Recipes: Cherry Blossom

By Bryan |

Summer is just around the corner, and while you might not want to down this sweet concoction, you’ll look like the perfect gentleman mixing one up for a few ladies.

Cherry Blossom

  • 2 oz. Cherry vodka
  • 1 oz. lime juice
  • 3/4 oz. simple syrup
  • soda water
  • Garnish with cherry and lime wedge

Build in a pint glass. Add vodka, lime juice, simple syrup, and fill with ice. Add to shaker and shake the hell out of it. Pour back into the pint glass, add ice to the top and fill with soda water. Crush the lime wedge over the top and serve with a straw and a cherry.

Stolen with love from Shanghai Tunnel, Portland, OR.

Recipes: 3 Whiskey Classics You Should Know

By Bryan |

Sometimes a Jack & Coke just doesn’t cut it. There are times that call for something a little more complex and flavorful. The 3 following whiskey-based classic cocktails will get the job done, and you won’t even have to put your pinky up as you tip ‘em back. As with any recipe we strongly encourage you to play around with ingredients and proportions to find one that suits your taste. Enjoy!

Old Fashioned

There is plenty of debate about the true recipe of the Old Fashioned. Though the typically built with bourbon, we find that rye often makes for a more complex cocktail.

Build in an Old Fashioned glass

  • 1 1/2 oz. bourbon (or other whiskey)
  • 1 sugar cube
  • 2-3 dashes Angostura Bitters
  • Splash soda water
  • Garnish with orange slice and maraschino cherry

Place sugar cube in bottom of glass and use the 2-3 dashes of bitters to saturate the sugar cube. Add a splash of soda water and muddle until sugar is dissolved. Add ice to top of glass and add whiskey. Stir for 15-20 seconds, garnish with orange slice and maraschino cherry.

Some prefer to add a small bit of orange peel before the muddling, which makes for a slightly sweet and less bourbon-forward drink.

Hit the break for the other 2!

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Whisky vs. Whiskey

By Bryan |
Jack Daniels

Note the extra "E"

You’ve probably seen it spelled both ways. So which is right? Is it “Whiskey” or “Whisky”? Or is there any difference at all?

Well, the answer is… kind of.

Technically the bonus vowel is added to the Irish and American varieties (whiskey, whiskeys) whereas the ones from Scotland, Whales, Japan and Canada are referred to as “whisky” or “whiskies”.

Until fairly recently the New York Times made no distinction between the two (see this post from 2008), lumping all under the “Whiskey” spelling. Well, you can imagine that there were a number of Scotch drinkers who didn’t find this particularly pleasing, so the Times has since changed their stance on the matter and now their spelling reflects the different categories.

Well, we’re not the New York Times, so for our purposes, we’re going to call it all “whiskey”.

Taste Test: The Big 3

By Bryan |

Taste Test

Think you can tell Coors Light, Bud Light, and Miller Lite apart? So did we.

It would be a lie if we told you we set out on this taste test of the three biggest light beer brands to hone our discerning beer palettes. More accurately it was an excuse to throw back a few domestics. We decided whoever did the worst job identifying the beers would write the post… so here I am.

We started with a couple of cans of each of the three major light beer brands, all chilled to the same temp. Then in a double-blind taste test (meaning neither the subject nor the person assisting the subject knew which glass held which beer) we set about to try to tell them apart while blindfolded.

Hit the break for the full results.

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Spirits 101: Tequila

By Bryan |

Unfortunately for tequila, many of us have a “first time” story that starts in a dorm or apartment somewhere and ends in fetal position clutching a garbage can. I hope we can convince you and your stomach to give it another try.

You probably know that products like Champagne and Cognac come from very specific regions of France. What you may not know is that tequila is bound by similar laws, often called PDO’s (Protected Designation of Origin). Tequila — made from the agave plant — comes only from the Mexican state of Jalisco.

Not all tequilas are created equal. Hit the break to find out why.

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