Emily and Matt

One cool amenity of having your wedding at the Palm Event Center is the ability to have signature drinks at the bar.  So, four days before our wedding we decided it might be a good idea to come up with some drinks.  The downfall was that we’re not big drinkers, so we had to be very creative with what we were going to use.  When we do go out Emily always orders the same thing, which is a pomegranate martini.  Unfortunately the Palm does not carry pomegranate juice and was unable to meet the request.  Emily doesn’t really have any other favorites, so we were out of luck in that department.

That left the onus on me to provide a signature drink.  One drink I like to order is a Red Bull and Vodka.  Once again though, the Palm did not have Red Bull.  I don’t really like the taste of it, just the energy it provides, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.  The only other drink we order often is non-alcoholic.  It is called a “Kurt Uhler.”  We learned of it two years ago and have been ordering it ever since.  A friend of ours, Kurt Uhler, wanted a drink named after him, so he created it.  It consists of Diet Coke and Lemonade.  It is very similar to an Arnold Palmer, which is Iced Tea and Lemonade.

Kurt Uhler plays ultimate frisbee with us and has passed on the drink to the team.  Now every time the team goes out to dinner after practice we order it.   We try to find places with different types of lemonade (ie. strawberry, kiwi, etc.) to expand our ever discriminating palettes.  My favorite mix is with raspberry lemonade (available at Chevy’s.)  If you go to a chain restaurant in Pleasanton or Livermore and ask for a Kurt Uhler there’s a good chance the waiter/waitress will know what you’re talking about.

In fact, I encourage you to try the drink some time.  I don’t even like Diet Coke, but the lemonade neutralizes the bitterness in the Diet Coke to make the perfect combination.  As you can see in the picture above I did a simple taste test to see what the best mixture would be of the two liquids.  I tried it with 40%, 50% and 60% lemonade.  The best was the most simple solution 50-50.  Then I added some lemon flavored vodka.  I couldn’t taste it, so I added some more.  I still couldn’t taste it.  Wondering if my palette was shot, I had Warren try it.  He couldn’t taste the alcohol either.  I had it, I had created the perfect signature drink.  Hopefully you got to try one at the wedding.  If not, remind me next time we’re out and we’ll order some.