August 25, 2023

What I’m Drinking: What the LL

Here’s a nice number that straddles somehow the summer, while still having a base that seems more fall-ish (rye, specifically Woodinville Whiskey Co. delicious rye. If you can get their rye finished with toasted applewood staves, do that. Do it now). Probably cause of the ice and soda and sorta tiki-ish St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram and the citrus from some fresh oj, and some local robust and fruity cherry brandy (the real stuff, not the sugary stuff that calls itself cherry brandy — I used Oomrang cherry brandy, which is yummy), but whateves. It’s a dandy treat, even here in August. I originally created it during the lockdown year of 2020, which you might remember, and which you might like to forget. The drink’s heft – while still staying light-ish on its feet mind you – might help with that! Even though that time was tough, there were I’m sure good things to come out of it, so maybe let’s not forget it completely. Like this drink, for example! Well worth remembering and having again.

What the LL
What the LL

What the LL

Ice cubes

1-1/2 ounces Woodinville Whiskey Co. rye

1/2 ounce St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram

1/2 ounce Oomrang Cherry brandy

3/4 ounce freshly-squeezed orange juice

2 ounces club soda

1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with ice cubes. Add the rye, allspice dram, brandy, and oj. Shake well.

2. Add one big ice cube or a couple decent-sized ice cubes to a chalice of some glittering kind (no need to turn into savages). If none is at hand, an Old Fashioned, big one that is, can work.

3. Strain the drink through a fine strainer into the glass. Top with the club soda. Stir carefully to combine.

July 21, 2023

What I’m Drinking: The Blueberry Cobbler

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.

Blueberry Cobbler using Oomrang's Blueberry Geist fruit brandy.

The Blueberry Cobbler

10 blueberries

1/2 ounce freshly-squeezed lemon juice

3/4 ounce simple syrup

2 ounces Oomrang Blueberry geist

Ice cubes

Crushed or cracked ice

1-1/2 ounces chilled soda water

Blueberries and mint spring for garnish

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.

July 7, 2023

What I’m Drinking: The Garibaldi

The Garibaldi: Campari, orange juice

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.

June 16, 2023

What I’m Drinking: Tether’s End

You may not be aware (knowing you, you probably are), but this is the last Friday of Spring, 2023 – the first day of Summer being next Wednesday, the 21st. So, Spring (initial-capping here to give it some personalizing, dontcha know) today is at the end of its tether, so to speak, which means it’s the ideal day for this drink. Which was originally named after a book by Margery Allingham, but which I believe shouldn’t be relegated to only being sipped when writing posts around books. Not that books aren’t dreamy dreams (my favorite things are books, after a few other more favorite things), but this dandy combination of gin, amari, and grenadine is such a sprightly, amiable combination, that it should be had more often – unless you’re reading books all the time, which I, now that I think about it, am, then you’d be having it more. But I digress. You should go with a nice, London-style gin – I’m with reliable and reliably yummy Boodles here – and the amari should be if you can get it, Amaro di Toscana (which has a wild boar on the bottle), which is a well-balanced member of the family, meaning between bitter and sweet, rich in herbally flavor though lighter in syrup-i-ness than some on the tongue, and made from 27 herbs and spices growing in Tuscany. The final ingredient, the grenadine, you should make yourself, because it’s better than storebought and I expect better from you. A homemade grenadine recipe to assist you can be found at the end of the As Luck Would Have It recipe. The one funny thing about the name? It’s sounds like having one would be the last drink. The end of the tether and all. But my guess is you’ll want at least two of these. So, you know, don’t be completely literal.

Tether's End Cocktail

Tether’s End

Ice cubes
2 ounces Boodles gin
1 ounce Amaro di Toscana
1/2 ounce homemade grenadine

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add all three tethers. Shake well.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Drink to the last drop.

June 2, 2023

What I’m Drinking: The Astor

Way, way, way, way back when (as people old-like-me say), when I first started getting into the cocktailing and the old-cocktail-booking, and cocktail-recipe-experimenting, lots and lots of bottled beauties weren’t easily available, including many now available at the click from phone, computer, TV, glasses (I suppose), all that. Partially, because I am old. But not that old, children. Also, then, because our modern booze availability explosion is just that – modern. New! But oh, so welcome!

Take, for example, Swedish Punsch. Made with a base of sugar-cane and fermented-red-rice based spirit Batavia Arrack (a rum of sorts, and itself not readily available here in the US in most spots until fairly recently), other rums, spices, and more treats (it’s rum based spice liqueur, really), it’s the national drink of Sweden, and a key component of many tiki hits and cocktails. But went through a period where in many spots, spots I inhabited, it wasn’t available. Now, easy to get in most US places. And delicious! Take Kronan Swedish Punsch, which I’m having today in The Astor cocktail. It has a spice (think allspice, clove, dried orange), toffee, molasses, and leather (in the best way!) taste with a hint of smokiness. Delicious, as mentioned! Great on its own, but also, an important component of many cocktails, like this one. It’s so so swell that it’s now available in our modern world, and that so many more once rare cocktail components are, too. Which means, even though there are many days where it doesn’t seem the happiest world, some things are worth smiling about.

