September 20, 2019
Fall officially starts in three days, and I can feel it (this happens when you get to be my age – it could also just be a good thing to say) deep inside. And what does one sip when the fall is about to start and you can feel it, and winter behind it, always, coming? Well, a Whiskey Sour seems like a good choice, with that heft of whiskey and the citrus zing underneath, and then an echo of sweet (to remind you and spring, also always, follows winter). At least that’s the route I’m running today!
The Whiskey Sour
Ice cubes
2 ounces Four Roses straight bourbon
1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
Lemon slice, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the bourbon, lemon juice, and syrup. Shake well.
2. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon slice.
Tags: cocktail, Cocktail Recipes, Four Roses Bourbon, Friday Night Cocktail, lemon juice, simple syrup, The Whiskey Sour, What I’m Drinking, Whiskey
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Recipes, What I'm Drinking, Whiskey
September 13, 2019
Ah well, all good things must pass – even the sunny days of summertime. The least we could do was have a drink to celebrate, and to do it right, the drink should probably have perhaps my favorite summertime treat in it (there are many! But this is tops), blackberries from the Lazy River Farm. This particular farm is not only home to the best blackberries in the world (big, fat, juicy at a level I’d never had before), but also home to Sidetrack Distillery, one of my all-time favorite distilleries anywhere. You should visit! Here, I use a bunch of blackberries to bring the flavor, then a few other friends to add a little of this (vodka), and that (Narancello, for a bit of orange), and that other (lemon, for the tang). It’s a nice treaty, and a good way to honor – and say so long to – summer.
The End of Summer
6 blackberries
Cracked ice
2 ounces vodka
1/2 ounce Narancello orange liqueur
1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
Blackberry, for garnish
1. Add the first 6 blackberries to a cocktail shaker. Muddle well to just really get the juices flowing.
2. Fill the shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the vodka and lemon juice. Shake well.
3. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the final blackberry.
Tags: blackberries, cocktail, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, lemon, Narancello, orange liqueur, The End of Summer, vodka, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Liqueurs, Recipes, vodka, What I'm Drinking
September 10, 2019
I know, I know, I’ve had a lot of Maigret Cocktail Talks, but when I put up a good boozy quote in The Silent Witness Cocktail Talk recently, I realized I had to have one from Maigret and the Informer, too. See, if you missed that recent Cocktail Talking, I picked up both of these in one of those books-that-contain-two-books, which used to be a thing, and which I think is fun. Often, it was two books by the same author, but sometimes, you see two different authors, sharing the same genre. Here, it worked wonderfully, with the dry, stoic (but funny, in his way) French Inspector Maigret back-to-back with an American PI, Jack Fenner, also a little dry and stoic (and funny in his way). Both crime-solvers like a drink, too. This George Simenon book is an good one (most are!), with a restaurateur killed, young gangsters, a trip to the south of France, an informer on the run, a quirky cop, a cheating wife – all you could want, really! Plus, it all starts with a dinner at the Maigret house (they have Doctor Pardon and his wife over for dinner once a month if you were wondering), one I would have liked to have been at.
The women would take advantage of the occasion to put on a great spread and to exchange recipes, while the men would gossip idly, drinking Alsatian gin or raspberry brandy.
The dinner had been particularly successful. Madame Maigret had made a guinea-hen pie and the superintendent had brought out of his cellar one of the last bottles of an old Chateauneuf de Pape he had once bought a case of, marked down, when he was in Rue Drouot.
The wine was exceptionally good, and the two men hadn’t left a drop. How many liqueur glasses of brandy had they had afterwards? At any rate, suddenly awakened at two o’clock in the morning, Maigret did not feel his best.
— George Simenon, Maigret and the Informer
Tags: Alsatian gin, Brandy, Chateauneuf de Pape, Cocktail Talk, George Simenon, Inspector Maigret, Maigret and the Informer, raspberry brandy
Posted in: Brandy, Cocktail Talk, Gin, Wine
September 6, 2019
Here’s a question that I’m curious about – in our modern (and here, I’m thinking super modern and recent, in the last years) drinking world here in the U.S., why hasn’t genever become more of a regular base spirit for drinks? I mean, I understand it wasn’t widely available until said recency, and sometimes it’s hard to change, and for a while, even I only really knew about one brand (Bols Genever, which is a dandy spot to start, and which I used recently in a Genever Julep recipe). But recently, I was able to sample a whole range, and it’s really interesting that there are many variations on the theme. If you don’t know (and again, don’t feel bad if you don’t – recency and all. But now you will), genever has been consumed for health and happiness since the 1500s, and is made from malt wine. Think malty-ness a bit like whiskey, but a juniper and herbal profile like gin, with all the variations therein. It was used more, I think, way back in the day, and so I’ve been going the classic route, and it’s still late summer, so I’ve also been hitting the G&Ts (I don’t need to tell you how G&Ts and summer go together). Then it hit me – why not Genever & Tonic? I used Bobby’s Schiedam Jenever (side note: sometimes you see Jenever as well as Genever), which utilizes that malt wine base and then a juniper, cubeb pepper, lemongrass, cardamom herb package. Yummy! But, admittedly, not super available over here yet – don’t worry! Other genevers, and I think Bols, for example, would be delicious here. But you need to have a great tonic, and I used locally-made &Tonic, a tonic syrup (if you’re not on top of tonic syrups, read this tonic syrup article), handcrafted and ridiculously good. Try this drink, as soon as you can!
