Cocktails in Charleston

Cocktails in Connecticut

2014-08-13T17:07:00.000-04:00

So!

How has your summer been?

Who, me? Well, we've had a little bit of excitement, too...

You didn't hear? No... it's just that DP and I got married. In May.

In Connecticut.

I know! And then it turns out that our Connecticut marriage isn't recognized in South Carolina.

Who knew, right? So weird!

Anyway, we can't stay in Charleston, obviously. So we bought a place in New London, and we've been exploring the area, and hosting Charleston guests, and getting ready to drink more cocktails.

In 2010, I started Cocktails in Charleston by saying...

I've got my boyfriend's trusty copy of the New International Bartender's Guide, 1984 edition (which - side-rant - 'boyfriend' sounds as if we've been on an extended date - and that's sweet, but infantilizing, and it's not like I can use Dear Husband / DH in South Carolina for the foreseeable future, so I'm going to go with Dear Partner / DP from here on out). So here's the goal: I'll work my way through the Guide, start to finish, maybe 3 or 4 drinks a week, commenting as I go.

Now that my boyfriend is officially my husband, Cocktails in Charleston is turning into Cocktails in Connecticut, aka https://newlondoncocktails.blogspot.com

Head on over there to read this exact same post, and stay tuned for new updates! We'd only made it to the 'J' cocktails in Charleston, you know. It's time to move on!

Oh, and one more change. I'm taking on a new pseudonym in Connecticut. James Jacks, my 5th great-grandfather, will be staying in Charleston, the city that he loved, and I'll borrow a name from my 9th great-grandfather, Samuel Bebee, who moved to New London himself way, way back in the day.

It's always fun to shake things up!

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail

2014-06-27T11:18:00.000-04:00

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail -
OBEY GIANT and Calhoun

John C. Calhoun, called to judgement for his sins, turns away in shame.

Charleston Photo in Place of a Photo

2014-05-14T11:14:00.002-04:00

Spoleto is coming soon! I'm not super excited about the shows this year, but the fact that Shepard Fairey's "Power and Glory" mural is already keeping watch over Calhoun Street is a big plus.

Shepard Fairey - Power and Glory

The City Paper has details online:

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/Spoletobuzz/archives/2014/05/12/first-peek-at-shepard-faireys-first-mural-for-halsey-institute-spoleto-show

Joulouville Cocktail

2014-03-18T12:44:00.000-04:00

DP and I have been off on holiday in the great state of Idaho. A holiday with a lot of hiking, and a lot of family, and a lot of fun.

But not a lot of cocktails.

Time to catch up on the ol' blog!

I'll start with the Joulouville, which I know we made a while back to cap off a party with our friends Snappy and Grey, but of which I have zero memory.

And, speaking of our friend Snappy, we're sending a big congratulations her way! It might compromise the anonymity that has been a hallmark of this blog over the past four years to divulge any details, so I'll leave it at that.

Congratulations, Snappy!

As for the cocktail, maybe it was good? I'm going to guess it tasted like apple pie.

Ingredients:

4 parts Gin

2 parts Apple Brandy

2 parts Lemon Juice

1 part Sweet Vermouth

2 dashes Grenadine

Directions:

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

I think if it had been really good, I would remember it. I'll just check if off the list, and move on.

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail

2014-02-28T12:18:00.000-05:00

I heard a rumor that winter is about to descend upon us again.

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail - Post Office at Broad and Meeting

Enough with the gray days! Let spring begin!

The cocktails coming up in the Guide include the Joulouville (Apple Brandy, Gin, Grenadine, Lemon Juice, Sweet Vermouth) and... Well, I might have to go Off the Grid again.

Just to pace myself.

Judgette Cocktail

2014-02-27T12:25:00.000-05:00

It's time for the Judgette!

Ingredients:

1 part Gin

1 part Peach Brandy

1 part Dry Vermouth

3 dashes Lime Juice

Directions:

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

This one would have made just as much sense with Apricot Brandy, but the Guide says Peach Brandy, so Peach Brandy it is.

The floral, fruity note of the brandy bounces back and forth with the mustiness of the Dry Vermouth, creating a sort of dessert wine experience.

