A Drink Concoction For Winners

Metro-SamanthaHeadshotI 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.

Metro-110514-Barkeep-SoCo2Then, 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