Lemon infused Vodka

A friend from California, Jane Minogue, had the lovely problem of being in possession of some Meyer lemon-infused vodka.  She'd done the infusion herself.  She was looking for cocktail recipes, and I don't know too many vodka drinks of any sort beyond the obvious Cosmos and Lemon Drops (and Moscow Mules).  Paul Harrington to the rescue again!  Here's a drink that uses citrus vodka & is just a little like a Cosmo.  It's a Harrington original--credit where credit is due!

The Evan

2 oz. citrus vodka
1/2 oz. Cointreau
1/2 oz lemon juice
splash cranberry

Shake hard over ice cubes, strain into chilled cocktail glass & garnish with something lemon-y--a twist or a wheel.  Or, if you've got a Meyer lemon tree RIGHT IN YOUR YARD, I might suggest a pretty little leaf or some such.

Do join me on the air today, right after the Stoopid Daddies, at 4!

One Does Not MIX drinks on St Pat's...

...unless one very unwisely does it in one's belly over the course of a too-long and indulgent evening.  The order of the day is Guiness and Jamison's, and honestly, I don't see any reason to ring changes on that.  I'd even go so far as to say that the Jamison's should be taken with just enough water to tame its fire, and little or no ice.  I'm not as purist about it as I am about a good Scotch single malt (my fave there being Talisker), which I would NEVER ice.  And I like the Guiness a bit chilled, but not icy like an American lager. 

Yes there are drinks that call for Guiness and champagne, just as people seem to want to put the stuff in chocolate desserts.  Neither thing is a TERRIBLE idea, but I just like it in a glass, with its latte-like head smiling at me.  Perhaps a little soda bread to nibble, although the Potter building is celebrating the holiday over the weekend this year, specifically on Sunday. 

Meanwhile, there's a radio show to do today, and we're proposing an interesting mix: Ed Croft, a young guitarist/song writer/ student of music and life will be joining us today.  He's bringing some records that are probably so far from St. Pat's that you won't believe it.  Get some ear protection for that unicorn!  And see you at 4, right after the Stoopid Daddies!

More Fun With Old Grand Dad!

So that DEE-licious bottle of bourbon still sat in our liquor cabinet, calling out, tempting me to make more whiskey cocktails with its yumminess.  I thought again of a perfect whiskey sour my sister had had at a cocktail nerd bar in Seattle, and read all of the recipes I had at hand for such a thing.  AND I NAILED IT!  You can, too.  All you need is good bourbon, a few lemons, and medium-colored agave syrup.  Oh, and an egg.  And the courage to use said egg in a cocktail.

Here's how:

A Perfect Whiskey Sour

2 oz. good bourbon--Old Grand Dad is excellent in this

1 oz. of freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2-3/4 oz agave syrup

a few teaspoons of egg white

Shake hard over ice cubes, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with something lemony--a peel or a wheel.  The egg white will make a yummy foam and give the drink some smoothness and heft.

Note: Taste before you shake.  You might want it sweeter.  But do start with the lesser amount of syrup.

I PROMISE you'll like this.  And if you want to use a whole egg white, make several drinks at once.  Four or five drinks use a large egg white just about perfectly, making this a good party drink.

What We're REALLY Talking about is cobblers, here...

That caipirinha variation I posted last week belongs to a very old school of cocktail, I have learned: something that dates back to Jerry Thomas.  It's called a cobbler, and I'm not sure why, but when I say old, I mean Civil War vintage.  Yeah.  OLD.

When we muddle fruit and liquor in the bottom of a shaker, add crushed ice, shake, and pour the whole drink unstrained into a glass to drink with a straw, we're making a cobbler, and it turns out that the varieties are endless.  Check out the quick history Wikitender presents:

http://wiki.webtender.com/wiki/Whiskey_Cobbler

I'm going to experiment a bit with the bottle of Old Grand Dad that Mr. Potter brought back to the Potter Building tonight.  Meanwhile, do join me on the air today at 4!!

Coconut water!

I always hated that song about Pina Coladas, probably because I even hated pina coladas when I was of an age where most people think them a cocktail possibility.  They are simply too darn sweet--and coconut milk is too darn heavy for cocktails.  I generally don't like drinks that taste like dessert, although I do make an exception for the odd after-dinner Brandy Alexander.

However, people have been drinking coconut WATER lately.  It's good for you--got banana-level amounts of potassium--and it's tasty.  Not heavy and nasty at all! You see folks walking around The Swanky Neighborhood Near You with those carved up coconuts with a straw stuck in.  Most tropical looking.

You can also buy coconut water in orange-juice sorta containers that you can keep in the fridge, which makes me think about making cocktails out of it.  I've been on a search for coconut water cocktail recipes lately.  Here's one I happened across on the 'net from a fella named Chuck Taggert:

1-1/2 ounces Absolut vodka
4 eighths lime
1 ounce coconut water
1 piece of ginger, peeled, the size of a fingernail
1 ounce agave nectar or aloe vera nectar

Muddle the coconut water together with the ginger. Add the limes and the syrup and muddle again. Using the Old Fashioned glass the drnk will be served in measure a glass of ice into the shaker glass and shake well. Pour the entire contents of the glass back into the Old Fashioned glass.

This is a sort of vodka caipininha, or a caipiroska.  I'm thinking I'll play with it with cachaca, which is what you actually would put into a caipirina...

So, in hopes of spring and tropical breezes, I'll see you on the air today at 4, right after Stoopid Daddy!!