July 4, 2014
Hey, it’s the 4th of July! Is anyone reading this? Perhaps not, but just in case here’s a drink that’s sure to up the refreshing ante for your holidays – the Happy Crab. It’s not, as you might think, a reference to how holidays make some folks crabby. Oh no, it’s a reference to the happiness of summertime when you have a really refreshing drink. One of my favorite refreshers in summer, by the way, is English boozy ginger beer Crabbies. And Crabbies not too long ago released a new version, Spiced Orange Crabbies, which is also tasty when the sun rises high in the sky.
But, you know me – even tasty things I believe can sometimes be tastier when mixed with other tasty things. Which is the case with this very drink, as it takes the tasty new Crabbies orange and mixes it with another summer fav, dark rum, and then, just cause I’m crazy for it, Bénédictine. And you know what? The end result is awesome. Try it this holiday, or anytime this summer, and see how right I am. You’ll be happy . . . as a crab.
The Happy Crab
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounce dark rum
1/2 ounce Bénédictine
5 ounces Crabbies Spiced Orange ginger beer
1. Fill a big highball or comparable glass about halfway full with ice cubes. Add the dark rum and Benedictine. Stir briefly.
2. Add the Crabbies. Stir to combine. Face the sun with a smile.
Tags: Benedictine, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Crabbies cocktail, Crabbies ginger beer, Crabbies orange spiced ginger beer, dark rum, Friday Night Cocktail, The Happy Crab, What’s I’m Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Liqueurs, Recipes, Rum, What I'm Drinking
February 18, 2014
There are a number of things we miss in the modern age: Myrna Loy, zoot suits, un-ironic swing bands, speakeasies that aren’t just trying to be trendy, and more. We also miss the chance to have “bootlegger” on our resumes. Ah well, at least the unmissable Compleat Imbiber # 2, itself a bit old (from 1958) lets us relive the bootlegging days in an essay it contains. An essay from which I present to you the below quote.
The first violinist, an expert chemist, skillfully diluted the contents of gin, rum, Scotch whisky, Bénédictine, and Cognac bottles which he bought at the crew’s fifty per cent reduction from the second-class barman. (In those days of Honesty, it was ‘second’ and not ‘cabin’ class.)
—Joseph Wechsberg, Confessions of a Bootlegger
Tags: Benedictine, Cocktail Talk, Cognac, Complete Imbiber, Confessions of a Bootlegger, Gin, Rum, Scotch whisky, The Compleat Imbiber
Posted in: Cocktail Talk, Gin, Rum
January 17, 2014
In a way, I feel if I say the phrase “An American Bobby Burns” I should be talking about a poet, taking the long absent mantle of political-drinking-lyrical combination of sorts from Robert Burns, who goes from grain to glass in a singular way (probably it would be Ed Skoog, I suppose, as he’s the best poet in the world anyway). But instead, I’m talking about the Bobby Burns cocktail, one of my all-time favorites. Its traditional mingling of Scotch, sweet vermouth, and Bénédictine is a truly beautiful thing. However, I recently made one not with Scotch, but instead with an American single-malt whiskey, specifically Seattle-based Westland distillery’s inaugural release, Deacon Seat single-malt whiskey. Deacon Seat is a very approachable, layered whiskey, with citrus and pastry and marmalade flavorings that match amazingly with the herbal-ness of Punt e’ Mes sweet vermouth (my vermouth pick this time) and the spiritual savoryness of Bénédictine. I have to think any poet would approve.
The American Bobby Burns
Ice cubes
2-1/2 ounces Westland Deacon Seat single malt whiskey
1 ounce Punt e’ Mes sweet vermouth
1/4 ounce Bénédictine
Lemon twist, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the Deacon Seat, Punt ‘e Mes, and Bénédictine. Shake well.
2. Strain the mix into a cocktail glass. Squeeze the lemon twist over it and let it float into the glass.
A Note: You can also stir this one over ice, instead of shaking. But I think the poets like to show off their shaking skills.
