Casino Royale

August 4, 2010 (Day 186) — Casino Royale

The first James Bond novel. The center of the James Bond movie series’ reboot.

It exudes class, smacks of the rich and famous and glitz. Not so high-profile, but still a glittery and bright casino nonetheless, Dodge City has it’s very own.

The Boot Hill Casino and Resort.

So, in honor of Kansas’ first state-owned casino — and the first Dodge City Days where our visitors can gamble to their hearts content — Jenn thought it would be fitting to create a casino-themed drink. And who better to associated our own humble casino with than 007 himself?

Holy hell! Look! James Bond in a Western!

On top of that, it’s National Champagne Day, so it all fit together perfectly!

Casino Royale

(Taken from “Mr. Boston Summer Cockatils”)

1 oz fresh orange juice

.25 oz fresh lemon juice

.5 oz maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)

1 oz gin (Tanqueray)

Champagne (spumante)

Combine everything except the champagne in a cocktail shaker, fill with ice, cover and shake until sweat appears on the outside of the shaker. Train into a chilled wine glass then top with champagne.

This is excellent. Truth be told, I’m a big fan of champagne cocktails. They always seem to lend an air of importance or gravitas to the cocktail. It’s celebratory and fun. On top of that, the bubbliness seems to add a bit of levity to the cocktail. That is to say, champagne makes me giggly. And it does Jenn too. I used a sweeter type of sparkling white wine for this cocktail, because of the bite of the Tanqueray, the bite of the citrus and the earthiness of the Luxardo. I’m glad I did too, because it was the perfect combination of sweet and bite. Sweetbite.

Jenn’s Take: It’s Mimosa-ish. Mimosa-esque. It’s not as sweet as a Mimosa though. I approve! Woooo!

That about sums it up better than I could!

Cheers!

— Mark