Blue Flight

Sam Treadway

Song: Volare by Dean Martin

Song choice rationale:
This song has made it into my heart because for some reason Pandora loves to play it again and again at my bar. It's a great song to bartend to because it's slow, jazzy and sexy; with just enough pizazz to give me a little pep in my step. Volare means to fly in Italian, and the whole song is about being uplifted and wanting to sing and be happy and fly through the sky up in the "blue, the painted blue." So to have some fun with these flying and blue themes, I came up with a blue aviation variation. The Appleton Rum helps to soften the high notes of the lime, blueberry and maraschino. The blue curacao obviously adds the needed color, but it also rounds out the mouthfeel. It being an Italian song, I wanted to highlight two Italian liqueurs the amaro nonino and maraschino. Hope you enjoy drinking it as much as I enjoyed coming up with it!

Recipe:
2 oz. Appleton Estate Reserve
0.5 oz Blue Curacao 

The Golden Fiddle

Tyler Wang

Song: Devil Went Down to Georgia by Charlie Daniels Band

Song choice rationale:
My cocktail is based off of the El Diablo. The ginger lime and cassis pair well with Appleton as they would in a delicious tiki cocktail. I've decided to embrace the diabolical nature of this song by blazing my Appleton Reserve with a little Angostura and Absinthe. This cocktail is cool on the lips in spite of it's fiery creation, because no matter how hard the Devil wants to overpower Johnny, he stay's cool and confident. This is Johnny's celebration.

Recipe:
2 oz. Appleton Estate Reserve
3/4 oz Fresh Lime Juice 

The Stranger's Candy

Jason Kilgore

Song: Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants by The Dillinger Escape Plan

Song choice rationale:
The Dillinger Escape Plan are a band that is formed from an eclectic mix of styles. Everything from jazz to hardcore to industrial is fused together in their songs. "Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants" is a great example of all the different parts put together. There's a ton of subtle musicianship that goes unnoticed when you first hear the song. The chorus is catchy as hell and it's got a great upbeat rhythm. This cocktail is a mix of several unusually paired ingredients that provide a lot of different flavors that work really well together. My bar is built on the idea that you have to trust the bartender and with lines like "The stranger's candy takes you where you want to be" it exemplifies the thrilling mix of trusting someone.

Recipe:
2 oz. Appleton Estate Reserve
.75 oz grapefruit juice 

Organized Noize

Theodore Kilpatrick

Song: Waterfalls by TLC

Song choice rationale:
The entire album, CrazySexyCool, was an inspiration for this drink, thereby making TLC as a group a more global inspiration. This drink is a successful trio: part rum swizzle, part bitters heavy, and part savory. I chose the song Waterfalls as a more specific inspiration because the song tells a story comprised of a handful of vignettes. The drink also tells a story by blending a few different styles of drink. The one binder that rings true throughout is the presence of water, for the drink by way of its format as a swizzle, and for the song by way of the chorus, "don't go chasing waterfalls, please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to, I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all, but I think you're moving to fast" (seriously, theres almost 3 oz. of booze in there... slow it down).

Recipe:
2 oz. Appleton Estate Reserve
3/4 oz. Angostura bitters 

Dreaded Redhead

Kevn Mabry

Song: Saw Red by Sublime

Song choice rationale:
Kick ass song with an upbeat tempo that always gets my heart pumping. Seeing red can either mean "love" or "hate" so the song transcends moods. Therefore, the cocktail has a little bit of a boozy punch, heat and a vibrant red color to it. The "dreaded" aspect of the cocktail is the mint stuck into the strawberry. We all know Sublime had a keen liking to the "herbs". The flamed Green Chartreuse singes the mint and makes for a characteristically "smoky" aroma.

Recipe:
1 oz. Appleton Estate Reserve
.75 oz grilled pineapple cordial
.5 Drambuie
.25 lime juice
.25 Bitter Truth Allspice/Pimento Dram
pinch cayenne
dash Falernum bitters
Cherry Heering

To build:
Shake all ingredients together and double strain over crushed ice in a highball glass. Float Cherry Heering over the top. Garnish with a hollowed out strawberry with a mint sprig in it. Fill strawberry with Green Chart and flame. Serve to a sick, twisted individual looking for a good time and a better drink.