Kentucky Derby day means only one thing for imbibing, MINT JULEP TIME!

Today is the running of the 137th, 2011 Kentucky Derby. While thoughts may focus on things of big winnings, fancy hats and dress, or the sense of Kentucky pride, there is one thing that stands out as a tradition that every person should enjoy on this day. That tradition is to enjoy a mint julep cocktail.

To me a proper one is very simple to make, but it takes some preparation and some right tools to get the job done right.

First get a silver cup. You will need this to make your drink ice cold and refreshing. It doesn't get any better than this. Second use crushed ice to give your drink a frosty kick and feel. Third gently muddled your mint inside the cup without dangerously bruising it or making a salad, and finally pick a good bourbon you like.

It's really that simple. Enjoy bourbon whiskey on this day it is a great time to be doing it, and no cocktail is more fitting for such a time. To learn more watch the video below. Cheers!

Whisk(e)y Sour... take me home...

If there is one cocktail that I could have an desire anytime for the rest of my life it is the ubiquitous, an simple whisk(e)y sour. Through numerous bourbon tastings I have a lot of left over whisk(e)y being asked to play with. It sits in corners, book case drawers (I am not lying when I say that), almost screaming pick me pick me!

The past turkey holidays of November are gone, and back then it never felt like I had time to sit and make a nice drink. Now with the pleasantries of personal time to myself, I think I have stepped on to, a perfect sour, and discovering the ultimate key to a good one and how to get it. The big key (among many) is froth (pictured to the left) from the egg white.

A good whiskey sour is fun to make, but many times it is hit or miss. I demonstrated one in the past using my Boston shaker, and as much as I like that big burly bastard, it's cumbersome, I hate cleaning it, and sure you can hear a million times from others, just twist or tap to break the "seal" in order to get your yummy contents out.

The reality is though, that seal... isn't easy sometimes. I don't care how you stick your glass in, or angle it, it doesn't matter. sometimes... daddy doesn't want to play, and you can't get your liquid goodies inside no matter how much you beg and plead. Other times you think you have it sealed, then start shaking, and you realize you gave yourself a shower cause the contents edged out "somehow" and are now all over your face (or if its really bad the guest you are making it for). One guy who like me has made several drinks with one said he has been behind bars numerous times, just hammering the thing like a construction worker. I agree with this sentiment and have been there. So I went back to sour land drawing board, and stumbled upon what I call a happy find. I need to use... the little bullet as I call it, my really small 3 piece shaker (pictured).

One thing I noticed is that the Boston shaker when doing the dry shake for the sour didn't give as much froth. You had lots of air and little contents in the shaker, and had to REALLY shake hard, but also much of the froth just coated the shaker and didn't come out on the pour. The success really worked when I used my really small 3 piece shaker for the dry shake, as I got foam and froth that could have been used for a bubble bath. It hit me, my Boston shaker was too big for this (or I didn't have giant paint can shaking arms I guess).

So who likes things easy... yup me... If you put the liquid contents in for the dry shake in a TINY shaker like this one, you will get monster froth, and you won't have to shake as long or as hard either to get it. Do however, pop the seal half way because the can will literally want to explode. Shake vigorously, when you feel the pressure, STOP, break the seal, and do it again for a little while for the dry shake portion. Who said making cocktails wasn't dangerous huh! That's half the fun!

I ended up grabbing the Rare Breed which had giant tobacco on the taste for this drink, but why not... it was a Turkey holiday recently so lets have a turkey right!? Use whatever whiskey you like. When the cocktail was poured for the second part, a massive head of froth came out leaving about a good solid size finger of bubbles. It looked like a real good beer. More importantly adding the killer fabbri amarena cherries sealed the deal, and the head made a perfect playground to drizzle some of the juice with red specks on top. Looks great, tastes even better. Enter cocktail win.

Here's some more detail on how to make this drink, it's a standard:

Ingredients:

• 2 oz of whiskey (use your favorite I have many) if you really like whiskey add 2 1/2 oz
• 1 oz of simple syrup (make your own)
  
• 3/4 oz of fresh lemon juice (not the FAKE STUFF, use real lemons, if you don't your sour will taste like ass) and DON'T USE SOUR MIX!
  
• egg white from one egg

Tips:

• If you haven't made this drink before, start with just 2 oz of whiskey, it balances the cocktail out and you may prefer it, more whiskey may make the other ingredients harder to taste
• The ratio of sweet to sour here is 4:3 which is a common standard giving a decent tartness. Try this ratio first, if you like it sweeter, more sour.. then adjust
• Crack the egg OVER your shaker so the white will fall in the glass, toss the yolk between the shell until all the white is gone. Do whatever you want with the yolk, maybe make a Golden Fizz, bake a cake, custard, feed it to your dog, garbage... whatever...
  

Directions:

• Combine all liquid ingredients, with egg into a TINY 3 piece shaker with NO ice (this is a dry shake)
  
• Cap and shake hard, when you feel the shaker expanding, pop it to break the seal, then shake again. You should have a big froth inside.
• Open you frothy contents and add ice. Shake hard till its nice and cold (7-12 seconds).
• Strain into an old fashioned glass with ice, pour fast, if you're like me, get as much froth out as possible by opening the strainer and getting the remaining goodness.
• garnish with a cherry

And with that... you can have imbibing heaven!

