A Drink Concoction For Winners
I like to pride myself on being somewhat of a connoisseur when it comes to alcohol, owing a lot of my expertise to my father and, most importantly, my freshman year at University of Hawaii.
Although I’ve come a long way since then, one of my favorite liqueurs is (and will always be) Southern Comfort — so much so that Facebook likes to spam my wall with ads for the delicious “New Orleans Original.” Over the summer, one of those ads featured a woman posing with a mug of herself. Naturally, I became intrigued and clicked on the link to learn that Southern Comfort was holding a contest with the simplest premise: Create an original drink recipe with an original name.
And so I did.
The contest allowed users to pick the type of serving glass, the amount of each alcohol used, and a garnish. I knew I had to think outside of the box, so I chose the chalice, which serves four or more people, or, sometimes, just me.
Then, my next logical step was to add Southern Comfort. SoCo can be sweet at times, so adding champagne for carbonation and dilution of the sugary taste was necessary. This is where I was going to stop, but then I decided all fruity drinks taste delicious with champagne and added a couple of my favorite fruits: lime (key lime cream liqueur), lemons (sparkling lemonade), and strawberry (puree). After adding the lemonade, I realized I still had room in the chalice, but I didn’t want my drink to be too overbearing, which is why I (logically) added whipped cream and the strawberry garnish. “Whatever’s Comfortable,” am I right?
I named my concoction “The Promised Land” because you might end up there if you drink it (no promises). After I hit submit, I didn’t think much of it until I received an email and phone call in July saying I had won “a mug of my mug.”
The Promised Land recipe was among the top 10 in “most mmm’d,” meaning a lot of people from all over the country liked my recipe. The excitement I felt was unlike anything I had ever experienced because how often does one win a $2,000 mug of their face?
Prior to winning, I admit that I neglected to try the drink recipe I submitted — honestly, I bet you are all judging it by the way it sounds, but let me be clear: It. Is. Delicious. I know, because I HAD to drink my recipe to celebrate.
BAMSAMMI@GMAIL.COM