November 28, 2014
Way, way back when, (in the double digits AD), Pliny the Elder wrote the Naturalis Historia, and in that wrote about peppermint, and how it was not only used in sauces and drinks, but only in sweet-scented sprays and worn about the head. I like that! I wanna wear peppermint like a hat. Can I do that? Anyway, with all that connection between good ol’ Pliny and peppermint, I don’t believe anyone has every named a peppermint-y drink for Pliny. Please correct me if I’m wrong here, and you have, actually, come up with said drink. Hopefully this is different than yours if that’s the case. I used peppermint tea for my peppermint-y-ness, and to go along with all the Ps, I used Plantation’s Original Dark rum. No, no, I used this rum from Trinidad & Tobago because its hints of smoke, citrus, banana, and spice mingle smoothly with the tea. And then I used Averna amaro for no other reason than I thought it would taste good. Guess what? I was right! This is a swell drink for the winter months – keep warm out there.
Pliny’s Hand Warmer
1-1/2 ounce Plantation Original Dark rum
1 ounce Averna amaro
5 ounces hot peppermint tea
Wide orange twist, for garnish
1. Add the rum and the Averna to a mug that’s been warmed with hot water. Stir briefly.
2. Add the tea, stir again, and warm up. Garnish with the orange twist.
A Note: If you feel this needs an extra garnish, and have fresh peppermint available, well, you know what to do.
Tags: Averna, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, hot drink, peppermint tea, Pliny’s Hand Warmer, Rum, What I'm Drinking, winter drink
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, Rum, What I'm Drinking
October 31, 2014
It’s Halloween, dontcha know. Which means it is time for the Warlock, and the Warlock video. The spookiest Halloween cocktail video ever. The scariest cocktail video period. Ever! Bwahahahahah.
Oh, also, it contains brandy, Strega, limoncello, orange juice, and Peychaud’s bitters. And will turn you into a zombie magician. So, there’s that, too.
Tags: Brandy, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Cocktail video, Dark Spirits, Friday Night Cocktail, Halloween cocktail, Halloween cocktail recipe, limoncello, orange juice, Peychaud's bitters, Strega, The Warlock, What I'm Drinking, zombie magician
Posted in: Brandy, Cocktail Recipes, Cocktail Videos, Dark Spirits, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
September 26, 2014
In an earlier post, I talked about football, football season, and having better drinks at your football parties. My suggestion there was that you call an audible over your past party selections and serve an Audible cocktail. It’s a good plan. However, the Audible (drink) is a strong mix, and after a couple, you may need to go on the defensive, so you make it until the end of the fourth quarter, and overtime, perhaps. With that in mind, at some point when the emotion is high, move to The Defensive Formation, which will refresh and perhaps balance things out. It still has a strong kick, but it’s mellowed some — but it could still hit the game-winning field goal from 45 out as time ticks down. Don’t think that it can’t.
The Defensive Formation
Cracked ice
2 ounces Woodinville Whiskey bourbon
1/2 ounce Letterpress limoncello
3/4 ounce orange juice
2 dashes Scrappy’s orange bitters
Ice cubes
3 ounces chilled soda water
1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add the bourbon, limoncello, orange juice, and bitters. Stir well.
2. Fill a highball or other comparable glass three-quarters up with ice cubes. Strain the mix from Step 1 through a fine strainer over the ice and into the glass.
3. Fill the glass almost to the top with the club soda. Stir to combine. Drink and cheer, drink and cheer.
Tags: bourbon, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, football drinks, Friday Night Cocktail, Letterpress limoncello, limoncello, Scrappy’s orange bitters, Seahawks, tailgating drinkgs, The Audible, The Defensive Formation, What I'm Drinking, Woodinville Whiskey bourbon
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking, Whiskey
September 19, 2014
Are you ready for some football? No, really, are you ready? Because we’re now in the thick of it, with passes being passed and blockers blocking, and, most importantly, football parties happening in parking lots and homes alike. Don’t let your party get stuck with the same old plays (and by “plays” here, I mean drinks) being served up to defenses who will then laugh at your tired plays. Instead, call an Audible and serve up the below mix. It’s a strong one – because sometimes we need a strong drink when watching our favorite team. 
It’s delicious, too, because sometimes we deserve a reward for our support. Oh, it’s also a tad Italian – just cause I like Italy. And because Italian fans are, outside of you, the most rabid fans in the world, and when drinking this, you will channel all rabid fans and become the most fanatical fan in the world. Promise. I used Woodinville Whiskey bourbon, Letterpress limoncello, and Scrappy’s orange bitters here, because they’re made in Seattle, and I like to support my home teams.
The Audible
Cracked ice
2 ounces Woodinville Whiskey bourbon
1/2 ounce Letterpress limoncello
3/4 ounce orange juice
2 dashes Scrappy’s orange bitters
1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add everything Stir well.
2. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass or smallish football helmet. Drink and cheer, drink and cheer.
