Well y’all it’s Friday and I think we could all use a little inspiration. Inspiration, like a tick or your grandmother’s giant anchor tattoo, is often found in the strangest places. Beloved reader Amazon Angelle commented on my last entry about by asking:
Is it at all sad that I looked past the dress and am currently trying to come with a cocktail that I shall dub “Frog Water?”
It may be the first time I’ve ever said this with any tenderness but: Honey, No. In fact, I’m surprised it’s taken us this long to come up with a Manolo for the Big Girl cocktail in the first place! I feel like I’ve failed you. But now I want to know, what would go in a Frog Water Cocktail?
Might I suggest filling a glass with dry champagne, dribbling in a just a hint of Benoit Serres Liqueur de Violette and finish off by dropping a sugar cube that has been soaked in Green Chartreuse in the glass right before serving. The violet liqueur, aside from being delicious in champagne, plays into the joke that “frog water” used to be slang for perfume. The Green Chartreuse-soaked sugar cube could represent the little frog and has the added benefit of –like champagne and Liqueur de Violette also being from France.
Setting the poor little sugar amphibian on fire before submerging is also an option, if you particularly like your grenouilles en flambé.
Oooh, I have a hard time with any but clear drinks with gin, vermouth, and an olive.
Lazy recipe: Just make a gimlet, put in a little Chartreuse, and float a little plastic frog in there.
Weird, probably disgusting recipe: Wheatgrass juice and gin, for that special swampy feeling.
Weird recipe #2: Most food service people make something called “swamp water” – it’s just all the fountain drinks mixed together. Do that, and throw some rum in.
Comment by Dowdydiva — March 14, 2008 @ 11:45 am
Damn. What a time to be teatotal.
I shall simply have to support the frog water cocktail movement by seeking out the perfect glass once we’ve figured out what the hell goes in it.
Oooh, my brother has a frog-obssessed, cocktail-loving friend. Maybe I’ll ask her what she’d put in it…and what she’d put it in.
Comment by Twistie — March 14, 2008 @ 12:38 pm
I bet mixing ginger ale and Midori would result in a drinkable-yet-frogly-hued cocktail.
Comment by biscuit — March 14, 2008 @ 1:00 pm
In my mind, Frog Water is like fromaldehyde, and therefore, something like a dirty martini (vodka and the vinegar brine from stuffed olives) is a lot like frog water.
On the less disgusting side (ie, NOT remenicent of HS biology) a Froggertini might be garnished with a floating lilly, and should therefore be pale and delicate, like the flower. May I suggest a sake base, with Chambourde and a splash of lemon juice? The resulting cocktail will be a pale pink/purple, which would look lovely with a tiny lilly floating on top. Maybe even a little candy frog in the lilly!
I l.o.v.e. this, btw. Can’t wait to see what other people come up with!!
Comment by Leah — March 14, 2008 @ 1:21 pm
A dash of Chartreuse, A hint of Creme d’Menthe, top it off with vodka, shake vigorously, fill a martini glass 3/4 full then top it off with a little tonic water or club soda for bubbles…
Comment by Jennie — March 14, 2008 @ 1:58 pm
Perhaps something with absinthe, now that it is legal again. Gin, a hint of vermouth and a splash of absinthe. Green frog, green fairy, after a few of these, what’s the difference.
Comment by Big Al Kee — March 14, 2008 @ 2:07 pm
Even better! Zen Green Tea Liqueur with Vodka or Gin if that is your preference. Let’s see, 1 jigger of Zen Green Tea Liqueur, 2 jiggers of Vodka (add an extra splash for the heck of it) Shake with ice chips. Pour into an extra large Martini glass. If not full, add a dash, splash, quart more Vodka. Float a mint leaf on top for the lily pad. Sip or guzzle until you feel like croaking…
Comment by Jennie — March 14, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
Oh to tempt us with Benoit Serres Liqueur de Violette! I thought your cocktail had a delightfult sound to it. Well, until I discovered that Benoit Serres Liqueur de Violette is virtually impossible to get. You temptress. Does anyone know where I can obtain some of this? Now I’m dying to try it.
Comment by Angel — March 14, 2008 @ 5:28 pm
*blush* Gracious what hath I wrought? Hehe…hmm being a fruity frozen girl drink drinker a green apple granita made with frozen green apples and sprinkled with green apple vodka sounds lovely. One other idea is a mojito with lots of limes and mint…looks kinda swampy and not disgustingly so.
Comment by AmazonAngelle — March 14, 2008 @ 11:28 pm
Where should we meet to have a tasting and make the final decision on the official Manolo Frog Water Cocktail???
Comment by Jennie — March 16, 2008 @ 6:28 pm
There is already the classic, and quite tasty, Connecticut Bullfrog cocktail:
1 msr gin
1/2 msr dark rum
1/2 msr maple syrup
1/2 msr lemon juice
Shake and strain into glass filled with crushed ice.
There’s a whole subgenus of drinks that look disgusting, but they really DO look disgusting, so I shall spare you the details.
Comment by raincoaster — March 17, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
I’m with Big Al Kee…absinthe is a crucial ingrediant. Not only is it green, there’s that rumour that you can have a hallucinogenic experience when you lick certain types of frogs.
Comment by Scarlett — March 17, 2008 @ 11:58 pm
I think absinthe has been legalized in most of the world (certainly everywhere I go in Europe) but I’m pretty sure it’s still not legal in the US.
Perhaps Chartreuse could suffice?
Comment by bluehammer — March 18, 2008 @ 4:25 pm
Actually, Frog Water already exists! it’s a traditional drink in central America brewed with rum, cane sugar, ginger and lime (delicious!) I tried it in Costa Rica, and have loved the stuff ever since. it’s usually referred to by it’s Spanish name, which eludes me for the moment
Comment by Chris — September 11, 2008 @ 9:48 am
there is allready a drink called frogwater… its lime juice vodka and water with lots of ice… dellicious!!!!
Comment by dee — February 28, 2010 @ 7:58 pm