Sunday, March 29, 2009

Kitchen Concoctions: A Drink for Allergy Season



‘Tis the season! Stuffy nose, scratchy throat, itchy eyes, throbbing head, swollen sinuses. Yep, allergies have come to the Bay Area!

So I thought we’d try to whip something up, inspired by @foodieguide during the last season (Flu Season).

Here’s your Allergy Drink Recipe:



To boiling water add:
-fresh mint
-fresh lemon juice (feel free to drop both sides of the peel in)
-honey
-angostura bitters (old wives tales narrate angostura’s magical medicinal wonders—this has, of course, never been proved. But I just like the flavor, especially with mint)



The result:
A tangy, hot drink that is rather invigorating for a hay fever sufferer. It definitely soothes my itchy throat and calms my headache.

Possible tweaks:
My only wish is that I didn’t hit the bottom of my honey jar and could have added much more (must make trip to next farmers market). A thicker, sweet consistently would have been nice. One other experiment would be to add orange bitters instead of angostura.

What do you drink when you’re suffering from allergies or colds? I’ve heard hot toddys work wonders!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Epic Julep Variation FAIL


I was pretty pumped to get some Mathilde raspberry liqueur. If you taste it on its own, it's like drinking a raspberry, no joke. The problem is, it doesn't mix very well. I think the key is to give the drink a hint, just an idea of the liqueur. If you want to give something actual raspberry flavor, well, look elsewhere. Unfortunately, I learned this lesson after attempting to make a raspberry flavored mint julep.

-1/2 oz raspberry liqueur
-2.5 oz Jim Beam (mmmm)
-loads of mint
-Fee's Whiskey Bitters

Now, in my head, this came out AWESOME. In reality, it came out a bit acrid. I ended up adding a bit more Beam and it balanced out. Sadly, I don't think this recipe is usable as it is. It needs some serious changes, but I don't know what. Any suggestions?

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Joys of Drinking--on the Cheap




Hehe it’s funny AND it has to do with cocktails! The New Yorker put out “Cocktail Recipes for the Recession" in its Shouts and Murmurs section. Enjoy!

We're on Alltop!

Featured in Alltop

If you haven't already noticed, we have joined the happy ranks of drink blogs and resources on Alltop. Yay! Check out some of the other best resources on getting your cocktail on at spirts.alltop.com. There are tons of other interesting topics to browse, too. I know because I put together a fair amount of them for Alltop. :-p (I swear they're still legit, though!)

http://spirits.alltop.com/

Go celebrate with a drink, mates!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The Atlantic Monthly: "Cocktails of the Past"

Check out this new piece by the Atlantic on one guy's exploration of classic cocktails. It's a rather light inquiry, but I always invite discussions of taste and sentiment. Also, note that he talks about Creme de Violette (Josh blogged about our tasting in the past) and the Aviation, which is one of my favorite drinks.

Find the article here: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200904/cocktails