September 29, 2011
I recently found out the most amazing liqueur-related fact (well, maybe not the most amazing ever, but the most amazing one I’ve heard in at least 43 days): Topeka, KS, consumes more Tuaca than anywhere else in the U.S. of A. Isn’t that mind-blowing? It’s not (if you’re not up-to-date on the capitol city of Kansas) that Topeka has a big Italian immigrant community (Tuaca being an Italian liqueur supposedly based on a recipe from the big man, Lorenzo de’ Medici, himself), either. Tuaca has just taken over T-town (as Topeka is referred to on occasion), to the point where if you order a “house wine” in at least one bar you automatically get a Tuaca and Sprite. These little facts (especially this one, as I’m an ex-Kansan) make cocktails even more fun (and big thanks to pals Erin and Brad, who is a Topekean by birth, for letting me know about the Topeka-Tuaca connection). Tuaca, naturally, is one of the many liqueurs that’s featured, with even more information and history than the Topeka association, in Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz: A Cocktail Lover’s Guide to Mixing Drinks Using New and Classic Liqueurs. This means, in honor of my recently expanded Tuaca knowledge, that I’m sipping on a Tuscan Mule today–it’s one of my favorite Tuaca drinks and one whose recipe is featured in Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz. You should sip up, too, and toast all those Topekans and their Tuaca love.
Ice cubes
1 -1/2 ounces Tuaca
Chilled ginger ale
Lime wedge, for garnish
1. Fill a highball glass three-quarters full with ice cubes. Add the Tuaca.
2. Fill the glass almost to the top with ginger ale.
3. Squeeze the lime wedge over the glass, and then drop it in. Stir well.
PS: Don’t forget, the Rob Roy release party for Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz is October 8th. Be there!
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, Topeka, Tuaca, Tuscan Mule, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Almost Drinkable Photo, Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
September 16, 2011
I feel somewhat bad (I mean, not all-the-way bad, as if I’d spilled a Shoreditch Sombrero cocktail, but still sorta bad) cause I don’t have a super accurate and detailed recipe for today’s What I’m Drinking. Usually, I try to give you (and I do mean you) the opportunity to drink along with me by providing said recipe, but as this drink came about somewhat randomly I somewhat forgot to write down the measurements of what’s in it in a precise and helpful manner. Heck, I didn’t even come up with a snazzy name, and I pride myself, darnit, on the snappy-ness of my drink names (maybe I should have gone with Lant? Lavmi? Mive? LMG? Moving Lavender Gogh?). I suppose there’s still time. With all that said, here are the basics. I took a bunch of fresh lavender from the garden (the lavender was really the impetus for this liqueury drink, cause we have a lovely lavender plant), the flowers of course, about two cups, and added it to a sturdy glass container with about a cup and half fresh mint (we’ve also been lucky in the mint department this year), muddled them up a bit, then added a 750 milliliter bottle of grappa that I wasn’t sure I’d be sipping, stirred, and sealed:
I let that kick its heels for a couple weeks in my cool and dry storage room, stopping by to chat it up and swirl it around every day or so. Then I added (if memory serves) about a cup-and-a-quarter’s worth of simple syrup. I didn’t want it to be as sweetened as most liqueurs, but wanted to take the edge off the grappa a bit. You dig me? Then back down to that cool, dry spot away from the sun for a few weeks. Then I strained it a couple times through cheese cloth (those lavender pips can be tricky), bottled it, and Nat took this lovely pic:
It has a slightly floral taste, underlined with the mint and some other herbaceous-ness, but enough of a kick that it won’t be called a sissy anytime soon. I’ve been sipping it solo the last few nights but am tempted to try mixing it up with some flavorful gin or other choice items. Its flavor is singular enough that it may be tough to find the right match, but I’m game (as long as I don’t get away from the sipping solo, too, that is). If anything works out nicely, I’ll report back, okay?
September 10, 2011
In the above title, I did not mis-type. Neither did I mean I was drinking cold “soul” as if I were a demon thirsting for evil-doers or that I was drinking cold “Soul” as if David Soul were chilled down and liquefied. Oh, no. I meant was a drinking cold Sol, the light-on-its-feet beer made in Mexico that I sometimes fancy when it’s the height of summer (the other beer usually being Miller High Life, but when snacking on some cheese enchiladas lathered in mole, it’s Sol). And, strangely, here in September at this very moment seems to be Seattle’s height of summer, which has led me to Sol. Which sounds much deeper in thought than it is (but I can’t always be philosophical, in the same way that I can’t always be drinking only cocktails and mixed drinks. Sometimes, I just wanna pop open a bottle without any fuss):
PS: The above photo was taken with Hipstamatic on Nat’s iPhone, which I thought matched up the cantina feel of the Sol (and which was the only camera for miles at the time). If you really want to know the exact settings, let me know.
