amaretto

50 Shots of America–Alabama

Sips
Alabama cocktail

East Avenue South--the background photo is from my trip to Birmingham, its the lane leading down to an amazing restaurant, Cobb Lane

Passing through French, British & Spanish hands, the town of Mobile, Alabama was finally captured by Andrew Jackson and claimed for the US free and clear. Now that it had some beach-front property, statehood proceedings were completed and it became the 22nd state of the Union on December 14, 1819.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized I had quite a few memories of the Heart of Dixie: touring the USS Alabama as a sullen teen, making my Mom nearly fall off the ladder from laughing at me after I ran my head into an opening I failed to duck for; the honeymoon trip to visit my second husband’s father in Pell City and waking up to hear some deadly storms has ripped through Dixie Alley during it’s secondary tornado season while we slept; scrapbooking and comics conventions in Mobile; the summer trip spent at Auburn University during high school and… oh, yes.

Birmingham is known as the Magic City–it was the one city to boom during the Great Migration of the early 20th century when so much of the population left for opportunities far to the north. It’s railroads, mining and related refining industries created opportunities not readily available in the state. Most mining has ceased (except for coal) but Birmingham continues to be a hub for manufacturing as well as southeastern headquarters for multitudes of national corporations. It also boasts a significant food culture.

Finishing my Culinary degree required a semester’s internship and I’d been able to garner an interview with the head of the chef’s association there. It was my first weekend trip entirely on my own–both a lonely and exciting opportunity! I visited restaurants my boss had recommended (having lived and worked in the area for 1o years), wandered (and got followed through) the beautiful Linn park and the nearby museums, and hung out in Five Points South.

I also got lost.

This is less than news as I have no natural-born sense of direction but the circumstances were interesting and worth sharing. Downtown Birmingham (where 90% of my activity was focused) is laid out in a grid–couldn’t be simpler, right? Everything is marked North and South with Avenues running one way and Streets and Alleys crossing them. My hotel was on 3rd Avenue South (or something like that) and I was coming home from Five Points and got turned around. I found 3rd Avenue North and just figured I’d take it south a ways and I’d get where I wanted to go.

I found myself in a train yard something, turned around and found myself almost on UAB campus and _finally_ retraced my steps and got back to my hotel. On Sunday, as I was leaving and looked at that same gridded map for the umpteenth time it finally hit me:

The Avenues of Birmingham run East-ish/West-ish, they’re named North and South in relation to where they are above or below the railroad tracks!

No wonder I didn’t find my hotel on the first try, that night!

And now we drink!

East Avenue South

3/4 oz Peach Schnapps
1/4 oz Amaretto
1 oz Orange Juice

Combine over ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled cordial glass.

Obviously this is a nod to the Alabama Slammer cocktail but we’ve amped up the orange juice and ditched the sour mix and sloe gin/vodka/southern comfort whatever else folks opt to put in there. It’s sweet–almost unctuous –and tastes similar to a fuzzy navel but retains that hint of almond in the background.

And, absolutely, make 2 and share 🙂

50 Shots of America–Pennsylvania

Sips

You’d think (or at least I would) that Pennsylvania would have been the first to ratify the Constitution, seeing as how much time our forefathers spent doing big things in Philadelphia and all during those early colony days. Instead, they signed on a full 5 days after Delaware, on December 12, 1787,* becoming the second official state of the Union.

The site of the first commercially drilled oil well in 1859, oil is not what most think of as being the prime business in the woods (Pennsylvania means Penn’s Wood after the founder, William Penn, and the Latin silva for forest). Some consider Pennsylvania to be the “snack food capital of the world” and with good reason. Not only are the Hershey chocolate factories located in the heart of the state, so are Mars, Wilbur Chocolate Company, Wise Snack Foods and Just Born (the company behind, among other things, Peeps!).

Even though I’ve actually been to Pennsylvania (well, Philadelphia, and only for one partial day–I did some comics about it) and, therefore, actually _can_ find it on the map, I did not get a chance while there to visit that mecca of many: Hershey, PA. No, no pictures with a kiss-shaped street light for me. Not yet at least. I’ve got two sets of people I can stay with should I get a chance to head that far north again and it WILL be on the agenda when that day comes. I did recently read an excellent history of Mr Hershey and his town, though, which makes getting to concoct this next drink extra fun!

