Thursday, June 27, 2019

Drinks for the Democratic debates, Part 2


I finished Drinks for the Democratic debates, Part 1 by telling my readers to "Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow, when I do this all over again for the next ten candidates debating!"  Time to start serving the drinks, but first, tonight's participants from DebateDrinking.com.
NIGHT 2
Thursday, June 27
  • Joe Biden
  • Michael Bennet
  • Pete Buttigieg
  • Kirsten Gillibrand
  • Kamala Harris
  • John Hickenlooper
  • Bernie Sanders
  • Eric Swalwell
  • Marianne Williamson
  • Andrew Yang
I'll get to their drinks over the jump, but first the games.  In addition to DebateDrinking.com, Spectator USA, and A.M. New York, Paul W. of You Might Notice A Trend showed up in the comments to yesterday's entry with the following rules for three of the four top candidates in tonight's debate.
I... can TRY to make a drinking game rule.

Every time Joe Biden tries to talk like a Millennial but ends up sounding like a Baby Boomer, take two shots

Every time Bernie Sanders talks dismissively towards a woman candidate, take a shot

Every time Liz Warren or Kamala Harris sounds like sage wise life forms that WILL SAVE US ALL, cheer and get 10,000 more people signed up to vote, THEN take a shot.
...
Yes, I have a bias.
I like those rules, but I had the following responses to them.
Hey, Paul! Good to see you!

Thanks for the rules. I'll put them in tomorrow's entry.

If Joe Biden sounds like a Boomer, then he's still acting younger than he really is. He was born in 1942, so he's actually a member of the generation before the Boomers, the Silent Generation.

I share your bias. Harris the first choice of my wife and I, while Warren is our second choice. Consider yourself in good company.
Consider adding Paul's rules to whichever game you are playing.

Enough of the drinking games.  Follow over the jump for the drinks.

I begin by being a good environmentalist and recycling from Drinks for the Democratic debates: Joe Biden.

Like Clinton, Sanders, Trump, and Santorum, Biden has a drink named after him, the Biden Beer Bomb.
.5 bottle of Sam Adams Cherry Wheat Beer (or beer of your choice. Wheat beer or hefeweizen works best)
1.5 oz. Woodford Reserve Bourbon
.5 oz. Cherry Brandy
.5 oz. simple syrup

Need a frozen beer mug or beer glass, then place bourbon, cherry brandy, and simple syrup in a Boston shaker with ice, and shake until cold. Pour mixture into the bottom of an ice-cold mug, then add beer.
As if that's not enough, there is a Vice President cocktail.
1 1/2     oz     Cuban rum, Havana Club AƱejo Especial
1     oz     Mandarin orange liqueur, Mandarine Napoleon
1/2     oz     Campari
Instructions
Stir, strain, up.
The irony of these drinks is that Biden doesn't consume alcohol.  Instead, he prefers a cranberry mocktail like this Virgin Cosmopolitan.
Ingredients

    4 Parts Cranberry Juice
    1 Part Lime Juice
    1 Part Orange Juice
    1 Part Simple Syrup
    2 Dashes Orange Bitters
    1 Twist Orange

How to mix

Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add all ingredients. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with orange.
In any event, if Biden enters the Democratic primary contest, both my readers and Paul W.'s will be prepared.
Little did I know that I would be prepared for Joe Biden to run four years in advance!


Michael Bennet told Eater that his favorite comfort food was “An Italian sausage sandwich at Pass Key in Pueblo, Colorado.”  That inspired me to look at Pass Key's menu, where I found the following five adult beverages: Budweiser, Bud Light, Chelada, Corona, and Dos Equis.  If one wants an easy drink for Bennet, I would settle for either the Corona or Dos Equis, but I once I found out that a Chelada was a stripped down version of a Michelada, I had to suggest that instead.


Looks like a beer Bloody Mary, which means I'd probably like it.  I also might recycle it and the Passionfruit Mango Margarita I recommended for Cory Booker next year for a Cinco De Mayo during an election year.


When I look up Pete Buttigieg's favorite drink, the one that turns up consistently is beer.  However, Eater quotes his husband as saying Mayor Pete likes “Beef jerky, string cheese, and Gatorade.”  If one wants to drink beer, South Bend has some good craft breweries, if one can get one of their beers.  However, I'm more intrigued by the Gatorade, which is used in Tipsy Bartender's Skittle Punch.


That looks like a fun drink and better than beer, although not better than the sentiment on this beer that Mayor Pete found in the Green Room to Colbert's show.


I'll drink to that!

via GIPHY

Kirsten Gillibrand made it easy by naming “a glass of whiskey at the end of the night” as her comfort food.  That makes me like her a lot better, just not enough to ever vote for her in the primary.  Speaking of liking her more, here she is tending bar.


She doesn't need a cocktail; whiskey shots will do just fine.


