A fabulous friend, who totally gets the whole moody thing, suggested I do a “match your liquor to your mood post”, and I’m finally in a better place so I can actually look at the idea of that without scowling.

The next time you’re having a shit day, and nothing is going your way, try soothing the savage beast with one of these. They might not make you feel better at first, but at least you’ll enjoy yourself!!

Bitch on Wheels

2 oz Gin
.5 oz Dry Vermouth
.5 oz Creme de Menthe
1 tsp Pastis

fill a cocktail shaker 1/2 full with ice. Pour gin, dry vermouth, creme de menthe and pastis over ice. Give it a good stir (do not shake – you’ll bruise the gin) and strain into a cocktail glass and serve.

Dark n’ Stormy

2.5 oz Dark Rum
5 oz Ginger Beer
1 lime wedge

Fill a Collins glass 3/4 full of ice. Pour in dark rum and ginger beer and give it a good stir. Give a squeeze of lime and garnish with the wedge.

This is actually one of my favourites, which is interesting to me because I’m not a huge ginger beer fan by itself. Add some good rum and lime though, and I’m in!

If those don’t make you feel any better, I’d suggest grabbing your favourite wine and having a bath. Or maybe just ride the bitchy mood out – sometimes, that’s the only cure!

[image credit: Liquor Snob]

Tags: Dark N Stormy, Bitch on Wheels, Cocktails, bad days, crappy days, bad mood drinks

Post from: EveryJoe

Matching your Drink to Your Mood

I know this is a day late, but Kaiser Penguin had the wrap up from last night’s mixology chat, and I’ve been meaning to tell you about it for ages now. What prompted me this time was the winning drink, a Cinnamon Basil Smash, which sounds delightful, and I can’t wait to try it. I’ve just got to go get some basil. And make the cinnamon syrup.

Cinammon Basil Smash

• 2oz gin
• 1/2oz lemon juice
• 3/4oz cinnamon syrup
• 4-6 decently sized basil leaves
• ginger beer, to top

Muddle basil with the cinnamon syrup and lemon juice. Fill with crushed ice, add the gin, give it a quick swizzle, and top with ginger beer.

Nick from The Iron Horse Hotel

This sounds amazing, and I’m already looking forward to next week when they’re featuring drinks made with Irish Whiskey

Post from: EveryJoe

Virtual Cocktail Chatter

So, what are these ‘cures’? They mostly centre around the Hot Toddy. There’s tons of different ways you can make a Hot Toddy, from everything to Whiskey, Rum or Gin. The prevailing theory is that a hot toddy’s mixture of piping hot water, rum, and lemon can provide a lot of relief. Alcohol has an anti-inflammatory effect on mucous membranes and can help reduce fever. (image source: CartoonStock)

Well, ok, sure. I’ve also heard that whiskey will take away a cough (though I’m unsure as to how this works, but go with it), and that shots of tequila taken in a hot bath will speed your recovery from a cold.

Whatever you believe, whether these will really work or not,  you stand the chance to at least forget you have a cold for a little bit.

Gin, honey and lemon
2oz of Gin
2 tbsp of honey
Juice of one lemon

Pour it all in a mug and top it off with boiling water, breathe vapors deeply while drinking, sleep.

Cure All Toddy
1-2 oz Scotch whiskey
1-2 tsp lemon juice
dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
2-5 whole cloves
honey to taste (optional)
Hot water

Put the lemon juice, cloves and whiskey in a glass or mug. Fill the glass with hot water. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and honey, if used. Stir. Sip slowly, and inhale the vapors if you have head or chest congestion. Substitute rum for the whiskey if you prefer.

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Post from: EveryJoe

Old Wive’s Tale: A Hot Toddy will cure a cold

In early June, the hotel welcomed two noteable Italian queens – one raised in Kona, Hawaii and the other raised in Santiago Chile. With morethan 60,000 subjects per queen, the honey bees are the newest members of the Waterfront’s culinary team.