The White Manhattan Cocktail... twist on a classic standard. You can teach an old white dog new tricks!

Sometimes, everything comes together in life. When it comes to a good cocktail, it's also the finer things and the patience involved to make it, that somehow makes it more rewarding.

I had done a previous whiskey tasting of young whiskey as part of my series. While tasting the whiskey I realized that much of it sat on the shelf and I cared not often to bring it down for my liquid pursuits.

However, after finishing the tasting I went back to some old articles and came across one for white whiskey in the Washington Post, and there it was ... there was included a recipe using white whiskey in a classic standard cocktail favorite of mine... a "white Manhattan".

I love Manhattans. I am normally a Bourbon fan with them and particularly like them on the rocks. What my biggest pet peeve with them though was, were the ubiquitous companionship of cocktails.. those things that I could not escape no matter how hard I tried... the dreaded red fake cocktail cherry.

But even then I fixed that solution purchasing Italian Wild Cherries that were just DIVINE. I was all set, I even decided to order some other French Vermouth, only to receive dry vermouth instead of Blanc (white/sweet). My plans were put on hold, I would have to wait... WAIT to make this drink... My temptation to just make one, sans true cocktail cherry, sans Dolin Blanc (perhaps even ruining it with an old long shelved bottle of Martini Rossi Bianco), no I would have to be patient... A true good cocktail need EVERYTHING just right. And the wait was well worth it.

Subtle, sweet glycerine taste, orange slight bouquet, Benedictine... oh what a great liqeur you are... and then topped with a great tasting cherry. This is a great sweet drink, which you white whiskey fans may be all over... Benedictine is not a normal component in a classic Manhattan. Put here with the sweentess of a Blanc Vermouth it really adds a great texture along with orange bitters. Definitely worth a look.

I present to you... the White Manhattan. Cheers!

The Old Fashioned Cocktail, Old is new again and will never die...

It seems like when you discover something that is old and been around for a long time that you really enjoy, but not many people seem to know about, that's when you know you've hit something special.

When I first got into cocktails intently and spirits many years ago, I realized that many of them went past the ones we probably have all heard before such as the Martini.

The reality is that cocktails had their start long time ago and were concoctions mostly out of apothecaries, medicine shops, filled with bitters and tonics that were to be cure-alls if you will. I wont repeat much of that history but it's a fascinating one going back quite some time ago.

When I started jumping into the land of Bourbon, I discovered a classic old cocktail that I had never heard before that really fit in this realm. What??? There's something more to cocktails than Martinis??? Really??? you better believe it.. and it's a classic standard.

Below is a classic Old Fashioned recipe. I took this after much playing around and practicing and felt that the recipe provided by Chris McMillan (someone put YouTube videos of him up) was the best I've ever tasted. I duplicate it here for your pleasure with the exception of the Whiskey I used. I make some comments based on a previous recipe and give my thoughts on this great drink which is a favorite of mine. I found a great book that was recommended by Mr. Booze (see previous Blog postings) that was written by Ted Haigh (Dr. Cocktail!) called Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. Ted is also one of the developers of http://www.cocktaildb.com/I plan to make more of the drinks in this book, some of which you probably never heard of, but it's always good to make some basics first. Like I say... you have to learn to crawl first before you walk.

Yes I did it very much like Chris did, but the reality is this is how it's suppose to be done with I feel these correct measurements, which were also echoed in many other recipes I found also for this drink. Many other bartenders make this drink the same way on YouTube as well, some slightly varying it... but not by much. Regardless... it's fantastic and you should make one.

Check the video below to learn how! And stay tuned for another cocktial classic... the Whiskey Sour.

Cheers!

Ginger Peach Julep - how to make!

Summer comes and Summer goes, just like everything else in life. Orchard fruit comes in abundance then suddenly it's as rare as hen's teeth. Coming up on the end of Summer my wife makes sure to get her peach fix in. She is without question the biggest peach connoisseur I have ever known. There is nothing better than to share with someone the joys of the finer things in life. Peaches don't just make good eating, they make a great cocktail as well.

I came across a recipe for a cocktail in the Washington Post some time ago. It was written by the spirits columnist Jason Wilson, and he talked about a fantastic drink that was part of a competition in 2009 at the Tales of the Cocktail contest in New Orleans. My wife who loves to just cut out recipes for everything under the sun, and the comes to me and says... can you make this???? found this knowing my love for Bourbon and Juleps and her joy of peaches. At least this time it wasn't Peking duck.

I love mint juleps. This is without question one of the greatest American drinks ever created. I used Kentucky Colonel mint which works like a charm. My wife being the peach aficionado is the one who found the recipe and figured this could make something beautiful marrying my love for juleps, Bourbon, and cocktails with peaches. Some things are just meant to be true...

Here for you I present my adaptation of an adaption done by Wayne Curtis, drinks correspondent for the Atlantic, which I first saw in the Washington Post back in 2009. The Ginger Peach Julep. If you want to see the recipe click here.

Cheers.