Hosting a Jazz Dinner for your school or band fundraiser is a lot like parties during prohibition. You’ve got the music, the food, and the dancing ... but principals frown upon bathtub gin. However, you can create the feel of the Roarin’ 20s for your Jazz Dinner while still being a sober event. Here are some ideas:
The Lime Rickey for Your Dinner Theater
During prohibition, the Gin Rickey was a widespread drink of choice. In fact, the gin rickey starred in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Daisy and Gatsby take “long, greedy swallows” of this lime-powered drink. Though it was initially made with bourbon or whiskey, Prohibition changed the drink to gin, which was a more accessible alcohol.
But you can enjoy Gin Rickey’s cousin, the Lime Rickey, just as well. This way, you avoid a police raid! Here’s how you make it:
The Lime Rickey
Servings: 4 servings Ingredients:
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
4 ounces simple syrup
12 ounces seltzer water
Lime wedges, for garnish
Mix the lime juice and simple syrup together in a pitcher. Next, fill four glasses with ice and then pour about 3 ounces of the juice/syrup mixture into each. Then, fill the rest of the glasses with about 3 ounces of seltzer water. Stir the drink and garnish with a lime.
The New Fashioned Paired with Jazz Music
In the mid-1800s, a whiskey cocktail was standard at alcoholic establishments. A mix of whiskey, sugar, bitters, and water, the whiskey cocktail wasn’t very complicated. But, starting in the early 1920s, bartenders became inventive with their whiskey cocktails and added flavor embellishments.
Some customers were grumpy about these new fancy cocktails, so they requested the “old-fashioned” whiskey cocktails. And thus, the Old Fashioned was born.
At your Jazz Dinner, you can still experience all the excitement of the water and sugar of the Old Fashioned without the tipsiness. Check out our recipe for the New Fashioned:
The New Fashioned
Servings: 4 servings Ingredients:
2 cups hot water
1 black tea bag of choice
4 sugar cubes or 4 tsp. simple syrup
4 orange slices
8 dashes bitters or Old Fashioned syrup mix
Ice cubes
4 maraschino cherries
You must brew black tea beforehand by steeping the tea bag in hot water for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bag and chill the tea. Then, put a sugar cube or 1 tsp. of simple syrup into each of the four glasses. Add two dashes of bitters or old-fashioned syrup substitute to each glass. Mix them together, and then fill each glass with ice. Pour the tea into each glass and give each drink a good stir. Garnish with a cherry!
Shock Your Jazz Dinner with The Bike Wagon
Exactly who first created the sidecar cocktail is unclear, but it’s not surprising that The Ritz Hotel in Paris claims that they did since the French try to claim everything good. The sidecar cocktail popped up at the end of WWI and was named after the motorcycle attachment. Made with cognac, orange liquor, lemon juice, and a sugar-dipped rim, this brandy sour took bars by storm. But, we’re taking the cognac out of it; thus, we present you, for your enjoyment, The Bike Wagon:
The Bike Wagon
Servings: 1 serving Ingredients:
1 ounce orange juice
2 ounces white grape juice
1½ Tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp vanilla extract
Orange Slice and lemon twist for a garnish
For this mocktail, fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Then, add all the ingredients to the shaker, close it, and shake well. Next, strain the drink into a glass and garnish it with fresh orange or lemon.
Dazzle Your Guests with Your Dry Jazz Bar
You don’t need alcohol to dream up an entertaining Jazz Dinner. Having the right actors and a simple, entertaining script does most of that. Having one or two bartenders making mocktails with insane names adds to the delight of the evening. Plus, if the bartender is part of the cast, all tips can contribute to your fundraiser! So have fun, but please, please don’t serve any drinks in bathtubs.
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