Served Straight up | ||
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Preparation Blend all the ingredients together in a blender, including the ice, and then strain into a hurricane glass. Place cherry on top of the drink as a garnish and serve. Whipped cream can also be added as a garnish to the top of the drink before the cherry. Standard garnish Nutmeg, Whipped cream, Maraschino Cherry | ||
The Bushwacker is a cocktail invented in 1975 at a bar called The Ship's Store/Sapphire Pub in Sapphire Village, Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was later enhanced and gained much notoriety at the Sandshaker Lounge in Pensacola Beach, Florida. Reference to the Virgin Island origins of the drink can be found on the Sandshaker's website. It is similar to a creamy, chocolate piña colada. The original recipe called for Vodka, Kahlua, Dark Crème de Cacao, Coco Lopez (cream of coconut), a splash of Triple sec and milk that's spun in a blender with ice and topped with a grating of fresh nutmeg. However the recipe now has as many variations as there are gin joints or bartenders. The quantity of vodka or rum, which lends the drink most of its alcohol, can be varied making the drink anywhere between 40% and 75% alcohol or it can be completely left out for a low-alcohol beverage. Fruit can also be added to the cocktail as another seasonal variation to an otherwise basic drink.
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History
The Bushwacker was invented at the Ship's Store/Sapphire Pub in Sapphire Village, St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands in the spring of 1975 by bartender Angie Conigliaro (cousin to Tony of the Boston Red Sox) and Tom Brokamp the restaurant's manager. It was promptly named after a visiting guest's dog, Bushwack, an Afghan Hound. The dog's owners were flight attendants and rarely traveled without their 4-legged companion. The invention was soon brought back stateside by Linda Murphy, the owner of the Sandshaker Beach Bar on busy Pensacola Beach, FL, where she experimented with the recipe creating her own version and doing much to popularize it there.
Since 1986 there has been an annual Bushwacker Festival held at Quietwater Beach on Pensacola Beach, FL to celebrate the drink and its celebrity status.
In politics
U.S. President Barack Obama was photographed by the Associated Press drinking a bushwacker at an Orange Beach, Alabama restaurant on July 15, 2010 while touring the areas affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