September 3, 2011
I don’t want you to think I’m getting routine in my drink making and testing and making some more. But I just couldn’t resist conjuring up another mighty mix that maximized the potential of the Deluxe Foods Earl Grey syrup (used last in The Earl of 15th Avenue cocktail), which will soon be available in better stores near you. Or online at the Deluxe Foods site. It has a hint of smoky-ness and a hint of citrus and, naturally, a little sweetness. All those combined had me dreaming of mixing it with a smoky tequila (and yes, these are the kinds of things I dream about. Well, these things and late 1950s era Kim Novak. A boy’s gotta have multiple hobbies), a tequila like the Casa Noble Reposado, which has a smooth smoke mingling with vanilla, citrus, and agave flavors. So, I made the dream a reality by mixing the above two ingredients, and then upped the ante with a little fresh squeezed oj, for health reasons. Delicious, I must admit:
Ice cubes
2 ounces Casa Noble Reposado tequila
1/2 ounce Deluxe Foods Earl Grey syrup
1/2 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add everything. Shake well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Drink with a hat on. Or drink out of a hat. Up to you.
A Note: Shoreditch is a neighborhood in London. Earl Grey tea is named for the 2nd Earl Grey, who was England’s Prime Minister at one point and who lived in London. Tequila is from Mexico, where the sombrero originates. Now you know about the name. As a bonus, Vince Noir once called himself a Shoreditch vampire. And he’d certainly like this drink.
August 20, 2011
In the Earl of 15th Avenue cocktail post below, I talked a bit about how I was lucky enough to be mixing with a Deluxe Foods syrup not yet widely available. Then I apologized for it. And now I’m apologizing again, because in the drink we’re sipping today, the main (really) ingredient is another of those Deluxe syrups, this time strawberry. And, to keep the apologies flowing, let me apologize for putting a drink sans alcohol on a booze blog. What kind of a creep am I anyway? But sometimes a summer refresher needs to be light, and light on alcohol, and sometimes even without alcohol altogether. Which is how the Deluxe SSB rolls. But its dry-ish strawberry goodness more than makes up for it and will cool you down on a day when the Mercury has risen to the tops of the thermometer. Oh, and keep checking the Deluxe Foods farmer’s market stands for syrups–you never know when you’ll get lucky.
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces Deluxe Foods strawberry syrup
Chilled club soda
1 Rainier cherry, for garnish
1. Fill a highball or comparable glass three-quarters full with ice cubes. Add the syrup.
2. Fill the glass almost to the top with club soda. Stir well, and garnish with the cherry.
A Note: Rainier cherry deficient? Sub in a second type and only cry a little.
A Second Note: Feel this has to have a alcohol component? Add an ounce of gin to the glass in step one. Gin and strawberries are a yummy combo.
August 16, 2011
My latest article on the Good Life Report, The Mysteries of the Margarita, starts by saying:
The Margarita may just be the most curious of the super-popular cocktails (and by “super-popular” I mean being ordered by a massively large number of people as I type). The curiosity stems both from its history, which I’ll talk more about in a second, and from the fact that people seem to be okay about 78% of the time with drinking a really awfully made mix that somebody who doesn’t know better calls a Margarita.
and if that doesn’t get you over there to read the rest of the article, well, you’d better check your pulse pal, to make sure you’re not, actually, a ghost.
August 11, 2011
Stopped in with pal Andrew (he of the mighty Cask Strength) and wife Nat to Oliver’s Twist the other night, and had a few fine tasting drinks courtesy of English gin. See, Andrew (when he’s not mixing drinks) is an evangelist of sorts for English Gins (a group consisting of Plymouth and Beefeater gins I believe), an English Gins Connoisseur if you want to be formal, and so he was happy to buy us a few drinks if we’d listen to him talk up the gins. Heck, we’d probably listen to him talk about anything from the Misfits teevee show to the blue-eyed idol of millions if he’d buy us drinks. Especially when the drinks were as tasty as these’uns. I started with a drink of his own making called the Signal to Noise:
It had Plymouth gin, a smooch of lime juice and a smooch of orgeat and a dash of Angostura. It really allowed the gin to shine, which I dug immensely. Nat started with something off the house board, the Jasmine (which in this incarnation I believe combined gin with Cointreau, Campari, and lemon):
We both followed up with a drink created by Robert, who was our handy bartender. I believe it had gin, Aperol, and a few other choice ingredients, but know for a fact it was very icy and refreshing and sippable:
Nat had another of those un-named beauties for her final cocktail, while I headed back in time to a recent un-buried favorite (which is in this cocktail book that comes out soon-ish), the Bijou, which brings together sweet vermouth and green Chartreuse with gin and a twist:
All-in-all, my thanks to the dedicated men and women who make English gins, plus thanks to Andrew and Robert, too, for providing us with a delish evening.
August 9, 2011
Okay, I could talk here about how tequila has a bad (as in tough, not un-tasty) reputation (and has nothing to say about its bad reputation), and how thinking this is sure to make your summer less delicious as you’ll utilize tequila less than you should, it being such a fine, fine summer mixer. But, I’m going to skip saying any more than I did already (jezz, I just can’t shut up) to point you to a new tequila-in-summer article I wrote for the Good Life Report, an article which talks up the same points. It’s a quick read, so you can skip over there now and catch it between sips (or between meetings, if you’re at work). Beyond the basic talk, there’s a recipe for a cocktail that proves my points, a cocktail called the Green Garden, which just happens to be from Paul Abercrombie’s book (that you should own) Organic, Shaken and Stirred: Hip Highballs, Modern Martinis, and Other Totally Green Cocktails. It, and the Green Garden cocktail, bring whole new meaning to the term green party.
