Impère'd Noël

 

Our Grade "A" Fancy holiday drink for 2022 debuted live on Fool's Paradise featuring Rex on WFMU, and here's the recipe.

Impère'd Noël

For one small drink ~

1 ounce Hendrick's gin
1 ounce Muscat Beaumes de Venise
1/2 ounce cooled Earl Grey tea
1/2 tsp turbinado sugar 1:1 simple syrup
Dash Dr. Adam Elmegirab’s Winter Spiced Bitters
Garnish: cocktail cherry

𝐴𝑑𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑝: Brew the tea, make the syrup, cool both.

𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠: Stir first four ingredients over ice and strain into a small chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry and serve.
 

𝐶𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑥 𝐺𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑒!

Radio Hijinx This Saturday

 

Christmas Eve-ternoon, Saturday, December 24

Grade "A" Fancy Shakes Up the Airwaves

Yes, children, it's time once again for your host and mine, Rex, to celebrate the American Novelty Songbook in peerless Fool's Paradise style, spinning more zany holiday-themed novelty records than anyone might think is prudent, and all at 45 r.p.m. As tradition dictates, Grade "A" Fancy's own Chief Mixing Officer will unveil a brand new cup of hooch specially created to mark the occasion, mixed before your very ears! This feature we like to call "Bartender of the Airwaves" is truly a milestone in broadcasting history.

What will this year’s cocktail be? Tune on Saturday from 1 to 3pm ET when the name and recipe will be revealed. In the tri-state area, listen on the mighty WFMU 91.1 FM Jersey City and NYC, and 90.1 and 91.9 in the Hudson Valley. If you find yourself stranded somewhere in the Yukon, or behind a skyscraper, listen in real time at WFMU.org via the miracle of the internet. If you insist on spending the day with family the show will be archived so you'll be able to enjoy the radio hi-jinx at your leisure for years to come.

What will you need to play the home game?

𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 (𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑐𝑒):

• Hendricks Gin
• Muscat de Beaumes de Venise - a lightly sweet Muscat wine from the southern Rhône
• Earl Grey tea – you’ll want to pre-brew a cup and cool it, baby
• Dr. Adam Elmegirab's Winter Spiced Bitters
• Turbinado sugar (such as Sugar in the Raw) 1:1 simple syrup
• cocktail cherry for garnish
  

Tools and Glassware:

• Mixing tin or glass
• Strainer
• Barspoon
• Small cocktail glass
  

Advance Prep:

• Brew a cup of Earl Grey tea
  
• Prepare syrup 1:1
  

Make a tray of ice, chill your glasses, and we'll see you Saturday! Well, you'll hear us. You know what we mean, listen in. And check this space after the show for the official recipe.

Ice Station Reindeer

And here it is, folks
Our original 2021 FOOL’S PARADISE HOLIDAY DRINK

ICE STATION REINDEER

Ingredients:

2 oz tequila
1 oz pineapple juice
1/2 oz grapefruit juice
1/2 oz Noilly Prat rouge vermouth (or similar quinine-forward sweet red vermouth)
1 barspoon absinthe
1 barspoon agave syrup
1 egg white
a few drops of Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Bitters
tiny pinch of salt

Garnishes:

a few drops of Angostura bitters
grapefruit peel

In advance:

Chill glasses – It’s a big drink, so one 5-6 ounce cocktail glass, or two coupes
Squeeze grapefruit juice
Separate an egg (Reserve the yolk for challah or babka or any other use)

When you're ready to go:

Add all ingredients except garnishes into the mixing glass.
Add ice.
Shake shake shake the drink in a Boston shaker (the two-piece thingy) and strain. A reverse shake is recommended to best fluff up your meringue.

Pour the mixture into your pre-chilled glass or glasses. With a dropper or a small spoon, top the foam with a few decorative drops of Angostura bitters. Squeeze a piece of grapefruit peel over the glass to express the fragrant oils; twist the peel into the drink, and serve.

And to all a good night!

Tune In Saturday

 

This Saturday, December 25th, 2021, Grade "A" Fancy shakes up the airwaves, cocktail style.

In what we hoped wouldn’t become a holiday tradition, this year's Fool's Paradise holiday party on the mighty WFMU will be a remote affair. This time we weren’t banned from the studio for subversive behavior or destructive twisting, it is the social distancing requirements, honest. That’s what Rex told us anyway.

It's always an event when our host Rex celebrates the American Novelty Songbook in true Fool's Paradise style, spinning more zany holiday-themed novelty records than anyone might think is prudent, and all at 45 r.p.m. Grade "A" Fancy's own Chief Mixing Officer will once again unveil a brand new cup of hooch specially created to mark the occasion, mixed before your very ears! This feature we like to call "Bartender of the Airwaves" is truly a milestone in broadcasting history.

What will this year’s cocktail be? Tune on Saturday from 1 to 3pm ET when the name and recipe will be revealed. In the tri-state area, listen on the mighty WFMU 91.1 FM Jersey City and NYC, and 90.1 and 91.9 in the Hudson Valley. If you find yourself stranded somewhere in the Yukon, or behind a skyscraper, listen in real time at WFMU.org, via the miracle of the internet. If you insist on spending the day with family the show will be archived so you'll be able to enjoy the radio hi-jinx at your leisure for years to come.


What will you need to play the home game?

Here is your shopping list (check it twice):

Tequila – the blanco variety and preferably nothing too smooth

Noilly Prat rouge vermouth – or a similar spicy and quinine-forward red vermouth

Absinthe – we used Vieux Pontarlier

Grapefruit – one

Pineapple juice

Egg – one

Agave syrup

Angostura Bitters

Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Bitters

 

Chill your glasses and we'll see you Saturday! Well, you'll hear us. You know what we mean, listen in. And check this space after the show for the official recipe.

It's a Holiday Tradition

Welcome to the Weird Winter Wonderland of 2020.

UPDATE!

 

And here it is—our Grade “A” Fancy original holiday cocktail for 2020, as debuted live on the Fool's Paradise program featuring Rex on WFMU:

𝙅𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙇𝙀𝘿

𝘐𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴:
2 oz blended Scotch
½ oz Lazzaroni Amaretto
¼ oz Cynar
¼ oz orange juice
Dash of Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas’ Own Decanter Bitters
2-4 raspberries

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘛𝘰: Crush one raspberry in your shaker. Add ice, and the liquids; shake well and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish: 1-3 raspberries in the glass.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 

This Saturday, December 19th, tune in to the Fool's Paradise program on the Fun 91, WFMU for the holiday tradition the kids all cry for, when your deejay Rex hosts a way-out office party on the air featuring more zany holiday-themed novelty records than anyone might think is prudent. But wait—there’s more. Grade "A" Fancy's chief mixing officer Karen, your the Radio Bartender, will unveil a brand new cocktail shaken up specially for the occasion.

What will it be? Tune on Saturday from 1 to 3pm ET on the mighty WFMU 91.1 FM Jersey City, and 90.1 in the Hudson Valley. If you find yourself stranded somewhere in the Yukon, you can listen in real time at WFMU.org, via the miracle of the internet.  

What will you need to play the home game? 

Here is your shopping list (check it twice):

• Scotch (a blended one; Famous Grouse is good, and Ballantine's is terrific—their bottle still looks like the bellboy brought it up)

• Amaretto (Lazzaroni brand suggested)

• Cynar bitter liqueur
  

• Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas’ Own Decanter Bitters

• an orange (for juice)

• 2-4 raspberries

We'll see you Saturday! Or you'll hear us. You know what we mean, listen in already. And check this space after the show for the official recipe.

...and to all a good night!