New and Favorite Drinks from Intellectual Poison and Friends

"These are drinks I've mostly made up myself or liked enough to post my own versions of them here. Have fun, make cool drinks, get drunk, fall down, the cycle continues anew.

Ginger's Bush - shot of Bushmills, topped with ginger ale and a sprig of mint.

The Palindrome - shot of Crown Royal, top with Royal Crown Cola

** NEW ** Bloody StrawPlum Juice – peel a couple of small blood oranges, clean and prepare four or five medium strawberries and depit one good sized ripe plum. Feed your juicer the oranges first, folllowed by the strawberries and then the plum. Stir, pour over ice (you can strain the foam off the top if desired), splash with rum or vodka if desired. Sit back and relax and try to sip this one slowly. I dare you.

 Electric Lemonade - a shot of vodka in a higball or pint glass over ice, topped with cheap beer (Bud or Coors), one part Rose's lime juice. This comes courtesy of Misha with a warning label not to have too many or you get a very nasty headache (gee, wonder why?)

The Wrong Island Iced Tea - equal amounts of rum, vodka, tequila (white preferably), gin and triple sec somewhere between twice as much and three times as much Jaegermeister and a splash of coke served in the biggest glass available, maybe with a lemon on it for the Tea effect. Not recommended for human consumption but would probably make a good paint stripper.

The Traditional Long Island Iced Tea - equal parts rum, vodka, gin, white tequila and triple sec, 2 parts sour and a splash of coke to color it up properly, served with a lemon slice and a cherry in a big glass. Made properly these are excellent drinks but more than three in a single sitting is asking for a blackout evening so exercise due caution or go nuts as is your want. Variations include the 3 Mile Island Iced Tea with Midori melon liquer in place of the coke for a glow in the dark effect. Also try with cranberry, flavored rums and flavored vodkas though both at once might prove too much for most stomachs.

The Mojito - not one of my own recipes but a truly superb drink for those hot dog days of summer and this is a little twist off the norm. Its a bit of a serious work to make but well worth the effort and besides, bartenders get the chicks. Start with a few limes cut in half and scored along the inside meat to start to break them up, add some simple syrup (sugar water 1 cup sugar to 2 cups water heated then cooled down) or just sugar and a dash of water to cover, add a reasonable amount of fresh picked mint (tastes vary widely). Muddle the crap out of it (muddling is the act of taking some solid device and pummelling the ingredients together, its important to muddle instead of tearing the mint). Once a good slurry has been created top with a shot and a half of white rum per drink being produced and then top with ginger ale (other recipes use soda or sprite but I like the ginger/mint combo) and strain into a tall ice filled highball, garnish with mint and enjoy in the sun.

White Trash Pina Colada - this is an easy, tasty drink I created a few years ago. 2 parts white rum, 3 parts malibu coconut rum and somewhere between 6 and 8 parts pineapple juice over rocks in a highball. Top with a floater of Myer's dark rum

Bloody Surfer on the Rocks - this is an altered Surfer on Acid that I came up with one night at Brady's, our local dive bar. Start with 1 part Jaegermeister, 1 part Malibu, 2 parts pineapple juice and 1 part cranberry (or to taste) all over rocks in a bucket

Irish Car Bomb - this isn't one of my own but they kick ass and taste good too so it goes in here. In a shot glass combine equal parts Jameson's or Bushmill's with Bailey's Irish Cream. Fill a pint glass half way with Guiness, no head. Make several to share with your pals. All at once, drop the shot glass into the pint glass and slam the whole thing back at once. Loser buys the next round.

Tropical Monkey Banger - a recent addition to my stable of personal drinks, not sure about the name, want to suggest another one? 1 part white rum, 2 parts white cranberry juice, 2 parts mango juice over rocks in a bucket. Simple and tasty.

More recipes to come as we experiment with goodies at the bar. Want to suggest your favorite?