Did you have a beer today on April 7, 2008?  Are you having one right now?  Well how does it taste?  If it tastes a little better than normal, there is a perfectly good reason.  You see, 75 years ago today was the beginning of the end of Prohibition.  The passage of the  Cullen-Harrison act allowed the alcohol content of beer to be bumped up from 0.5 to 3.2.  Since I bet that nobody reading this site is old enough to remember how miserable Prohibition must have been, this might not seem like too big of a deal.  However, according  to the Brewers Association, the American public purchased more than 1.5 million barrels of beer in just the first 24 hours.  I would say that the folks back in 1933 were just a bit parched.  Of course, you still could not legally purchase liquor as that was still a few months away.  That fact did not put a damper of the party as huge crowds had gathered around brewers eager for their first real beer in 14 years.  So who, you ask, was responsible for this this glorious day which in my opinion should seriously be considered for a national holiday?  None other than FDR and his anti-prohibition congress.  FDR needed a way to give the economy a shot in the arm and he figured that legal booze would get people spending their money.  He was right, during the first 48 hours about 25 million dollars poured into breweries and their associated businesses.  This, of course, translated to 7.5 million dollars worth of tax revenue.  FDR managed to find a solution to boost the economy, taxes, and the public’s moral all in one fell swoop.

    Sure, this is a liquor site and we are talking about beer.  However, this is the 75th anniversary of the first of many steps towards getting liquor back on sale in America.  I think that is one event worth celebrating.  So, I suggest you grab a brew, sit back, relax, enjoy its wonderful flavor, and try to imagine going 14 years without a frosty beverage.  Actually no, scratch the last part, that is the stuff of which nightmares are made.  

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 A while ago a couple of our forum members stochasticjack and martialstax decided to personally mix and taste all 65 or so cocktails in the IBA.  It is an admirable task to say the least.  After a number of loquacious reviews were posted, our interest was peaked.  We wanted in on all the fun they were having, so we decided to mix up a few cocktails ourselves and give everybody our completely unprofessional opinions. 

Harvey Wallbanger:  Of all the drinks we tried this was by far the easiest to mix up.  That is, of course, if you actually have Galliano in the house, and we suggest that you keep it on hand at all times.  We thought the Harvey Wallbanger had some potential to be a winner when we were mixing it up because we love Galliano and screwdrivers are always efficient as getting people toasty.  If you combine the two together, you have a Harvey Wallbanger!  Unfortunately, the first sip was disappointing.  The citrus from the OJ canceled out the delicious sweet anise flavors of the Galliano and the Galliano seemed to cancel out the refreshing orange flavor.  It was a mosh pit of flavors with each one knocking the other off your pallet.  It is kind of a classier version of the standard screwdriver and we even tried drinking it with our pinkies out, but that did not improve the flavor.  You might call us alcoholics, but we really think the Harvey Wallbanger would make a great breakfast drink, consider it a more potent Mimosa if you will. 

Old Fashioned:  If you read the Sazerac review, you already know we love this drink.  Our only gripe it that it is a bit of a chore to make.  The muddling of the sugar with the water and bitters it torture, partly because you want your Old Fashioned and you want it now.  Additionally, the aroma of the bitters is released by the water and the scent is truly tantalizing.  This time around we used Jim Beam Rye instead of the Sazerac and we discovered that this is one of those drinks where the alcohol used plays a huge part in the final product.  The more bold and spicy the whiskey is, the better the Old Fashioned will taste.  So while it was still damn tasty with the Beam Rye, it was even better with the Sazerac.  We see this as a definite after dinner drink because it is just so smooth and relaxing.  The aftertaste was reminiscent of maple syrup rice cakes, but in a good way, not a health junky way.  If you mix it right, the flavors of the whiskey will carry through, but the bite will be left in the bottle.  An Old Fashioned would be a good way to introduce non-whiskey drinkers to the wonderful world of whiskeys.

Bronx Cocktail:  I will admit, I have never visited the Bronx.  However, I have always imagined it to be a dirty filthy place.  The Bronx Cocktail looks like a dirty filthy drink.  Basically it looks like the streets of the Bronx were washed into your glass and to top it off, it smells like Mardi Gras but without the boobies.  Unfortunately, the taste of this drink did nothing to improve our opinion about it.  It had hints of cheap chardonnay with overtones of burnt teriyaki, but wait, there is more to this drink.  Not one, not two, but three separate distinct aftertastes that smack you in the mouth one after the other like filthy uninvited guests.  With all that said, it is not an absolutely repulsive drink.  However, we will not be ordering them, we will not be making them and we will not be drinking them unless Megan Fox is buying them for us.

Caipirinha:  Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the ingredients of this drink.  It was definitely the most involved cocktail to mix up.  This drink required the annoying muddling of the Old Fashioned but also needed an entire lime sliced up and juiced into the glass.  It is, however, worth all of the effort.  One sip and you feel as if you are carried away to a hammock in the tropics that you are sharing with a smoking hot Brazilian who cannot even speak your language.  If you do not like lime, obviously this is not the drink for you.  It you do though, the Caipirinha is the about closest thing you can get to tropical paradise in a glass.  Speaking of glass, we discovered that the Cachaca we used (PITU) had a detrimental effect on all glass containers it contacted.  One glass inexplicably shattered during the mixing of the drink, and the bottom of the bottle itself mysteriously detached sending nearly 1 liter of sugarcane rum cascading over the counter, cabinets and floor.  Mostly I was upset that I needed to buy more PITU before I could have another Caipirinha.

So we ended up with two new favorites, one sunny Sunday morning drink, and one complete udder waist of alcohol.  Not too shabby for an afternoon’s worth of research.  However, taste is subjective and we suggest you get your cocktail shaker out, get to work mixing, and let us know what you think about these drinks.

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