July 12, 2016
Hello! I’ve been having lots of fun recently writing about booze, bars, and bumbling about for the Seattle magazine lately, and, well, cause I care about you (I do, really), and know you’re busy, what with the busy things, I figured I’d list out a few of the Seattle magazine things done in the near-ish past, so you can catch up. See, I do care. Read the below to see how much:
• Prohibition Drink Picks for the New Smith Tower Bar
• 3 First Impressions of Gracia
• Upcoming Festivals, Distillery News, and Ultimate Bartending
• 3 First Impressions of the No Bones Beach Club
• 3 First Impressions of Meet the Moon
• Oliver’s 40th and Local Distillers Win Big
*See all Seattle magazine pieces by me
Tags: Bars, Cocktail News, Gracia, Meet the Moon, No Bones Beach Club, Oliver’s 40th and Local Distillers Win Big, Seattle Bars, Seattle Magazine, Seattle Magazine Cocktail Catch-Up
Posted in: Bars, Cocktail News, Seattle Magazine
July 8, 2016
Summer seems somehow a swell season for sherry drinks. Lighter, refreshing, sherry won’t weigh you down when the Mercury’s risen. And the Greenbrier (which isn’t the cocktail below, by the by) is one of a handful of elder sherry drinks, in that it shows up in a number of older classic cocktail tomes. It’s a fairly tasty mix, too, with dry vermouth, sherry (duh), and, interestingly, peach bitters, oh, and mint, too. Very summery, right? But for some reason I wanted to try a twist (probably because my dry vermouth and blanc vermouth bottles are right next to each other) on the formula, and changed the vermouth from dry to blanc. Super, duper, choice, if I can be so bold. A tiny bit brighter, and bit, oh, rounder in a way, due to the sweeter (but not sweet) nature of the blanc. Lovely. Do it.
Of course, before the super-duper-ing, you gotta pick the right sherry. I went with Tio Pepe Fino sherry (which, lucky me, arrived in the mail). Fino sherries are lowish in alcohol, light, crisp, and meant to be served cool and kept cool (and best to consume fairly soon after opening, like a light white wine). Tio Pepe’s version is made from the Palomino grape, and is nice and dry with a golden color and a little nutty-ness. It mingles here with the blanc vermouth as if they were cousins (hmm, I suppose they are, in a way), as well as playing nice with the bitters and mingling on the nose with the mint. A swell summer sipper indeed.
The Gleanbrier
Cracked ice
2 ounces Tio Pepe Fino sherry
1 ounce Dolin Blanc vermouth
1 dash Fee Brothers peach bitters
Mint sprig, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add everything but the mint. Stir well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with that mint.
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Dolin Blanc vermouth, Fee Brothers peach bitters, Friday Night Cocktail, sherry cocktail, The Gleanbrier, Tio Pepe Fino sherry, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Recipes, Sherry, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
July 5, 2016
Recently had a chance to ask some awesome (well, that list is super-duper long – I love me some shakers here, but all these folks happened to be both neat and within recent earshot) Seattle bartenders about what they think re: summer drinks and drinking, with a whole ton of suggestions, all rounded up in a mighty Seattle magazine summer drinking interview post, which you, being someone who likes to drink in summer I’m guessing, should read right now.
July 1, 2016
This refreshing relative of the Diablo cocktail is sure to become a summertime favorite, whether you’re wearing your 10-gallon hat and chaps (and maybe little else – it is summer after all, and very sweltering) or normal attire. It uses one of the new Stolen Fruit cocktail mixers, which I surely hope are available in your town (if not, complain to the mayor). Not a “cocktail mixer” in the yucky, pre-made un-natural way, but instead, grape-based, and more just a mixer in really-good-thing-you-add-to-booze way. What happens is, they use the fresh-pressed juice from green grapes (which is called verjus, if you’re feeling fancy), combined with other natural flavors, to make mystical (why not?) liquids, which can be added in with spirits and liqueurs and such to make cocktails and highballs and more, oh my, or just added to soda water or other juices to make fine non-boozy beverages.
So, I recently received a few to try out (I know – I’m lucky!), and made this very drink with the Hibiscus Grenache Stolen Fruit mixer, which is not only perhaps the most poetic (the word “hibiscus” is really poetic, me thinks), but which also boasts a berry, zingy, and tiny bit spicy flavor that to me screamed out tequila! Tequila! Tequila! As that’s another summer favorite around these parts, the combo felt right. And you know what? It was! Try the below, and make your summer not only more bubbly, but just plain better.
Cowboy Healer
Ice cubes
2 ounces Reposado tequila (I went with Corralejo Reposado, and it was great)
1-1/2 ounces Stolen Fruit Hibiscus Grenache
4 ounces ginger beer (I used Q ginger beer, and it spiced right)
Lime wedge, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the tequila and the stolen fruit. Shake well.