Frank Palter, the Fairmont Waterfront’s head bartender, has created special honey infused cocktails which, after trying both, I have to tell you are simply amazing. They’re so fresh and you really can taste it.

The honey used in the cocktails was harvested that morning, and the herbs picked fresh moments before.

First Frank offered a Honey Basil Collins. To make:

1.5 oz Beefeater Gin
.5 oz Drambuie
Fresh lime juice
1 oz Honey syrup
1 Basil stem

Add all ingredients to shaker. Add ice and stir for 20 seconds. Top with soda and straign into a highball glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a basil stem.

Next up, we were treated with an Ode to Joe.

1.5 oz Wisers Deluxe
.25 oz Amaretto
1 plum – preferably dark skinned with light flesh
.5 oz lemon juice
1 oz honey syrup
Half an egg white
1 dash Fee’s peach bitters

Muddle plum and amaretto together. Add all other ingredients and shake vigourously. Double strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a thin slice of honey comb, which will float if the egg was shaken nicely.

The ‘Honey Bee Suites’ at the Fairmont Waterfront live adjacent to the 2,100 square foot herb garden, on the 3rd floor terrace. This initative, part of the Fairmont’s commitment to reducing their environmental footprint is shared with the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto and the Fairmont Algonquin in New Brunswick.

(image source, me on Flickr)

Post from: EveryJoe

Honey-inspired cocktails

There’s touches, or notes, of nine different botanicals  – ginger root, liquorice, green cardamom, cassia bark, coriander, juniper, cubeb berries, nutmeg and lime. All that makes it just… yummy.

“I love the complex, delicate flavour profile of G’Vine. Because it’s such a fresh, mutli-tesxtured expression of gin, a little fresh fruit and a light touch are all I need to create a delicious cocktail” said celebrated mixologist, Junior Merino.

G’Vine has a delicate, floral flavour with a spicy warmth and it’s really smooth. G’vine says it’s “one part sexy, two parts chic” which I have to admit, is 100% right.

My fave cocktails with G’vine have got to be:

G’Spot

1.5 oz G’vine gin
1 oz sour mix
.5 oz lime juice
.5 chambord

Shake over ice and serve in a martini glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.

G’Man

2 oz G’Vine gin
Squeeze of lemon
Dash of simple syrup
Dash of angostura bitters

Build and serve on the rocks in a low tumbler. Garnish with a twist of lemon.
Lolita

2 oz G’Vine gin
1 oz St. Germain Elderflower French Liqueur
.5 oz Grand Marnier
1.5 oz organic prune and grape juice
a dash of orange bitters

Shake all ingredients over ice and double strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a green grape.

(image source: G’Vine Gin)

Post from: EveryJoe

Simply D’vine

Here are Drinks After Dark’s picks for the top 10 summer cocktails.

#10: Daiquiri – There are several versions of the Daiquiri, but those that gained international fame are the ones made in the El Floridita bar in Havana, Cuba. They, and #5, the Mojito, were favourites of Ernest Hemmingway, who spent a lot of time in Havana.

To make:
2 oz light rum
1 oz lime juice
1 oz simple syrup

Put ice in a cocktail shaker. Add light rum, lime juice and simple syrup. Give it a good shake and into a cocktail glass.

#9 Sangria – (Spanish: sangría; Portuguese: sangria) is a wine punch typical from Spain and Portugal (the word means “bleeding” in both languages). It typically consists of red wine, chopped or sliced fruit (often orange, apple, and/or peach; occasionally kiwi or banana), a sweetener such as honey or orange juice, a small amount of added brandy, triple sec, or other spirits, and carbonated water.

