Endangered and extinct alcohol species
Observations of a Middle-aged Dragon with a tattoo:
Endangered and extinct alcoholic species
If you are a child of the 70s, 80s and even the 90s some of the alcohol you used to drink is no longer available or very scarce or considered bad-form to order and far worse to drink.
Aspersions will be cast on your character, if you're seen in public quaffing these drinks: but hey, for some of us that's nothing new!
I thought I would take you back in time, perhaps some of you may relive those simpler times when we drove drunk, in overcrowded cars with no GPS or mobile phones and we are still alive to tell the tale.
However, I'm also most likely taking you back to those; not so good mornings and days of hang-overs - where, when you woke up, your mouth did indeed feel and taste like the bottom of a cocky's cage!
I’m not providing recipes as Google has everything you need to revisit the making of these drinks especially if you want to revisit younger times or rediscover old ones. Arhh Good times....
EXTINCT or so close they are ENDANGERED:
Cherry Brandy and Advocaat:
Two dogs:
Two Dogs was a ready-to-drink beverage that was first introduced in Australia in 1993 and went on to become available throughout the world. It was a lemon flavoured alcoholic beverage that is widely considered to have been the "world’s first brewed alcoholic lemonade"[1]
(despite the pre-existence of traditional drinks like Zima), paving the way for similar products such as Hooper's Hooch and Mike's Hard Lemonade. Source Wikipedia. There is only so much longevity in the drinking public's like of souped-up lemonade.
West Coast Cooler:
West Coast Cooler is the original ready-to-drink from the 80s that has stood the test of time (well almost). Enjoy the exotic fruit flavours that complemented each giving a balanced, crisp refreshing drink. Real morning-after cocky cage stuff.... soooo sweet.
Claytons:
The drink you had when you weren't having a drink. Such a successful ad campaign that the 'whole' Claytons personna took over social commentary and became a catch-cry for something ineffective or not the 'real' deal. Like he's a Claytons boyfriend... the boyfriend you have when you're not having a boyfriend.
Cold Duck:
Kaiser Stuhl is now reduced to a range of seven wine casks and one bottle product, Black Forest Moselle.
The period 1956 to 1975 were the the golden years of Kaiser Stuhl not only a wine story but an inspiring management story. Source Wikipedia.
Blue Nun: It's hard to keep a good woman down and she's back and more Golden!!
Blue Nun is a German wine brand launched by the company H. Sichel Söhne (Mainz) in 1923 with the 1921 vintage, and which between the 1950s and 1980s was a very popular international brand. For most of its existence, Blue Nun was a single German wine, which until the late 1990s was classified as a Liebfraumilch. 
Blue Nun can be said to have been the first wine to have been produced and effectively marketed with an international mass market in mind. Source Wikipedia
Goon and the Flagon: almost extinct, or gone the way of the Dodo…
Usually and preferably filled with cheap sweet nasty wine!! And then there's that clothes line game with the bladders of goon.
Making a comeback because of the “Wheel of Goon” or is that “Goon of Fortune”
Only in Australia..... because for starters you need a Hills Hoist!
Rules of Goon of Fortune: Spin the line. Wherever the bladder lands, the adjacent person must tip their head back and take a drink. Repeat this until the last person is left standing; they are the winner! You are disqualified if you leave or refuse to take a drink.
Let's get specific:
The 70's: Those now Retro drinks:
Dust off those bottles of Crème de cacao, Creme de menthe, and Giuliano:
Remember drinking a Grasshopper, it was like dessert and a drink in one. Most notable because it has both Crème de cacao and Creme de menthe in it. But it has made a pop culture return in the popular ‘Big Bang Theory’ when one of the main characters (Raj)
was found to only be able to speak to women if he was drinking Alcohol.
Low and behold The Grasshopper was the drink that unlocked his tied tongue!
Brandy Alexander and other
heavy dessert-like drinks like a White Russian
The 80s: more than big hair and bigger shoulder pads...
Cinzano: Bianco, Vermouth and much, much more
Cinzano vermouths date back to 1757 and the Turin herbal shop of two brothers, Giovanni Giacomo and Carlo Stefano Cinzano, who created a new "vermouth rosso" (red vermouth) using "aromatic plants from the Italian Alps in a [still-secret] recipe combining 35 ingredients (including marjoram, thyme, and yarrow)". What became known as the "vermouth of Turin" proved popular with the bourgeoisie of Turin and, later, Casanova. Source Wikipedia.
Experience what were thought to be such witty and funny ads.... Oh how they've aged, good thing Joan Collins has aged far better than the inane humour on show here. Oh the shame!! Watch the cringe unfold here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkjidE0WnAI
White Zinfandel:
It's actually pink and is said to be making a comeback!!
Whether adored or despised,
White Zinfandel is like Donald Trump: inescapable.
Blue Lagoon:
More than the cringe-worthy movie of the same name whose cringe-worthy-ness was lead by Brooke Shields…..
Sometimes drinks from the 80s JUST need to die... like Swan Gold:
Then Swan Premium came along, it was to compete with the top of the class, cream of the crop, best of the hops... Crown Lager.
