Two Drink Minimum; The After 5 Cocktail Blog

The Hangover Special is a semi daily offering by us, only available at the at After 5 Cocktail Blog, of a product that is on sale for typically 24 hours but sometimes longer. The duration of the standard hangover. (See coupon expiration below at the coupon code). All you need to do is type in the coupon code, (Hangover code), into where it says coupon or promotion code on the view cart page before checkout and bam- you save $$$. Lasts till the pounding is gone. So today’s Hangover Special is the Fire Hydrant Drink Dispenser. Normally $39.99, on sale for the next two days for $25.00. Great for the summer months when a chilled cocktail seems to be just the call, this handy clever drink dispenser serves the juice with a simple pump-top. The Fire Hydrant drink dispenser holds 30 ounces and stand 14.5″ tall. Polished chrome and durable acrylic.

Fire Hydrant Drink Dispenser Hangover Code: A5HYDRANT0731

Martini chillers might be a mystery to some but there is a very valid reason for their existence. Back in retro days the martini/cocktail glass was, (and still is) an bar ware icon. Up until someone in a drunken spell busted the stem off one and fell in the snow….didn’t even spill the martini..a new bar glass was born. The Martini Chiller. The idea is to surround the sides of the stemless cocktail glass with ice to keep the alcohol from getting warm. Well you can’t do that with a stem on the glass. Remove the stem and put what’s left in a bowl of ice. I wish I had thought of this. its a great way to warden off those alcohol warming blues and keep your drink cold and fresh for its brief but sweet libatious duration at cocktail hour. I was skeptical at first, I mean after a couple of my martinis I need that stem for support, or shal we say a handle. How do you hold on to a tapered wet conically shaped cocktail glass? It takes practice and its worth it. It actually ads to the ritual and savoring nature requisite of a good martini. Concentration with each sip. Honestly, I only use my martini chiller on special occasions- new vodka, old vodka, warm vodka, only after five. Its a great conversation piece and it does work well.

In fact I took it quite a bit further… There was a time when I was obsessed with making cool, new, hard to make drinking gadgets, in fact I am still fairly well entrenched in that frame of mind. My wife says I am a little obsessed with my creativity. I feel its its a calling. Home bars need cool stuff. I like to find it, or make it and share it. Hence After 5. One of the more outlandish of our inventions is what I like to call the Terminator of cocktail chillers… better known in the catalog as Mr Freeze.

The idea here is to fill the milled aluminum reservoir with water, freeze overnight, make your cocktail the next day and park it in the cradle. This is the ultimate of chillers in my biased opinion. The frozen aluminum has crazy conductive properties. When you put the metal glass in it you can see the ice build like a Chicago snowstorm. Your drink can’t get warm. Nor does the next one, or the next…if you get that far. Quite a party flair as well. The casinos buy these and use them for their shrimp cocktail serving dishes. Clever huh?

In summery the cocktail chiller is a special bar tool that every true cocktail aficionado worth their salted rim shouldn’t be without. Its not for everyday, its a little more involved than just grabbing a glass and pouring but its worth the added effort. Even the bad vodka tastes better in a chiller.

Cheers,

Words by Eric States.

When I moved to Portland three years ago, I became a real beer drinker. Not that there was anything wrong or “unreal” about my old California daily diet of Mexican imports with lime wedges, but I quickly realized something once I traded in my palms for pines: The climate and culture of the Northwest demand beer with greater flavor, depth and variety – and there’s a proud local heritage to boot.

For instance – did I know, upon moving to Oregon, that I was entering the second largest craft beer market in the nation? Was I aware that the city of Portland boasts more breweries than any other city in the world? Hell, yes, I was aware! The beer thing figured heavily into my decision to move here!

But I was pleasantly surprised to witness a sort of Old West pioneer/entrepreneurial spirit here, too. Portlanders have mastered the art of balance between work and play. The landscape is a playground in all directions, and five minutes out of downtown you can get yourself lost in the rain forest, grape vineyards, U-pick farms, and myriad rivers with Tom Sawyer islands scattered everywhere.

It’s this bounty of nature that allows for a bounty of the best beer ingredients: fresh hops, malted barley, and glacier-fed water.

So, yeah, I’ve become a churchkey-carrying beer snob. In pubs and restaurants, I order my brew exclusively on tap in big, thick pint glasses. And at home, instead of piss-pale Pacificos and Coronas, now I fill my fridge with hoppy, bold and aggressive local beers that bring a satisfying smile with every gulp.