2. Fill a highball glass (preferably one shaped like a boot) three-quarters up with ice cubes. Strain the mix from step 1 into the glass.
3. Top with the ginger beer. Stir well. Garnish with that lime.
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Corralejo Reposado tequila, Cowboy Healer, Friday Night Cocktail, ginger beer, Q ginger beer, Reposado tequila, Stolen Fruit cocktail mixer, Stolen Fruit Hibiscus Grenache, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Recipes, Tequila, What I'm Drinking
June 28, 2016
Hello G&T lovers! It seems this summer stalwart is having yet another moment in the sun, as every bar and their bar’s mom are talking about how they have the finest types of gin mixed with the finest types of tonics and more variations than you could count. However! One of the actually finest G&T programs is at Seattle’s fresh Naka (the bar, not the restaurant, which is also fresh, and really, they’re connected, so who’s pulling hairs? Not me), where I recently went, had their newest G&T, talked to energetic and awesome bar star Nic Virrey, and then wrote about it in a Seattle magazine article you should read right now. Thank me later!
*See all Seattle magazine pieces by me
June 24, 2016
Sometimes, one gets cravings (I’m no fortune teller, but I’m seeing that in everyone’s future, they’ll get cravings, too), of all sorts, I suppose. Example A: the other day, I had a swell drink made with maraschino (the most misunderstood of all liqueurs, historically, or at least the last, let’s say, 40 years of history, because too many think it’s sickly like those sick twisted things that pass as maraschino cherries in mass market grocery stores, when it’s not, at all, instead being dry and a hint nutty, being made from the pits of the marasca cherries and all), and that swell drink made me crave more maraschino drinks. And so I went for the Sweet Pie, a cuddly classic-y number, where the always tasty and reliable Luxardo Maraschino shines alongside gin and sweet vermouth, and a smidge of simple syrup comes along for the ride to round the edges in a cuddly – as mentioned – manner. Dreamy deliciousness.
Sweetie Pie, from Good Spirits
Ice cubes
1 1/2 ounces gin
3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
3/4 ounce Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
1/2 ounce simple syrup
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur, and simple syrup. Shake well.
2. Add the cherry to a cocktail glass or pretty cordial. Strain the mix into the glass.
PS: Sometimes this is garnished with a Maraschino cherry. But sometimes I want to skip the fruit. You go as you go.
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Fright Night Cocktail, Gin, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, maraschino liqueur, sweet vermouth, The Sweetie Pie, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Good Spirits, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
June 17, 2016
This tequila champion takes its name from a quote from General Ignacio Zaragoza, who commanded the forces at the battle of Puebla (where he, in a massive upset, won the day, and that winning is what is celebrated on Cinco de Mayo, but just because that’s a fact, it doesn’t mean that you should only have this drink then. No, no, no! This drink is good anytime. Know that, and you can skip the whole upset thing, and just be happy). It uses the swell Corralejo Tequila Reposado as its base, a tequila crafted out of 100% blue agave, and then said tequila is aged in American oak for at least three months. The end result is a smooth agave-spice-caramel flavor that mingles dreamily with sweet vermouth, orange bitters, and a hint of citrus in this very drink.
The National Arms
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces Corralejo Tequila Reposado
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1/4 ounce lemon juice
2 dashes orange bitters
Lemon twist
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the tequila, vermouth, juice, and bitters. Shake well.
2. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the lemon twist.
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Corralejo Tequila Reposado, Friday Night Cocktail, lemon juice, orange bitters, sweet vermouth, Tequila, The National Arms, What I'm Drinking, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Recipes, Tequila, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
June 14, 2016
It’s sorta weird, sorta not, that I haven’t had a
Cocktail Talk post before (at least that I or various search engines can remember) from a William Trevor story or book. I mean, he’s awesome, and I’ve read a serious amount of words that originally came from his typewriter, especially on the story side, though admittedly a number of his novels, too, and watched movies made from them as well. Okay, maybe it’s really weird! But his characters don’t tend to be cocktail-ing it up, or maybe I’m too involved in the stories to fold over the page corners as I usually do to remind myself of quotes that might work. However! I was recently re-reading his story collect
Cheating At Canasta, in which you’ll find the story “Old Flame,” and found the below gem (I wish La Mabury was in my office – I’d be nicer), which felt the ideal way to finally bring the Trevor Cocktail Talking to life.
The day Charles appeared – the first time they laid eyes on him – he was being led around by the snooty, half-drunk Miss Maybury, both of them with glasses of vin rosé, which was what La Maybury – her office title – drank every afternoon, sometimes in the mornings also.
–William Trevor, Old Flame