The Astor Cocktail

The Astor, from the Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book by Albert Crockett (which I’m sure you have, but if you don’t, well, get it)

Ice cubes

1-1/2 ounces gin (I used Sun Liquor Gun Club Gin, which played perfectly)

1 ounce Kronan Swedish Punsch

1/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full of ice cubes. Add everything. Shake well.

2. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass. Drink up, happily.

May 26, 2023

What I’m Drinking: Summer’s Lease

While summer doesn’t officially start until, what, a month or thereabout from now, I’m always in my (very old) brain beginning to think “summer” in force on Memorial Day weekend, which is to say, right now! Summer only has a short “lease” (to bring us all together to the all together of this drink’s name), so I like to stretch it out longer than the calendar specifics. I’d say you can disagree, but, really, I doubt many would as it’s a fairly innocuous or unmemorable thought. This drink, however, is very memorable (if I may be so bold and not blush, as I created it), thanks to a double shot of rum – both white rum and the fancy Stiggins’ Fancy Pineapple rum, which is a delight to nature – a splash of herbally-but-approachably-awesome Montenegro amaro (most popular amaro in Italy by-the-way), pineapple juice (the juice epitome of summer), Scrappy’s Lime bitters (which if it would have been around during the first tiki wave, that wave would have never stopped), soda (for cooling and bubbly purposes), and fresh mint. It’s a treat all summer long, no matter how many days you want to celebrate the season.

Summer's Lease highball

Summer’s Lease

Ice cubes

1 ounce white rum

1/2 ounce Stiggins’ Fancy Pineapple rum

1/2 ounce Montenegro amaro

1-1/2 ounce pineapple juice

1 dash Scrappy’s Lime bitters

4 ounces chilled club soda

Fresh mint sprig, for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with ice cubes. Add the rums, amaro, juice, and bitters. Shake well.

2. Fill a highball or comparable glass with ice cubes. Strain the mix from step 1 into the glass. Top with club soda. Stir, carefully (no need to spill). Garnish with the mint.

A Note: You could serve this over cracked ice, even crushed ice. Very summery, both. Though cubes do their part, too.

May 19, 2023

What I’m Drinking: Lillet Rouge and Tonic

It’s the 19th of May, do you know what that means? It means summer is right around the corner, pals, and that we are in the thick and warming part of spring, both of which combine to mean that you’d better start stocking up on your cooling drinks, your lighter liquid assistants that make the warmer and sunshine-y-er days hum hummingly. Drinks like Lillet Rouge and Tonic. Lovely in flavor, lighter in alcohol than those winter warmers being currently shed like so many woolly sweaters, this treat utilizes here Lillet Rouge, the orange-berry-and-spice member of the Lillet family, though both Lillet Blanc and Lillet Rose would be absolutely smashing, too. You might want to adjust the amount of tonic syrup, if you went one of the latter two routes. That’s right, we’re going tonic syrup here, specifically &Tonic tonic syrup (made in WA, dontcha know). For one, it’s bursting with flavor. For two, and this is the joy of tonic syrup, you can maintain control the amount of it and soda, changing easily to taste and occasion. You can find the right balance of it and whichever Lillet you’re using, the right balance for your taste, or the day, or the occasion. Neat, right? Right! And now you have one more (or multiple more, really), slings in your summer drink quiver.

Lillet Rouge and Tonic

Lillet Rouge and Tonic

Ice cubes

1/2 ounce &Tonic syrup

1-1/2 ounces Lillet Rouge

5 ounces chilled club soda

Wide orange twist, for garnish

1. Fill a brandy snifter or tumbler (I really like my whathaveyou-and-tonic drinks in a snifter, cause it looks cool and maybe helps the scents flow into your nose, and helps the poor dusty snifter glasses come out year round) halfway with ice cubes. Add the syrup and Lillet. Stir briefly.

2. Add the soda, stir to combine, and garnish with the twist.

May 5, 2023

What I’m Drinking: The Flowering Grape

The Flowering Grape cocktail

This is a spring drink to me (taste it, and then you can see if it is for you, too), though it does have a hearty Cognac base, in case the temperature is still getting chilly where you are – it certainly still can on some spring nights over here in the 206. There’s a little extra work involved in this one, too, as this is the extra-work time of year for many, spring that is, as one plants plants so they deliver veg and flowers and such later in summer, but don’t, one hopes, freeze in a late spring cold night (as mentioned above – maybe give them some Cognac if it gets too cold. That’s a joke! Plants like water, not booze.) For this drink, no planting, but you will have to make a raspberry vinegar syrup (check the recipe on that link for this syrup recipe), which isn’t too tough, and which is tasty, in this drink and others, as well as just in soda (that’s a swell springtime drink if you need a night off the hard stuff).

The Flowering Grape

Ice cubes
2 ounces Pierre Ferrand Cognac
1 ounce St-Germain elderflower liqueur
1/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 ounce raspberry vinegar syrup (I detail how to make raspberry vinegar syrup here)

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add everything. Shake well.

2. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass. Drink to spring.

Rathbun on Film