Spring Fling - Mango Vodka, Apple Pucker, Cranberry Juice - HAPPY SPRING!!

Infused Vodka @ Barramundi

Spring is officially here (20^th March)! - So is Bach’s birthday (21^st March)
Remember when there were none of these flavored Vodkas on the market – Hmm – maybe I’m ageing myself.
Anyway now you can get just about anything.  Infusing liquor yourself though isn’t that difficult and it can be fun – we do it at Barramundi!

Here’s a great intro by our friends at the Spirit -  http://www.thespir.it/articles/how-to-infuse-your-own-cocktails/

A Small Glass (7oz) of Guinness washed down with a shot of Jameson’s whiskey - Happy St Paddy’s Day!

St Patrick’s Day in NYC is famous for its parade - it takes place on 17^th March each year and attracts about 150,000 marchers. The first parade took place on 1762.
It ‘s also a great day for wearing green, trying to score the best corned beef in town and of course celebrating with the great Irish libations – the deliciously creamy guinness and the heart-warming Jameson Irish Whiskey. 
A little bit of trivia here - The word "whiskey" is an Anglicisation of "uisce beatha/uisge beatha" a phrase from the Goidelic branch of languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx) meaning "water of life".

Enjoy

MOSCOW MULE - ALL ABOUT GINGER!

You say Moscow as in “Cow”, I say Moscow as in “Coe” – Either way though this mule kicks a punch – or should I say a buck.  Originally this drink could have been called a Vodka Buck (or mule) – Buck (mule) being a now almost defunct expression used to describe a drink in which ginger ale or ginger beer is mixed with citrus.

Where the Moscow bit of it came from I’m not sure – the cocktail is supposed to have been invented in New York's Chatham Hotel in 1941.  Despite its East Coast origins it apparently became a lot more popular on the West Coast.  In December of 1942 the Insider Hollywood in Los Angeles reported: "There is a new drink that is a craze in the movie colony now. It is called 'Moscow Mule'"

MULLED WINE!

I remember this one from when we used to go skiing in the Swiss Alps – if it wasn’t hot wine (gluhwein), it was something they called hunter’s tea (Jaegertee) which was more like a hot grog.  Both warmed you up – the latter just knocked you out a bit quicker.   Neither were supposed to be consumed by anyone under 18 (18 in Europe not 21!) – both were great lessons in tempering your drink consumption.

The thing about all these hot drinks is they’re sweet and they go down really easily – especially when it’s below freezing outside.

My grandmother’s family moved from Switzerland before she was born – however one of the traditions that got handed down and that was the recipe for the Gluhwein – I remember being so happy when I discovered that I didn’t need to travel back to Switzerland every time for a great mulled wine.

The secret she always told me was not to use bad wine or light wine! 

SAZERAC - HAPPY MARDIS GRAS!!

Declared the official cocktail of New Orleans on June 23 2008, the Sazerac is synonymous with New Orleans  - what’s less known is that the main ingredient that it’s supposedly named after “Sazerac de Forge et Fils” was a cognac – not a whiskey as we now expect in a Sazerac. (this may have something to do with the fact that Sazerac is now the name of a company that produces Rye Whiskey!)

Other ingredients in the Sazerac include Peychaud bitters originally created by Antoine Peychaud, a Creole apothecary from the French colony of Saint-Dominique, now Haiti and Absinthe, the liquor that got banned for so long but is now making a comeback – without the wormwood!

The Sazerac has made many movie & TV appearances – think Treme and the curious case of Benjamin Button.

KIR ROYAL JARNAC! - HAPPY VALENTINE'S WEEK!

Bubbly, Cassis and a dash of Courvoisier – Happy Valentine!

Ahhh Courvoisier – the brandy of Napoleon! – a Cognac is a brandy but not all brandies are Cognacs. I had that ingrained into me whilst growing up in the Cognac area.  Brandy comes from the German “BrandWein” which translates loosely as cooked wine – that’s to say distilled wine which is of course is fermented fruit (not necessarily but generally grapes)!

So there’s a lot of product out there that qualifies as brandy – what makes Cognac special is that is comes from the Cognac area of France, it’s made from specific grapes, distilled twice and has various age & geographical restrictions…blah blah blah – it does mean though that you know what you’re drinking is good J

Why Courvoisier and not any other Cognac?  No reason really except loyalty to the smaller Cognac producing town of Jarnac and a company that I once worked for as a tour guide!

WHISKEY SOUR - IN CELEBRATION OF LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY

So, we all know that Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky – what some of us don’t know is that his father worked in a distillery and that in 1811 his family moved from Sinking Spring Farm to Knob Creek – Hmmm that sounds familiar! – I  always wondered where that name came from and why anyone thought it would make a good name for a bourbon.

Lincoln wrote “My earliest recollection however, is of the Knob Creek place.” He was saved from drowning in Knob Creek (the river that is!) by his schoolmate Austin Gollaher – perhaps we should name a drink the Gollaher to celebrate his birthday! 

In honor of Abraham Lincoln’s Kentucky distillery roots – lift a glass to celebrate his birthday this week.