My bartending style tends to run less towards the carefully measured, tried-and-true recipes and more towards the “What’s in my fridge right now?” trial-and-error method. I rarely use actual measures, because what is “good” depends on how many people are drinking, how liquored up they want to be, and how well they hold all that liquor.

That being said, I have a few favorite drinks that do really well in cold weather.

Peppermint Hot Chocolate:

This ain’t your grandma’s hot cocoa. (Or maybe it is…) I like to add a few drops (or shots) of Peppermint Schnapps to hot chocolate for an immediate warm-up. Make the cocoa with milk if you like it creamier.

Cinnamon Vanilla Cream:

One day my love of Starbucks and alcohol collided, and this drink was born. I just poured some Cinnamon Schnapps into my Vanilla Crème, and – voilà – an innocuous looking brew. Yes, I did keep it all in the Starbucks container. You can make your own Vanilla crème by warming up milk, adding a drop or two of vanilla extract, sugar to taste, and topping it off with whipped cream.

Hot (Spiked) Apple Cider:

First, you need to find some alcoholic apple cider. It’s probably somewhere between the beer and wine sections. Two bottles is a good amount to start with. On the stove, get it simmering with two cinnamon sticks, a tablespoon of cloves, a little bit of sugar and some nutmeg. What really makes it piping hot though, is the addition of either rum or apple brandy. Be generous, ladies – the apple cider has lost most of its alcoholic content in the heating process. Read More »

Week after week (after week after week…), CollegeCandy and our pal John bring you some of the weirdest, funniest, and saddest things he hears on his college campus. And we know he’s not the only one who hears this stuff. Join the Overheard revolution! Listen in on some weirdos’ conversations and share them in the comments or send ‘em over to us to put in next week’s post.

(Two guys at a giant party.)

Guy 1: What? The cops are coming now?

Guy 2: Yo, don’t touch my ass, bro.

Guy 1: I’ll touch your ass. I’ll touch your ass as much as I want.

(Girl, guy, looking at beer in the package store.)

Girl: What’s Winter Lager?

Guy: Oh, it’s Dan’s. He’s in a relationship with it. Read More »

I like to think that alcohol in and of itself is good for all mankind.  It makes people happier, friendlier, and much more likely to dance like a fool if given the opportunity.  Unfortunately, your favorite spirits are probably not the most eco-friendly drinks on the block (or bar).  Instead of forgoing your Saturday nights, just swap your faves for these green alternatives and feel free to party on!

Veev:  An excellent substitute for vodka, Veev is actually manufactured from acai berries which are packed with antioxidants and anthocyanins.  What makes this drink even better, however, is the company’s commitment to the environment.  Veev donates $1 towards the Brazilian rainforest for every bottle sold, preserving their sustainable acai supply.  Veev is also the first carbon-neutral liquor company, powering all of their distillers through renewable energy.  Pass up the Smirnoff  and throw one of these back with friends (but don’t forget to toast to the Brazilian rainforest first!).

OneHope Sauvignon Blanc: I bought this baby on a whim at BevMo (5 cent sale, anyone?) and felt an instant karma boost.  With every bottle sold, OneHope donates 50% of the profits to the American Forest, a charity aimed at protecting, restoring, and enhancing our native trees and forests.  If you’re not a sauvignon blanc fan, there are several other wines to choose from, each with their own cause.  Drink chardonnay for breast cancer, merlot for AIDS, or zinfandel for our troops overseas.  Whichever you choose, you can bet you’ll feel a little buzz of goodness with every glass. Read More »

Only douchebags drink Ed Hardy Vodka

Here’s an analogy for you, try to channel those SAT study sheets. (Ew I know, worst memory ever.)

Intellectual is to Bookstore as College Student is to __________.

Yes, the answer is liquor store. On my weekly (OK, daily) visits I peruse the shelves searching for a hidden gem. A creamy liquor stuck in the back, a girly vodka that will be the life of Friday’s pre-gaming party session. I constantly find myself lost in the aisles emerging an hour later with nothing to show for it but a bottle of Smirnoff, because, let’s be real, a girl can dream but I’m on a college budget here.

But just like memoirs by celebs who have done absolutely nothing worth writing about (Paris Hilton anyone?) crowding Borders’ shelves, I find myself annoyed by the obnoxiously overpriced bottles of celebrity alcohols that have made their way into my serves-the-under-21-crowd corner store. As if infiltrating every other aspect of my life wasn’t enough.

Can’t a girl relax in a liquor store without having to fight her way through tacky advertising gimmicks and heart stopping price tags?

Apparently not. I think a couple of them are so obnoxious and unnecessary that they are worth a mention. And a cease and desist. And the winners are…

Dan Aykryod: Crystal Head Vodka

Oh goody, vodka in a crystal skeleton head!? I will definitely pay $50 for that. Not! I think I can get the same affect by stopping by the Halloween store pick up a couple plastic skeletons and dumping my $10 Svedka in it, thankyouverymuch. Read More »

"Whew! Thank God I took those 5 shots last night."

In the words of Betsy from ABC Family’s Greek, “I don’t go to the gym five days a week for my health!” Could it be the drinking, Betsy?

