Back a few years now (not a century’s worth, but a few, which over the last decade can feel nearly like a century at time – at other times, barely a second. Time? It’s a strange one), I had a Nightfall Cocktail Talk, and it was peachy! But I just took a re-read into this noir-ish book by David Goodis (nearly the noirish-est). It’s a dandy read, by the way. A twisty-ish, nearly character study in a way. I mean, there’s a murder that’s happened, and a crime (in Seattle! Of all spots. Though the action as it is takes place in NYC). And a beating. And some hidden? Lost? Spent? money around somewhere. And love, too! And maybe camaraderie. It’s interesting, in that (as mentioned in the early Nightfall Cocktail Talking), you feel there is no way it’s gonna work out happily for anyone, I felt that multiple times. but . . . well, I’m not giving it away. Read the book yourself! I will give away the below Cocktail Talk quote, however.
In this particular Village place there wasn’t much doing. Four men at the far end of the bar were having a quiet discussion concerning horses. A young man and a young woman were taking their time with long, cool drinks and smiling at each other. A short, fat man was sullenly gazing into a glass of beer.
Vanning turned back to his Gin Rickey. A peculiar sense of loneliness came upon him, and he knew it was just that and nothing more. He wanted to talk to somebody. About anything.
Just a week ago, I had a drink, The Ciliegia (a sort-of cherry-Negroni-influenced sipper, if you missed it), which featured Oomrang Cherry eau di vie, or fruit brandy, which is delicious, and, today, I’m following it up with another drink featuring another delicious Oomrang fruit brandy, this time their Blueberry Geist – featuring it in this drink, The Blueberry Cobbler. Whew, that was quite a sentence! And the Oomrang brandies are quite good brandies! About this time last year, I was lucky enough to be able to write an article about Oomrang (there are two umlauts by the way, in the name, so imagine them there) for the sparklicious Sip magazine. I don’t think it’s online as it was for subscribers only, perhaps, but research it up, see what you can find. Abbreviated version: Oomrang is a distillery and winery outside of Stanwood WA, and is a remarkable place, where they make lovely wine utilizing lesser-known German grapes: Mueller-Thurgau, Siegerrebe, Kerner, and Sylvaner. They also make fruit brandies – the real stuff, not the sickly sweet things sometimes marketed under that name. They have two kinds, the more traditional eaux de vies (when I say “more traditional” I mean in like Europe, as we aren’t as used to them yet in the U.S. – sadly) and geists. Because I don’t want to rewrite the whole article here, I’ll just quickly say that in eaux de vie the fruit is fermented, distilled, and bottled quickly, whereas with geists first you macerate the fruit in alcohol for a fair amount of time – Oomrang uses an alcohol made from grapes, and macerates a month – then distill and bottle it. Both brandy versions are strong spirits that taste yummy. I find the geists a wee bit more fragrant featuring an orchard-late-in-season vibe and fruit scrumptiousness. Which – we’ve finally gotten around to it – goes swell in this here drink.
A drink which is part of the Cobbler family, a family tracing its liquid lineage back to the early 1800s, when the Sherry Cobbler kicked off and kicked into gear, and then it and the Cobbler famile gained international name recognition when ol’ Chucky Dickens (as I called him, you may be more formal and all him Charles Dickens) included the drink in one of my favs, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, in 1842. At one point, in 1888, bartender and writer Harry Johnson wrote “This drink is without doubt the most popular beverage in this country, with ladies as well as with gentlemen,” and though its popularity waned, the Cobbler is picking back up as more and more discover how swell it is for summer. Which leads us to the blueberry-rific Blueberry Cobbler, featuring Oomrang’s lush Blueberry Geist, a little simple, a little lemon (I feel Cobblers need both sweet and tang), a splash of soda (taking us off perhaps the super traditional Cobbler path, but it needed it, too, to me, especially when the sun’s high in the sky), and lots of crushed ice. It’s a summer hit, even if to get there you’ve now read a small novel.
1. Add the 10 blueberries, lemon juice, and simple to a cocktail shaker. Muddle well.
2. Add ice cubes to about the halfway full point, then the Blueberry Geist. Shake.
3. Fill a wine glass (or goblet) up with crushed or cracked ice. Strain the mix through a fine strainer into the glass. Top with the soda, stir briefly. Add more ice if needed. Garnish with blueberries and mint.