Genever and Tonic
Ice cubes
1-1/2 genever
1/2 ounce &Tonic tonic syrup
3-1/2 to 4 ounces club soda
Lemon twist, for garnish
1. Fill an Old Fashioned or comparable glass with ice cubes. Add the genever and tonic syrup. Stir briefly. Add the soda (use a little more or less as taste drives you). Stir.
2. Garnish with the twist. Think about how awesome the modern drinking world is.
Tags: Bobby's Schiedam Jenever, cocktail, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Genever, Genever and Tonic, Tonic, tonic syrup, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
September 3, 2019
I’ve had a couple Cocktail Talks from George Harmon Coxe on the ol’ Spiked Punch, but not an inordinate amount. Which is a bit odd, as I sorta like his probably main star, photographer/drinker/mystery solver Kent Murdock. Maybe I just need to track down some more books? Recently, I did score a good one, The Silent Witness, in a two-novels-in-one hardback-book book, if that makes sense (the others was a great Simenon, Maigret and the Informer, and why don’t we do these “duo” books anymore? Modern authors too snooty to share?). Interestingly, it doesn’t star Mr. Murdock, but instead PI Jack Fenner, though Murdock shows briefly, as they both share the same fictional universe! I love that! It’s a crossover, in a way, and I think there were more, and Fenner shows up in small roles in the Murdocks I’ve read. We talk about crossovers now in movies as if they never happened before, but here we are. Oh, the book’s a good read, too, with a more slow burn development than many (the murder doesn’t happen for say 90 pages), and a neatly draw-out denouement between PI and villain, with lots of clues along the way. A good one – especially when paired with a book staring our old pal Inspector Maigret, and when featuring this quote.
But I can buy a drink while you two get acquainted . . . what will it be? He added when the waiter approached.
Nancy showed no hesitation. “A very dry Martini with a twist, straight up.” “I think – maybe a Cinzano and soda, with a bit of orange peel,” Kathy said, and Fenner asked for a Scotch and water.
— George Harmon Coxe, The Silent Witness
August 27, 2019
Hello Seattle pals, WA pals, out-of-state pals, and out-of-country pals! Just wanted to give you a chance to catch up on any recent Seattle magazine pieces by me you may have missing. Not that I’m thinking you would ever have missed any, because I know you like to stay up-to-date, and Seattle magazine is all about that. But summers are busy! So, just in case:
August 23, 2019
Hello summertime! Sum, sum, summertime! What’s shaking? Or, in the case of this drink, not shaken at all. But it is a swell summertime sipper, one that I featured already on this blog – but like 8 years ago if you can believe it. 8 years! Holy cow, time flows like rum in an upside-down bottle. But here’s the skinny (or, in my, case, not so skinny). I had some extra limes lately, and the mint plant in the backyard is in full summer mint-in, so I thought, the other day, when the sun high in the sky was demanding a bubble drink – howsabout the Bubble Colonial, and it’s tasty lime-mint simple syrup? And then I thought, heck ya! And so, here we are, making summer even better with bubbles (and rum, lime-mint simple, Cointreau, and soda – and more lime). Yay!
The Bubble Colonial
Ice cubes
2 ounces Cruzan 9 Spiced Rum (this is what I originally used, but regular white or dark rum works actually)
1/2-ounce lime-mint simple syrup (see Note below)
1/4-ounce Cointreau
Chilled club soda
Lime wheel, for garnish
1. Fill a highball glass halfway full with ice cubes. Add the rum, syrup, and Cointreau. Stir thrice.
2. Fill the glass almost to the rim with club soda. Stir again, slowing but seriously, working to bring everything together. Squeeze the lime wheel into the glass, and then drop it in.
A Note: To make the lime-mint simple syrup, add two whole lime peels, 4 ounces freshly squeezed lime juice, 3 cups sugar, 2-1/2 cups water, and 2 cups fresh mint to a medium-sized sauce pan. Put it on the stove over medium-high heat. Let it just come to a boil, simmer for five or so minutes, and then let everything steep in the pan for at least an hour. Strain and stir in the fridge if you don’t use it right away.
August 20, 2019
It’s been many a moon (and many a year, really) since I first mentioned the book Suddenly a Corpse, published originally way back in 1949, with my copy from 1950. It features dashing, drinking, dame-loving, crime-solving lawyer Scott Jordan (Masur wrote a series of books with Mr. Jordan), doing all of the above, all starting when a large man shows up at his door – and then dies instantly. It’s a good rollicking read, and if you can find a copy in your local pulp booksellers, then pick it up. I recently re-read it, and realized that while I’d had a Cocktail Talk from it (be sure to read Suddenly a Corpse Part I, as it has one of my favorite lines), that really, it deserved two. Cause I really like the below quote about school, or a school at least.
I hesitated and said, “Give me a little time to think it over. Maybe we can do something for you.”
Her mouth twisted contemptuously. “Listen, mister, the finishing school I graduated from taught me more than how to sling a fancy highball. I don’t trust you. When a lawyer asks for time he’s thinking up ways to trick somebody.
–Harold Q. Masur, Suddenly a Corpse
