My bartending style tends to run less towards the carefully measured, tried-and-true recipes and more towards the “What’s in my fridge right now?” trial-and-error method. I rarely use actual measures, because what is “good” depends on how many people are drinking, how liquored up they want to be, and how well they hold all that liquor. That being said, I have a few favorite drinks that do really well in cold weather.

Peppermint Hot Chocolate:
This ain’t your grandma’s hot cocoa. (Or maybe it is…) I like to add a few drops (or shots) of Peppermint Schnapps to hot chocolate for an immediate warm-up. Make the cocoa with milk if you like it creamier.

Cinnamon Vanilla Cream:
One day my love of Starbuck’s and alcohol collided, and this drink was born. I just poured some Cinnamon Schnapps into my Vanilla Crème, and - voilà - an innocuous looking brew. Yes, I did keep it all in the Starbucks container. You can make your own Vanilla crème by warming up milk, adding a drop or two of vanilla extract, sugar to taste, and topping it off with whipped cream.

Hot (Spiked) Apple Cider:
First, you need to find some alcoholic apple cider. It’s probably somewhere between the beer and wine sections. Two bottles is a good amount to start with. On the stove, get it simmering with two cinnamon sticks, a tablespoon of cloves, a little bit of sugar and some nutmeg. What really makes it piping hot though, is the addition of either rum or apple brandy. Be generous, ladies - the apple cider has lost most of its alcoholic content in the heating process. Read More »

[Our writer, Kelly, has made it her goal to quit smoking and share her experiences with you. We have been following her for two weeks now. Here is her latest progress.]

Well, I’ve been trying to refrain from smoking at all, but - geez - it is tough. Last week wasn’t too bad - I smoked maybe one or two a day and had a day or two where I didn’t smoke a cig at all. Even better, I didn’t even crave one – score!

But, then, I went to a Halloween party last weekend where I buckled and smoked about ten cigarettes in one night. I know, bad girl, Kelly; but honestly, with all the liquor, I just let myself go with the smoking…again. There’s something about needing a smoke with my vodka soda, or my glass of red wine that I just can’t seem to shake. Am I the only one?

After my lovely smoking binge of Friday, I tried to calm down the rest of the weekend. And I did. I smoked only one or two cigarettes a day for the rest of the weekend.

On my way to work on Monday, though, I almost put my car in park and asked the guy in traffic behind me, who was smoking a cig, if I could bum one. Then I realized how crazy and pathetic I would have looked, so I stopped myself. I didn’t have a cigarette that morning, and I didn’t have one for the rest of the day. I made a conscious decision to either go big - and do it as close to cold turkey as I can until I can finally withdraw myself from the cravings - or not do it at all. And not doing it at all is not an option. Read More »

[It doesn’t matter what school you go to, what state it is in, how big it is, whether it is public or private, all girls or coed…there are experiences that all college students share. No matter how crazy you think your personal situation is, it is not just you.

So, let’s bring it all out in the open. Right here. Because you are not alone - we’ve all been there before.]

Hugging the Bowl:

You started the evening out with the girls and a few shots of vodka to the tune of Bon Jovi blaring from the stereo. Then you moved onto the party, where you couldn’t not play 10 rounds of flip cup, followed by a game of beer pong. You were feeling good – really good – so you decided to give into the boys and do a keg stand.

After all, you had to show them what you’re made of.

When your feet are firmly back on the ground it hits you: you are totally f**ked up. The room is spinning, the floor is rocking and all you can think about is getting home and dying.

But you don’t want anyone to think you are a wimp (because you’re not!), so you pull one of the girls aside and whisper, “I’m tired. I think I’m gonna go,” which comes out more like, “I’m <hiccup> tiiiired. I <hiccup> mthink I’mgomna <vurp> go.” Your friend offers to go with you.

