Woodstock inpired cocktails

[Forest]

A friend is having his 40th birthday party soon and has asked me to help him come up with a cocktail menu. Born in '69, the theme is 1969/Woodstock. Not the easiest era for cocktails, I don't think.

I have two things in mind so far.

In a nod to the flower/hippie aspect of it, I'm thinking a selection of floral based drinks. (creme de violette, elderflower, rose, that kind of thing) I havent decided exactly which ones yet, but am going to sit down with him and test a few and let him decide what he likes and will probably go with three. It's not so much this part I'm looking for help on, but if this sparks any great ideas (floral drinks you particularly like, maybe a punch with floral in it, etc) please feel free to throw any ideas my way.

Secondly for a bit of a psychodelic twist, I'm thinking jello shots. Bear with me...not the crazy vodka jello shots consumed in frat houses across the country to get blasted! I've been working on some ideas for awhile to come up with something that makes jello shots asthetically pleasing and interesting from a cocktail standpoint. Not long ago, I bought some silicone ice trays in disc shapes specifically for this purpose. They will be in the form of small round discs - so I thought I'd drop in some yellow food coloring and (somehow...this is where i really need the help) draw smiley faces on them. I don't have the ice trays with me, so I can't take a picture, but hopefully i'm explaining this well enough. but, basically it's going to be a little yellow round disc that looks like a smiley face and has a bit of a kick to it.

So far, I've had one thought of doing something like lemon drops - not my favorite cocktail, but it's lemon (thus makes some sort of weird sense in my head being yellow) and then perhaps I could use something like black sugar on the top when done to make the eyes and the smile? This is not my favorite thought...but that gives you an idea of the kind of brainstorming i've been doing in my head. I'm not really satisfied with anything i've come up with yet...so, help! Ideas for both the flavor and how to make the face...anyone?

also, this is not a group of serious cocktail drinkers...so, they will probably be more interested in the theme than the actual cocktail. And I'm planning on a classic or two because I don't really want to drink floral cocktail all night long myself. (and not everyone likes floral flavors, of course)

Thanks for any advice! (and also, any ideas that are not under these two themes are very welcome)

[Wild Bill Turkey]

Well, from the song (We are stardust, we are golden...) there is a cocktail called the Stardust, but it sounds kind of vile, involving peach schnapps, blue curacao, lemon vodka and grenadine.

[Busboy]

You could do some of the actually cocktails of the era, like Harvey Wallbanger, though that's a little more Disco-y.

There certainly has to a drink called the "Brown Acid." (Oh, Google it, you young punks).

Maybe something about the mud.

[Alcuin]

There's the appropriately named "Flower Power Martini" by Simon Difford. You can get the details on it here.

[Splificator]

It must be pointed out, I'm afraid, that for the Woodstock generation drinking cocktails was perhaps the single most uncool thing a person could to, short only of having a dog called "Checkers," a wife with a cloth coat and the middle name of "Milhous."

E. g., "America Drinks and Goes Home," by the Mothers of Invention, which featues the immortal couplet, "Time to meet the Gurneys / And a dozen gray attorneys."

[Alcuin]

It must be pointed out, I'm afraid, that for the Woodstock generation drinking cocktails was perhaps the single most uncool thing a person could to, short only of having a dog called "Checkers," a wife with a cloth coat and the middle name of "Milhous."

E. g., "America Drinks and Goes Home," by the Mothers of Invention, which featues the immortal couplet, "Time to meet the Gurneys / And a dozen gray attorneys."

←

Young punk that I am, I'd say there's nothing wrong with a little revisionist drinkery. Right the wrongs.

[freshherbs]

There is a product on the market called Jeremiah Weed. Mix it with some of that Bong Vodka that is out there and you should have a smokin' good time

[rooftop1000]

Partially set gelatin isn't that hard to work with. You could either use different colors and set the face with a dropper or use fruit bits (blueberries, cherries)

think of Rachel's Rainbow Jello mold

tracey

[Forest]

Partially set gelatin isn't that hard to work with. You could either use different colors and set the face with a dropper or use fruit bits (blueberries, cherries)

think of Rachel's Rainbow Jello mold

tracey

←

sounds good...i'll give a try with partially set gelatin.

thanks for all the other ideas too...i'll keep working on this and see how it comes along!

[Yajna Patni]

You could make whiskey sours, and call them brown acid... they are brown and acid/sour right?

[rlibkind]

Whatever you concoct, make sure that instead of "cheers" or "bottoms up" you say "Here's mud in your eye".

[aidan]

Hate to say it, but "Mudslides."

[nikkib]

i think a lot of it comes down to the names more than the cocktail itself - how about "purple hearts" with creme de violette as a main ingredient or a "mellow yellow" which could be say a west indian yellow bird? Absinthe etc would be fun... can you get the cannabis vodka in the states? Not very tasty but quite good fun and appropriate for your theme...

[KatieLoeb]

There's an entire thread about Jello shots already existing. That ought to at least get you started.

Otherwise I suspect there was a whole lot more smoking and ingesting of semi-solid materials/items in pill form/psychedelic fungi than there was drinking going on at Woodstock. If you want Woodstock inspired cocktails, you're probably inventing them yourself.

[Forest]

There's an entire thread about Jello shots already existing.  That ought to at least get you started.

Otherwise I suspect there was a whole lot more smoking and ingesting of semi-solid materials/items in pill form/psychedelic fungi than there was drinking going on at Woodstock.  If you want Woodstock inspired cocktails, you're probably inventing them yourself.

←

That's kind of what I was thinking, too, so was thinking I'd do some floral names or tweak the names of existing cocktails. Although Katie, your comment got me thinking...are there any cocktails that involve mushrooms (and I do mean the standard kind...not the magic kind) Or maybe we could do martinis with button mushrooms instead of olives?

