I just consider it a very good excuse to get drunk have a drink.

Anchors Aweigh

Ingredients:

• 1 oz bourbon
• 2 tsp triple sec
• 2 tsp peach brandy
• 2 tsp maraschino liqueur
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• several drops of maraschino cherry juice

Instructions:

Mix the ingredients in a shaker with cracked ice, pour into a chilled tumbler.

Image courtesy of ChicagoEye and recipe courtesy of Whisky Mag

Post from: EveryJoe

Anchors Aweigh Cocktail

It’s also very expensive.

When you consider the small amount that you get for a rather high price, those cocktails containing Baileys had better be really strong to help you forget just how light your wallet is feeling.

So, I bring you a homemade version of Baileys that’s pretty freakin’ awesome. There isn’t any real cooking so don’t get scared off.

Homemade Baileys Irish Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 C. your favorite liquor (Irish Whiskey, Brandy, rum, Bourbon, Scotch, or Rye Whiskey)

• 1 (14 oz.) Can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk or any other brand (NOT evaporated milk.)
• 1 C. (1/2 pint) whipping cream
• 4 Eggs
• 2 Tbsp. Chocolate syrup
• 2 tsp. instant coffee
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1/2 C. brown sugar

Directions:

Whip cream till stiff first.  Slowly add condensed milk in bowl.  Put liquor in blender with extracts and chocolate and coffee.  Beat the eggs vigorously and add the brown sugar to the eggs and beat again, then add to the cream and milk mixture.  Add to liquor mixture in blender and blend till smooth.  Serve over ice.  Can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week.

Yum!

Image|caseywest Recipe|Denver Frugal Living

Post from: EveryJoe

Homemade Baileys Irish Cream

Critiques of the fashion shown are still being snarked about – but no one ever considers the couture cocktails that are sipped, carried around or guzzled (depending on how well the press received your collection, whether your models stayed sober and clean, and who’s there to be seen or just to let loose) at the shows. 

The one couture cocktail that was a huge hit at the Cynthia Rowley show was a Bail Hayden Wish – one created specifically for Rowley, and inspired entirely by her rich red hues and the wishbone shape features in her Fall 2009 collection. 

The Basil Hayden Wish is intended to embody Rowley’s assertive, whimsical spirit. The cocktail is a refreshing twist on the typical Fashion Week beverage staples – champagne or vodka – and is well on the way to becoming the choice cocktail for the ‘It’ crowd…starting a few trends of its own.

Basil Hayden Wish

1 oz. Basil Hayden
1/2 oz. DeKuyper Luscious Strawberry Patch
1/2 oz. Fresh Lemon Sour
Champagne

Shake all but champagne and strain into a chilled champagne flute. Top with champagne and serve with a small fresh strawberry on the rim.

[images provided by Basil Hayden]

Post from: EveryJoe

Couture Cocktails

This aired on SportsCenter and NBA games on TNT, and now, Jim Beam has launched a video contest with a $25K first prize!

Create your own parody commercial like The Girlfriend, or your own testimonial “girlfriend” or “boyfriend” story, and you could get a piece of that pie … or, a sip of that drink if you prefer.

There’s a couple of sample spoofs and a couple of stories as well that give you an idea of what you could do with this.

Take a chance and test your creativity. Think about how much Jim Beam you could buy with that prize money!

Tags: Jim Beam, Bourbon, Video Contests, Prize, Contests

Post from: EveryJoe

Jim Beam’s Video Contest

While I’ll be telling you a whole lot about bourbon and how it’s made, and all about my trip to Kentucky and Tennessee, you can get a visual sneak peek on Sunday morning.

A crew from the CBS Early Show visited a bunch of distillers on the Bourbon Trail, including Maker’s Mark, to find out exactly what makes Kentucky bourbon so good and the rich history behind it.

Tune in Sunday (November 23rd). The piece should air at  9 AM (EST) but check local listings to make sure you catch it. I’ve got my DVR set for it!

