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Alabama Slammers

Sweee-eet Home, Alabama! Who doesn’t sing along with that hip-swingin’, foot-stompin’ hand-clappin, baby-rockin’ lullaby by Lynyrd Skynyrd from way back in 1974, when a good many of us were still in school of some kind? Do you realize that it’s close to forty years ago?

And just one year later, Alabama Slammers made their debut.

In case you’ve been off the radar, it’s not a place of incarceration in Montgomery. It’s one of the most deliciously yummy and decadent cocktails straight from the University of Alabama where a talented mixologist was playing around with some Southern Comfort and he added a few other ingredients and came up with this perfect summery concoction. Serve it anywhere, any time and you’ll be the hero of the night!

You can make it using the ingredients below – it’s one of my favorite Alabama slammer recipes – the original recipe but anything you want to add is just fine, get creative. It’s still a Slammer if there’s Southern Comfort involved. Try this one,

-    ¾ ounce Southern Comfort

-    ¾ ounce Amaretto liqueur

-    3/4 ounce of good vodka

-    3/4 ounce of sloe gin

-    3 ounces of orange juice – freshly squeezed if possible

-    garnishy items like maraschino cherries, orange or lemon slices –   create your own.

This deserves to be served in a really cold, tall Collins glass (put it in the freezer for a few minutes.) Fill it halfway with crushed ice. Now, take your well-chilled cocktail shaker and put a few ice cubes in it before adding the ingredients one by one. Shake it all up, while rockin’ to the melodic strains of “Sweet Home, Alabama” and strain it into the Collins glass. Hang a slice of orange or lemon on the rim and you’re good to go.

A word about the ingredients – Southern Comfort has a very different taste from bourbon, but that doesn’t prevent you from using it as an alternative. And you can call it any name you like! Amaretto is a sensuous Italian liqueur from Saronno, made with a base of almond or apricot pits and sometimes both, giving it an unusual bitter-sweet taste which is perfect in your Slammer as it cuts the sweetness – meaning you can sip on two or even three of them.

Sloe gin is quite different in taste from the gins we’re used to – this is made from very ripe sloe or blackthorn berries which give it its characteristic red color and the pit provides an almond-like flavor too. If you love to create cocktails, a bottle of sloe gin is an essential part of your liquor cabinet.

Here’s how to make a frozen Slammer. Put half a cup of ice in your blender, one ounce each of Southern Comfort and vodka.  Add a couple of blurps of sloe gin or grenadine and a scoop of orange sherbet. Blend on medium till smooth and add a little orange juice to thin it. Garnish the glasses with a slice of orange or maraschino cherries – pretty to serve and wonderful to sip at a patio party – it just sings summertime!

I found a great cocktail recipe using Galliano. Yes, I realize that we’re moving away from Alabama Slammers but this is so good, I had to share it with you. Fill your cold cocktail shaker with ice and add half an ounce each of Southern Comfort, Triple Sec or Cointreau, Galliano and sloe gin. Top it all off with orange juice and add a slice of orange as a garnish.

Try this – it’s called Red Death! Make your Alabama Slammer and right afterwards, add a Kamikaze to it, made with one ounce of vodka and half an ounce each of Triple Sec or Cointreau and lime juice.

Do not operate machinery or drive a car after even one of these!

About the Author

Carolyn Donohue is an expert on cocktail recipes. If you want to impress your friends and make your next cocktail party a hit by serving great tasting alabama slammers, visit http://www.cocktailrecipesmadeeasy.com.

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