Greek Party: Bulk Cocktail?

Ok, LTHers, I need some help.

I'm having a party for 30+ folks, totally casual, and I'll be serving lots of Greek mezedakia. I'll be offering a bit of Ouzo and Metaxa. Guests have been asked to bring beer/wine if they want it. But I'd like to offer a bulk cocktail of some sort. Most of my friends don't drink Ouzo (or have never had it but dislike Sambuca) and most likely haven't had Metaxa, so I think something vodka based will need to be the default.

I keep thinking something lemony might be the best plan of action, but I wanted to see if folks had any ideas for something tasty I could mix in bulk and keep cool. I suspect we'll be using a drink fountain (slightly tacky, but effective) to serve.

Any ideas? Many thanks in advance for your help.

For bulk you could go with bottles of lemonade and vodka, easy and hard to f up. Add some cut up limes and lemons to jazz it up a bit.

When I was in Greece far and away the favorite summer drink was sangria. Every Taverna I went to had it's own version and it was selling like gangbusters.

One of my favorite cocktails is the Sidecar.

The basic recipe is 3 parts cognac (though any brandy will taste good); 2 parts triple sec (I usually use Cointreau); and 1 part fresh squeezed lemon juice. So, a standard-sized cocktail would be 1.5 oz cognac, 1 oz triple sec, and 0.5 oz lemon juice. Shake in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Some like to sugarcoat the rim of the glass and/or serve with a lemon twist.

Gary Regan, in his "Joy of Mixology," gives the following recipe for a bottled Sidecar Deluxe:

12 oz cognac
3 oz Grand Marnier
3 oz fresh lemon juice
6 oz bottled water
lemon twists

Mix together and chill for at least 6 hours. Makes 24 oz (i.e. 8 3-oz drinks).

We made this at a party recently and it turned out great. We follow Regan's recommendation to make the drinks in an empty wine bottle, fitted with a pouring spout. During the party, we keep the bottles on ice.

Here is another version: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 8SQ98I.DTL

Perhaps an Octopini? Maybe not suited to "bulk" mixing, but I don't think it's been posted on LTH yet so...

While it doesn't have anything to do with Greece, it struck me that a Lemon Basil- based drink might have an appropriate flavor profile to go with Greek Food. These Lemon-Basil Vodka Gimlets don't use actual lemon basil (I saw lemon basil plants at the Evanston Farmer's Market a couple weeks ago) but would probably work out either way. A while back, when I had an excessive crop of the stuff, I'd considered lemon basil mojitos, but never got around to trying it out.

On my very first trip back to my village in northern Greece when I was 16, the popular drink of choice, outside of ouzo and beer, was retsina and Pepsi . I don't know what we were thinking. The memory still haunts me. But I do like the idea of a white sangria maybe made with a Greek wine

So many good suggestions (especially the gimlet) to try. Thanks! The hardest part is going to be avoiding trying them all in one evening. But with an Octopini in hand, at least I wouldn't be drinking on an empty stomach...

Retsina and pepsi? *shudder* Maybe that's the Hellenic version of Boones Farm?

It's looking more and more like Greek Sangria will be the one to go with. I was eyeing the boxed wines yesterday at Binny's and the prices weren't awful.

One of my favorite beverages is a mixture of Greek sour-cherry syrup and seltzer first introduced to me as "Vissinada Refreshment" at Artopolis (where you can buy the syrup, but it's also available at Greek groceries and some other ethnic-inspired food shops). You dissolve about 2 tablespoons of syrup in in some of the sparkling water, add ice and then fill it up with more seltzer. It's non-alcoholic, but it could easily be turned into a boozy drink with vodka or whiskey.

I also found the Pandesia and the Karasi.

Oh noes. More delicious suggestions *hiccup* Thanks!

In case someone else is looking for a Greek-food-friendly cocktail, an even more appropriate, though extremely similar, cocktail is available at the site I linked to earlier: Vodka with Lemon and Rosemary I suppose you could take this the next step and do one with oregano...

The post-doc on the party. I ended up borrowing a friends Rival drink fountain and made bulk sangria. The recipe is full of approximates, but it worked like a charm and everyone loved it. Sadly I don't have any photographs! The recipe makes about 3 gallons.

5L box Chablis
2 x 3L box White Zin
4 cups sugar
1 bottle Metaxa
4 large oranges
2 large apples (I used Fuji's)
6 limes
4 lemons

The day before:

1) Slice the fruit into whatever shapes you like.

2) Macerate the fruit with half the sugar and half the Metaxa in a bowl. You may need to add a bit of either kind of wine to get everything covered. Yes, the apples will float but they won't brown tho because of the citrus fruits.

3) Dissolve the rest of the sugar in as much Zin as it takes. I used a normal sized plastic pitcher barely half full. This was all done the night before and everything was in the 'fridge to get it nice and cool.

The day-of:

4) Drain the fruit, adding the liquid to the pitcher of sugar/Zin. Cover with a bit more Metaxa.

5) Loaded the fountain with 1/2 box of Chablis, 1 box of Zin, and 1/2 the pitcher of sugar/Zin and served the fruit on the side for everyone to help themselves as they liked. Also, had lots of ice handy.

6) Topped up the fountain as necessary with Chablis/remaining Zin/pitcher of sugar/Zin. Splashes of Metaxa were added too.

You can spike it with more or less Metaxa if you prefer, or skip the Metaxa and go for a cheaper brandy. Everyone seemed to like how boozy the fruit was. Of course, we could be a bunch of happy drunks. Even the non-wine drinkers were into it.

Glad it went over well! Was there Greek food?

You bet. Pans of homemad spanakopita, tiropita, moussaka, pastitsio, a vat of tzatziki (with mint, not dill in my house), souvlakia, tsouzoukakia, feta kopanisto, hummus, and lemon potatoes. I had store bought dolma, taramasalata (doctored with extra garlic and oil), and pita, and for dessert I made revani and loukoumathes. My sister brought some loukoumi.

It was a Greek feast. And now I'm hungry after typing all that!

Peter, anytime you want to come to my house and cook that, I'm certain I can find a family who'll eat it...