Every week the Columbia Bartending Agency does their best to get you crunk.  This week, Lauren Alpert does her best to get you to try something new – but don’t blame her if you end up dancing with the devil on a table at Havana’s.

Kovalchuk's favorite drink

Daunted by the endless opportunities presented by a fully-stocked bar, many people opt for their regular beverage rather than experimenting with a new order. To each their own, in imbibement as in lifestyle choices; my own, however, is to strive for adventure. This week’s drink is a prime example of how a shaker set and a few additions to your liquor collection can allow you to transform a simple classic (the Screwdriver, a roughly 1:4 ratio of vodka and orange juice) into an extraordinary libation: the Red Devil. With almost two drinks worth of liquor, this one is devilishly potent, so you might want to save it for the weekend rather than for pre-gaming Senior Night, especially if you have a 9am Thursday class like me!

Red Devil

Ingredients:
1/2 oz each of:
Vodka
Southern Comfort
Sloe Gin
Amaretto
Triple Sec

plus:
a splash of Rose’s Lime Juice
orange juice to fill (5-6 oz; just eyeball it)

Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a shaker filled 2/3 with ice and shake vigorously.
Strain into a highball glass over fresh ice.
Garnish with a lime slice and take pride in your adventurousness!

Liqueur lesson of the week: Sloe Gin, confusingly, is not actually related to gin at all, but rather is a sweet red liqueur flavored with berries of the blackthorn (a.k.a. sloe) plant, a relative of the plum.