The ads were slick and sophisticated. 'They said you'd never make it.' They hit right at the Aussie core. Unfortunately everyone in the ads (great achieving Australians: Greg Norman, Darryl Somers, Brad Hardie .. who?) seemed to fizzle as soon as they took a sip and appeared in the ads. Then eventually so did the beer... fizzled that is.
But then there was the America's Cup and that's worth looking at again as it was inspirational viewing.
Non-Alcoholic and or close extinct:
Tang: selling point Astronaut's used to drink it in space! 
Tab: The Ad with 'The Body' herself, alas even Elle Macpherson couldn't save it!
Classed as one of, if not the first, 'Diet' soda, alas.... gone the way of 'New Coke'... Dead.
Right!! Can you imagine any red-blooded Australian woman hugging her man after he's lusted after Elle Macpherson just because he's drinking a diet cola... MMMmm ads have certainly changed or is it we've got a little more sophisticated?
This is really only the tip of the iceberg! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the memories, maybe partake in some!
Dare you to…
The path to saying good-bye to Natasha and Sebastian – maybe…
The path to saying good-bye to Natasha and Sebastian – maybe…
I started with writing some short erotic love scenes which my husband found quite good. Then I began to flesh out more of a story. Before I knew it, I had more than one novel. At this point, Natasha was Ashleigh. It didn’t seem to work or fit the character that was developing. Seb was always Sebastian; brooding and darkly handsome. Still, waters run deep.
By the end of 2013, I had a loosely, poorly written; in the first person, Trilogy called ‘Sins and The Choices We Make’. I kept working away at it.
In mid-2014, I had my first editor look at the now called The Goldilocks Principle. Mostly to gauge if it was just a vanity exercise or if I had something. He said I did have something and suggested a few changes. I went to writing weekends and workshops. I rewrote and rewrote: aiming to write a rough, tough romantic suspense whose characters had flaws, but you wanted to overcome.
I found a proper editor in 2015 and sent in the first book now still written in the first person and only slightly better than it had been. Tom Flood of Flood Manuscripts told me to write in the third person and to stop over-writing. The third person thing was more natural, exciting and freed me to really develop the characters and the story. Making it more crime/suspense in the driver seat with erotic romance riding shotgun.
I’m a genre masher, and that’s a problem when it comes to finding a main-stream publisher, but it means the journey has a few more twists. Persistence is not only my middle name but my first, second and third.
SO, I wrote and rewrote again and again. By 2016 I had it in much better shape, so I had Tom edit again. Then I tried publishers…to no avail.
In 2017 I decided to self-publish and keep writing because I loved it and I was most happy when I was writing even though it wasn’t making me much money and that elusive publisher deal still looked miles away. By September 2017, I had an A. M. Jaxon website and my first book now titled, MADLY: Too Much Too Soon, was available on platforms Amazon, Google Play Books and Apple Books. I had a weekly blog and while Tom was editing book two. I polished book three. Then to keep fresh, I wrote some short stories. It was great to have a break from Seb and Nat. To write about a whole new set of characters with different personalities and adventures.
September 2018 Book Two, DEEPLY: Too Much Too Late was e-published. Meanwhile, the reviews for book one on Goodreads were on the whole positive.
In August 2019, I went to my first Romance Writers of Australia Conference. Everyone was so giving, considerate and supportive. I got a nibble from Penguin, and it saw me coming home to polish and polish and polish Book ONE. No publisher deal eventuated, but a great experience in submitting to someone I knew was going to read it; a foot in the door. My name is out there a bit more. I will persist. That’s what it’s all about.
Book three was scheduled to come out late 2019, but editing with Tom took longer than expected. While my work on book one MADLY to submit it to the publisher took my time away from TRULY. Then my Mum passed away. It was hard for me to find the time for work there for a little bit. I couldn’t seem to finish making the changes needed and needed time.
Now I can celebrate a little.... as book three has hit the platforms, including Kobo. For your reading pleasure TRULY: Too Much is Never Enough is HERE!!! Dare you to...
Reflections on 2019
Observations of a Middle-Aged Dragon with a Tattoo:
Observations and Reflections of 2019:
How many times did this happen?
And we so hoped…
At the end of the day when energy was defeated and Uber eats was
a whole lot of appealing we did use …
MIND: Alas the agony,
BODY: Oh ! The ageing
SOUL: Being able to laugh at ourselves:
The results of 2019 goal-setting:
Life was meant to be interesting and it is enriched by the more challenging the journey;
not the destination.
In the end when reflecting on the year; true friends are our riches and a REAL indication of our self-worth.
Go out and celebrate with the people who make you feel the most valuable. Dare you to….
Christmas time is here once more!
So this is Christmas…
Never fear I have a recipe to help you make it through. Read On…
There are a number of ways you can go.
You can do this:
OR you can do this:
Both have merit and there is no judgement either way. Because Christmas is individual, and I must admit I like the creativity of the latter.
Sometimes little Christmas treats like this happen,
While we all wait on the big guy to show up
We all need to remember this recipe.
I understand it also works well with champagne,
wine (both red and white), rum, vodka, gin, scotch and brandy
(any alcohol) although not mixed altogether. You
need to drink responsibly after all.
Enjoy Christmas, anyway that's the best for YOU! Dare you to…
