Special Guest Post From Author and Petworth Resident: Eric Nuzum

Cocktail Essentials, originally uploaded by DOS82.

Check out Eric’s personal blog here. When Eric first mentioned this idea for a post to me I was overjoyed. It is brilliant. Mr. Nuzum does not disappoint in his take on neighborhood cocktails. Make sure to add your suggestions in the comments. Best three suggestions win a free PoP t-shirt.

If there was a cocktail named after Petworth, what would it be?

There are lots of drinks named after places. There’s the Manhattan, Cape Cod, Long Island Ice Tea, Singapore Sling, Alabama Slamma, and Blue Hawaii just to name a few (my friend Chantal can name at least a dozen others off the top of her head–tells you the kind of friends I have). Heck, you could argue that Sex On The Beach is named after a place, though it probably has more to do with what you do there than the actual beach itself.

So if there was a cocktail or shot named after Petworth (or any other nearby neighborhood), what would it be?

I remember reading an article once about people who have a wire crossed in their brains that causes their senses to interact. When they see, smell, taste, or hear something, it invokes a trigger in a different sense. Thus, these people say that things “sound like salty,” “look very minty,” or “smell like purple.” To me, cocktails should invoke the same kind of sensory crossover. When I sip a Cape Cod, I should be reminded of Cape Cod. When I taste an Alabama Slamma, I want to taste Ala…oh, never mind. That is a terrible thought.

Anyone who has ever worked as a bartender–or as a waitress/waiter in a place that serves alcohol–has played this game. You invent a drink/shot and then you force a customer or co-worker to drink the creation. When they shudder and proclaim, “What the fuck was that?!?”–you make up a title on the spot. You do this over and over again, hundreds of times, waiting impatiently for the time that someone walks up to you and says, “You know, I hear you make a drink called ‘Grandma’s Wrinkles’–can you make me one of those?”

Every drink you’ve ever tasted started off this way.

While lacking a specific recipe, my wife nailed the requisites for “The Petworth.” Post continues after the jump including recipes for Eric’s neighborhood cocktails.

“When someone first hears the ingredients of ‘The Petworth,’ it would sound completely disgusting,” she offered. “Then, once you tried it, it wouldn’t be nearly so bad. Then, a week later, you’d be craving another.”

Genius. Just another example of why I’m a lucky husband.

So, in another example of how good I am at wasting time, I have created suggested cocktails for the following DC neighborhoods: Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant, and Petworth. Mind you, these are just draft suggestions. I’ll ask for your ideas in a minute.

That said, these are all incredibly consumable beverages. Assuming these will take a little while to catch on, you may want to clip these recipes and take them to your favorite drinking establishment. When you ask for “The Columbia Heights” or “The Petworth” and the bartender replies, “I’ve never heard of it”–roll your eyes, pull out this blog post, and prepare for some deliciousness!

“Columbia Heights”
Ingredients:
1 oz scotch
1/2 oz vodka
Dash of tequila
Juice from several squeezed lime wedges
Pinch of salt
Tomato juice mixer
One packet of sugar
Instructions:
Mix everything except sugar packet in rocks glass over ice. Open sugar packet and pour onto bar. Draw map in sugar of the Columbia Heights borders as explained by your real estate agent. Argue with friends about borders explained by their real estate agents. Sip drink.
Note: There is a variation on this where one of your friends whips out his iPhone to look it up on Wikipedia. The rules require that this is the guy who has to pay for the round of drinks.

“The Adams Morgan”
Ingredients:
1/4 oz watermelon schnapps
1/4 oz vanilla vodka
1/2 ounce municipal tap water
Instructions:
Drink shot. Immediately after swallowing, scream “Oh my Gawd! I am SO DRUNK!”

“The Mount Pleasant”
Ingredients:
1 oz 100 proof Cinnamon Schnapps
Dash of pepper
Dash of Tabasco sauce
1 book of matches
Instructions:
Mix shot. Light match. Drink shot. Extinguish match on tongue.

and finally….

“The Petworth”
Ingredients:
1 oz Yukon Jack (“The black sheep of Canadian liqueurs”)
1/2 oz Galliano (the yellow stuff in the tall, thin bottle)
1/2 oz Couroisier
Dash of Rose’s Lime Juice
Instructions:
Drink shot. Order another. Drink that one, too.

There you have it. Should these recipes stand or do you think they need alteration? If you feel that “The Petworth” sounds great, but it needs something with a bit more “tang” to it. Speak up.

What are your suggestions for a drink named after your neighborhood?