A Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Kinda Drink

In honor of the upcoming 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards (airing on CBS on May 18; check local listings), we've whipped up a festive and fun cocktail honoring one of our favorite nominees: Miranda Lambert, who is up for Best Female Vocalist.

For anyone not familiar with country music or Miss Miranda, she's the genre's resident bad girl. And by that, I mean that you can practically get a body count from her songs.

"Gunpowder and Lead" finds her waiting with a gun and some cigarettes for her abusive ex-boyfriend to get out of jail. "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" has her prowling the bars looking for her ex and his date, looking for a fight.

And then there's "Kerosene," which is all about dousing your troubled past and watching it all go up in flames. That song served as the inspiration for the Miranda Lambert-ini, which you'll get after the jump.

So grab a few friends, gather around the TV, and root for Miranda to take the top prize during the ACMs. And even if she loses, you can enjoy the warm, soothing slow burn of your Lambert-ini and have a great time.

The Miranda Lambert-ini

• apple juice
• ginger ale
• Sprite
• Goldschläger (cinnamon schnapps)
• Red-colored rock candy
• Black licorice wheels
• Decors Red Crystals
• Hot Tamales candies
• Large toothpicks, chopsticks, skewers or other wooden sticks

1) Get a martini glass or wine glass. We're not picky, and neither is Miranda.

2) Arrange some of the red-colored rock candy in the middle of the glass. The more you can get it to look like a bonfire, the better. (Burn, baby, burn!)

3) Take the black licorice wheel and cut a long thread out of it to make your fuse. Shove the fuse under the bonfire of rock candy. Give a few shakes of the Decors Red Crystals into the glass.

4) Now you need your matchstick, which'll serve as your stirrer. Take a skewer or chopstick, and stick one end into a Hot Tamale. Voila! You're ready to strike a fire!

5) Depending on the number of guests you have (and, no, there's no shame in drinking this drink alone ... I've been doing it all afternoon), combine sufficient amounts as follows:

• 2 parts apple juice
• 2 parts ginger ale
• 5 parts Sprite
• 1.5 parts Goldschläger (or more, depending on your taste)

6) Pour the mixture into the glasses, and enjoy! The gold flecks in the Goldschläger give this drink a real cool visual effect, as the flakes float and "crackle" above the bonfire below, dancing with the floating Red Crystals. Unfortunately, the pics didn't capture this too well, but it's much better in person.

 

Comments

Ohhh, That is Good!!!!!, But with that name it can't be bad.

That drink sounds great! Next, I'd like to see some cocktail recipes honoring all of the Mandrell sisters...maybe including a margarita with cracker crumbs on the rim ("you can eat crackers in my bed...")

Katrina

Excellent. I might up the Goldshlager, though...I bet Miranda wouldn't mind...

Woo hoo!! Miranda just won Album of the Year at the ACMs ... and was so shocked and humbled that it looked like she said something embarrassing that I can't print here.

Everybody down their Lambertini!!!!!

My favorite drink is the Hand Grenade - a long standing tradition at my Memorial Day picnic. You order the mix from Tropical Isle on Bourbon Street, add some grain alcohol - and instant fun!