Sips

AlcoHOLidays | National Iced Tea Day | Hospitality Suite

Sips

jwalker_ss_hospitalitysuite

Ah, Iced Tea. It got it’s start here on American soil when an English tea merchant set up a booth at the St Louis World’s Fair in 1904 but it was far too hot for anyone to want warm tea. Even though I’ve heard it said that hot tea can can cool you off, and supposedly does so faster than drinking a cool beverage, you’d be hard-pressed to convince most of the folks I know of that.

Saturday, June 8, 2013, is National Iced Tea Day.

I’m sure you can come up with plenty of ways to enjoy your iced tea, but I’m going to pull out a particular favorite from my 50 Shots of America series: South Carolina’s Hospitality Suite. Sure, sure, sweet tea vodka blends are all over the prepared drink market, but I still think my combination of peach schnapps and strong tea is far and away better. And while you can certainly shake it and serve it as a diminutive drink as originally devised (all the better to share with), you can also stir the ingredients below together and pour them over ice and enjoy this one all on your own.

Hospitality Suite

3 oz Brewed Tea, strong
2 oz Peach Schnapps
1 oz Tan Sugar Syrup (simple syrup made with half white and half brown sugar)
1/2 barspoon Vanilla (the real thing, no imitation extracts!)

Combine over ice in a large shaker and give it a firm handshake to a count of ten. Strain into 2 chilled cordial glasses. (Or combine over a full glass of ice in an Old Fashioned glass and sip for 1.)

Cheers!

Tuesday Reviews-Day: Tequila Mockingbird, Cocktails with a Literary Twist

Sips

tequilamockingbird

***This is a sponsored post. I received a copy of Tequila Mockingbird by Tim Federle for purpose of review. All opinions expressed are my own. Now, with that out of the way…***

Unlike the last cocktail book that I expected to love and was somewhat disappointed by, I had a few misgivings about Tequila Mockingbird from some of the early information. That the first two parts were titled “Drinks for Dames” and “Gulps for Guys” had my inner feminist cringing but the ill-named sections actually did make sense as each featured works either by or featuring characters of that gender.

But it’s not all femme versus fella. The punny titles are non-stop, with such gems as

  • Love in the Time of Kahlua
  • The Turn of the Screwdriver
  • Lord of the Mai-Tais [that would have been a much more interesting read, I’m thinking]
  • The Phantom Tolljuice
  • Prawn Quixote [this one a snack]

And if you enjoy my occasionally witty turn of phrase in the directions, you’ll enjoy Federle’s all the more.

Of all the works subjected to cocktail creations, I admit I was surprised to see children’s books in the mix–but there was no cause to worry, those are the non-alcoholic drinks. And then there are the edibles found in Bar Bites for the Book Hound and even a smattering of drinking games for those with a masochistic streak.

And then there are the illustrations by Lauren Mortimer. Wonderfully detailed pencil drawings grace many of the cocktail recipes and do a wonderful job of enhancing the humor throughout the book.

I read the first half of the book while sitting in the Jury Selection room–I was almost sorry I had to put it down and go to work when they released us!

Tequila Mockingbird, Cocktail with a Literary Twist is a small book, perfectly gift-sized, and a fun read. Bonus? A lot of the cocktails are built in a Collins glass so are truly a pour away from drinkable. And if you skipped any of the classics mentioned in this book, Federle’s descriptions might just pique your curiosity enough to pick ’em up.

Cheers!

AlcoHOLidays | Memorial Day | Kilbeggan Waterwheel

Sips

KB_Waterwheel

***This post has been sponsored by Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey; a sample was received in consideration for Tuesday’s review as well as today’s recipe share. Other than that, no further compensation has been received and the opinions expressed below are entirely that of the author. No further affiliation with Kilbeggan Distillery is being claimed. And now with that out of the way…***

Memorial Day. Unofficial start to summer. Reason for barbecues and pool parties across the nation. Last 3-day-weekend until Labor Day. Excuse for car lots to piggy-back yet another tent sale with the waving of the red, white, and blue.

‘Oh, yeah, and military stuff, too.’

At least that’s what it appears to mean to most.

Starting after the Civil War, Decoration Day has a fuzzy beginning with several cities claiming first rights–though decorating soldiers’ graves goes back farther than our War Between the States–on both the North and South sides of history. The dates observed were varied, as well, with May 30th being the common date in the North and, gradually, the rest of the country. It wasn’t until that 1967 act that normalized a bunch of holidays into their nearest Mondays, creating those beloved 3-day weekends, that Memorial Day shifted from May 30th to the last Monday in May (though it took a few years to be put into practice).

Granted, if you’ve never lost a friend or family member while they served in the Armed Forces, chances are this holiday might have less personal significance to you, but as a nation it’s a time when we attempt to honor those who died in service and a sense of nationalism overall. For some, this means visiting a relative’s grave and placing a flag or flowers thereupon. Others volunteer to beautify all service-member graves, relatives or not, as a show of thanks for their sacrifice. While others might be more inclined to reminisce with those nearest, some solemnly, others more in the style of an Irish wake.

Or at least that’s how I’m going to segue into today’s cocktail, contributed by Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey.

Kilbeggan Waterwheel
Recipe By Darren McGettigan, resident mixologist at Bar Beoga of the Menlo Park Hotel

1 1/4 ounces Kilbeggan® Irish Whiskey
2 1/2 ounces Pressed Apple Juice
1 1/4 ounces Pressed Pineapple Juice
6 Fresh Blueberries
1 Dash of Cherry Bitters
1 Bar Spoon of White Sugar
additional blueberries for garnish

In a Boston shaker, add blueberries and sugar, muddle hard. Fill the shaker with ice, and add all other ingredients. Shake well, and double strain into a tall glass filled with ice. Garnish with blueberries on a cocktail pick.

I can easily see this multiplied in a frosty pitcher to serve to your barbecue guests both on Memorial Day as well as the rest of your summer events. I’d skip the straining, obviously, and leave the bits of blueberries to float around for color, or freeze some blueberries to use as “ice cubes” to keep the drinks cool without further diluting it.

However you choose to observe this national holiday, please remember to do so responsibly and to use a designated driver or call a cab rather than risk some other sort of memorial being required. If you catch my drift.

Cheers!

Tuesday Reviews-Day: Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey

Sips

kilbegganPageBottleImage

***This is a sponsored post. Product was provided for the purpose of review, no other compensation was received. All opinions expressed are my own. Now that we’ve got that out of the way…***

Do you change your spirits when you put away your seasonal wardrobe? Frankly, the thought never occurred to me, but I can see how some would be inclined.

Just the way summer is prime time for light and airy clothes, light and airy alcohols seem to follow course. Whisk(e)y and it’s darker brethren are often put away as the temperature raises, but not everyone agrees with that process.

On Friday I’ll have a cooling cocktail featuring Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey, but before we get to that, let’s talk about the whiskey itself.

The Kilbeggan Distillery is the oldest licensed distillery in Ireland. Their distilling tradition goes back over 250 years and the pot still they use is 180 years old. You’d expect after all that time they must have hit upon something that worked, right?

Opening the bottle, it smells like whiskey–no big surprise there. Rich and lightly smoky, there was nothing unpleasant about the nose. The color is amber, not too dark, not too weak. And the taste? Like most whiskeys it’s sharp at first and burns a bit going down. That burn is what some people enjoy and not necessarily my favorite part, but giving the whiskey a few more sips allowed me to enjoy the warmth that whiskey so easily spreads and the rich flavor the whiskey has. And afterward your left with a decidedly sweet flavor, which is perhaps the most surprising facet to me.

Unlike Scotch, Kilbeggan isn’t overly oaky or peaty, and I can easily see how this would work in a fruit-based cocktail for the summer. Still, I’d be more inclined to pull it out on a rainy summer day, but at least there’s no real reason to put it away until fall.

Cheers!

AlcoHOLidays | Devil’s Food Cake Day | Cocoa Diablo

Sips

jwalker_ss_cocoadiablo_cocktail

Does chocolate cake sound good to anyone else right about now?

This coming Sunday, May 19, is National Devil’s Food Cake Day and I’m pretty much sold on the idea, truth be told. Might have to squeeze in some baking between appointments on Saturday.

What makes Devil’s Food cake different from other chocolate cakes? Good question! Generally speaking (i.e., according to Wikipedia), Devil’s Food cake usually contains coffee and usually uses cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate for the primary flavoring agent.

Of course it would have been super simple to construct a cake-sweet cocktail for today with chocolate vodka, chocolate syrup, some Kahlua and maybe some milk to tie it all together, but we’ve been down that road and that cocktail–while tasty!–has been done to death. Instead, let’s take a different path today. A more feisty path.

Does madness follow down this road? Maybe so, but it’s tasty madness.

Cocoa Diablo

2 oz strongly-brewed Coffee (preferably chilled)
1 1/2 oz Dark Chocolate Vodka (like Van Gogh)
1/2 oz Absolut Pepar
pinch of Spicy Rim Blend

Spicy Rim Blend: 1 part red chili powder, 2 parts powdered ginger, 4 parts cocoa powder

Run a wedge of lemon or lime around the outer edge of a cocktail glass then drag the rim of the glass through the Spicy Rim Blend. If you’re unsure of your guests’ heat tolerance, only rim one half of the glass.

Combine the cocktail ingredients over ice in the bottom of a shaker and shake like Mephistopheles, himself, is on your tail. Strain into the prepared cocktail glass and sip with caution.

If you make this with warm or hot coffee, you will end up with more water in the mix–this may or may not be a good thing to your thinking. Proceed accordingly. This looks like your average chocolate martini (sans milk, obviously) with a cocoa powder rim. Looks can be deceiving. Fact is, this is a more-spicy-than-sweet chocolate cocktail that lives up to it’s name. It’s not a relaxing cocktail to wind down a dinner with, more of a get the party started tipple.. And, yes, it might be useful if you feel like daring a friend to try something shocking.

Cheers!