It's that time again, folks! And by "that time" I mean "the period of pleasant intoxication following another drink recipe"!

On the menu tonight:

The French Martini

The French Martini is in the odd position of neither being a martini, nor particularly French. Created by the Chambord liqueur company for a worldwide marketing campaign, it has become a fairly popular drink, though not on the same level as a Cosmopolitan or even - gasp - a Martini.

(I, personally, think it makes for a great bar drink, because it's fruity and doesn't much taste of alcohol. Well, 'bar drink' in the sense of 'buying a round of, for the ladies over at that table over there'. But I digress.)

The ingredients of this drink are as follows:
1 1/2 oz. vodka (for added Frenchness, use Grey Goose; the original recipe from the Chambord website uses Finlandia)
1/2 oz. Chambord raspberry liqueur
1 oz. pineapple juice
twist of lemon (optional)

Shake vigorously with ice until the pineapple juice froths. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist the lemon over the glass, then drop into the drink. Some 'boutique' bartenders will sugar the rim as well, but that takes effort. And besides, that sugar could be put to better use making simple syrup.

As noted earlier, this drink is a rather fruity one - the raspberry and pineapple flavours nicely cover the alcohol content of the drink. Of course, you need to be a bit careful with how many of these you have for the same reason.