CONCOCTING LOVE

Creating a specialty cocktail was an intense, drawn-out process, especially with taste testing. Why waste good booze? It didn’t ask to be a part of this experiment. We looked at recipes and bartender guides, trying to find the color, taste, and intoxicating nature of our love. And having just one specialty cocktail meant unifying our individual rates and flavors of intoxication. Agreeing on the liquor of love, without considering the mixers, was tricky.

Always easy to begin with: “This is not a Wild Turkey wedding.”

But having one chance, one option, to passionately inebriate the masses was not an easy thing to accomplish, especially since you can change your mind right up until the wedding itself.

Had we stayed true to our roots, we would have served Miller Lite from a questionably clean pitcher in plastic cups. This was the beverage of choice at Suburban Lanes, where our spark was first brought to life. We would have certainly cleaned our pitchers, but at Suburban Lanes, I feel they may treat serving-ware the same way they treat their shoes. It comes in, gets a quick spray, and is shelved and ready for next time.

Strong or weak, fruity, milky or nutty, sweet or sour, should it burn at all? Truthfully, choosing four was the easy way out, Corey, my former high school friend and wedding idea stealer. There was no easy way to combine a Newcastle, a dirty martini, a Cosmo, and a Malibu Rum and pineapple. Actually, the combining was easy. It was the drinking that left something to be desired.

After my ingredients were thrown out, the process became much easier. Malibu Rum, pineapple, and cranberry were combined, in roughly equal parts, to create an alcoholic, fruity, but not-too-sweet concoction. It was strong enough to get the party going and pleasant enough that people could take in a little bit of love without losing their way. It was dubbed the Christa and Drew Eternitini. Type it up, print it, frame it, and check it off.

Celebratory toast: May your cup always runneth over, figuratively speaking, as an Eternitini in the mouth is worth several on the floor.
- Drew Lloyd
From "Will You?" to "I Do.": A Groom's Tale of Survival