Archive for August, 2007

Hangover Special; Personalized Martini Bar Sign

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

Personalized Martini Bar Sign
Personalized Martini Bar Sign
Hangover Special; Personalized Martini Bar Sign. $19.99, regular 29.99

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 todays Hangover Special is the Mikes Martini Bar Sign - “There’s nothing teeny about it.” Replace “Mikes” with your name. A great gift for your own home bar or your boozer friends home bar. Normal retail is $29.99. It is on sale for the next 4 days for $19.99.

Dirty or dry and everything in between. We make our signs the way you make your martinis — your way. We personalize your name on this hip, trendy, martini-friendly wood composite martini bar sign. Customizable up to 20 letters.

This hangover special today lasts 4 days- a few days longer than the typical hangover.

Think big. This personalized Martini Bar Sign - says it right: There’s nothing teeny about it. Ever since Sam Malone opened his place in Boston, you’ve dreamed of owning your own martini bar. Where everybody knows your name. And they’re always glad you… well, served free drinks and cleaned up after everyone. Still, the dream’s alive, and it’s very attainable with our personalized martini bar signs. Simply give us your name - and bang, we personalize it with your name and you’re and you got your own martini bar. Silk-screened artwork on durable wood, 13″ x 5.5″ with a hole in back for wall-hanging. No returns on personalized items unless defective. U.S. made. Up to 12 letters in name. IMPORTANT: Please give us the name exactly as you would like it printed on your personalized martini bar sign including an apostrophe ‘S’ if you want one i.e. “Mike’s”. Allow 3 - 4 weeks for delivery. Ground shipping only for this item.

To purchase this personalized martini sign simply click on the image of the sign and it takes you to the page on our website. Add the name that you would like to have in the sign and add the coupon code A5PMB. Discount will be reflected only at the checkout page.

Personalized Mikes Martini Bar Sign Code- A5PMB

Oh I almost forgot, this personalized sign coupon can be used 3 times per customer.

Please Note; Discount coupon will be calculated only at checkout on our website.

Vodka; The MacGyver of the Home Bar

Monday, August 20th, 2007

macgyver_7_dvd_copy0.jpgAhh, the many uses for vodka. I knew there was a reason for my attraction to it. It’s not because it’s debatably the most popular liquor to make a martini with. Its not because this form of booze is about the safestsky_vodka.jpg way to ensure a good buzz and minimize the next day bottle flue, providing that you maintain your loyalty to just vodka that evening. Like that’s going to happen. It’s not because it is one of the smoothest mixer for cocktails that there is. Ok yeah all the above is true…. and I lied those are the main reasons I like vodka in my freezer but hold your olives there are a whole pile of other reasons you need a bottle of this versatile liquid around the house for. The reasons below could convince a non drinker to partake. Check this out.
If you go hiking in poison ivy Sky vodka works great as a cleaning agent for the exposed skin that might have the ivy oils on it. Smirnoff works great for jelly fish stings. It helps sterilize the skin and helps alleviate the associated pain.
Vodka is a great additive to shampoo. Add a shot of Grey Goose to each bottle of shampoo. Its good for your hair and scalp and it’s a good build up and oil remover as well. Don’t worry the goose wont make you grey.
Smear on some Smirnoff to the face and it makes a great facial cleanser.
greygoose_vodka.jpg Popov your glasses to clean the lenses. This works great on sunglasses, goggles, lenses, anything where oils and such collect.
You can pop off a band aid without the pain by soaking it in Popov vodka for a moment before pealing it.
Vodka works on your razors by keeping them clean and rust free. Just put it in some Kettle one after each shave.
Vodka is an Absolut excellent cleaning agent. It works great on glass, chrome bathroom fixtures and mirrors. It makes an amazing chandelier cleaner when you mix one part vodka and five parts water and spray it on. Put a towel below to catch the runoff.
Stoli vodka works as a great as a jewelry cleaner.
Vodka works well as a grass stain remover.
My son Jeffery even atomized Kettle One vodka with a spray bottle and used it in his spud gun as a propellant. Needless to say that is not the highest and best use of one of my favorite liquids in the house. Great science experiment and he couldn’t wait to tell me what he did with my $30 booze that day after I came home from work to an empty bottle.
All branding aside I would imagine that any of the clear non-sweetened vodkas would suffice in all of the above situations. But I must admit the ceremony, or shall we say, sacrifice of using this effervescent and delectable liquidmartini-glass-new-aged.jpg is somewhat derailing from the task at hand. I can’t help myself from thinking I would rather be drinking this and enjoying what it is used for than diluting my ivy oils or polishing my vanity. In some bizarre way when using vodka for things it was not meant for gives this majestic liquor a MacGyver quality that most all other forms of booze can’t hold a shot glass up to. Yeah for all the reasons above and its pure smooth taste, that’s why I love vodka. I like it in a nice chilled martini glass from After 5….wait ,was that a plug?