Post from: EveryJoe

Bourbon TV

I’m so looking forward to this trip, it’s not even funny! Maker’s Mark, Heaven Hill and Jim Beam on the Thursday, and Jack Daniels on Saturday.

If you were on the trip, is there anything you’d ask the master distillers?  I’ll make sure to ask your question if you leave one in the comments. I’ll be taking a ton of pictures, and will report back with my findings.  (image source, Maker’s Mark)

Post from: EveryJoe

Headed South

There’s notes of vanilla, orange, brandy, and citrus, and it sometimes has been described as a Grand Marnier type spirit.

Let’s just put it this way, Tuaca is really good.

Legend has it that the origins of the secret family recipe for Tuaca dates back to the Renaissance. It was apparently crafted for Lorenzo the Magnificent, a patron to Botticelli and Michelangelo.

The Washington Post called Tuaca the “new Jagermeister” and said that it’s a “shot of a generation”. This is certainly true – one of the best ways to drink Tuaca is icy cold and either shoot or sip it.  However, in my opinion, it’s more complex spirit for just a shot. 

When I’ve got all the ingredients in stock, I prefer a “Tuaca Twister” or a “Consigliere”  (recipes below) and if I don’t have everything on hand, I go simple and have Tuaca and ginger ale. There’s a million different things you can do with Tuaca though, so experiment. There’s very little that you can’t mix with Tuaca. It mixes amazingly well with Bourbon or Tequila, and provides a soft edge to drinks.

Tuaca has been available in the States for ages, and has recently launched in Canada, which just makes me happy. I don’t know what you’re doing tonight, but I’m going to have dinner, and go get the ingredients for a Tuaca Twister, and if I can find Giffard Citrus, an Italian Sour as well.

Italian Sour

In shaker filled with ice add:
2oz Tuaca
1oz Giffard Citrus Syrup
1oz Egg white
2-3 dash old fashioned bitters
Shake hard and pour into double rocks glass

Tuaca Twister

1.5 oz Tuaca
1 oz Finlandia Lime Vodka
1 oz Midori Melon Liqueur
Splash of Sprite or 7-up
Pineapple Juice

Pour the Midori  into the bottom of a rocks glass. Add ice. Shake tuaca, vodka, soda and pineapple juice over ice. Carefully pour into the rocks glass, ideally, not disturbing (too much) the Midori.
Consigliere

In Double Rocks glass muddle orange peel (no flesh) with brown sugar (1/3
tsp) and 2-3 dash old fashioned bitters
FIll Glass with ice.

In Shaker filled with ice:
Add 1.5oz Tuaca
Add 0.5oz Jack Daniels
Stir until very cold
Strain into double rocks glass.

(image courtesy: Tuaca & me on Flickr)

Post from: EveryJoe

Tuaca: Italian Culture comes to Canada

(L to R): Master Distiller Fred Noe (great-grandson of Jim Beam), head of the Visitor’s Experience Project Jim Beam Noe (great-grandson of Jim Beam), Kentucky Tourism Secretary Marcheta Sparrow and Jeff Conder, VP for North American Operations for Beam Global Spirits & Wine.

The Jim Beam distillery is at the beginning of the “bourbon trail” in Kentucky, and has more than 80,000 visitors annually. The project will be complete in April 2011, and is expected to be able to accommodate approximately 200,000 visitors each year. As more and more people become interested in bourbon, there is more interest in how the spirit is created, and more and more are traveling the Bourbon Trail.

The Visitor’s Experience will include displays of newly discovered historical documents and images and the Welcome Center complex will highlight the history and heritage of Jim Beam.

“As the first stop from Louisville on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, we want to offer our visitors the best experience possible,” said Jim Beam Noe, great-grandson of Jim Beam.  “The Visitors’ Experience allows our guests to become a part of the Jim Beam family by taking an up-close and personal look at my family’s business in the bourbon industry.”