If you haven’t read Wall of Eyes Cocktail Talk Part I, then by all means, take the time to do so. In it, I talk a bit more about this book by Margaret Miller, and my feeling about it (and how they went through a metamorphosis of sorts while reading!), and talk about teetotal-ing definitions. But here’s something I didn’t mention there – the book takes place in Canada! Toronto, I think? I don’t want you to doubt my reading prowess, but I have to be honest – I didn’t completely realize the story was taking place northerly, until the below Cocktail Talk quote. I am very embarrassed. But at least I picked up on it when seeing the Molson product placement!
“I owe you a beer for flying off like that.”
He hadn’t had a drink all night. Maye that was why he’d acted so crazy all for nothing. Hitting a policeman –
“Thanks,” he said. “A beer would be swell.”
When they sat down the man looked across the table at Stevie and smiled sheepishly. “Well, what’ll it be?”
Earlier this year (this year as I type being 2023, in case you’re reading this from the far future or something), I was lucky enough to get to write an article on the whole ready-to-drink explosion happening currently – if the RTD phrasing hasn’t hit your ears yet, I’m talking canned and bottled and whatevered premade cocktails (hard seltzer fits in, too, though I only touched on it briefly in said article, as I’m, and it was, more cocktail). Oh, I wrote said article for the scrumptious Sip magazine (visit Sip and look for the 2023 Annual Collector’s Edition, if you want to read it). Anyway, weirdly enough, having nothing to do with that particular article, I received some cans of Casatera in the mail recently. All of which has been rambled through so I could say: coincidence is neat and the universe does interesting things, which have led to me being about to enjoy a cold Casatera on this summertime Friday.
Specifically, Casatera Coconut! I didn’t know much about this tequila-based seltzer-y bubbly canned brand until this summer, and thinking you might not either, let me give you a little background. Casatera has zero sugar, carbs, gluten and artificial flavors or sweeteners, uses actual tequila from an actual real award-winning Mexican distillery, and boasts a robust 7% ABV. There’s a whole host of flavors now available, including the original trio of Lime, Grapefruit, and Strawberry, and the new sibs Mango, Pineapple, Passionfruit, and Coconut.
I have to step in for honesty’s sake (if one can’t be honest, even with booze, well, what’s the world coming to?), and admit to not having fallen in overall love with the hard seltzer movement. Not that I haven’t tasted some decent ones. But many just don’t have the flavor umph I’m looking for. Casatera, for me, definitely rises up to the upper regions of those I’ve tasted. For one, that 7% kick of real tequila is smoochy. You get a nice tequila essence and ripple, along with an overall crisp clean lightness that’s ideal on a hot day. And, that chemical echo many of the lesser RTDs come accompanied by isn’t in evidence. Would a little more Coconut or Passionfruit (my favorites) or whatever punch be good for me? Sure! But I understand that many want to keep it lighter and stripped back. When the Mercury’s risen, who can blame them? I did find I dug the Casatera best with a smidge of fresh citrus, but that’s personal preference. And have enjoyed – and will continue such – both over ice and right from the can. You be you, and stay cool!
Have you ever started a book and thought “well, not sure I’m completely into this book, it’s not so bad, but I don’t really like the characters, and it’s not completely grabbing me,” and then kept reading anyway cause you have hope, and then all-of-a-sudden you find yourself unable to put it down? Well, that very sich happened to me recently with a book called Wall of Eyes, by Margaret Miller. I was saying to myself, “I can’t even stand the slightly quirky policeperson, Inspector Sands,” and nearly put the book down, but the cover is so good! And I had faith! And it was rewarded, as the book took a turn, focusing more on a wayward club manager, and then folding the Inspector back in interestingly, and then blam! A good solid twisty ending. I hear there’s a second Inspector Sands book, and might just try to track it down. Oh, the below Cocktail Talk quote was a good one, too.
“Johnny?” Alice said. “Have some?”
“Thanks. Maurice forgot the Cognac. I’ll ring.”
“I thought you’d be going teetotal,” Philip said.
“Me?” Johnny stared. “Why?”
“The new girl disapproves, doesn’t she?”
“Oh. Yes, she does. But you wouldn’t think she’d count a couple of drops of Cognac in coffee.”