What have you done with your vodka lately?
If you have any left after doing all these chores drop in a couple of olives and have one on me.
Cheers,
Eric States

Chiller Cocktails; Shot Glasses Made of Ice

Wednesday, August 8th, 2007

ice-shots.jpgNowhere is it said that you must use glass or plastic as the vehicle from which to sip your cocktail. How about ice. Yes solid molded or hand carved ice in the shape of a cocktail glass.. In Sweden there is a place called the Ice Hotel where they have an ice cocktail lounge. Here the bartender serves your drinks in a chunk of ice carved out in the shape of a cocktail glass. Now the thought of putting an ice cocktail glass to your lips might make a lowlander cringe. I have made reference to this concern in past blogs, but I can’t ignore that dreaded childhood nightmare of licking and sticking your tongue to a metal pole outside in the winter. No, that doesn’t happen here. Your body heat melts the ice glass preventing your lips from freezing while you enjoy your chilled cocktail of choice. On the pole the metal freezes the moisture on your tongue making the pole lock to your face. I only make reference to the ice pole to dispel any rumors associating pain with creativeice-glasses.jpg cocktailing. Iced cocktail and shot glasses are totally cool, (excuse the pun) and are a great way to enjoy a cocktail. The ones that I have are Arctic Frozen Ice Shots. They are great substitute if you can’t break away and fly to Sweden for the real icer. You just fill them up with water throw them in the freezer for a day and you got frozen shot glasses. In the standard home bar @ 70 degrees you get about three drinks per shot glass before you run into leakage. That’s why you get 20 shot glass molds per pack. These shot glasses work geat for martinis as a side note…just had to get that in for those martini lovers. If you put your vodka or gin in the freezer you get much better mileage out of your ice shot glasses than room temperature liquor. Note; your mileage may vary depending on freezer settings.

Words by Eric States

Good Libations

Thursday, August 2nd, 2007

By Leslie Dinaberg

top_strawberry_margarita.jpgIt was the headline I’ve been fantasizing about for all of my adult life: “Study Finds Fruity Cocktails Count as Health Food.” I double-checked the URL, just to make sure I hadn’t accidentally stumbled onto the Onion.

Sure enough, Reuters was actually reporting that, “a fruity cocktail may not only be fun to drink but may count as health food, U.S. and Thai researchers said on Thursday.” It makes so much sense. I knew I hadn’t been irresponsibly drowning my sorrows in alcohol for the past couple of decades. Those massive quantities of strawberry margaritas consumed over the years really did make me feel better—even in the morning. I love it when science finally comes around to my way of thinking. The discovery was pure serendipity—like the discovery of penicillin. Tucked away in their labs (no doubt downing Red Bull, Mountain Dew, and Jolt cocktails) Dr. Korakot Chanjirakul and colleagues at Kasetsart University in Thailand and scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture were exploring ways to help keep strawberries fresh during storage, and accidentally stumbled on evidence that treating the berries with alcohol increased their antioxidant capacity and free radical scavenging activity. In English, this means that adding ethanol—the type of alcohol found in rum, vodka, tequila and others—boosted the antioxidant nutrients in strawberries and blackberries.

The next time someone gives you a hard time for chugging a pitcher of Tangerine Banana Mango Daiquiris, you get right on your high horse and tell them you’re just conscientiously doing your part to prevent cancer. Does that rock or what? You can now imbibe with pride. This means that all those times we brought Margaritas to the Little League games we weren’t senior delinquents. No. We were good Samaritans saving lives. The report in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture says that any colored fruit might be made even more healthful with the addition of a splash of alcohol. How awesome is that? Look around at the Farmer’s Market. All fruits are colored! Get this: for those of you that like celery with your Bloody Marys (blech!) or onions with your Martinimargarator.jpgs (gag!), the antioxidant effect works withmargarator.jpg vegetables too. As we all know by now, people who eat more fruits and vegetables have a documented lower risk of cancer, heart disease and some neurological diseases. Add that to a little Leslie logic and you’ve got a double whammy on the rocks: (a) Fruity frilly drinks are whimsical; (b) Scientists like fruity frilly drinks; (c) I like fruity frilly drinks; (d) Therefore, I’m a whimsical scientist. I’m hoping the next phase of research will prove that adding little cocktail umbrella enhances the antioxidant effect.