To create:

Bottle of red wine
1 1/4 cups blackberry brandy
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate
1 orange, cut in pieces
1 apple, cut in pieces
1/4 cup cherries halves (Optional. I use a cherry pitter to take the pits out.)
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 cup diet sprite (you can use regular if you want)

Mix in a large jug. Stick in the fridge for a few days and enjo

#8 Pina Colada – There are several different bars that claim that they were the creators of the Pina Colada, but the first known reference to a drink specifically named the Pina Colada was in a 1922 edition of TRAVEL:

But best of all is a piña colada, the juice of a perfectly ripe pineapple—a delicious drink in itself—rapidly shaken up with ice, sugar, lime and Bacardi rum in delicate proportions. What could be more luscious, more mellow and more fragrant? (image source Art Print by Lisa Audit)

To make:
1/2 cup crushed ice
6 fluid ounces pineapple juice
2 fluid ounces rum
1 fluid ounce coconut cream 1 fluid ounce heavy cream
1 pineapple wedge
1 maraschino cherry

In a blender, combine ice, pineapple juice, rum, coconut cream and heavy cream. Blend until smooth. Pour into glass and garnish with pineapple wedge and cherry.

#7 Mimosa – These almost don’t belong on this list, but they’re quite good nonetheless. A Mimosa is a cocktail-like drink composed of three parts champagne or other sparkling wine and two parts thoroughly chilled orange juice. It is traditionally served in a tall champagne flute with a morning brunch or to guests at weddings. Break out of the mimosa box and try them on a Sunday afternoon or lunching with the girls. I don’t really need to tell you how to make this, do I? (hint: three parts champagne or other sparkling wine and two parts thoroughly chilled orange juice) (image source: Gail Anderson)

#6 Crisp White Wine – Very little beats a lovely crisp white wine in the sunshine. Something with overtones of citrus, pineapple or other fruits is usually a good thing. Look for a lovely Sauvignon Blanc or a apple-y Pinot Grigio will do the trick. Just make sure you serve it cold!

#5 Mojito – The Mojito is another drink with history. Made famous at La Bodeguita del Medio down a small alley in Cuba, where yet again, Hemmingway is notorious for drinking and where the walls are covered in signatures of patrons from around the world, the mojito is one of the most famous highballs.

A mojito is traditionally made of five ingredients: white rum, sugar (traditionally sugar cane juice), lime, carbonated water and mint. When preparing a mojito, lime juice is added to sugar (or syrup) and mint leaves. The mixture is then gently mashed with a muddler. The mint leaves should only be bruised to release the essential oils and must not be shredded. Then rum is added and the mixture is briefly stirred to dissolve sugar. Finally, the drink is topped with ice cubes and sparkling water, mint leaves and lime wedges are used to garnish the glass.

#4 Ceasar – Ceasars are one of the quintessential Canadian summer cocktails. In the US it’s sometimes known as a clamdigger, but its roots are firmly planted in Canadian soil. Invented by bartender Walter Chell at the Owl’s Nest Bar in the Calgary Inn (now Calgary Westin Hotel) in 1969, to accompany the opening of a new restaurant, Marco’s. In its original form, it contained tomato juice and mashed clams; Clamato had only just been released (with the assistance of Chell) by the Mott’s company that very year, and was not yet widely known or available. It typically contains vodka, clamato (a blend of tomato juice and clam broth), Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and is served on the rocks in a large, celery salt-rimmed glass, and typically garnished with a stalk of celery and wedge of lime. (image source: The Cat’s Me’ass)

#3 Margrita – Oh, we’re getting down to my personal favourites. Personally, I love a good lime margarita on the rocks, but if you haven’t learned how to drink tequila yet, you probably won’t like the flavour. Frozen Margaritas are more standard, and the kind you’ll see on the patios everywhere.

You can make an ok Frozen Margarita using Limeaid, but I don’t recommend it. I find the stuff far too sweet and that it overwhelms the traditional flavours of the Margarita. Here’s a more classic recipe:

Salt
1 cup tequila
3/4 cup orange liqueur, such as Triple Sec or Cointreau
1 cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon sugar
Ice cubes

Instructions:
Rub the rims of the cocktail glasses with lime, then dip in salt to frost.
Combine first 4 ingredients in a 4-cup measuring cup.
FOR BLENDED MARGARITAS:
Fill blender halfway with ice cubes. Add half of margarita mixture. Blend until mixture is thick and icy. Divide between two glasses. Repeat with more ice cubes and remaining margarita mixture.
FOR MARGARITAS ON THE ROCKS:
Fill four glasses with ice cubes. Divide margarita mixture among glasses and serve.