You stumble home, run straight to the bathroom and strip down to your bra and underwear. Your friend brings you water in the bathroom as you crouch over the toilet and start spitting into the bowl. Your knees hurt already, but you are not leaving the bathroom until you puke, dammit. Read More »

Just because you’re a college student doesn’t mean you have to drink like one. I mean, come on; vodka and Crystal Light gets old after awhile. Why not try something a little more…sophisticated? (Editor’s Note: You can still chug it like a college lady.)

These cocktails are guaranteed to make all your friends love you, and, of course, get everyone very, very drunk.

So welcome to the world of sophisticated drunkery.

What better way than to start of the list that with a drink that compliments fall season upon us?

Warm Fall Evening
1 part Absolut Peach
1 part apple flavored vodka
1 part Absolut Mandarin
1 part cinnamon syrup
1 part hot apple juice / cider
Cinnamon

Combine and serve in a glass.

Fall flavors not really your thing? How about a drink that is guaranteed to warm you up in the cold days and put your drinking skills to the test? Can you handle hot sauce? Read More »

The leaves are changing color, Halloween and Thanksgiving are just around the corner, and the frozen drinks of summer are slowly being replaced by hard apple cider.

But this doesn’t need to be the case! One of the creamiest, tastiest variations of the frozen mudslide is perfect for holiday parties…or simply to satisfy a simultaneous craving for booze and pumpkin pie.

You need:

*1 can of pumpkin pie filling
*vodka
*Bailey’s Irish Cream
*milk
*ice
*whipped cream
*cinnamon
*a blender

It’s so easy, yet you’re sure to impress all of your friends by introducing them to this festive autumn libation. Simply fill the blender with ice and pour in 2 oz each of vodka and Bailey’s. Add a heaping scoop of pumpkin pie filling, and fill the rest of the blender with milk. Blend it up and serve in a hurricane glass, topped with whipped cream and sprinkled with cinnamon. It’s smooth, creamy, and tastes just like Thanksgiving dessert.

Delicious!

It’s that time of the week when giant sites like Gawker, Jezebel, and Perez send a shout out!! to their sponsors in a witty-but-yet-still-whorish way. After reading plug after obvious plug, we started to feel a little left out, so we’re gonna do it too.

A big OMG THANK YOU FOR KEEPING US ALIVE THIS WEEK to the following things:

* That House Vodka I Always Drink When I Go Out Because I’m Too Cheap To Drink Anything Else * Unsucky Episodes Of Saturday Night Live * Dunkin Donuts Employees Who Charge Me For A Small Coffee Instead Of The Medium I Actually Ordered * Miniature Chocolate Bars That Taste Better When Frozen *Lululemon Groove pants * Pillsbury Break and Bake Sugar Cookies (with the little Ghosts inside!) * Arrested Development on DVD *

The stock market is low. Really effing low. The lowest it’s been in a long ass time.

And people are freaking out.

So, in an effort to ease people’s minds, George Bush spoke. He interrupted my morning dose of Ellen Degeneres for about 7 minutes to explain what is going on and how the US Government is going to fix it. But that 7 minutes can be summed up in 2 simple sentences:

Things are bad - we caused the economy to decline worldwide - but they are going to get better. Just chill the eff out.

So, let’s relax, people. Forget about your money in the bank, your student loans, and the fact that you can’t afford your Easy Mac. Grab a bottle of your favorite (cheap) vodka, kick back on your couch and chillax.

Everything is gonna be ok!

In case you haven’t heard, tonight is the biggest, baddest and most important VP debate EVER.

And nothing goes better with big, bad and important events quite like drinking games. We at CC have created a drinking game worthy of the event, so grab your friends (bonus if they are on the other team…it just makes everything more fun), all the essentials, and get your political game on!

What you will need:
Beer: 2 kinds are necessary: a quality brew of your choice, and a blue-collar variety (we prefer PBR).
Vodka: Stoli, straight from Palin’s neighbor, Russia, is best
A stack of dollar bills: You know you’ve been storing your money under the mattress lately, anyway.
A cheap bottle of wine
A tube of lipstick Read More »