(Interesting side note: did you know Hershey found early success not with chocolate but with caramels? It was the success of his caramel business, the recipe for which he learned in Denver, that gave him the opportunity and backing to experiment with making eating chocolate like they did in Europe. I was also fascinated to learn that Hershey’s distinct flavor can be attributed to the slight souring of the milk as it’s processed–apparently the European chocolatiers used milk powder instead of liquid milk in their recipes. But I digress…)

The Sweet Tooth

1/2 oz Vanilla Vodka
1/2 oz Godiva** liqueur, divided
1/4 oz Amaretto liqueur
1/4 oz White Chocolate Irish Cream
1/4 oz Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup

Combine all ingredients except 1/4 oz Godiva in a cocktail shaker over ice and shake it like you’re making a milkshake. Strain into a shot glass and float the remaining Godiva over the top by pouring over the back of a bar spoon.

Now, I’ve read that all-alcohol bevvies aren’t supposed to be shaken. Whatever. If you keep all of your alcohol chilled (I know I don’t have the fridge-space for that!), I suppose you could skip the shaking and just stir it up in a small bar glass before transferring to a shot but I wanted it really cold and, with this many ingredients (probably another no-no for a shot), well mixed so my petite shaker it is!

Incidentally, the state beverage of Pennsylvania is Milk, so if you wanted to mix up a double batch of the Sweet Tooth and stir it into a nice cold glass of milk, I think that’d be just fine, too.

*You know, if the blog-stars align to where I’m writing about a state on the day it became a state, I might just have to play the lottery or something!

**Don’t worry, Godiva’s totally valid here--the North American debut of Godiva chocolates was at Wannamaker’s Department Store in Philadelphia in 1966!

PS–The state tree is Hemlock. Insert classics geek joke here. (Q.What were Socrates’ last words? A. I drank what?)

PPS–From Todd at dinner: “Life is like a shot of chocolate.” To which I, being of a philosophical bent today, added: “Exactly, if you make it yourself you know exactly what you’re gonna get!”

The Amaretto Sour

Sips

When I was 18 I went to visit my Louisiana relations for Thanksgiving and, one night, some of us went out to a bar (named Robert E Lee’s, I kid you not). Now, this was back when Louisiana’s roads were worse than they are now and before they caved (for the umpteenth and final time, it would seem) to the Federal desires of setting the legal drinking age to 21. Hence, I was legal to drink there.

Now at this bar I was faced with a conundrum: what to order. My aunt (who, by the way, is 5 months younger than me–grandpa had 3 batches of kids, total) suggested that I order an Amaretto Sour, as it was fairly mild and what she would order those nights that she was driving. *head tilt*

But I did order it and since it wasn’t repulsive and didn’t make me sick, it would become my default drink for a while. Not that I drank when I got back home, Florida’s drinking age _was_ 21 and I was [am] a rules-follower. Nonetheless, it was an easy fall-back when I as trying to be grown up and not a cocktail rube.

Since Sips & Shots will be, for the time being at least, taking an alphabetical stroll through my personal bar catalog, starting with the Amaretto Sour seemed like a logical choice.

It’s a simple drink, really, so I was surprised to see so many variations in ratio and add-ons. The biggest debate, however, is whether to use a commercial Sour Mix or straight lemon juice. And if you use lemon juice do you sweeten it a bit, yourself? Do you use sugar, simple syrup or go for the exotic and try something like agave nectar? Well, question not, at least to our mind, we’ve determined that our ideal Amaretto Sour uses lemon juice over mix with just a touch of simple syrup to take the edge off without removing all of the tartness… after all, it is called a SOUR for a reason, right?

CHF* Amaretto Sour

2 oz Amaretto
1 oz Lemon Juice
Splash of 1:1 Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass over ice (always serve the drink with fresh ice for the best drinking experience, the shaken ice is agitated, broken and will melt faster, watering down your drink). 

Traditionally, the garnish for an Amaretto Sour is an orange slice an a maraschino cherry (together called a flag) however Janelle from Talk of Tomatoes‘ idea of using frozen blueberries is rather inspired. If I’d had any in the house I think I would have even muddled them but that would be a different drink altogether… Dibs!

An honorable mention among the 7 varieties of Sours we tried before taking the best parts of each for our own (yes, I really mixed 7 drinks… what I do for y’all!) comes from DrinkStreet: top with lemon-lime soda. This makes sort of a spritzerish amaretto sour-patch-punch thing but it’d be great for a party: not only would it be different and not get your guests drunk (depending on how much soda you add), it could really stretch your beverage budget.

Come back next Friday for fun with Butter Schnapps!

*CHF = Cocktail Hour Favorite, our designation of a trusted and tried beverage concocted by the authors. There may be only so many ingredients in a drink, but there are hundreds of ways to mix them!