Armenian Booze
So, someone on Scans_Daily posted a troll message, which for some reason, always results in a flood of people responding by posting recipies. :p
The post got deleted before I was able to add this, but I didn't want the time I spent typing it to go to waste. Besides, who doesn't want a little culture added to their drinking experience? XD
Anyway, these are some Aramenian drinks that have been passed around my family. They're all pretty good, if you're looking for something new. :)
Arak
Technically a kind of alcohol itself, but this crap is NASTY if you drink it plain. If you make it the right way - so good. Go fig. :p
You need Arak first, of course, and it's not hard to find at a middle eastern imports shop. It's also called Arrack and Araq sometimes. It's a kind of licorice flavored liquor.
Mix a glass half Arak and half water, if you want it stronger use less water (duh). Add ice and wait for the mixture to become cloudy.
Add pomegranate juice until the mixture becomes very pale pink, then stir in about a quarter part green tea - enough so that the arak looks clearer. Use PLAIN green tea for this, if you use sweetened or lemony tea it tastes wrong.
I would strongly advise newcomers to Arak to start with more water and tea, and add more Arak as you get used to it. It's very strong, but once you get a taste for it, it's amaaaaazing. :)
Katnapour
Start with a sweet, rice based wine - traditionally you would use Vernashen wine in Armenia, but it's hard to find overseas, and I find that varieties of sweetened sake actually work really well with this! Combine about a cup of that with a few tablespoons of soy milk. It MUST be soy milk, otherwise it's not sweet enough. Add sugar and vanilla bean extract to sweeten as much as you wish.
My family substitutes this for egg nog around Xmas time, it's great with freshly ground cinnamon and nutmeg too! Alternatively, you can use fresh ttvaser (yogurtish sauce, again, find it at a middle eastern specialty shop) in place of soy milk to make a drink that's a bit creamier and more bitter.
Ttu Lavash
My absolute FAVORITE, start with a plum or pomegranate based wine. Again, substituting a Japanese plum wine works really well. Mix 2 parts wine to one part carbonated water. Add a shot of pomegranate juice, and about two shots of Kvas (this is a sweet beer type drink, but fyi, some decent beer mixed with a bit of brown sugar works just as well, as long as you don't use nasty cheap beer :P). If you don't like tart drinks, you can substitute mixers of any flavor for the pomegranate, but back off on the brown sugar some then so it's not sickeningly sweet. :p
Too many rare ingrediants for you guys? Feh, you people have no culture. :p
...
Okay, okay, there's a drink called the Hairless Armenian that you can make using equal parts peppermint schnapps, apple schnapps, Jack Daniels, and vodka. It's pretty good, but not actually Armanian. :p
So. Tell me what you think if you decide to try any of these! I'd love to hear if anyone experiments with the recipies and puts a new spin on any of them too. Or does any one else have any family recipies for drinks? They're so much fun to mess around with. :p