According to a recently published study in the September/October issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion, those who are more likely to drink are also more likely to drag themselves to the gym (hungover or otherwise). Lead author Michael French, Ph. D says that “Alcohol users not only exercised more than abstainers, but the differential actually increased with more drinking.”

I knew drinking was good for my health! Take that, mom!

And it only gets better. The study showed that the more that women drank, the more time they spent exercising each week, on average. Light drinkers apparently exercised for 5.7 more minutes per week, moderate drinkers 10.1 minutes, and heavy drinkers (college students?) 19.9 minutes more per week. Yup, the study showed that women who drink were 10.1% more likely to engage in vigorous exercise (both in and out of the bedroom. Heyoooo). Read More »

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. We love a strong woman, so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like losing our summers!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

Let’s be honest – no one (at least no one who wants hot, dirty sex) waits until they’re 21 to try an alcoholic beverage. Alcohol is so ubiquitous at high school and college parties that the red plastic cup is practically the official symbol of underage consumption. And yet, even in the face of this almost universal fact, the legal drinking age in America continues to be 21 (as if we didn’t have enough problems getting our hooch!).

Now that the Amethyst Initiative - a group of over 135 US college and university presidents who want the drinking age lowered - is making the rounds, the debate has gotten even hotter – and since we’re the ones it really effects, it seems like it’s time we weighed in! Read More »

Mmmm beer cake.

I love drinking alcohol, but weekend after weekend of beer pong and vodka shots can get old. So I got to thinking…how can I spice up my weekly binge drinking sesh?

I hit the web in search of some “unique,” “fun” alcohol ideas, and out of these keywords came the most glorious idea I have ever heard.

Cake-tails.

It seemed so simple. Why had I never thought of this before? Why drink my calories when I can kill two birds with one stone? Gobble down baked goods from the snack table while still getting my drink on?

Within minutes I had an entire list of cocktail inspired recipes and alcohol based desserts that I knew my friends would be all over. (No seriously, if they tackled my kitchen table I wouldn’t be surprised).

So here are some of my favorites. Try them out for your next girls’ night or bring it to the house party on Saturday. (If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, make 20 mini bunt cakes for a delicious Beer Pong game.) You will most definitely be everyone’s favorite guest. Let’s be real, who is going to say no to alcohol-and-dessert-in-one? That’s right, absolutely no one.

Plus, our favorite girly cocktails can continue to live on despite the fact that the cutest thing we can drink in a beer-soaked-frat-house is a jello shot – and even that’s a luxury.

Read More »

Do you know what today is? No, it’s not just the CollegeCandy.com editor’s half birthday – it’s the International Day of Peace! A day where people around the globe come together to reflect on the world peace we (and all those Miss America contestants) yearn for.

In honor of this beautiful day, I started thinking about my own personal wars I’ve been fighting. I’ve held onto a lot of grudges in the past year and I think today is the perfect day to wave the white flag and let them all go. Because there is nothing more freeing than peace.

I’m ready to call a cease-fire and here are a few of my former enemies I’ll be burying the hatchet with today:

The R.A. that stole my fifth of gin. I know I probably shouldn’t have been walking around with it in public. But it was so tiny and bite-sized and it packed such a big punch that I couldn’t bare to part with it. That is until you snatched it from me. I might have gotten a $50 fine, but at least I escaped alcohol poisoning that night. Peace and thank you. Read More »

Mmmm. Irish Coffee should fix this right up!

It’s no secret that much of the college social life revolves around drinking. We drink to celebrate, mourn, express loyalty to our football teams, to ease boredom, hell,  some people drink to make homework a little more interesting (no, no one else does that?).  Well, all that super fun drinking  sometimes results in not-so-fun consequences: mysterious bruises, ruined shoes, hours’ worth of un-tagging on Facebook, that dude lying next to you, and the raging, horrific hangover trying to escape your brain by splitting it open.

What’s a girl to do? Your mind jumps to Gatorade (don’t have any), Egg McMuffins (dammit, it’s past 10:30!) and water (your Brita pitcher is full of hunch punch) before remembering that bottle of Bloody Mary mix in the back of the fridge. Should you suck it up, stir in some vodka and take a hair of the dog that bit you?

Nope. Read More »

Ever have one of those nights where you just really wanted to get drunk (we’re not judging!) but no matter what you throw down the hatch it just won’t happen? You try everything: shots, bongs, mixing your beverages. But even after all that work, you’re still far, far away from making poor decisions.

Yeah, it’s pretty sucky, I know. But no matter how desperate you get, you wouldn’t do something as sick, disturbing and really grosstastic as this, would you?

Who thinks of this sorta stuff?! Sure, I’d like to get drunk without all those pesky calories, but sticking a beer bong up your booty is a bit much, no? Plus, one of the best parts of drinking is the social aspect;  I can’t imagine my friends would want to join me in the bathroom as I shove a (super sized) vodka-soaked tampon in my cooch.

I am incredibly disturbed that people actually think this is a good idea, but even more disturbed by the fact that my mouth has touched many, many beer bongs in my time. Lord only knows where those things have been before.

I need a cocktail.
In my mouth.
Not my lady parts, thankyouverymuch.