Are They Shoulding On You? Sip Our Delicious Cocktail!

Everyone has an opinion about you and your life and they're determined to share it. Ignore them and sip our lovely libation instead! Have some chocolate while you're at it. ;)

It's Mud Season! Time For a Drink!

Today we're celebrating the season most people would like to avoid, Mud Season! We have a classic cocktail and dirty-but-delicious ice cream confection to help you through the mud!

Don't Eat Detergent! Try Our Recipes Instead!

Whether you've been following the news or remain blissfully unaware, young people have been eating Tide laundry detergent pods as a dare. Misguided adults trying to be cool can't be far behind. Don't eat detergent! Try our detergent-inspired recipes instead! Fresh!

Live from New York, it’s Thursday Night!

Here's last night's live broadcast! The video goes inexplicably wonky in the last few minutes. Just pretend you've had a few cocktails and go with it!

Happy Hour Cocktail: Fire Eating Mermaid

We're very excited to share the cocktail we created for our favorite mermaid, MeduSirena, the Fire Eating Mermaid! Be sure to catch her shows at the Wreck Bar the next time you're in Fort Lauderdale!

Halloween Shopping at Cats Like Us!

Join us for Halloween shopping at the fabulous Cats Like Us store in Tonawanda New York, cocktails included! And be sure to visit their site for everything you need to create a stylish Halloween!

Live Video: Cocktails with New York Spirits!

We're home from our road trip and mixing drinks with the bottles we bought today at Prohibition Distillery and Brewery Ommegang! I was ready for a couple of drinks after the GOAT we saw, roaming the road today. We didn't hit it, but I hope its luck holds out!

Rosemary's Baby Recipes

Halloween means horror films and today we have recipes inspired by one of our favorites, "Rosemary's Baby!" We have a Mousse au Chocolat from 1961's New York Times Cook Book, which you know New Yorker Minnie had in her collection, and what has become the definitive recipe for the Vodka Blush, created by our friend and cocktail expert, Peggy Nadramia. Shake up some cocktails, settle in and prepare to be unsettled!

Wondermint Schnapps - Tasting and Cocktail Recipes!

Here's Saturday night's live broadcast, in which we taste and mix cocktails with Wondermint schnapps, from Death's Door Spirits! We came up with several new recipes for Christmas cocktails (you may think it's too early, but it will be here before you know it), so tune in and get ahead of your holiday schedule!

Road Trip & Cocktail Recipe: Black Dirt Distillery

For today's happy hour we have a real treat: a visit to the Black Dirt Distillery in Pine Island, New York! The make fabulous bourbon and applejack, along with fruit cordials, cider, gin and more! We have highlights from our visit, along with a Manhattan variation using their bourbon and sour cherry cordial. What are you waiting for? Watch the episode and start mixing!

Blue Cotton Candy Cocktail Recipe

Today's happy hour cocktail is a little blue something I call "Stumbling Home from the State Fair." It's a three-way collaboration with the fabulous Xingcat and Laurice's Kitchen YouTube channels and we had so much fun playing with them! Be sure to catch their videos after ours and grab yourself a bottle of blue cotton candy syrup, if you dare... (cue ominous music)

MORE FUN at Cocktail Time

We recently received a gift of amazing cocktail guides from our fabulous friend Mod Betty, of Retro Roadmap fame (fans of all things vintage and retro, her site is a must visit!). Included in this amazing haul was a little pamphlet from 1935 entitled MORE FUN at Cocktail Time and published by the Seagrams Distillers Corporation. The "more fun" involves "rollicking games and tricks" to make drinking, well, more fun! Here are some cocktails and recipes that will get the hilarity started, along with a Party Log to keep track of the shenanigans. I just love these 1930s graphics. Doesn't the gal on the cover look like Bette Davis?

The weighing of guests is optional and not necessarily recommended!

Enjoy!

The Case of the Missing Merlot - A Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en Mystery

Cousin Glendora is back in today's episode, "The Case of the Missing Merlot!" Perhaps if she bought it by the case she wouldn't lose it. Join us for gin cocktails, bourbon cheese balls, a cast of shady characters and hard-hitting intrigue. Will Glendora and her wine be reunited? Tune in and find out!

Immature Brandy: What An Opener

On this evening's live broadcast we sampled and mixed cocktails with "immature brandy," something we'd never heard of before. I'm pleased to say we enjoyed it, along with all the drinks we tried. Join us as we fall down the rabbit hole of immature brandy!

Allow Rum to Help You Ease Into Fall

We can't help noticing that the days are getting shorter, the leaves are changing and that fall has arrived. Don't let the growing lack of sunlight bring you down! Our lovely libation is just what the doctor ordered to help cope with the creeping darkness!

Cocktail Recipes & Records!

Did you miss tonight's live broadcast from the Kitsch-en? No worries, it lives here forever! We won't be making any money on this one, since someone claimed copyright infringement on one of the songs that was played. Sigh. I'm glad that, in general, we have our OWN music that we use. written for us. It's a little annoying that, if we tried to fight it (I don't think these people are copyright holders, either), the burden would entirely be on us. We need to sell glassware and bitters in our online store to keep on top of things like legal fees!  Here's that link, just in case you were so inclined... Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en Store



Have a fabulous week and stay out of troubl

By Request: Storm Cocktails

I have put off collecting storm cocktails for a post here, since the last thing I want is to seem like I'm making light of the terrifying storms that have been and are happening. There is nothing amusing about folks losing their homes, businesses and worse. However, I've had a couple of requests for storm cocktails from people who are actually IN the storm zones and you know I'd never deny anyone a lovely libation! So, with no further ado, here are some vintage drinks in the stormy spirit! In the above video you'll find the Dark & Stormy. Please be safe, everyone!

Not the Hurricane we all know and love, but who cares at a time like this?

Wild in the Streets! A Bubbly Cocktail for the Weekend

Today we're kicking off the three-day weekend with a happy hour cocktail featuring cachaça and Barrow's Intense Ginger Liqueur! In fact, I could go for one right now! Have a fabulous holiday weekend!

Vintage Cocktails For When You're Not Having It

Is it just me, or have you noticed lately that everyone seems to have an opinion about you, your life and the things you do and that, furthermore, they're determined to share those opinions with you, regardless of how uninterested you may be in hearing said opinions? If this sounds familiar to you, here are some on-theme vintage cocktails to help dull the pain of unwelcome input. If you aren't suffering fools these days, lucky you. Go ahead and celebrate your success in avoiding the annoying with one of these lovely libations, brought to you by one of my favorite bar guides, Bar Guide: Published by TRUE, The Men's Magazine (1950), which is both "authentic and hilarious" if they do say so themselves. I think we could all use a laugh!

You'll find that, after a couple of these medicinal brews, the screeching, opinionated, negative voices gently melt into the background along with the ambient noise of everyday life. Isn't that better?

Wet & Wild on National Lipstick Day

It's National Lipstick Day and I think that calls for a drink! Here's one I created especially for the occasion, Wet & Wild!

Wet & Wild

2 oz light rum

3/4 oz Giffard Creme de Framboise (you can substitute another raspberry liqueur if this isn't available)

1 1/4 oz cold press watermelon juice

1/2 oz fresh lime juice

3 dashes of cherry bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass rimmed with pink sugar or disco dust.

Happy National Lipstick Day!