The Washington Post recently did a feature on the Siam Sunray, a cocktail which is only months old but is already gaining a reputation as the signature drink of Thailand.  Ingredients include coconut rum, ginger, lemon grass, and small Thai chili peppers to use as a garnish.  The taste of the drink is said to perfectly complement the complex flavors of Thai cuisine.  If you’re a fan of Thai restaurants, you may want to click the link and print out the recipe, to explain to the bartender how to make the drink; or, you could get take-out and mix your own Siam Sunray at home.  It’d go great in one of our old fashioned glasses.

Spring is officially here, and it’s time for some warm-weather cocktails.  Here are a couple of recipes to get you started, both from SeattlePi.com:

• First of all, we have this recipe for lemongrass ginger vodka, made with Thai basil leaves, ginger, vodka, lemongrass, sugar, and water.
• Next up is a recipe for chile-infused vodka, which you then use in an ingredient in a key lime pear chile cocktail.

Find thousands of more cocktail recipes in our bartender guides.

Looking for some drinks to mix tonight to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?  YumSugar.com has recipes for 5 beer cocktails. There’s the Michelada, a Mexican cocktail (which could serve as a Cinco de Mayo drink too); the Clara, a combination of light beer and lemon soda; the Black Velvet, made with stout and sparkling wine; the Liverpool Kiss, a berry-flavored cocktail made with stout and Creme de Cassis; and the Broadway, a Japanese favorite which is one part Coke and one part beer.

I’d like to add a couple of variations to the Black Velvet recipe.  One of our local bars here prefers to mix pear cider with the stout, rather than sparkling wine.  They also have a “Blue Velvet,” which is a Black Velvet topped with port.

Be careful out there celebrating tonight!  One of our pocket breathalyzers can help keep you safe.

Yesterday I wrote about Jim Beam’s new black cherry-infused bourbon, and commented that after the recent growth in the flavored vodka market, flavored bourbon may be the next big thing.  Well, today we’re back with another flavor infusion for bourbon, leading to a new twist on a classic cocktail recipe.

This New York Times recipe shows you how to infuse bourbon with dates (you’ll need to allow 2 to 4 weeks for the infusion, so don’t plan on serving this drink at a party this weekend).  You can then mix the date-infused bourbon into one of the classics, the Old Fashioned.  To make the cocktail even better, the Times serves up for a recipe for brandied cherries to add as well.

Our Old Fashioned glasses are classics as well… if you order them now, you’ll have them by the time the bourbon infusion is complete.

I’m back!  Had to take a vacation of several days to catch up on other matters.  But today I’m back with two good links for rum drinkers.

This Post-Bulletin article lists some of the things you can do with rum.  It lists variations on old favorites, such as the Orville Redrum, which you replace the regular rum in a rum and Coke with vanilla rum.  It is so named because it has been said to taste like buttered popcorn.  The article also covers daiquiris, mojitos, and other rum-based drinks.

You can find recipes for a few more rum drinks here on CityPages - in particular, you’ll learn how to make a Hemingway Daiquiri, and Myrtle Bank Punch.  The article references a great book, And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails.  The book “tells the raucously entertaining story of America as seen through the bottom of a drinking glass, from drinks consumed aboard ships in the 1700s to the trendy club drinks of modern times.  Where was this book when I took history in college?  Sounds like it would make a great textbook.

This Examiner article discusses one of the old-time classic cocktails that is often forgotten today: the Rob Roy, made with blended scotch whiskey and sweet vermouth.  The cocktail was named in 1894 for Rob Roy, the Opera, a popular Broadway musical at the time.  It was one of many cocktails of the day named for Broadway shows, and was originally made with orange bitters.

If you want to give a Rob Roy a try, it tastes great in one of Mid-South Alcoholic Supply’s martini glasses.