#2 Beer – ahhh beer. My best friend and my worst enemy. There’s little else I like on a hot summer day than a good cold beer. For that crisp refreshing flavour you want on a hot day, reach for a lager or a hefeweizen (wheat beer).

Your lager ideally should be served in bottles that have been chilled to the point of almost having ice chips in them. Don’t freeze them (beer, unlike true spirits will freeze if you leave it in the freezer long enough because they’re only 4-6% alcohol. Beer slushies, while they sound interesting, really aren’t that good), but definitely get a good chill going on.

Any wheat beer (aka hefeweizen or white (pronounced whit) beer) is a delicious, refreshing drink on a sunny day as well. Add a lemon or orange wedge to bring out the citrus flavours in the beer and enjoy. Make sure you pour your Hefeweizen correctly however!

Stay tuned for a Top 10 “Guy” drinks coming up soon, followed by a Top 10 “Girl” drinks, and then a Top 10 “Not a Girly-Girl Girl” drinks.

(Remaining Images courtesy me on Flickr; video from Joe SixPack)

Post from: EveryJoe

Top 10 Summer Cocktails

This cocktail was introduced by the army of the British East India Company in India.

Tonic water contains quinine, which was used to prevent malaria. Because the tonic water consumed to prevent malaria in the 18th century was extremely bitter, gin was added to make it more palatable. The bitter flavor of quinine complements the green notes of gin (flavoured with juniper) much like dry vermouth complements gin in a classic martini.

To make a perfect classic Gin and Tonic, place the ice cubes in a tall, narrow glass with the ice coming near the top. Pour gin, tonic water, and lime juice over the ice. Stir well with a long-necked spoon. Garnish with lime wedge, and serve immediately.

Actual ingredients and amounts: 

• 4 cubes ice
• 2 fluid ounces gin
• 4 fluid ounces tonic water
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 lime wedge

(image source courtesy CocktailTimes)

Post from: EveryJoe

Some Like it Hot: Classic Gin and Tonic

When the sun comes out, I go looking for a warm weather drink. Sometimes, I go for a Hefeweizen (like a good Hoegaarden) or a good crisp Sauv Blanc. Other times, I’m looking for something a little crisper than even that. I head straight for a nice Gin and Tonic with lime.

I just tried a new gin – one that is seriously so smooth, you can drink it straight. New Amsterdam Straight Gin, in it’s beautiful bottle, is amazing. The spirit recently won back-to-back gold medals at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

I’m finding the flavour profile is what is really setting New Amsterdam apart. All gins start out with the same neutral spirit base with juniper. New Amsterdam includes a balance of citrus elements with a lighter touch from the Juniper berries, which makes this so much smoother to drink.

My favourite way to drink this gin is with Tonic, as I mentioned above, but there are a few other recipes you might want to try (and I’ll be all over when I get another bottle!):

Lower East Side
2.5 oz New Amsterdam Gin
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
3/4 oz liquid honey

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain and pour into a martini glass or rocks glass and garnish with a lime wheel.

Or Lemonade 485

2.5 oz New Amsterdam Gin
1 oz guava juice
1/2 oz apple liqueur
1/2 oz peach liqueur
1 lemon, cut into pieces

Muddle lemons until juice is extracted. Add all other ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Pour into a highball glass and garnish with a twist of lemon.

These are both fantastic summer drinks! New Amsterdam Gin will be available nationwide on June 1, 2008. (images courtesy of New Amsterdam Gin)

Post from: EveryJoe

Summer Drinks: New Amsterdam Gin