#askrustynail

This community that we’re all apart of lost someone very wonderful recently. I didn’t know him personally, but everywhere I looked there was another handful of people with stories about how he had touched their lives-- I wish I could have met such an awesome guy. While I don’t know any of them other than Kaj personally, my heart goes out to every one of you who is hurting right now.

Dear Drinkers,

I’ve heard many of you talk about your love for a Rusty classic that he’s brought to and shared at many a con. And I was lucky enough that he gave me the recipe for it in a stream. I think now is a good time to share this simple and sweet recipe in his honor. I’ve preserved the language he used while still trying to mimic the style from his blog. Let’s all pour one out for a really phenomenal, funny, creative, influential, amiable, beloved member of our community. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

It’s Honey Vanilla Infused Vodka

Ingredients:

1 750ml bottle of 80 proof Smirnoff

1 12oz jar of honey. Like the squeezy honey bear from the grocery store.

1 Actual Fucking Vanilla Bean

Special Equipment:

None

Making Honey Vanilla Infused Vodka:

Open bottle of Vodka and take a little swig

Squeeze entire bear into bottle

Place a knife about a quarter inch from the tip of the bean, and slit that sucker from bottom to top. Quarter inch stays connected at the bottom. Quarter inch stays connected at the top.

Put bean into bottle.

Screw cap back on bottle.

Shake that motherfucker like you’re trying to become the next goddamned vine meme for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Put it in the fridge for a month. Shake it once a day for about a minute.

You’ve just made Honey Vanilla Infused Vodka!

Let us raise a toast for our dear cocktail mixing brony @askrustynail.

Raise you favorite drink in honor of his memory! If you’re to young or don’t like alcohol try a Rusty’s Ace muffin (as alcohol evaporates from baking.)

Dear Drinkers,

Please join me in remembering, honoring, and celebrating @askrustynail tomorrow, March 17th on Picarto.TV. The stream itself will have me working on a tribute to our dear Rusty but everyone is encouraged to come & share their memories and experiences, come to relax, or just stop by & say hi.

There will be music, but no mic chatting unless a multi-stream is proposed/possible.

Details:

What: an art stream w/ music working on a tribute to @askrustynail​

When: this St. Patrick’s Day on Friday, March 17th starting from 1pm EDT (conversion table here)

Where: Picarto.TV on my channel linked

Chat Etiquette: - PG-13 rating - no rudeness; - be respectful; - do not spam or roleplay excessively; - sharing links is allowed UNLESS content links to Not-SFW content/blogs

In addition, if you have any songs that you would like to add to the playlist (mostly folk-roots thus far) I’ll be running, feel free to send them over before then. Songs you like, songs Rusty liked, whatever. I might not get to add everything, but I’ll do whatever I can.

I may be a little late to this but I was in a very dark place the last few weeks, and this is the first day I’ve been able to put pen to tablet and produce something.

But this post isn’t about me - it’s about remembering Rusty. As many of you know, the TumblrPon community lost a dearly loved member recently when @askrustynail fell into a coma, and then last Wednesday, March 22, passed away.

I loved Rusty’s work, loved following his drink blog and his mod blog, loved his writing, loved his drink recipes, loved how much he cared for his friends - like how he helped fund-raise when Wiggles’ kitty got sick. I’m sad that I didn’t get to know him better, we only ever met once in person. But I’m so grateful for that meeting and I will cherish the memory.

We met at Bronycon 2015, and my husband - a fellow mixologist - and I commissioned a drink for his OC Red Zircon, who sometimes appears on my Ask Bliss blog. I would be remiss if I did not share this drink with you all. So, Dear Drinkers - it’s a Red Zircon!

The recipe is residing on my fridge, where it has been proudly displayed for almost 2 years, and will continue to be displayed. For anyone who has trouble reading it, I’ll transcribe it here:

Red Zircon

1 Bottle Dry White Wine 3 tbsp Sugar 3 Shots Pear Liqueur Lemon Peel Orange Peel 1/2 a Green Apple 10 Strawberries 15 White Grapes Slice of Red Watermelon Slice of Pineapple 1.75 g Xanthan Gum Watermelon, cut into 3mm Gems

Instructions:

Cut fruit as if making Sangria Mix wine, liqueur, sugar, cut fruit and peel into pitcher Let it infuse in the fridge for 8 hrs Pass sangria through sieve Mix sangria with xanthan gum Stir and refrigerate Fill martini glass with sangria, arrange melon through glass

And there you have it! If anyone can read his writing better and corrections are needed, please let me know!

So now anyone can enjoy a Red Zircon, and anyone reading this who hasn’t seen Rusty’s work - his wonderful MLP custom drinks blog is right here.

Neither my husband or I can drink these days due to medical reasons, so I do hope someone out there will raise a Red Zircon to Rusty’s memory. For me, having my characters do so is the best I can manage.

Hey everybody 💜

As most of you know, @askrustynail’s situation didn’t turn out as anyone hoped. Honestly it’s really blindsided me, and as a friend to both him and @technomod it really has torn me in two, and I can’t seem to stop crying no matter what… Or at least until this happened.

I cannot for the life of me draw something saddening or revealing of how upset I am with this! Rusty? Freaking RUSTY? He makes me smile like no other! He’s always freaking messaging me at random intervals, about reblogs, posts, Dolly jokes- everything! He, both in the Tumblr community and in the outside world, was just a great guy that knew how to make people smile in his own way. And THAT is how I’m gonna remember him, damnit.

Cry your eyes out like me, throw a fit, make your peace, do whatever you need to, but don’t you dare ever forget how wonderful this man was. How generous he was when he was making drinks for everyone, how fun he was- all of the good times. And put on some pirate gear and practice those puns folks, cause we have a Rusty to make proud.