Well, it’s a big week for celebrations. Actually, let me rephrase – last Tuesday, the 4th, was a big day for celebrations. Though it’s the kind of day where the celebrations I believe can and do start early and go late, late, late into the week. I’m thinking, as those in the US would guess, of the 4th as Independence Day where I’m typing, but also , as those in Italy would guess I’d guess, of the 4th as the birthday of Giuseppe Garibaldi, he being the general who was one of the driving human forces responsible for unifying Italy, and a national hero. And today we’re celebrating General Garibaldi here on the Spiked Punch, with a drink named after him. His army, if you didn’t know, was often referred to as the “redshirt” army, thanks to reasons you can guess from the name – meaning, they wore red shirts! Funny enough, the redshirts started when he was helping in the Uruguayan civil war (he got around as a military leader, known for his national independence bent and republican ideals). The Garibaldi, the drink that is, which you should be drinking this week in his honor, and as a way to draw all the 4th celebrations you can think of into week-wide events, is a citrus-y, tangy number, with a slightly beautiful bitter hint, thanks to Campari. What a day!
The Garibaldi
Ice cubes
2 ounces Campari
5 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice
1. Fill a highball glass three quarters full with ice cubes. Add the Campari and the orange juice.
2. Stir well. Drink up, toasting in the general direction of Italy.
Recently delved into the full collection of ghost-and-such stories by E.F. Benson, said collection being called Night Terrors. E.F. Benson was an English writer, late 1800s-to-early-mid-1900s, who wrote all kinds of things, though he’s most known for his ghostly and spectral and other spine-tingling tales, which are, in the main, awfully fun to read (whether you do it at night or in the daytime – up to you). They follow along the time-period’s aesthetic (no modern slasher fair here friends), which I find myself enjoying muchly, especially in the last few years. There’s something so, oh, atmospheric, and the writing itself, always well-done. I’m not going to say every story here was to my taste, but there’s a lot of variety (vampires? Check. Ghosts of all kinds? Check. Giant worms? Check. And more!), and enough worthy chillers to balance out any less worthy. Do I like Mr. Benson’s work overall as well as M.R. James (the master of the time and genre)? Probably not, but I have been to Lamb House, where Benson lived in Rye, UK, so that’s something (admittedly, I visited cause Henry James himself lived there before E.F. Benson, but still). Not a ton of Cocktail Talking in the collection, but there was something delightful in the below quote, how one character manages to swipe a drink from another by saying “touch of liver.”
“I have felt most awfully down all day,” he said; “and just after receiving this splendid account from Daisy. I can’t think what is the matter.”
He poured himself out some whisky and soda as he spoke.
“Oh, touch of liver,” I said. “I shouldn’t drink that if I were you. Give it to me instead.”
You know (cause you’re you) that I’m a big fan by a country mile (as the saying says) of coming up with a new original amazing (or at least new) name when you concoct a new drink, even if said drink only changes one ingredient from an existing drink. That’s the way our bartending foremothers and forefathers did it back in the cocktail day (in this instance, meaning late 1800s, early 1900s) I believe, and if it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for me. However! Sometimes, when the drink is really close, even I am tempted to just add an “ini” on the end or “insert word here + existing drink name” as the name and call it good. But I, even when lazy (which is most of the time) try to resist! Here, for example, I almost just said “Cherry Negroni” but then decided (still, lazily) to call it instead, The Ciliegia, which is Italian for cherry! But really, it’s mostly a Negroni (slightly different portions) with delightful Washington distillery Oomrang’s (in your mind, insert umlauts over the Os) delightful Cherry eau de vie in place of gin.
If you haven’t had it (you should!) Oomrang Cherry eau di vie, or fruit brandy, is made from natural Washington black cherries, picked at the peak of ripeness, at which time the finest of the fine have the stems removed, as well as any leafage, and then they’re rapidly turned into brandy via the joys and wonders of distillation. Fruit brandies (the real ones, not the fake ones – of which there are a lot, especially I think a lot of “cherry brandies” which are really just cherries muddled with vodka or another neutral spirit and a lot of sugaring agent, ending up oversweet and yucky) if you haven’t delved in are straight spirits, which – as demonstrated in this very drink – boast clear, crisp, flavors that catch the essence of a fruit in a way that’s wholly unique, and tasty. Here, the cherry notes mix a treat with the herbal sweetness of the sweet vermouth, and the bittery beauty of the Campari, without sacrificing the gin’s umph, as this real cherry brandy has the same ABV as the average gin. Heck, it’s a good enough combo that I’d drink it even if you did call it just a Cherry Negroni.