Tags: bourbon, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, football drinks, Friday Night Cocktail, Letterpress limoncello, Scrappy’s orange bitters, Seahawks, tailgating drinkgs, The Audible, What I'm Drinking, Woodinville Whiskey bourbon
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
September 12, 2014
Let me start with an apology: you cannot get one of the main ingredients in this drink in the US. My bad, yo. The ingredient is the Italian amaro called Viparo, and I can’t believe with the many, many amaros now being imported that someone hasn’t brought it in, because it’s a delicious member of the amaro clan, one produced by the Morganti family since 1913, and like most, originally designed for medicinal purposes. So, pick up a bottle when you’re in Italy. Until then, you could, if you want, sub in another amaro, one that shades towards the sweetish middle of the amaro scale, something like Averna. It won’t have the same exact highwayman feel, but it’ll be close. Call it the Highwayman’s Bank Holiday.
Highwayman’s Holiday
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounce gin
1 ounce freshly squeezed clementine juice
1/2 ounce Viparo
1/2 ounce Aperol
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin, juice, Viparo, and Aperol. Shake well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass.
A Note: Can’t find clementines? You could sub in orange juice instead. Call it Highwayman’s Parole.
A Second Note: You might want to strain this through a fine strainer to avoid citrus bits in teeth. But no real robber would care about that much.
Tags: amaro, Aperol, Averna, clementine juice, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, Highwayman’s Holiday, Viparo, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
September 5, 2014
If you’re lucky enough to be sitting outside under some late-summer sun, feeling a wee bit warm, even, and wondering how in the world life could be any finer . . . well, pour yourself one of these and you’ll see how. This is, for sure, in my top ten list of sitting-in-the-sun drinks, one that manages to cool you down without sacrificing any flavor – it has oodles of flavor, actually, an amazing amount thanks to the two ingredients, Italian bitter-kissed sweet vermouth stalwart Punt e’ Mes (from all the way in 1870, for you history buffs), and ginger ale or ginger beer (I used to use the former, but have tried the latter recently with outstanding results). The herbal and spice layers in here are only a wee bit less amazing than the drink’s power to refresh you, when you’re under that sun alluded to earlier.
Punt e’ Mes Highball
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces Punt e’ Mes
3 ounces ginger ale or ginger beer
1. Fill a smallish highball glass or a big rocks glass three-quarter-ish up with ice cubes. Add the Punt e’ Mes.
2. Top with the ginger ale. Stir. Be happy.
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, ginger ale, ginger beer, Punt e' Mes, Punt e’ Mes Highball, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Italy, Recipes, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
August 29, 2014
Hello late August! You might think in late August, where, for let’s say at least 85.4% of the readers of this blog, it’s pretty hot, that I wouldn’t dare suggest making a drink that means “thought.” But I will dare (as the song says), cause really, you don’t have to think too much about this drink when making it, and because it is rather refreshing and, if I may dare say, yummy. Just be sure your Brachetto d’Acqui (the slightly sweet Italian frizzante wine) is well chilled, or drop an ice cube into the glass. It is August, after all.
The Pensiero, from Champagne Cocktails
Ice cubes
1 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice
3/4 ounces Punt e Mes
1/2 ounce Campari
1/2 ounce Simple Syrup
Chilled Brachetto d’Acqui
Lemon twist, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the orange juice, Punt e Mes, Campari, and simple syrup. Shake thoughtfully.
2. Strain the mixture through a fine strainer into a flute glass. Top with Brachetto d’Acqui. Garnish with the lemon twist.
Tags: Brachetto d’Acqui., Campari, Champagne, Champagne Cocktails, Champagne Cocktails: 50 Cork-Popping Concoctions and Scintillating Sparklers, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Dark Spirits, Friday Night Cocktail, Punt e' Mes, sparkling wine, The Pensiero, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Campari, Champagne & Sparkling Wine, Cocktail Recipes, Italy, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
August 15, 2014
Even though it’s probably 10 degrees hotter in central Italy right now than in Seattle (where I’m typing this – not sure where wherever you are falls in the temperature spectrum, but wherever, it won’t make a different in how much you enjoy this drink), even though, I’d still at this particular moment rather be kicking it in my old Italian home (oh, hey, I used to live in Italy), with my dogs, sitting in the olive grove, having this very drink, which I came up with when living in Italy. It’s highlighted by the Italian liqueur Strega, which is one of my favorite things, a beautiful drink on its own, with herbal goodness and trademark golden hue (brought on by saffron), but also a fine player in cocktails. Have one of these with me, and we can both dream in Italian.
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces gin
3/4 ounces Strega
1/2 ounce simple syrup
1/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin, Strega, simple syrup, and juice. Shake as if you were rolling down a hill.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass or creatively cute wine glass. Drink while looking over the valley.
Tags: Among the Niccone Mountains, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, Strega, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
