Luckiwi
Before you ask, I’m not really sure how to pronounce the name of this drink. As my wife can begrudgingly attest, I love combining words, so today we have a Lucky Kiwi drink in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Kiwi has a distinct enough flavor and some acidity that lends itself well to cocktails (amiright @cocktail.complex?). And it’s green, so it’s perfect for today.
Lucky Lime’rick
This drink brings lime, mint, and chocolate together in a boozy green sipper. The lime peel rhum infusion provides a surprisingly strong limey presence thanks to the prolonged infusion (2-3 days), which gives a touch of bitter that plays perfectly with the grassy notes of the rhum. The homemade cordial gives an enormous depth of real mint and chocolate flavor that is complemented nicely by the remaining ingredients. The drink finishes with a welcome minty note that grows slightly as the ice melts. It’s an amazing flavor combo and well worth the effort!
Apologetic
As a general rule I really try not to be “that guy”. You know who he is. Blissfully unaware of his jerk-iness, not treating his partner well, always needing to make things right. Do flowers and wine say I’m sorry without saying I’m sorry?
Roasted Cauliflower Pizza
There’s this cauliflower salad that I adore in my one my favorite cookbooks (though in reality it’s wayyy more than just recipes), The Food Lab, by J. Kenji López-Alt. It has roasted cauliflower covered in a lovely dressing with olive oil, capers, sherry vinegar, hot honey, toasted pine nuts, and raisins, garnished with parsley. It’s seriously delicious. As with many delicious things, I wondered: could we make it into a pizza?
Gold Pal
I’m not as familiar with Irish whisky as other styles, but I must say I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the bottle that @mcconnellsirishwhisky kindly gifted me. It may be lacking an “e” but it’s not short on rich flavors of honey, malted grain, almond, and vanilla. It’s certainly more delicate than some other styles, which is not a bad thing, but it takes a different approach to fully honor and appreciative the spirit in a cocktail.
The Real Streets of Cabbagetown
I posted a drink called Cabbagetown (1/18/21) that was named for an area of Toronto, since the drink itself was a Toronto riff. Many people commenting on the drink were expecting actual cabbage in the drink, which made me really happy to know that people think I am bold (?crazy) enough to try such a thing. I mean, it would be on-brand given my love for food-inspired, often savory-leaning concoctions. Yeah, you see where this is going-- I had to do it.
Biscotti Italiani
This food-inspired cocktail is the brainchild of my dear friend @rogzor and came about during our fernet-inspired cocktails R&D session for the @homebarawards (so honored to be in the top 3!). While this wasn’t one of my official entries, it’s a darn good drink and conceptually really fun. Lazzaroni makes a lovely fernet, minty but not quite as intense as branca. The Lazzaroni family is also known for making an almond biscotti. While I couldn’t locate the original, I did acquire a chocolate-dipped almond biscotti.
‘Merica Mule
I am excited to present my entry for the Mad Marchness Cocktail Face-Off, #sponsored by Mad March Hare (@madmarchharepoitin) and organized by @thegallavantgroup! The contest is based on engagement, so I definitely appreciate your likes, comments, shares, saves, etc.!
Big Fat Tiki
Happy Tiki Tuesday! Happy Fat Tuesday! I have one big whopper of a tiki drink for you today. This one makes me really excited because there are too few whiskey-based tiki drinks in my opinion. When @alpinedistilling kindly gifted me their spiced bourbon, I knew I had to go in that direction. I love my strong, overproof whiskies, but I gotta say— this is really delicious all by itself, maybe not too surprisingly since I love cinnamon and stone fruit.
Vida Americana
Blanco tequila can be so much more than a shot or a margarita. It took me some time to realize that, and don’t get me wrong— I love a good margarita and especially its infinite riffability. But if you like margaritas and/or tequila in general, keep reading.