Alcademics

The people of America have spoken, and they've chosen Barack Obama as our next president. That, friends, is awesome.

Not so awesome are the people of California. They voted to give egg-laying chickens the freedom to move about in their cages, while also revoking the freedom of gay people to get married (in a proposition mostly funded by the Mormon church, people who should really not talk.)

Mixed with elation and resentment this morning, my mind naturally turned to cocktails. What to drink for breakfast?

My wish list for ingredients included dark rum (a nod to Obama's skin color and his Hawaiian roots), egg white (because chickens matter), and bitters (because I, apparently, don't). A quick search of the internet turned up some interesting candidates- The White Lady contains egg white but the name sounds too Hillary. The Tom and Jerry contains both dark rum and egg, but again we're betrayed by the name. Same with The Cubano.

Then, I got very close, with the perfectly named Le Grand Flip, a drink by Jackson Cannon from Boston's Eastern Standard. It contains Calvados (but you can substitute American apple brandy), and an egg.

As I was about to run with that, a new drink caught my eye that combines both the perfect name and the right ingredients: The Chicago Fizz. It contains dark rum and egg, and invokes Chicago (the site of Obama's victory party last night). And this would quality as a traditional breakfast drink, perfect for your morning hangover. But the fizz?  It's more like a fizzle. That's how I feel about California today.

The Chicago Fizz
(recipe from Esquire.com)

1 ounce dark rum
1 ounce ruby port
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon superfine sugar
1 egg whites