While Kamala Harris told Eater her favorite comfort food is french fries, U.S. News and World Report mentioned that her favorite restaurants are Amber India and Dosa in San Francisco.  I couldn't find any alcoholic beverages on Dosa's menu, but Amber India's bar menu has some really interesting cocktails.  Unfortunately, they're all unique, although one, the Pink Elephant, has several variants out in the wild.  Any one of them will do.  That written, Harris is from Oakland, California, and the most famous drink to come out of there is the Mai Tai from the original Trader Vic's.  Tipsy Bartender has the original recipe.

This drink is made using the original recipe created by Trader Vic...THE ORIGINAL MAI TAI! This is one of the classics that defines the genre of tiki drinks. Tiki drinks are rum based and have a fruity taste. The Mai Tai is refreshing and potent, with a nice kick of fruitiness. Best served poolside or on a sandy tropical beach. Don't forget your little cocktail umbrella!

John Hickenlooper opened the first craft brewery in Denver, Wynkoop Brewing Company, so if my readers can get one of their beers, they're set.  However, Hickenlooper refrained from plugging his beer to Eater, instead responding “I do have a sweet tooth, and I will look for those little bowls of, you know, M&M’s or mints.”  I used one M&M drink for Jay Inslee already, but I'm not above using another, Tipsy Bartender's M&M Delight.

A delicious mix of booze, Ice cream and M&M's.....THE M&M DELIGHT!
If my readers have as much of a sweet tooth as Hickenlooper, then they should love this drink.

I'll be a good environmentalist and recycle for Bernie Sanders.

First, the jokes, beginning with a bad one from Hypeline [Now on Medium].

Bernie Sanders = Grain Alcohol

Bernie Sanders is no more than a cheap grain alcohol. Nothing fancy because let’s face it, nobody should have anything better than anyone else. This is a cheap alcohol that will get the job done. Nobody really likes it but since we need to make sure everyone can equally get alcohol, this is only thing you might be lucky enough for the government to afford you.
As I wrote about their suggestion for Clinton, Hypeline leans right, so their bias interferes with their creativity.  Fortunately, I won't have to cite them again. 

Vinepair has a similar suggestion, but at least they're funnier about it.

This self-proclaimed socialist needs a rum with similar values. We’ve chosen Havana Club because it’s still (sort of) Cuban-owned, and thus not sold in the States. Fight the power with a daiquiri, Bernie.
Expect more from Vinepair in future installments.

Like Clinton, Santorum, and Trump, Sanders has a drink named after him.  Like Trump, this one is official.  Food and Wine shared the story and recipe.
Sanders treated everyone at the party to a custom cocktail—the Bernie Paloma. The drink was developed by Miguel Marcelino Herrara from D.C.’s hip cocktail spot, Barmini. And while Bernie Sanders doesn’t exactly seem like the type who throws back $17 cocktails (good on him for drinking Heady Topper), the drink that bares his name still sounds pretty good.

If you plan to vote for the Vermont Senator (or even if you don’t), here’s what you should toast with (per the NY Times):
The Bernie Paloma:

    1/2 oz. Vermont maple syrup
    1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
    2 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
    2 oz. silver tequila
    Garnish: “salt air,” which is sea salt, lime juice, water and Sucro, emulsified with a hand blender.
Bobby Flay of Food Network has another suggestion, The Old Vermont.

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce grade B pure maple syrup
1/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice
2 dashes bitters, such as Angostura
Ice
Orange rind

Directions

Combine the gin, maple syrup, lemon and orange juice and bitters in a cocktail shaker. Add some ice and shake a few times. Strain the drink into a martini glass and garnish with the orange rind.
This recipe is one of the suggestions from Berniementum's party guide along with this shot glass.

It may not be fair that I have so many recipes for Bernie, but that's what happens when he runs twice.  I'm ready for him!


When asked about his favorite comfort food, Eric Swalwell told Eater, “It’s really comfort coffee. My favorite coffee is a mocha.”  Tipsy Bartender has just the drink, Morning Coffee.


That will certainly make one a wide-awake drunk!


Marianne Williamson told Eater “I have no comfort food.”  After reading a bit about her, I can believe it.  So I'm not going to waste a fun recipe on her.  Instead, I recommend kombucha, which is the only actual drink that showed up in the results when I searched for 'new age guru drink.'


By the way, Williamson has suggested doing different yoga positions instead of playing a drinking game.  Kombucha it is for her.


Last but not least, Andrew Yang told Eater “Kind bars are my comfort food.”  I don't find that inspiring.  Instead, Yang's singature issue of Universal Basic Income and his entrepreneurial background had me look at Silicon Valley's favorite cocktails, and I found a good ironic choice, the Old Fashioned, a basic cocktail for the basic income candidate.


Of course, if that's not basic enough, one can always drink beer, like Yang is in the photo above.

That's it for tonight's installment.  I plan on having at least one more before the next debate that includes all the candidates that didn't make this week's debates.  Stay tuned.

