Cocktail Confessions

I forgot about this little gem until a friend of mine, Erik Gibson, had his birthday recently.  Erik partners up with a friend to bring you their own comedic inspired podcast entitled “Skurvy Monkeys”. 

Anyway, he asked me what would be a nice drink for him to have and after a few minutes of thinking about it, I remember the Flying Monkey.  It’s more of a dessert drink, or rather shot, and I was introduced to it way back in college.  Other than the typical beer you were so stoked to try in the first place because you were underage and the parents who were paying for your education were 700+ miles away, you probably also dabbled into spirits and a few mixed drinks.

Now way back then I can remember I was hooked on Long Island Iced Tea’s, an occasional rum & Coke,  gin & tonic, or something on the sweater side.  Maybe it was a Bartyls & James wine cooler, Zima malt beverage, or Mai Tai.  I think I was at the old Humboldt staple bar, The Sidelines, (and underage at the time, but then again who wasn’t?) and was introduced to this dessert shot back then.  I had never had anything with banana liqueur before, and definitely never saw anything ‘layered’. 

I seem to recall they were about $2.50 at the time…okay so that was back in 1989, so I’m sure they’re hovering around $4-5 these days.  Anyway, there was a round of beers earlier and I think it was my friend Trisha who said “Let’s have a Flying Monkey.”  Apparently she had had these before and was quite partial to them.  The waitress comes out with these shot glasses on her corkbed round and I see this striped (i.e. ‘layered’) drink.  Long story short, they taste almost like a banana chocolate shake.  They are a bit rich and creamy and sweet.  How many drinks do you know that actually uses banana liqueur?

Flying Monkey:

• In a shot glass, and using the back of a spoon to slowly pour, layer the following in order:
• 1/3 Kahlua coffee liqueur, 1/3 Baileys Irish cream, 1/3 banana liqueur, and serve.

Now here’s a college art project I can get behind and study for!! 

Just enlist one weed smoking artist with unkempt hair, one mechanical engineering major that needs to get out and breathe some fresh air, and a fraternity (or two, or three) to volunteer their resources, and voila…

BOXEL was created by some University of Applied Sciences students in Detmold (Germany) over one week, tasked with the challenge of creating a summer pavilion in 1:1 scale. Apparently, the beer boxes are not merely stocked on top of one another, but “freely organized,” with slats, screws and bracings holding it all together.

Now hopefully the tear down wil be just as fun.  Maybe some extreme sports enthusiasts who like demolition stunts?