Thursday, March 31, 2016

Booze Clues: Bourbon

Due to all the cool people going to Mexico in April, the next Booze Clues will be Thursday, March 31. Taking a look at whiskey again, specifically focusing on Bourbon.

Taste-testing will include:
  • Four Rose Single Barrel (Binny's select)
  • McCallan 10 yr
  • Blade and Bow
  • Wild Turkey
  • Buffalo Trace

For cocktails we will be looking at an old classic, a twist on a mimosa, and a modern cocktail.

Old Fashioned
2 oz bourbon
1 tsp sugar
4 dashes Angostura bitters
splash club soda
garnish with maraschino cheery and orange wheel

French 95
3/4 oz bourbon
3/4 oz simple syrup
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 oz orange juice
top off with champagne

Whirling Tiger
2 oz bourbon
1 oz fiji apple juice
3/4 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz ginger syrup
garnish with apple slice

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Ok, so a little belated. Most of us have those boring old 9-5 jobs so, minus a small gathering the night of, our big celebration will be tonight. In the spirit, the host has put together a menu of green and "Irish" drinks. We will be sampling these tonight, and may or may not stick with them (some of these seem a bit questionable...). If you would like to join in, or add some fun green drinks that are a bit more than dyed beer to your menu, keep on reading!

Honeydew Martini
3 oz vodka
1/2 oz Midori
1/2 oz Triple Sec

Emerald Rain
2 oz Hypnotique
1 oz vodka
1 oz pineapple juice

Irish Flag
1/3 oz creme de menthe
1/3 oz whiskey
1/3 oz Bailey's

Grass Hopper
3/4 oz creme de menthe
3/4 oz crem de cacao
3/4 oz milk

Misty Mint
1 1/2 oz creme de menthe
1 oz white rum

Irish Coffee
1 1/1 oz Irish whiskey
6 oz coffee
3/4 oz Irish cream

Evergreen
1 oz equila
1 oz creme de menthe
1/2 oz Midori
3 oz pineapple juice

Jade
2 oz white rum
1/4 oz creme de menthe
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz lime juice

Irish Cola
1 oz Irish whiskey
1 oz Irish cream
4 oz cola

Irish Car Bomb
3/4 pint Guinness
1/2 shot Irish cream
1/2 shot Irish whiskey

And of course, lots of Irish whiskey. Ours of choice (at least for the night) is Egan's. You may or may not recall from an earlier post that our friends (the hosts for tonight, actually) are Irish and their family can trace their ancestry back to make a connection with the family who makes Egan's Irish Whiskey. Highly recommended, if you feel like importing it.


UPDATE: The questionable ones were not as bad as anticipated. Evergreen surprisingly works--tastes a bit strange, but works. The Honeydew Martini is incredibly strong, I would recommend making a smaller one. Emerald Rain needs more pineapple juice, but isn't bad. My personal favorite was the grasshopper, which tastes as the name implies it should.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Booze Clues: Gin

Hey boys & girls. Are you ready to figure out Booze Clues?

What is Booze Clues? It's like a book club, but less books.

Once a month, typically the first Tuesday, House DSG hosts an event where we get together with some friends and learn about booze. The general gist is we pick a theme (generally an alcohol or alcohol category), try some different alcohols, learn a few drink recipes using said alcohols, and then try those drinks (ideally all of them as we hover around 3, but some people pick the one that sounds most appealing or share drinks if they just want a sip).

If you would like to play along at home, I will begin posting (and back posting) our agendas. This month we are revisiting Gin.

Taste-testing will include:
  • Bombay Sapphire
  • Hendricks
  • Beefeater
  • Tanqueray 10
  • Geneva's Preservation

For cocktails we will be looking at a classic martini vs. modern, the Negroni, and Tom Collins. Since recipes vary depending on your source, below are the actual ones we will be using.

Classic Martini
1 ½ oz gin
1 ½ oz sweet vermouth
orange bitters
opt: simple syrup (classic cocktails used Old Tom  gin, which was sweeter)

Modern Martini
2-3 oz gin
½-1 oz dry vermouth
*the larger the gin:vermouth ratio, the more modern

Negroni
1 oz gin
1 oz Campari
1 oz sweet vermouth
Orange twist for garnish

Tom Collins
1 oz lemon juice
½ oz simple syrup
1 1/2 oz gin
~2 oz club soda
Lemon wheel and cherry for garnish