National Cocktail Day - Video Recipes

Belly up to the bar and raise a glass to National Cocktail Day! This Cheap$kate Mixologist enjoys a Happy Hour at home these days after a long YouTube video-making and blogging day. I haven't made many Cocktails published on the internet but I have a few so read on and click on any intoxicant name to get all the boozy details from my original blog post.

While a fifth or pint of booze is expensive, most of my Cocktail Recipes can be made with a cheap single-serving airline bottle of liquor. I used to get them for a buck, but now they are a little more, but still much cheaper than drinking at a bar.

While bottles of liquor do not show up at 99c only Stores or the Dollar Tree, they carry plenty of Cocktail garnishes like pickled green olives, small pickled onions, jalapeños, and fresh fruit, too,

I like to cook with alcohol and my first Cocktail, a Loaded Egg Nog, uses a lot of eggs. And the Egg Nog can be finished with an airline bottle of Brandy, Rum, Scotch, or Whiskey. 

I still can get the two main ingredients of a Loaded Egg Nog for around a buck a piece...not bad.

This was originally a Christmas holiday drink recipe, plus at the end of the video is a Tree Trimming that goes off the rails...oh, boy, you are in for a wild ride so watch it below.

My next Cocktail is a classic called an Old Fashioned. It's typically made with Rye Whiskey, a couple shakes of Bitters, sugar, a splash of water, a bit of orange zest, and sometimes garnished with a cocktail cherry. I've had them that way and they are in my Cocktail Top Ten. 

I came up with a meaty spin, an Old Fashioned with a sweet and savory Candied Maple Bacon garnish. I guess you could say my version is on the trendy side of specialty garnishes and something you would not serve every day.

I went out on a limb and served my tweaked classic hootch to my friends whom I invited over for an evening of Film Noir that shows on regular TV in Los Angeles. (If you have an antenna you can get it, too, so look it up in your local TV guide.) 

The channel is called Movies! and it's on channel 13.3 in the home of  Film Noir, Los Angeles. Click here for their broadcast schedule, and "arrow forward or backward" to Thursday and Sunday night to see what they are showing. My version of an Old Fashion was a hit and everyone had seconds and thirds, whew! 

Film Noir is still big in Los Angeles and every year there is a movie festival that celebrates these crime thrillers from the 1940s and 1950s called Noir City. Check out my slide show below to see the scene on opening night.

I made my own Maple Bacon, so my recipe video is worth the price of admission.

Check out my Old Fashioned with a Maple Bacon Garnish video below, it's best served on a cold and stormy night to your roguish friends and favorite femme fatale.

Along with garnishes, Cocktail mixes like fruit juices and bubbly water show up at dollar stores. 

Have you had a Mojito? It's a refreshing tropical drink made with rum, club soda, sugar cane juice, and garnished with mint leaves. This concoction comes all the way from Cuba. 

Hey, can we end this embargo of Cuba already? Geeze, you may not agree with my politics, but do join me and hoist a glass in solidarity to my Homemade Mojito!

Keep checking back every year for new CheapSkate Cocktails.