Operation Swill uncovers NJ restaurants serving fraudulent liquor

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Thursday, May 23, 2013, in Trenton, N.J. : "Operation Swill" news conference reported how 29 bars and restaurants in New Jersey were accused of replacing premium brand liquor with cheap booze and selling sub-par liquor at premium prices.

Thirteen of the restaurants cited are TGI Fridays located in central and northern New Jersey.

See the map to see findings of the investigation.  Story via NPR and Los Angeles Daily News.

a Noble Experiment, indeed...

in San Diego. many thanks to the incredible team of Pedro, Eric, Anthony, Erica and Hayley (sp?) for a truly memorable evening!

25 May 2011 - Photo from FLICKR: djvenus - at Noble Experiment

and, as it states on the back of the menu:

Certain gentlemen of other days

who made of drinking one of the pleasures of life

not one of its evils, and who,

whatever they drank, proved able to carry it,

keep their heads and remain gentlemen,

even in their cups.


Their example is commended

to their posterity.

SPIDER'S KISS: Venture Bros. cocktail from "Operation P.R.O.M."

's the second drink recipe, as mentioned by JACKSON PUBLICK. on the bump of the VENTURE BROTHERS season finale (the exciting, long-awaited, double-long final season 4 episode that made me a little emotional! plus, SHORE LEAVE is a total badass), Mr. Publick quickly ordered this drink before cutting to commercial:

Spider's Kiss Cocktail

1 oz. green melon liqueur
1 oz. vodka
Squeeze of fresh Lemon
Grenadine (optional)
Chocolate syrup

Draw a chocolate web into a cocktail glass. Place in freezer and chill. Shake melon , vodka and lemon juice and strain into glass. For a blood effect, drizzle grenadine down the side of the glass. Garnish with a chocolate-dipped orange slice.

Recipe from DRINK OF THE WEEK website created by Victoria D’Amato-Moran, courtesy of Midori®.

[BTW here's the drink Doc Hammer ordered in the same bump.]

WE LOVE YOU TOO, MR. HAMMER AND MR. PUBLICK!!!

another Venture Brothers cocktail: HOT MOMMY (Hot Mummy?)

for all you DOC HAMMER - like skinny-minis (whinnies?) out there, here's a drink recipe for the beverage Doc mentioned at the end of the bump during amazingly brilliant, awesome, near-perfect VENTURE BROTHERS season finale on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim (no, not the arsenic in a coconut, sorry!):

Hot Mommy (Skinny Vacation Cocktail)
1 oz. coconut rum (50 calories)
4 oz. club soda (0 calories)
Splash of pineapple juice (16 calories)
Splash of orange juice (14 calories)
Garnish with a fresh slice of pineapple (20 calories)

Total calorie count? Just 100 calories for your fabulous vacation cocktail! Compare that to 530 calories and in the same size pina colada or 740 calories for a margarita...

(Thanks to the HOT MOMMY HAPPY BABY blog for the recipe...)

Venture Brothers cocktail: Sam in a Sweater?

In the episode, "Now Museum, Now You Don't", Rusty Venture orders a drink called "sam and a sweater" or "sam in a sweater" or "salmon the sweater". i have researched a bit online and have only come up with the following recipe:

"...Then you could start making up your own drinks like telling the bartender to make you a 'Sam in a Sweater'.

Bartender: "Ummm, WTF is that?"

"Well, you take 2 parts vodka, mix in some triple-sec, diet Cherry Dr. Pepper and a touch of cream and blend it with ice. Teeny umbrella garnish is optional. Do you have any curly/ bendy straws at least?"

[the idea of screwing with a bartender and ordering a drink that you made up on the spot is borrowed from a novel]"

But which novel?? Thanks to MicroBob on Vegas Drinking Prop Bet for the only reference to this drink that i could find...on YAHOO, no less!! Suck it, Googler purists...

In any case, i have found a few sweater-based cocktail recipes, but none of them seem to have anything in common. AlSto assumed, based on Dr. Venture's rather disgusting drink preferences, that this one would be no exception.

ERIN'S SWEATER is a 3-to-2 mix of Blue Curacao and chocolate liqueur, shaken and served over ice cubes in a champagne saucer!!!??? Thanks to drinkswap.com for this one. There is also the YELLOW SWEATER (with short sleeves) as given by barmeister.com: 1 oz. vodka, 3/4 oz. creme de banana, and 1/2 oz lime juice. Mix and strain.

With ice, i presume...???

another Venture Brothers cocktail...the Sidecar.

Rusty Venture orders a DOUBLE Sidecar...!!

SIDECAR
(The Original from Harry's Bar - Paris)

1 1/2 oz. Brandy
1/2 oz. Triple Sec
1/2 oz. Lemon or Lime Juice

Combine all the ingredients in a shaker filled with ice, shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.