Courage (plain old shot.)

If you like your drinks strong and stirred, ease into a casual White Manhattan made with Bols Genever and dry vermouth. A Very Old Fashioned is a nice choice for Anti-Valentine’s Day curmudgeons. And a Dutch Negroni is just the perfect amount of bitter that we can all raise a glass for.

If none of those strike your fancy – a shot may be in order. Class it up with an Ancholito Luxury Drop created by H. Joseph Ehrmann of Elixir in San Francisco. And when you’re ready for a pick me up (or may I have another), try a Hot Shot made with Galliano L’Autentico, espresso, and cream.

These drinks are sure to be better than a blind date, right?  Have a drink without the horror stories and check out the recipes below:

Kopstootje
Fill the original tulip glass so full with Bols you couldn’t pick it up without spilling. Clasp hands behind your back and lean forward to sip until the meniscus is gone. Pick up the glass and shoot. Follow with a beer back.

Dutch Courage
Fill anything you like with Bols Genever. Knock it back like you mean it.

White Manhattan
2 oz. Bols Genever
1 oz. Dry Vermouth
1 Demerara sugar cube
2 Dash wormwood citrus bitters
Stir and serve down in a rocks glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Dutch Negroni
1.5 oz. Bols Genever
1 oz. Campari
1 oz. sweet vermouth
Stir all ingredients with ice, strain into a pre-chilled rocks glass. Garnish with a large orange zest

Very Old Fashioned
2 oz. Bols Genever
1.5 barspoons muscovado sugar
2-3 dashes Jerry Thomas’ Own Decanter Bitters
.5 oz Rich sugar syrup (2:1)
Stir a shot of genever with a dash of bitters and a small amount of muscovado sugar, using large, cold, hard ice cubes. While still stirring, keep adding ice and tasting, until you reach the desired point of ice dilution, sugar solutions and flavor. Garnish with orange peel.

Ancholito Luxury Drop
H. Joseph Ehrmann
Elixir, San Francisco, CA

1.5oz Don Julio Añejo
Sweetened Cocoa Powder
Ancho Chile Powder
Watermelon
1 lime
Cut the watermelon into small, flat triangles with the rind forming the smallest edge. Put the cocoa powder in one bowl or plate and the ancho chili powder in another bowl or plate. Cut the lime and use it to moisten one half of the edge of a shot glass or other small, fluted glass. Dip the moistened edge into the cocoa powder and fill the glass with the Don Julio Añejo. Dip the pointed end of the watermelon slice in the ancho chile powder and toast with the “drop” (“salud”). Bite and chew the chile-coated watermelon to mix those flavors in your mouth, and then lick the cocoa from the rim and wash it all down with the Don Julio Añejo, allowing all of the flavors to mix in your mouth before swallowing.

Hot Shot
1 part Galliano® L’Autentico
1 part espresso coffee
1 part double cream
Layer ingredients in order given above into a shot glass.

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Bambi Weavil

Bambi Weavil is Out Impact, Inc.’s Founder and President since June 2007. Bambi is a graduate from the class of 2004 from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Bachelor of Arts in English with an emphasis in Professional Writing. She is a freelance writer and published poet in her free time currently residing out of Brooklyn, New York. Bambi is proud of being an activist and humanitarian, leader in the GLBT community, artist, music enthusiast and animal‐lover.

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