The first drink I would like to share is one of my favorites: a Washington Apple. I was first introduced to this drink on my 21st birthday and fell in love it with it since. Not only is it a tasty drink, but it’s very easy to make.

The ingredients are as following:

• 1 Part Crown Royal
• 1 Part Sour Apple Pucker Schnapps
• 1 Part Cranberry Juice

The first thing you may notice is that I refer to the ingredients in terms of parts. The reason I do that is because this drink can be made as either a martini or as a shot. Typically a shot glass would hold roughly 1-2oz. and a cocktail glass can hold about 8-12oz. of liquid. Thinking in ounces will be important later on. For a shot, we will use about 1/3oz. of each ingredient and for a martini we would use roughly 2oz. of each ingredient (adjust accordingly if making multiple shots/martinis at a time).

To prepare we fill a martini shaker 1/3-1/2 of the way full of ice. I prefer using crushed ice because there is more surface area to cool down the drink. After that we add in each ingredient. When adding ingredients you should go from the least expensive ingredient to the most expensive, that way you don’t waste the more expensive alcohols if you mess up and have to start over. When pouring in the liquids I strongly recommend the use of pourers. Notice how good bartenders never pull out a shot glass when pouring shots. Pourers allow you to pour the alcohol out in a continuous stream. For this reason, you are able to count to measure the alcohol poured out. Remember how I mentioned thinking in ounces will be important later on? Here is why: when using pourers, every 3 seconds of pouring your alcohol is 1oz.; 1/3oz. is about 1 second and 2oz. is about 6 seconds. Counting when using pourers is faster than having to pull out a shot glass and much more impressive.

When all of the ingredients are in the martini shaker, put the lid on and shake with your wrist for a few seconds. The point is not only to mix the ingredients together, but to get the drink cold as well. Warning: if you shake it for to long, the ice can melt and dilute your drink with water. Finally, pour the drink into a shot glass and shoot!