I Call It My 'Harvey Wallbanger', Wanna See It?

It's that time of the week again, another Friday night and people are getting ready making plans for the evening. Well this week let me introduce you to a friend of mine, Harvey Wallbanger. In the illustrious tradition of cleverly-named cocktails, this one might just be The Holy Grail. The choice name of a male's package AND a trendy alcoholic beverage? Don't mind if I do!

Harvey Wallbanger

 What does the Bible have to say about Harvey? Let's take a look:

Sometimes the name really makes the drinnk. Consider the Harvey Wallbanger. It's basically a screwdriver with a dash of Galliano added in, but thanks mostly to it's distinctive, vaguely smutty-sounding moniker (and a promotional ad campaign featuring a loveable cartoon character by that name) it became one of the most popular drinks of the 1970s. Legend has it the Harvey was created in the 1950s by Donato "Duke" Antone, the famed Los Angeles mixologist who also gave the world the Rusty Nail, the Flaming Caesar, and the Godfather. The name was inspired by a drunken patron who kept banging into walls one day after downing one too many. Order one up the next time you're 'flying high' (the Wallbanger became a worldwide sensation after TWA began serving it in its 747cocktail lounges) or dispense as an accompainment to a menu of old-school entree favourites, like Veal Prince Orlaff or Boeuf Bourguinon. This is powerful stuff, so don't be surprised if you're banging into a few walls yourself by the end of the evening.

"I've seen it, kid. When the man is no longer in charge, and the drink takes over." - Arnie, 75, "businessman"

I had a feeling I was being watched during that staff Christmas party! Oh Arnie, you should've come over and said hi; I'm dying to know exactly what kind of 'business' you're in.

1oz vodka
4oz orange juice
1/2oz Galliano

This drink actually gave us some degree of trouble; it was the damn Galliano! I didn't even know what the hell Galliano was, let alone that we walked halfway across town to the second liquer store looking for it only to find them closed. With a little bit of a luck (and a good cabbie) we managed to find a store that was open and made the long walk home to start the evening off.

Now lets talk about this drink for a moment. We had talked about my first drink as I was rummaging through my dad's liquer cabinet a few posts back and it was a little bit of vodka and a little bit of orange juice - a Screwdriver. I was *really* hoping to be transported back to the days of watching Bleu Nuit on the french cable channel that carried soft-core porn in the same time-slot as Saturday Night Live. The 'Return' button on the remote got WORN OUT. Sorry, got a bit off-topic there. Back to the beverage..

I think we can all get behind a Screwdriver, so the real question is: What is Galliano? Answer: A sweet vanilla liqueur. I'll take a moment for that to settle in with you.
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So you've got some sweet orange juice and lets add some sweet vanilla to that as well? I think this "Duke" guy musta been a little too 'high on his own supply' the day he dreampt that up. We actually had to adjust it on the fly and we modified the recipe as follows:

2oz vodka
6oz orange juice
1Tbl Galliano

and it was MUCH better. Rock Band was played, merryment was enjoyed and for the second straight week, the 26-er of alcohol was devoured.

Final Rating: 3 Oranges out of a Bushel. I hadn't anticipated making any changes to the recipies but I think that just might be a necessary evil of this.

Next Week we're diving head-first into the Gin, I sure hope it's not like the shallow-end - there's only 1 toilet!