Tags: American single malt whiskey, An American Bobby Burns, Benedictine, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Punt e’ Mes sweet vermouth, Westland Deacon Seat single malt whiskey, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Dark Spirits, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking, Whiskey
December 13, 2013
Recently, an old pal-of-mine name of Eric Norris, poet-writer-reader-library-man-deadeye-shooter-guy (he sounds like a detective in a way – I hope that on his rare down hours he is solving crime where he lives in lovely Hays, KS), dropped me a note asking about a coffee drink idea. He’s a swell fella, and I’m guessing an early riser, so I understood his need for a cocktail that tastes good and operates as a pick-you-up. Cause I believe in choices, I actually came up with two coffee drink ideas, the below, and one that I’ll roll out in a week. This one has a good espresso boom but also some nice herbally action via the sweet vermouth and Bénédictine. Oh, and some gin, cause gin is nice in any morning.
Hays at 6 AM
Cracked ice
1-3/4 ounces gin
1/2 ounce chilled espresso
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
1/2 ounce Bénédictine
3 coffee beans, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with cracked ice. Add everything but the beans. Stir well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with 3 coffee beans.
Tags: Benedictine, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, coffee cocktail, espresso, espresso cocktail, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, Hays at 6 AM, sweet vermouth, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Recipes, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
September 13, 2013
Holy Toledo! Everyone who’s been holding your breath can now exhale – the new season of the Cocktail to Cocktail Hour is finally upon us. They (those bastardos) said it couldn’t be done, said that the Cocktail to Cocktail Hour was too radicool, too awesome, too tasty for modern T.V. – but they were wrong. To prove it, the first episode of the new season, where I teach you have to make the Kick-Off, a combination of gin, dry vermouth, anisette, Benedictine, and Angostura. Get to it, y’all!
Tags: Angostura bitters, anisette, Benedictine, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Cocktail to Cocktail Hour, Cocktail video, Cocktail Videos, dry vermouth, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Cocktail to Cocktail Hour, Cocktail Videos, Gin, Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, Italy, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
July 30, 2013
Way way back where here on this here blog, I posted some (though no one, I hope, would say too much) about the fine, fine collection Everyday Drinking by Kingsley Amis. If you’re interested in writing about drinking, or drinking, or reading, or any of those things jumbled up as in a blender in some way, then I strongly suggest you read said collection. But also check out Mr. Amis’ novels and such, cause they’re darn fine as well. And sometimes have amazing Cocktail Talk-ing going on, like in the below.
Shorty recovered himself, no mean feat after the MacKelvie-provided shot of green Chartreuse, and the Fishwicke-provided shot of Bénédictine he had thrown down on top of everything else.
—Kingsley Amis, Ending Up
June 18, 2013
I’ve had some Cocktail Talk from Cornell Woolrich here on this blog already, and sung his praises. Which are deserved, cause he created the whole genre of “noir” as much as anyone, and was a pulp-a-teer of the first rate. His book Black Alibi fits as noir, too, though it’s different in a way, as it takes place in South America, has a killer jaguar (or does it?), and is told from a number of perspectives, including the victims in the book. It took me a bit to get in to, but once I did, I was hooked. There’s also lots of drinks and bar talk, including the following, which is part of one character’s musings about the bar scene throughout an evening.
Midnight to about two was the zenith. Meridian of her “day.” That was when the shows let out. They let out late in Ciudad Real. The Casino Bleu, the Madrid out in the park (she never went out there, though; too far to walk back in case you didn’t connect), the Jockey Club, the Tabain, the Select. Those were the places to seek out then. This was the cream of the night life, swarming with the sports, the swells, the heavy spenders. Most of them had cabaret entertainment; if not, tango bands and dancing at the very least. Benedictine, then. Crème de menthe. Sometimes even Champagne.
–Cornell Woolrich, Black Alibi
February 19, 2013
Way back on March 10, 2009, I posted about Cornell Woolrich, the noir-mystery-darkness master, quoting from his book Fright. I’m aghast that it’s the only Woolrich quote I’ve had on here, as I think he’s a darn fine writer, even though he has lots of books that aren’t going to leave you humming a jaunty tune – more walking around wondering why anything is worth it. Waltz Into Darkness is the only book of his I think that has “Darkness” in the title, but that word sums his selection up well (oh, he wrote it originally as one of his nom de plumes, William Irish, by the way). I strongly suggest reading up on your Woolrich even you have only a passing liking for the noir. Or, Benedictine.
It was by now eleven and after, a disheveled mass of tortured napkins, sprawled flowers, glassware tinged with repeated refills of red wines and white; Champagne and kirsch and little upright thimbles of Benedictine for the ladies, no two alike at the same level of consumption.
—Waltz Into Darkness, Cornell Woolrich
