cocktail review no. 70 - Madras

It's hot outside and I have a crap-ton of vodka, so from here on out you'll get an earful about vodka highballs that keep you cool. Capische?

This is a classic drink, and apparently quite popular at the moment. I was one of the simple ones included in the curriculum at National Bartenders, the bartendin' school I attended in Riverside, California. I still vividly remember when our teacher, Joe, taught it to us. (You could tell Joe was raised on the street, 'cause he said "whoop cream" instead of "whipped cream" and "coney-ack" instead of "cognac." I loved him for it.) Joe grabbed the vodka, poured a shot into a rocks glass filled with ice cubes, and then grabbed a bottle of orange juice in one hand and cranberry in the other and filled the glass the rest of the way up. It didn't take him more than five seconds, I swear. We were impressed. He looked so cool doing it.

I pretty much just gave you the recipe, but there's a protocol we have to follow, dang it. So here you go.

• 1½ ounces vodka
• 2 ounces cranberry juice
• 2 ounces orange juice

Pour all of the ingredients into a highball glass almost filled with ice cubes. Stir well.

Now, as with most highballs, there's all sorts of variations. Some call for increased proportions of cranberry juice; some call for more orange juice. Some say to add the vodka and cranberry juice together and then pour the orange juice over the top after stirring. As I mentioned in my review of the Presbyterian, that's the great thing about highballs: they can be customized. It's up to you. I gave you the base recipe here, the one that's in The Bartender's Bible, my most trusted resource. You can play around with it as much as you like. In any event, this will be a smooth, tasty, tangy, cooling-off sort of drink for you. I'm not going to describe the flavor 'cause you already know that vodka takes on the flavors of whatever it's mixed with (I've said that millions of times). And if you're 21 or older and don't know what orange or cranberry juice tastes like, I pity you.

One more thing: I know where the name of this drink came from. The city of Chennai is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on the Bay of Bengal in southern India...but that wasn't always its name. It used to be called "Madras." This picture down here is one of its beaches.

Now drink up! 건배!