[Wild Bill Turkey]

Hate to say it, but "Mudslides."

←

Ha!

There's also a Kamikaze with a Chambord float called a "Purple Haze".

[Nyleve Baar]

Seriously - just buy a jug of Boone's Farm Apple Wine and pass it around. Do they even make that stuff anymore?

[suzilightning]

unfortunately the "stoned dane" named after a not lamented ex-boyfriend.

shot of johnny walker with dr. pepper.

as someone who was alive(albiet 14 at the time) it was beer and whiskey.... hey

what about some retro beers? or beer based cocktails? black label, hamms, etc?

[suzilightning]

Seriously - just buy a jug of Boone's Farm Apple Wine and pass it around. Do they even make that stuff anymore?

←

yeah but WHY? my grandfather always had bourbon with a splash on friday night and we had lawn mower beer in the fridge for when he finished the acre of land we had - or the cemetary.

[suzilightning]

I bought some silicone ice trays in disc shapes specifically for this purpose.  They will be in the form of small round discs - so I thought I'd drop in some yellow food coloring and (somehow...this is where i really need the help) draw smiley faces on them.  I don't have the ice trays with me, so I can't take a picture, but hopefully i'm  explaining this well enough.  but, basically it's going to be a little yellow round disc that looks like a smiley face and has a bit of a kick to it.

So far, I've had one thought of doing something like lemon drops - not my favorite cocktail, but it's lemon (thus makes some sort of weird sense in my head being yellow) and then perhaps I could use something like black sugar on the top when done to make the eyes and the smile?  This is not my favorite thought...but that gives you an idea of the kind of brainstorming i've been doing in my head.  I'm not really satisfied with anything i've come up with yet...so, help!  Ideas for both the flavor and how to make the face...anyone?

←

mellow yellow? how about Orange Sunshine - a bit more of a hard edge.......uuhhh

not that i remember anything about that.....

[scubadoo97]

Something with a sugar cube

[Wild Bill Turkey]

I guess the real acid test is whether you're willing to subject your guests to an Electric Kool-Aid

[KatieLoeb]

There's an entire thread about Jello shots already existing.  That ought to at least get you started.

Otherwise I suspect there was a whole lot more smoking and ingesting of semi-solid materials/items in pill form/psychedelic fungi than there was drinking going on at Woodstock.  If you want Woodstock inspired cocktails, you're probably inventing them yourself.

←

That's kind of what I was thinking, too, so was thinking I'd do some floral names or tweak the names of existing cocktails. Although Katie, your comment got me thinking...are there any cocktails that involve mushrooms (and I do mean the standard kind...not the magic kind) Or maybe we could do martinis with button mushrooms instead of olives?

←

Pickled mushrooms instead of olives. I don't know how that would play in gin, but shouldn't hurt a vodka martini any...

You could always make cocktails with little bits of edible silver leaf floating in them for the starry effect. I made a drink called a "Starry Night" that was the color of the night sky with little "stars" floating in it. Looks like this:

Starfruit garnish optional, but totally works.

Edited April 23, 2009 by KatieLoeb (log)

[Forest]

Pickled mushrooms instead of olives.  I don't know how that would play in gin, but shouldn't hurt a vodka martini any...

You could always make cocktails with little bits of edible silver leaf floating in them for the starry effect.  I made a drink called a "Starry Night" that was the color of the night sky with little "stars" floating in it.  Looks like this:

Starfruit garnish optional, but totally works.

←

yes, little pickled mushrooms was what i was thinking.

The starry night is gorgeous! I may not do something like this for this party - just because it will be a big group and I'm trying to stick with easier ingrediants...but i will definitely be borrowing that idea for some of my personal cocktail parties at home!

So far I'm thinking the following from everyone's suggestions:

-Flower Power Martini (that looks like a pretty tasty one to me)

-Mushroom Martini (vodka martini w/ pickled mush - this will appeal to this crowd more than gin martinis anyway)

-Mudslides (these do not sound good to me, but, again, i think this crowd might be into them)

-Electric Koolaid as a self-serve punch

-psychodelic smiley shots

Given the constraints (number of people & their tastes, hosts desire for themed drinks, ease of making lots for several people) I think this might work. I personally think that menu is a bit vodka heavy and not varied enough but it may go down well with this particular crowd. So, I will give him that as an option or go back to my original of 3 simple floral based martinis with the jellow shots and a few classics. (which would be my personal preference)

This isn't set in stone, so if anyone has any better ideas...feel free to let me know!

[Forest]

Thanks again, all, for the ideas. We sampled the possibilities last night.

Flower Power martini is quite nice! I toned down the violette a bit becausee I thought at that proportion it overpowered the St Germain, but I think the one I'm using has a pretty intense flavor.

We skipped the mushroom martini to reduce the number of vodka drinks. Although I am still interested in the idea of a cocktail involving mushrooms.

there seemed to be a couple of variations on the mudslide, so we tried a few. The winner seemed to be equal parts baileys, kahlua, vodka. i shook it and poured into a chilled glass (although should be over the rocks) and put some finely grated dark chocolate sprinkles on top. This would not be my favorite drink, but of the mudslides, it was the preferred one. (I would probably add more vodka myself to reduce the super sweet of the other two, or perhaps something else, but it worked for what we're doing)

As an alternative to the mushroom martini, we sampled a between the sheets and a stargazer - we figured both seemed to have somewhat vaguely woodstocky names. I enjoy both of these, especially the stargazer, but we will probably go with the between the sheets as I think it's a bit more accessible to most people (i.e. not everyone loves rye in their cocktail)

Now, I'm off to play with the jello shots!

Edited April 25, 2009 by Forest (log)