G’day mates,  Happy Australia Day!

Today we are celebrating with a dubious mocktail with a fabulous name – The Bobby Dazzler.

Australia Day celebrates the 1788 landing of the First Fleet into Port Jackson, New South Wales and the raising of the British flag on Australian soil.

The day is marked by celebrations both formal and informal across Australia, with many people enjoying the day off work with barbecues, at the beach and otherwise enjoying the lovely summer weather.

Over at chez Retro Food, we are celebrating with this:

If you had asked me as a six-year-old to design my perfect drink it would have been something very like the Bobby Dazzler.  “I want coca cola with something pink in it and whipped cream and a strawberry and sprinkles….”  Seriously, if the Bobby Dazzler came with some glitter and a unicorn, it would have been my six-year-old idea of heaven.

However, according to International Mixed Drinks by Ken Fin (1995) the Bobby Dazzler was created by Maxine Nash at the Bubbles – Wodonga Hotel where it was the runner-up in the Best Border Beverage Competition of 1991.  International Mixed Drinks is silent on whether or not Maxine Nash was a six-year-old.

F.Scott who normally taste tests all the cocktails I  make wasn’t having a bar of this.  But like  his namesake F.Scott is partial to a sip o’ the hard stuff.

So another tester had to be found.  And how more appropriate than our friend the Tasmanian Devil?

He loved it.  But then again, we found him later on gnawing on one of the popper bottles.

The Bobby Dazzler  is not so much bad tasting as unremittingly, unrelentingly sweet.  And just when you think you can have no more sweet, you get a mouthful of cream.

Unless you are a six-year-old girl or a Tasmanian Devil you probably will not want to celebrate Australia Day with a Bobby Dazzler!  I still feel a bit ill after drinking it.  I feel like I need to have a little lie down.  Simultaneously, I am so wired on caffeine and sugar I feel like I may never sleep again.

For those who want it, here is the recipe:

Bobby Dazzler

Print Recipe

A very sweet and creamy mocktail.

• Author: Maxine Nash / Ken Fin

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 60ml Grenadine
• 200ml cola
• whipped cream
• 100‘s and 1000’s or other sprinkles
• Strawberry and 2 blueberries to garnish

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Blend the Grenadine and cola and pour into a glass.
2. Top with the whipped cream.
3. Sprinkle with 100’s and 1000’s and garnish with a strawberry and the blueberries.

I am calling this a recipe fail not because there was anything wrong with the recipe, I think it worked out exactly as it should have.  To me the recipe fails because there is no counterbalance to that cloying sweetness. I also did not like that big chunk of whipped cream which pretty much just made your mouth feel greasy.  I think ice-cream may have been a better choice.  What do I know though?  It’s not like I ever came runner-up in the Best Border Beverage competition.

I hope your Australia Day is dazzling, even if this drink is not.

Have a wonderful week.