6 comments:

  1. Glad you're having fun keeping up with the debates. For the most part, I've kind of made up my mind already and rooting for a Harris/Warren or Warren/Harris ticket. All the debates will do is distract me from getting my reading for FWA completed.
    Good luck, and drive responsibly!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Everclear, FTW! I have an unopened bottle of that in my liquor library (currently about 50 bottles strong, depending on how you count stuff like the 70% alcohol alkermes Italian flavouring liqueur and the 45% ETOH kirsch, which is shit to drink but necessary for proper fondue. I'm more of a collector than a boozer.) I have another opened bottle that I bring to parties sometimes to amaze Aussies, who find it hard to believe that such a thing can exist. 95% pure ethanol?!? I let 'em sniff it, but few are bold enough to use it diluted in a drink. I also have the cash register receipt for one of the bottles I bought ($17) because it's so amazingly cheap. A bottle of spirits here costs around $35-40.

    Down here, the standard strength of vodka, bourbon, rum and other spirits is 37.5 or 38 percent alcohol (They don't use the "proof" measurement.) It's possible to buy 40% and stronger boozes, but the selections are limited. And the typical bottle size is 700 ml, not 750. The national government pushes these limits to discourage Aussie drunkenness. Then there's the alcohol taxes, which are HUGE, and based on ethanol percentages. A six-pack of beer typically costs in the range of $20 Australian. Even at the current exchange rate of 70 U.S. cents to buy an Aussie dollar, that's equivalent to an American paying $14 for a sixer.

    Are you aware that in some states, including Virginia, you need government permission to buy Everclear? I kid you not. Oogle the regs. In Pennsylvania, it's considered an industrial cleaning agent, not a drink for humans. Other states, such as Maryland, it's illegal to sell the stuff. When I visit family on the East Coast, I go into D.C. to buy it. Although I don't anticipate doing that again. No point in using some of my duty-free allowance to bring back another bottle of something I don't particularly care for.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the link to the blog post about alkermes liqueur. I had never heard about it or the insects that give it its color before. That means I learned something, which is always a good thing.

      Also, thanks for the info about Australia's tax policy on alcohol. That's the sign of a government that recognizes a problem and wants to get some tax revenue from it. On the one hand, it reminds me of the U.S. policy on tobacco products. On the other, it puts a new perspective on places like Ontario and Utah, where the state and provincial governments own and run the liquor stores in order to control alcohol consumption. Australia shows it could be worse!

      I'm not surprised about the legal restrictions on selling Everclear. When I was living in California, it was illegal to sell there. People who wanted it had to go to Nevada.

      Delete
  3. But getting back to the content of your post, I gather you're not keen on Bernie? He was my preferred candidate in 2016, and I sent his campaign cash through the post a couple times. I still have a few spare $100 bills here, and I'll have to dispatch another to him. I wouldn't mind Warren as a D candidate, because I like her attitude of taking down the rich bastards and banksters. She doesn't speak with the fire that Bernie does, though. She'd serve the forces of progress better if she stayed in the Senate. I don't have much faith that the Dems will put up an effective opponent to the Shitgibbon. They'd rather lose with a safe candidate such as Biden who won't challenge The System, or a corporate clone like Buttigieg or Booker.

    You being a Californian by birth, did you follow Harris's trajectory there? She puts me in mind of Eric Holder, who passed for progressive but never prosecuted the bankmaggots. Harris had a light touch on the powerful, and came down hard on poor black miscreants. I reckon she'd be like a female Obama. And that's not even getting into her being the girlfriend of Willie Brown, a slick 'n sleazy machine pol who ran the California legislature like an African-American LBJ, but not as progressive as Lyndon could be.

    No comment on JHK's June 29 screech? I scrolled down through the first three dozen or so looking for your take. Jeez he's tendentious these days. What is it about getting to be an old white man that turns formerly astute minds into Red State-style bloggers?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I like Bernie. In fact, I voted for him in the Michigan primary three years ago and had both a lawn sign and a car magnet advertising him. I helped contribute to his surprise victory in the Michigan primary. However, I voted for Bernie for two other reasons than his actual stands on the issues. First, he was a stand-in for Elizabeth Warren, who I liked even better, but wasn't running in 2016. Second, I really did not like the idea of the nomination process being a coronation of Hillary; I thought she had to earn that nomination, not coast to it. Neither of those apply this year, so I'm supporting Harris, Warren, and Inslee, in that order.

      I started paying attention to Harris when she became Attorney General and ramped up the attention when she ran for Senate. She does have the third most liberal voting record according to VoteView, but that doesn't include her behavior as Attorney General. So she was Willie Brown's girlfriend? I didn't know that. Honestly, I'm not surprised, although that's directed more at Brown than Harris. He would find her attractive.

      No, I passed because I was at a meeting all morning and then went out to lunch with a friend afterwards. I then came home and took a nap. By the time I woke up, I decided leaving a comment wasn't worth my time. I'll make up for it Monday.

      Delete