With Summer comes the good fruit. With the good fruit comes a whiskey cobbler

My own personal take on a whiskey cobbler

It seems it has been awhile since I did a posting, but I really felt the time was right for one.  The time had to be right for the right time of the year, the right drink, and the right conditions.  With Summer all of that came into focus as the farmers market filled with seasonal berried fruit.  As others thought of pie and desserts, I could think of only one thing.  Taking those fruits to make a classic whiskey cobbler.

Cobblers are actually a real old cocktail, and there are numerous variations on them.  There are gin cobblers, sherry, and of course whiskey cobblers, that are all a mix of a few basic ingredients.  A base spirit, some type of sweetener,  water or club soda to top off, and most importantly fresh fruit.

I got inspired to make this drink after a trip to my local farmer's market, and also reading up on some ideas from my cocktail library.  I had a stash of real fresh blueberries, cherries and raspberries, and even still some strawberries which were still hanging on for the season.

I came up with a recipe as follows in the video below, watch it to learn how I made my own variation on this drink.  It's fruity bouquet and refreshing taste is perfect for summer, and it works well with my favorite style of whiskey that being bourbon.  The orange curacao adds a nice mellow sweetness with the citrus angle as well, and the key to making a good cobbler is using FRESH FRUIT.  The sweetness will be just perfect.

Here is my recipe:

• 3 Cherries (pitted)
• 4 Raspberries
• 4 Blueberries
• muddled into a cocktail shaker
• 2 oz. of whiskey (a 90 to 100 proof Bourbon)
• 3/4 oz. of Orange curacao
• 1 oz. of water
• Shake vigorously and pour into a rocks glass filled with ice.    Garnish with fruit and a cocktail pick and serve

CHEERS!

For blueberry beer, the good, the not so bad, and the UGLY....

So... fruit in beer. Seriously what is up with that? I never even knew that beer could contain something such as fruit, until I started looking at great Belgian beer and discovering Kreiks, Lambics, and the sorts.

It turned out many of them I didn't care for, but it got me thinking that beer wasn't just a malty-hoppy one trick pony. With care fruit could be added and you could come up with something good. However, it is usually not the first thing I think of.

I soon discovered that with fresh fruit in season I could get blueberries in my area. I absolutely adored them. They were just perfect sweet snack food, not even too sweet sometimes. My wife who is originally from Maine even introduced me to one of the States best exports that being Maine wild blueberries. From there heaven could be found in blue fruit. Why not make thine marriage of suds and such things?

For this tasting I decided to have a little fun and compare 3 beers and their Blueberry-"ness". This was to just have a little fun and take a break from some serious Bourbon tastings, and good quality craft microbrew. I always wanted to do this, and I came home from work on a hotter than normal day.. dog thirsty and ready.

See the video below as I review 3 beers, or as I nicknamed them... "THE GOOD (Seadog Blueberry Wheat Beer), THE NOT SO BAD (Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale), AND THE UGLY (Wild Blue Blueberry Beer).

BLUEBERRY VIDEO QUICK THREE SIPS REVIEW