Keith's (in)Famous Party Drinks

Our party drinks started out as rather standard on-the-rocks margaritas, made by Keith to individual order, as we enjoyed our annual Lake Cumberland houseboat vacation. At some point, blue Curacao crept into the mixture, adding some color and fun to the festivities. Always alert for labor savings on the boat (and to keep up with the rising demand), Keith started making whole pitchers of drink at a time, by substituting "cups" for "shots" in the recipe. Later, to avoid the bother of schlepping the various ingredients to the boat and back, we began preparing pitchers of the margaritas at home, a couple of days prior to the vacation, storing the results in empty liquor bottles, and then packing a few bottles of the pre-mixed drink in our boat luggage.

Having some pre-made blue Margarita on hand at home allowed us to expand beyond the houseboat venue, so we'd grab a bottle or two as we headed out to various parties and get-togethers. (This was especially convenient on bus trips to Jimmy Buffett concerts.) The drink was well-received by most who tried it. Eventually, consumers started asking if other drinks might be available. So, after some amount of experimentation, the party-bottle versions of the Kamikaze and Cosmopolitan drinks were born. Recipes were tweaked, and proportions were standardized to support bottle-based batch production. The results are listed below.

When preparing the party drinks, we just mix the appropriate amounts of ingredients in a pitcher, per the recipes. Using a plastic funnel and pouring from the pitcher, we typically store the drinks in de-labeled and well-rinsed Margaritaville-brand tequila bottles. That particular bottle design seems to show off the festive colors quite nicely. If the destination party might get a bit rowdy, we sometimes substitute plastic liquor bottles as the storage medium, to reduce the chance of breakage. When filling the bottles with the prepared drinks, the recipes might fall short by an ounce or so. If you find it necessary for aesthetic reasons to fill the bottles up through the neck, a few teaspoons of water may be added without harm to the taste of the drinks.

These cocktails are fairly potent (the base liquor for each should be at least 80 proof, though drinks made with weaker spirits certainly will remain drinkable). To moderate the strong alcohol taste, the drinks always should be served very cold. Completely fill a serving glass with cubed or broken ice, and fill with drink up to the top of the ice. Stir a bit to chill the liquid. For the very best experience, squeeze the juice of a freshly cut wedge of lime over each drink, and then drop the wedge into the glass. Trim a straw to a length such that it protrudes only an inch or so from the top of the serving glass, so that the drinker can inhale the fresh lime aroma while sipping.

Here are the drink recipes:

Blue Margarita

Special Kamikaze

Curiously Strong Cosmopolitan

One final word of warning -- as we mentioned before, these party drinks are full-strength cocktails. They contain far more alcohol than do beer or wine. If prepared and served correctly, they go down very easily, and it's not too hard to drink perhaps more than you intended. Be very careful, and always have a designated driver or prior accommodations arrangements with your hosts for after the party. (Popping a couple of B-complex vitamin capsules beforehand might not be a bad idea, either.) Enjoy!