{Thirsty Thursday}: Fuzzy Peach

A peck of peaches is becoming my new summer tradition. Lured in by cute roadside farms or beauties at a berry farm, I enthusiastically pick the prettiest peck to bring home. A peck is between 12 and 20 pounds. I didn't know that last summer, but somehow that fact slipped my mind as I payed for and carried home another twenty this year.

Thirsty Thursday: New to Me Negroni

The subtitle of this post should be "Or how I accidentally got drunk on a Sunday afternoon".

Thirsty Thursday: Toasted Almond

I don't know about you, but I generally don't keep amaretto stocked in the bar. Among my bar regulars are bourbon, vodka, gin, and rum. Sure, we have a bottle of Kahlua and now some Rootbeer liquor. I mentioned picking up the amaretto for a very special cake I made recently. Now that I have a bottle of amaretto in the bar I feel obligated to give it a go in a few classic cocktails.

Thirsty Thursday: Blackmaker Floats

I stopped to buy amarretto for a cake I am making for Saturday. Something about the label caught my eye. What can I say - I liked the label and I love root beer.

The label tells a story of a strange "maker" herbalist who created the secret blend for this liqueur. Dude sounds like a creep to me or at least some sort of gypsy wanderer who shouldn't really be hawking anything that reminds me of childhood.

After sniffing and tasting and reading the label's suggestions, we decide a "float" would be the best drink for this liqueur. It is sort of sweet and reminds me of both my favorite adult beverage, the White Russian, and of a good ole fashioned rootbeer float.

Thirsty Thursday: Sours

 



I ordered a Whiskey Sour the first night Brian took me to Top Flor. I remember feeling like it was a confident but safe cocktail order. Of course in someways, I was right: David Woodrich has called Sours "the children of punches" meaning that they are as easy to make as they are to drink; And of course, I was wrong too, because a Whiskey Sour is basically a whiskey and water that goes down much, much too easy. Sours are trouble if you are out for the first time, at a bar, with a boy you find so handsome that you have to drink just to shutter the nerves.

A Sour is lovely if you fancy a drink and your bar or fridge is quite bare. It requires only an alcohol, sugar, some citrus, and some water. You don't even need a cocktail shaker. A jar with a resealable lid will serve just fine - and it multiplies well! The first party I ever tended bar at served a Whiskey Sour as their signature cocktail and I mixed in a pitcher.



For almost a hundred years (from 1860 to 1960) the Whiskey Sour was considered the most American of cocktails. It was and is quick and simple, without fuss or flair, and quite flexible. The only point of argument among barkeeps of a Sour may come from its name sake: the sour.



Now, I am partial to a balanced sour, without too much sweetness, but gentle enough to still taste the liquor in the citrus. Some keepers demand that a Sour bite your teeth and clench the jaw so much so that your lips pucker. Recipes vary in the use of a whole lemon, a half, or a quarter to one drink. Taste and determine what you prefer. Then make yourself a drink or make your friends some punch.



Sour

2 ounce liquor: whiskey bourbon gin

1 ounce water

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 a lemon, lime, or orange

Combine in a mason jar filled with ice. Lid and shake. Enjoy but be careful.

Thirsty Thursday: White Russian, Dude.

 



Appearing to have evolved from the Alexander in 1950s or early 1960s, the White Russian has no great origin story. The drink, of course, is not Russian but is so named, like its cousin the Black Russian, due to inclusion of vodka. Though many modern mixologist use half and half, cream was the original dairy of choice because it helped to "thicken" the drink.

We drank more than a few of these during the great ice storm. Then this week Design Sponge highlighted a cult classic in their "Living In Column" and I knew we had to address something here:

I am a Little Lebowski Urban Achiever.

Most of my junior year of high school was spent watching, no no, studying The Big Lebowski. As such, the White Russian was among the first cocktails I drank. Funnily, the infamous and revered David Woodrich described the drink as such in a New York Times Article from 2008: “When I first encountered it in the 1970s, the White Russian was something real alcoholics drank, or beginners.”  I still enjoy a good ole Caucasian and if that makes me an alcoholic by Mr. Woodrich's standards, I'm okay with it. The drink gets a bad rap for essentially being a grown-up milkshake and I personally think that is a shame; but the Dude abides:

The Classic White Russian

1 part coffee liquor

1 part vodka

1 part heavy cream or half and half

Pour the coffee liquor and vodka over ice in an old fashioned glass. Top with the cream.

Dark and Stormy

 



It's hot, mean hot, in Atlanta during August. Somedays we're lucky enough to wake up to a cloudy sky that holds the humidity against the city until late afternoon when the clouds break and we get a quick shower. Today was one of those days. And being forced to wear pant in such weather (our office is always cold) I was dreaming of a cold beverage from the moment I stepped out of the house.

[Craving alcohol before 9 am is totally normal, right?!]

Traditionally a Dark and Stormy is a spring cocktail (you know, May showers?). It's also the national drink of Bermuda and one of the few cocktails with a copyright. You can read more about all that here, because, really, let's get to the drink.

Dark and Stormy

Ice

2 ounces Dark rum (preferably Gosling's, see link above)

6 ounces ginger beer (I like Reid's)

lime wedges to serve.

Fill a tall glass with ice. Top with rum, followed by the ginger beer, stir gently and enjoy.