A few of my Portland favorites:

BridgePort IPA

The first American beer to win the 119-year-old Brewing Industry International Awards for “champion beer” in London in 2000 (beating 750 beers from 43 countries). It slipped to silver in 2002, but regained the title in 2005. Check the fridges of most Portlanders, and this is the beer you’ll find – the quintessential hoppy Northwest suds.

MacTarnahan’s Amber Ale

Check the garage fridges of most Portlanders, and this is the beer you’ll find. (This is the stuff they buy in bulk!) In its debut year, “Mac’s” Amber Ale captured a coveted gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival. It’s dry-hopped, smooth and rich – and rockin’ tasty with grilled salmon or a thick steak.

McMenamins Hammerhead Ale

To experience a McMenamins beer, you have to visit a McMenamins pub/hotel property: A century-old schoolhouse, a sprawling Depression-era poor farm, a renovated pioneer farmstead, landmark hotels, assorted haunted barns – no vacation or business trip to Portland is complete without a McMenamins stop or three. And oh, yeah, the beer: Hammerhead is rich and caramelly, with an intense hoppy (are you noticing a trend here?) flavor.

Widmer Hefeweizen

Whenever I get to missing my old citrus-in-the-beer California days, I just order a Widmer and drop in a slice of lemon. Another frequent award-winner at the Great American Beer Festival.

Can you buy these beers where you live? I hope so. Can you experience the full flavor of Oregon without sitting here amongst the droopy douglas firs and impossibly green hillsides? Nope.

Words by Trevor Pitchford

The Hangover Special is a semi daily offering by us, only available at the at After 5 Cocktail Blog, of a product that is 15% off for 24 hours. The duration of the standard hangover. All you need to do is type in the coupon code, (Hangover code), number into where it says coupon or promotion code on the view cart page before checkout and bam- you save 15%. Lasts till the pounding is gone. So today’s Hangover Special is the Barnoculars. An amazing covert, concert, contraption that lets any liquor into places where your liquor isn’t invited. Great for parties, concerts, opera, baseball, football games, or… bird watching. Bouncers and security are clueless, well they are most of the time anyway. When full of liquor the barnoculars really feel like binoculars. Comes with easy fill booze funnel and neck strap. Eyepieces unscrew to give you two individual 8 ounce liquor compartments guaranteeing long range liquor mileage. These things are a blast. One of Our best covert liquor carriers.

This ones on us - Cheers,

Eric States

Barnocular Hangover Code;

A5BARN0713

I’m out of wine my wife said. Yes she drank My wine that I grew to appreciate while finishing my laptop movie, Stranger than Fiction with Will Ferrell, again at 35,000 feet returning from the yearly family vacation. But the story is not over. Ya see my first alcoholic confrontation on this trip, and only one I might add, was with this cute bubbly blond at the salt water pool. She was in charge of snorkeling gear and kayak rentals at the hotel we were saying at… I offered my Mai tai for the use of a kayak for an hour. A truly generous offer I might add and he said “No thanks and I really can’t understand how people can have a cocktail this early in the morning.” Stunned while checking my watch out of some knee jerking guilt, sensed a challenge or at least the need to educate this young dough head, responded with,

“Hey, its after five somewhere”. I don’t think she go it. No sense of humor. A true blond. I searched for another justifying response to her demoralizing buzz kill but it was no use. This chick doesn’t get it. I don’t think booze has ever hit her brain. The closest she has gotten to alcohol is on a cotton swab at the doctor’s office. No worries hey she’s got a lot of drinking years ahead of her, she’ll get a chance sooner or later. I drank my Mai tai and dove in the pool. No kayak but happy none the less.

Is it an unwritten rule with travelers that time and cocktails have no relationship? Or maybe it’s just the word vacation that turns off the responsibility meter? Possibly the pent up do- goodedness that we all harbor while in work mode for weeks and months on end in anticipation of the time off. Well vacation is over for me, I have gained 18 pounds from the daily breakfast buffet and all the Mai Tai’s, I feel like King Kong, and I cant even see my …..toes anymore. Diet time. Cut the carbs and break out the vodka. No more fruity chick drinks. I will miss’em. Aloha Hawaii, see ya next year.

Sad words by Eric States