In late January, many of us are starting to dream about June. We’ve had just long enough of the cold weather that we crave the warm weather – and heck, many travel to find a summerlike setting right about now. But, many others can’t take the time to take the trip. This drink is for those folks (hmm, I may just be one of those folks), and the recipe’s from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz.
The Temporary Getaway
3 apple slices
1/2 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
Ice cubes
1 ounce St-Germain elderflower liqueur
4 ounces chilled brut Sekt or other sparkling wine
1. Place 2 of the apple slices, the orange juice, and the lemon juice in a cocktail shaker or mixing glass. Using a muddler or wooden spoon, muddle well.
2. Fill the cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the St-Germain and, using a long spoon, stir well.
3. Pour the chilled Sekt into the cocktail shaker. Using that same reliable spoon, stir briefly, being sure to bring up the fruit on the bottom when stirring.
4. Strain into a flute glass or cocktail glass (in this instance I like the way the latter breathes, but a flute’s more traditional). Garnish with the remaining apple slice, putting a little notch in it if needed for rim balancing.
There’s another drink also called The Blue Train (as happens, cause people are creating drinks all the time. Like ten were created as I typed “ten”), or the Blue Train Special, which shakes together 1-1/2 ounces brandy and 1 ounce fresh pineapple juice over ice, and then tops it with Cap Classique or other sparkling wine and a pineapple chunk in a flute glass. This is not that Blue Train. The Blue Train is in Wine Cocktails. This one is in Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz. Both drinks are awesome. This just happens to be the one I’m drinking today. But tomorrow? Who knows?
The Blue Train
Ice cubes
1 ounce gin
1/2 ounce Cointreau
1/2 freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 ounce crème de violette
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin, Cointreau, lemon juice, and crème de violette. Shake briefly.
Sometimes, I’m a bit lucky (now, I’m not like tootin’ my own horn here or anything. I’m unlucky lots of times, too), and when I come home from the coal mine I work days at I find a package on my doorstep, and sometimes, sometimes that package is filled with bottles from which flow delicious elixirs. Meaning: booze. Recently, in one box that was on the doorstep was a bottle of Hoodoo chicory liqueur. Made in Mississippi at the Cathead distillery (where they also make the mighty fine Cathead vodka, Cathead honeysuckle vodka, and Bristow gin), Hoodoo is a rich mix, not too sweet, and with herbal and coffee notes jumping all around just the tiniest bitter whispers. I’ve always thought of chicory tied up with coffee (and probably remember hearing of it first the first time I went to New Orleans and visited Café Du Monde years and years ago), and so when I started playing around with this liqueur in drinks – which is what I do with a new liqueur, after I taste it – my first thought was to mix it with coffee. But then I started thinking back to when I was growing up in Kansas, and when I’d see farmers in the doughnut shop get coffee then add a splash of bourbon or rye to it. To sort-of invert the ratio (hey, I’m not in Kansas anymore), I decide to try adding a splash of the Hoodoo to a large bit of the brown. To round things out, and to add a few more herbal touches, I added a smaller splash of Carpano Antica. And the Mississippi Morning was born. While it is a dandy drink for the a-m, it also shines at night. And after you’ve gotten up from a nap.
The Mississippi Morning
Cracked ice
2 ounces rye
3/4 ounces Hoodoo liqueur
1/4 ounce Carpano Antica
1. Fill a mixing glass or cocktail shaker halfway full with cracked ice. Add everything. Stir well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Drink up.
A Note: Here’s a funny thing: I used Woodinville Whiskey Company rye, which I love. But, currently (but hopefully not forever) Hoodoo isn’t available in Washington State, where I live. So track down some Hoodoo and use the rye of your choice – unless you can track down some Woodinville rye as well. But if that’s the case, you’re some sort-of jetsetter. And lucky yourself.
Yeah, that’s right, we’re going back-to-back with the first two episodes of the new season of the Cocktail to Cocktail Hour (which is good, in a way, cause who really knows when the next one will be?). Partially we’re doing this because I love you so, so very much. And partially because Episode 2 is a very special holiday cocktail, and, well, the holidays are certainly in full swing. The bubbly combo in question is the Tip Top, a sparkling wine-brandy-Benedictine affair from Dark Spirits that’ll make any winter holiday you care to celebrate better than you could ever imagine (especially New Year’s Eve naturally). So get with the holiday spirit why dontcha?
The time is now! This is the time! This time it is time for the time being now! All of which is to say, the sparkling new season of A.J. Rathbun’s Cocktail to Cocktail Hour (starring me, A.J. Rathbun) starts today. And what a start it is: in this first episode I’ll teach you how to make the Supersonic cocktail, named after my favorite NBA team of all time, The Seattle Supersonics. Yeah! It’s a delicious mix, which should be enough to woo you to watching and making, but to make things even more exciting, the episode has a very special guest: the Glove, the best defensive point guard in history, Gary Payton! You have to watch it to believe it folks. So what are you waiting for – hit play already!
PS: As always, the Cocktail to Cocktail Hour was directed, co-wrote, edited, produced, and gaff’d by Dr. Gonzo and is an Artificial Khaos production.
As the holidays approach like a sleigh driven by a tipsy elf, I find it’s good to have A: an easy-but-tasty homemade present ready to whip together as needed for a last minute gift and B: a delicious crafted and crafty sipper to whip together as needed for offices parties, friend parties, family parties, and tête-à-tête parties. This recipe for Chocolate Cream Liqueur, from Luscious Liqueurs, hits both A and B in the above equation, is memorable enough to make year after year, and doesn’t take more time than wrapping most gifts. So, as usual, I suggest giving the gift of booze this year – and homemade booze adds an even special-er touch.
Chocolate Cream Liqueur
Makes 2-1/2 pints
2 cups dark rum
One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chocolate syrup
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1. Put all of the ingredients in order (you want the rum to take the first plunge, to convince the other ingredients everything is okay) to a sturdy blender. Blend on high for 1 to 2 minutes, until smooth and well-combined.
2. Pour the liqueur into 1 large bottle or a number of small bottles or jars with tight-fitting lids. Seal and refrigerate. You can serve this right away, and please consume within 2 weeks.
A Note: I suggest shaking the bottle in a serious manner before serving (unless you’re serving right after making it) to assure that no settling has occurred.
So, you ever have those days when you lose a bunch of information about this or that (nothing that serious, but right annoying) and need a perfect drink to remind yourself that all is well in the dreamy and bright world. Turn to this lesser-known classic originally from a hotel of the same name in Louisville, KY. It won’t let you down, friends, in the least.
The Seelbach
1 ounce bourbon
1/2 ounce Cointreau
7 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
7 dashes Angostura bitters
Chilled brut Champagne or sparkling wine
Orange twist, for garnish
1. Pour the bourbon, Cointreau, and the two bitters into a flute glass. Stir briefly.
2. Fill the flute almost to the top with the chilled Champagne or sparkling wine. Stir again, but don’t get nutty about it. Garnish with the orange twist.
Hello hello. I’ve been lucky enough to do some fantastic blogs and articles for Seattle Magazine recently (like I’ve mentioned in past Seattle Magazine blog posts here on Spiked Punch), and in case you somehow missed them, now’s your chance to catch up on your reading. Cause you can’t get enough of me, right? Right? Here is a selection of the goods, in bulleted fashion:
