50 Shots of America

50 Shots of America–Kentucky

Sips

I spent a week in Louisville, Kentucky, when I was about 13. We were visiting my aunt (a professor at U of L at the time) over Thanksgiving. Many things stand out about that trip:

  • the 11 hours spent in the car (a Toyota Tercel hatchback)
  • the speedometer that lost it’s mind going through the foothills (it flip from 0 to 80 back and forth several times a second for a while)
  • the fact that it was 18 degrees when we arrived in Louisville but that it didn’t snow until the week after we left (I think I’m snow-repellent–this has happened way too often)
  • being too ill to fully enjoy Thanksgiving dinner (major bummer–but I did get better in time to enjoy the leftovers)
  • our trip to Mammoth Caves, the longest cave system in the world(and the hideous blue and yellow sweater dress thing I wore–it was the late 80s and, thankfully, no pictures survive of that thing)

Earlier this month the annual Kentucky Derby was run. Untold pounds of Kentucky Hot Browns were consumed and who knows how many gallons of Mint Juleps were made.

Even though the state beverage is milk (where have we heard that before?), Kentucky is well known for it’s local distillation of corn into Bourbon. Jim Beam Sour Mash Bourbon to be more exact. The bourbon that has a starring role in the Mint Julep as well as another classic cocktail invented in Kentucky: the Old Fashioned.

There’s a fair amount of controversy over a proper Old Fashioned. Some say with fruit (a twist garnish or sometimes muddled with the sugar and water), some without; some say with club soda, some with branch water, some say none at all. For this week’s small sipper I’m using the Old Fashioned as inspiration, adding Cointreau for the citrus note and using honey over sugar or simple syrup in honor of another local staple (the state honey festival is held in Clarkson, KY).

the Mini-Mammoth

3/4 oz Kentucky Bourbon
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz Honey
Club Soda

Combine Bourbon, Cointreau and honey in a mixing glass over ice and shake like a bat flying out of the caves. Strain into a cordial glass.

It might seem like a lot of honey but chances are most of it is going to end up stuck to the wall of your shaker, adding a bit of sweet to smooth out the sour mash bourbon, but not so much that it makes a truly sweet drink. If the first sip seems too strong, take another. In our experience, the 2nd sip is always the truest test of an alcohol’s flavor.

http://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm

50 Shots of America–Vermont

Sips
Chef JennaBear, Vermont Teddy Bear Co

Chef JennaBear, Vermont Teddy Bear Co

So, what do you think of when you think Vermont?

Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream?

Vermont Teddy Bear Company?

Vermont Maple Syrup?

Or all of the above?

Vermont is the 14th state of the US, the first added to the Union after the original 13 ratified the Constitution. Original fought over by the French and British, the Treaty of Paris settled that issue with government going to Britain only to have the colonies of New York and New Hampshire arguing over certain land grants. This angered certain townsfolk and they basically said, forget this, we’re our own nation. And so they stayed until 1791 when they were accepted into the Union.

Since then they’ve carved out their place in the US economy as the top maple syrup producer, the home of the companies mentioned above as well as IBM and King Arthur Flower, and a leading manufacturer of specialty foods. They also happen to rank first in the country for the number of craft breweries per capita.

Another interesting tidbit? If you happen to be traveling through to to Vermont and plan to purchase alcohol you might have a bit of trouble. See, only those with Vermont licenses or a special Liquor ID can purchase bottles of alcohol! You can still order a drink at a bar, but no package store will sell to you without it!

On to the Drink! I knew I had to do something with the maple syrup, I just didn’t know which direction. Add in the craft beer market and the dairy industry and, tada!

The Short Stack

1 oz Honey Wheat Pale Ale
1/4 oz Butterscotch Schnapps
1/4 oz Maple Syrup

Combine all ingredients over ice and shake like your shushing down one of the many ski slopes in the Green Mountain State. Strain into a cordial glass.

This drink tastes remarkably like a short stack of buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup, only without all that pesky cooking or chewing.

50 Shots of America–Louisiana

Sips

Yes, I know, I’m skipping over 4 states in the whole date-of-statehood-order but I have a really good reason:

First, today is my birthday and if you can’t bend (your own) rules on your birthday, what’s the point?

Second, it’s also Louisiana‘s anniversary of statehood. So happy birthday to both of us!

And, in case you missed the memo, I spent the first 6 years of my life in and around Ponchatoula, LA, before I was rudely dragged to Florida to live out what seems to be the rest of my days. Seriously, all I remember about that trip was laying down in the back seat, as furious as a 6-year-old can be, absolutely insulted that we were moving so far away from all of our family.

Louisiana and me? We go way back. So that’s why I’m bending the rules. I promise I will go back and give the 4 states we just leap-frogged their Friday in the sun and delicious cocktails.

My grandfather on my father’s side was an honest-to-goodness hobo during the war. Long after that he built my grandmother her dream home and it’s the home I remember most from my childhood since we lived there, too, for a while. I’m still a little irked that my uncle sold it out of the family more than a decade ago. My grandfather on my mother’s side was a farmer and grew prize-winning strawberries and assorted veggies. It’s his strawberries I remember best, which he made into strawberry freezer jam and made his own strawberry wine, and the annual Strawberry Festival held every April (and still going strong) in our little town.

And, oh, the daiquiris! Obviously I do not remember these so much from my childhood, at least not directly! Not the classic lime daiquiris,but thick, frosty frozen daiquiris absolutely chock-a-block with strawberries. Oh, so good.

Chocolate Covered Daiquiri

1 medium strawberry, hulled and quartered
1 tsp superfine sugar
3/4 oz light rum
1/2 oz strawberry schnapps
1/2 oz chocolate liqueur

Muddle the strawberry, sugar and rum in a sturdy mixing glass until the berries are thoroughly mashed. Add the schnapps and liqueur and top with plenty of ice. Shake it like a last booze run before the storm comes in and strain it into a chilled cordial glass.

This is not too sweet, not too chocolatey, it’s just enough. And if you have trouble tracking down superfine sugar just buzz some regular granulated sugar in a food processor or spice grinder for a bit.

50 Shots of America–Rhode Island

Sips

Seems to like all Rhode Island ever wanted was to be left alone and they just never stood a chance. An early haven for seekers of religious tolerance it was later the Switzerland of New England during the American Indian wars of 17th Century (even though no one really honored their wish to remain neutral. Strong feelings of independence made it a major player in the American Revolution, hosting the first official bloodshed of the war in Providence.

The last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution on May 29, 1790, it was in the forefront of the Industrial Revolution when Moses Brown helped create the first textile mill in the country. They were the first to send troops to Lincoln’s aid in the early days of the Civil War, even housing the Union Naval Academy during that time–all the while despite their heavy part in the slaves-sugar-rum trade with the Caribbean and Africa. That might be a significant reason they never ratified the 18th Amendment!

The Ocean State’s official beverage is a concoction known as Coffee Milk–milk mixed with a coffee syrup available throughout the state. So that leads us to…

Pandora’s Glass

1 oz cold milk (not fat free, at least 2%)
3/4 oz coffee liqueur
1/4 oz golden rum

Combine over ice and shake like you’re releasing all the evils of the world. Strain into a cordial glass.

For the unfamiliar, the myth of Pandora is that she was created as a revenge on man (for stealing fire from the gods) and sent with a box (or jar) containing disease and all manner of misfortune. Her curiosity got the best of her and all the evils were released, leaving hope alone at the bottom of the box.

Rhode Island’s motto is, simply, “hope.” And there is always hope, even if it’s just the hope of another cocktail

50 Shots of America–North Carolina

Sips

Poor North Carolina–it’s turn came during my week-when-nothing-got-done and then was further complicated by a serious case of cocktail block (much like writer’s block but instead of staring at a blank page you gaze at an unused bar). But, good things come to those who wait…

North Carolina, the Tar Heel State, was the 12th state to ratify the US Constitution on November 21, 1789. Another one of our original 13, it had it’s share of rocky starts before the colony really got it’s feet on the ground. One early attempt at settlement, the Roanoke Colony, disappeared without a trace and it’s still not clear what happened. They did get to record the first English birth in the New World, a Miss Virginia Dare, but like the rest of her fellow colonists her life is unknown. I considered creating a cocktail, the Truth or Dare, but it, too, wandered into the ether before taking root.

The Wright Brothers put Kitty Hawk on the map when they managed the first manned, powered heavier-than-air flight in 1903 (hence one of the state’s mottoes: First in Flight). Even though I’ve lost most of my fear of flying (I still get a little antsy on take-off and landing) I had mixed feelings about making a take-off (hah!) of the classic Aviator cocktail.

It’s not every state that has their own designated Carnivorous Plant, now is it? (They may, in fact, be the only one–cursory searches failed to find another.) Turns out the Venus Fly Trap is native to the Carolinas, specifically an area approximately 60-75 miles around Wilmington, NC. This, coupled with the plant’s resemblance to a slice of watermelon (the theme of two of their official state festivals, despite being the #1 producer of sweet potatoes in the US) finally put me on the path to a potential cocktail.

But wait! Despite an idea that took much experimentation (totally ruining my got-it-in-one streak from previous states, by the way) I have achieved an homage to a wonderful delicacy for which we can all thank Vernon Rudolph of Winston-Salem:

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing the wonder that is the pillowy, hot, yeast-raised doughnut goodness fresh from the glazing curtain you just haven’t lived. I remember taking a field trip in elementary school and getting to see how they made the doughnuts, the pale wheels of dough bobbing their way through the hot oil and then traveling on a conveyor belt through the glaze and, oh, mmm, mmph…

*pardon me while I drool*

Now, then! Creating the alcoholic equivalent of this decadence was not easy. It took 3 batches of experiments over 2 nights and I was just about to give up and go another direction when, discouraged, I switched gears to making some beer biscuits to go with the soup simmering on the stove when the first round of inspiration struck.

You could have knocked me over with a bottle cap.

Of course! I was looking for that distinct yeasty flavor and what better way to get that but from a yeasty beverage! While some may cringe at the thought, the results were encouraging but far from perfect. Part of it was the beer I was using (I only had Heineken on hand) and then we just couldn’t get it sweet enough. I tossed in some of the nutmeg sugar syrup I had on hand but, again, it just wasn’t right.

The next morning in the inspiration chamber (aka, the shower) the missing piece snapped into place. After a trip to the store and some more experiments we humbly present the following:

The Glazed Doughnut

2 oz Honey Wheat beer*
1 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 oz Butterscotch Schnapps
1/4 oz Vanilla Vodka

Combine over ice in a sturdy mixing glass and shake as if the fryer’s broken and the pre-church crowd is about to descend. Strain into 2 small cordial glasses (or 1 martini glass) and steel yourself for the oncoming rush.

Using a different beer definitely helped but the condensed milk was the clincher: it added a richness that milk + sugar syrup couldn’t match. The vanilla vodka, on the other hand, managed to smooth out the schnapps just enough when we found that lessening the schnapps made the beer too bossy but leaving it untamed took away from the yeast.

I could totally see this customized with a splash of chocolate or raspberry liqueur, too, for the specialty doughnut of your choice.

*I used Leinenkugel’s Honey Weiss, a Pale Wheat Ale, and it seemed to do quite well for this application. If you’ve got more beer smarts than I and know of others that might work well in this sort of drink, by all means, let me know in the comments!