Crafted since 1795, Jim Beam prides itself on more than two centuries of quality and integrity, with a long lineage of family distillers and a lasting commitment to the classic recipe.  Jim Beam filled its 11 millionth barrel in February 2008, marking the first time the brand filled one million barrels in less than three years.

More than two-thirds of the bourbon made in Kentucky comes from Beam Global’s iconic bourbons. In addition to Jim Beam, The Small Batch Bourbon Collection comprises four ultra-premium bourbons: Knob Creek Bourbon, Booker’s Bourbon, Basil Hayden’s Bourbon and Baker’s Bourbon.

I’ve got a trip planned to Kentucky soon, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the Bourbon Trail for myself!

Post from: EveryJoe

Jim Beam Visitor’s Experience

The furniture is made from reclaimed bourbon barrels from Bardstown, Kentucky. Usually, the used barrels are only used once to age bourbon, and then they’re either sold to Scotland for scotch or they’re turned into planters, or firewood (sob! how wrong!!).

Uhuru is instead taking this gorgeous charred white oak and has created the Küpe line. Heck, they make gorgeous furniture, period. I want all my stuff to be from here! 

(Image source: Uhuru Designs. Hat tip to Liquor Snob for the heads up)

Post from: EveryJoe

Bourbon Barrel Furniture

He told the story that these two young bartenders opened this place so that their friend, this older, rockstar bartender would have a place to shine. He told me that the ZigZag Cafe had, hands down, the most well stocked bar in the city.

I stopped in to check them out, and wow. I was stunned. Seriously stunned, and that’s not an easy feat.

Murray, the bartender, really is a rockstar. He moves so very fast that trying to capture a picture of him is nearly impossible.

I sat down at the bar, and Murray stopped moving, briefly, to ask me what kind spirits I liked. Clear or dark?

I told him that one of my favourite spirits was a good bourbon, and that I favoured Gentleman Jack over regular Jack Daniel’s. He nodded once, held up one finger and off he went.

He created a drink for me that I’ve never even heard of before – one that he knew from an out of print book called “The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks” by David A. Embury. He even showed me his copy of the book, that I didn’t want to handle too much for fear of it falling apart.

The Toronto, not on the ZigZag Cafe menu, is a classic 1950’s cocktail, and one that the girl beside me called “not a girly drink”. (To which I replied, I’m not a girly girl. She grinned and agreed.)

A Toronto is a sipping cocktail for sure… it’s not a quick drink by any means. The next one he made me, which was another Murray creation, was the same. Another sipping cocktail, designed to be savoured.

He called it “Maria’s Manhattan” (Maria being the not a girly girl beside me), and brought out three shot glasses, poured about 1/2 an ounce of each ingredient into each glass and then proceeded to mix the drink.

It was fascinating to me to taste the separate flavours come together in the drink. I’d never had someone sit me down and show me the kind of thing Murray was showing me.

Murray is a true mixologist, one who understands the flavours he’s putting into your glass, and truly wants to offer you something you won’t forget,or get anywhere else. I’ve already told pretty much everyone I know that the next time they go to Seattle, they have GOT to make time to stop at the ZigZag Cafe. I’m trying to figure out exactly when I’ll be able to go back down, just so I can visit Murray. A trip to Seattle used to be for the outlet malls or Nordstroms. Yeah, not anymore. Now, a trip to Seattle won’t be the same without hitting the ZigZag Cafe for a snack and a Toronto, which may just have become my new favourite drink.

Toronto

1 3/4 oz Bourbon
1/2 oz Fernet
1/4 oz simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake over ice and strain into a chilled martini glass

Maria’s Manhattan

2 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon
1/2 oz Antica Formula Sweet Vermouth
2 dashes Fee’s Whiskey Bitters

Shake over ice and strain into a chilled martini glass

(image credit: me!)

Post from: EveryJoe

Review: Seattle’s best cocktails