Drink 1: Frog Hitler

The Name: Frog Hitler

The Bar: The Rye House (11 W. 17^th St, NYC)

The Story Behind The Name: I was eating Vietnamese food with my two friends, Laura and Ryan. As an appetizer, we ordered some frogs legs in a chili lemongrass sauce. They were delicious, but Ryan and I noticed that Laura was not eating any. We asked her why this was, and she explained that she had worked with toads this past summer and felt that she couldn’t eat a frog leg given her experience working with amphibians. It’s a completely reasonable explanation—but because Ryan and I are such good friends, we decided to convince her that she should try them anyway. For some reason, we thought that the best way to accomplish this goal would be through merciless taunting. Eventually, we resorted to saying that these particular legs only belonged to mean frogs. Evil frogs. Frogs who were total dicks.

“This frog would push other frogs into the water and laugh at them.”

“This frog contributed to the Rick Santorum presidential campaign.”

“This frog likes to be passive aggressive and something will be wrong but when you ask the frog if something is wrong, they’ll say that nothing is wrong. But then you find out that they were talking about you behind your back!”

“This frog beats up other frogs. And toads. This frog actually beat up the very toads you worked with this summer.”

Eventually, there was only one place for this to go.

“This is Frog Hitler.”

We laughed at the notion of Frog Hitler—who we all imagined as a particularly grumpy frog with a little black mustache and slick black hair, angrily ribbiting as he takes over another lily pad. It was a silly joke—something that we should have laughed at and then moved on from. But, instead, we somehow continued to talk about Frog Hitler for most of the meal. By the time we had paid for dinner, it was as if Frog Hitler was a fourth dinner companion. For the record, Laura did not eat any frog legs. Ryan and I had to finish Frog Hitler off by ourselves.

Ordering The Drink: After dinner, we went to The Rye House—a fun bar near Union Square with a great drink selection. After we had finished our first round and it was time to order our next drink, I mentioned that I wished there was a drink called the Frog Hitler. We imagined how a bartender would react.

“I’d like a Frog Hitler.”

“A what?”

“A Frog Hitler.”

“Is that a drink?”

“No. But it is the drink I’d like to have.”

“Well, what’s in it?”

“I don’t know, whatever you think should be in it. You’re the bartender. Make me a Frog Hitler—whatever that would mean.”

As we discussed this imagined conversation, our server came over and asked what we would like to have. I must admit, I hesitated before ordering-- unsure whether or not this was a good idea. Luckily, Ryan looked at her with a straight face and, gesturing to me, said, “Well, he’d like a Frog Hitler.”

Our poor, confused server thought she was just having trouble hearing over the noise. After repeating the ridiculous pairing of words a few times, Ryan finally broke down laughing, unable to keep his straight face. I explained to our server that there was an inside joke between the three of us about “Frog Hitler,” and it would mean a lot if I could have a drink by that name. I said that I totally understood that this was a ridiculous request and we’d all understand if the bartender refused, but that he could put anything he wanted in the drink—as long as he thought it would qualify as a Frog Hitler.

Our server looked completely puzzled. Then, after a second, she smiled and said “He can put anything he wants in it?” We said yes, and she put in our order. She came back a few minutes later and excitedly told us that the bartender was going to whip something up.

A little bit later, she proudly set down my drink. The Frog Hitler.

The Frog Hitler, presented here with decorative candlelight illumination

The Drink:
Jalapeño infused tequila 
Kale 
Orange bitters 
Dry vermouth 
Indonesian rum

Assessment of Drink: The jalapeno-infused tequila is certainly the most prominent ingredient in this drink. It hits you pretty hard and burns right in the solar plexus. Because of its powerful kick, it’s not a drink you can consume quickly—it’s one that you have to sip. But, it’s delicious. If you can get over the heat, it has a nice flavor and was certainly a pleasant, if intense drink. Under a name that didn’t include an evil dictator, it could even appear on a menu somewhere.

Does It Live Up To The Name: Our wonderful server—who seemed to be really into this whole experiment, and who confessed to having tried a sip of the drink from the shaker after the bartender had poured it in the glass—emphasized how the drink was powerful and aggressive, and she is certainly correct. It is clear that the bartender focused more on the Hitler aspect of the drink name, as opposed to the frog. The drink is assertive and no nonsense—certainly an evil dictator in cocktail form. I never would have thought that a mixture of tequila and rum could still relate to a German figure, but it worked. Upon first tasting the drink—all three of us agreed that it certainly embodied its moniker. After more discussion, though, we felt the frog part was missing a little bit. The kale was added to give it a greenish tint but, especially in the dim lighting, it didn’t really look all that green to us. 

Not pictured: a green drink

We had all imagined a bright green color—perhaps a drink made with Midori. I also suggested that maybe pickle juice would have been a good ingredient, although not necessarily with the other things in this drink. But the pickle juice might have added some nice swampy brininess. We tried to say that since the jalapeno gave it a nice kick, that was supposed to symbolize the powerful legs of the frog, but that’s kind of reaching and I know that. All of this is nitpicking, though—in general, we were incredibly happy with the Frog Hitler. And I laughed almost every time I went to drink it because I couldn’t believe this had happened.

As we drank and enjoyed the Frog Hitler, Ryan, Laura, and I all decided that this was a great idea. Cocktails have such unusual names—we could certainly create some of our own. Somehow the idea of starting a blog came up—and now, here you are. I’m excited to see how other bars react to the unusual orders. I must say that The Rye House was a great bar to start with—both our server and the bartender fully embraced the Frog Hitler. By the end of the meal, our server even brought us complimentary shots for being such a fun group. Although this probably had just as much to do with the fact that our friend Kenny joined us and made balloon animals at the table.

Laura with Kenny's balloon art