The Best Year

Apparently The Best Year was 1975, because that's when this drink was created.  I got this one out of my favorite Tiki drink book "Bechbum Berry Remixed," by the master himself Beachbum Berry.  You should definitely check out any and all of his books if you enjoy a tropical libation or three.  POW!  See what I did there?  Here we go...

3 Ounces unsweetened pineapple juice (fresh juiced from a real live pineapple is always the best fyi)

3/4 ounce Licor 43

3/4 ounce blue Curacao (normally I'm against things like super sweet artificially colored liqueurs, but hey....it was the 70's you know?  Though I am known to use a high quality orange curaçao and vegetable based blue food dye as a blue curaçao substitute)

3/4 ounce Rose's lime juice cordial (making your own lime cordial is fun too.  I'll do a write up on that at some point.  The short answer though is it's Lime syrup but you want to simmer the lime zest with the juice and sugar, etc)

2 1/4 ounce vodka (now here is where I personally change the drink.  I hate vodka.  It disappears in cocktails, and I like my spirit to have a little more of a "hey, howya doin ;-)" attitude.  So instead I use a good white rum like Cruzan.)

8 ounces (1 cup) crushed ice

Now put everything in the blender.   Blend for a good 30 seconds, and poor unstrained into a glass of your choice.  I liked this ridiculous Hurricane glass I had laying around.  Now put on some Doobie Brothers and you're good to go.

Cobblers

So many cobblers!  It's a wonderful summer drink FO SHO.  Drawing from Mr. Jerry Thomas I have worked out my basic cobbler recipe, which can be applied to ANY SPIRIT YOU'D LIKE!  √ it dawgs....

2 ounces Spirit (rum, tequila, whiskey, gin, vodka, brandy, eau de vies, etc...)
1 tsp sugar (or 1/4 ounce 1:1 simple syrup) (any flavor of your choosing!  Have some fun with this)
A couple slices of orange (this is a to taste sort of thing.  I usually take two fairly thin wheels)
1/8 tsp of Maraschino Liqueur

Now take all of this, and shake real good with ice.  You can muddle the orange first, but I feel the hard shake with ice does this just fine.  As we will be garnishing with A TON of fruit and berries in season, it IS optional to also shake with these fruits first if you want a more berriful flavor!

Now some people will tell you to not strain and just pour straight into your glass, ice, fruit and all.  I find this a bit ugly for my taste, especially if you're shaking with your berries.  I double strain into a glass with ice.  However you like it, usually a small punch glass, or brandy snifter, or wine glass or something of that nature.  Even a double old-fashioned will do.  You can do crushed ice, or one big cube, or whatever you like.  Then it's time to garnish with seriously, all of the fruit and fresh berries you can find.  Get good in-season stuff from your local farmers market.  Tuck in an orange wheel on the side.  Cover with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, everything!  Maybe you'll make a fall cobbler with cranberry and apples!  YUM!  Rum or brandy as your spirit, 1/4 ounce cinnamon syrup.  Maybe swap out the maraschino for a good apricot brandy (liqueur not the eau-de-vie).

Your options with the cobbler are really limitless, which is why this recipe really should be a general outline, not the gospel.  Now go on, and preach the word!