Well, dessert wine spiked with Gin.

The three dashes (that's not very much!) of Lime Juice helped to cut the sweetness just a little, but you wouldn't be drinking this cocktail if you were looking for a dark and bitter experience. It's a tiny taste of Tiki to drive the winter blues away, and I approve.

I also approve of the name.

Judgette!

Judgette for the win!

Off the Grid: Black Manhattan

2014-02-25T12:11:00.000-05:00

Our friends FancyPants, Snappy, and Grey stopped by for cocktails on Saturday, and rather than subject them to the next drink in the Guide we decided to branch out by trying something from the wider world.

DP did a bit of exploring online, and came across the Black Manhattan. Doug Ford has a great review of this one on his Cold Glass website, and it couldn't be easier to make.

Black Manhattan

2 parts Bourbon (we used Bulleit)

1 part Amaro Averna

1 good dash of Angostura Bitters

Directions:

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry (you know we love the Luxardo Maraschinos)

I was worried about how the dark, earthy Averna (I taste bitter where DP tastes sweet) would be received, but this cocktail went over like gangbusters. Perfect for an evening of heated discussions about dark plots and despair, with the cherry in the bottom of the glass like light at the end of the tunnel.

Snappy and I decided that we could taste Rum and Coke notes in this one. There's a molasses quality to the Averna that the Bourbon seems to emphasize and I have to say - I really do like a good Rum and Coke. The Black Manhattan was a complete winner.

Which is why it was crazy of me to follow up the Black Manhattan with a conventional Manhattan. I decided to go for the taste comparison, but after the rich, deep flavor of the Black Manhattan the standard combination of two parts Rye (Bulleit) and one part Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi di Torino) didn't stand a chance. It was like drinking water (well, firewater), and it made me regret not going with a second round of the Black Manhattans.

Which is how you know it was a good drink. A cocktail that makes a Manhattan pale in comparison is the very definition of Top Shelf.

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail

2014-02-21T12:15:00.000-05:00

Staying on the wrong side of history must be exhausting.

Consider poor Garry Smith (R - Greenville), who has been working tirelessly this week to ensure that South Carolina Legislators Punish Colleges for Assigning Gay Books.

And... I can't even.

It would be nice to blame this on the Upstate, and to think that the Lowcountry is different, but celebrating those who have been on the wrong side of history seems to be a Charleston specialty.

Pop quiz!

Whose statue sits at the Federal Courthouse on the corner of Broad and Meeting?

Julius Waites Waring, Federal Judge in Charleston, whose phrase "'Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal' formed the legal foundation for the United States Supreme Court in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision."

James Francis Byrnes, SC Governor 1951-1955, who "was instrumental in blocking national anti-lynching laws, claiming that lynching would 'hold in check the Negro in the South.'"

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail - James Byrnes

Sorry, Waites!

No statue for you!

Jockey Club Cocktail

2014-02-17T12:51:00.000-05:00

I knew this one was coming up in the Guide, and based on the name alone I was feeling pretty good.

It's the Jockey Club Cocktail! You wouldn't be allowed to name your cocktail after the Jockey Club if your drink wasn't in it to win it, right?

Right?

No.

The Jockey Club Cocktail, as interpreted by the Guide, is a depressing sort of drink.

Ingredients:

2 oz Gin

2 dashes White Crème de Cacao

Juice of 1/4 Lemon

1 dash Angostura

Directions:

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

I mean, come on. This is the sad creation of someone who had half a bottle of gin sitting around, and the dregs of a few other ingredients at hand.

Two dashes of White Crème de Cacao? Seriously? What does that even mean? And how is that supposed to make any difference to the drink?

The juice of a quarter of a lemon? It's like someone pulled a wedge out of a nearby water glass, and just squeezed it into the gin.

And the Angostura is expected to carry a heck of a lot of weight in this cocktail, rather than simply adding the right amount of something something to bring out the best of the other ingredients.

There are no other ingredients. There is gin.

This is the part where I have to mention that, on general principles, I am not opposed to the occasional glass of gin. But the Jockey Club Cocktail should have a bit more respect for the concept of a good drink.

Or, perhaps, naming a glass of gin after the Jockey Club says everything you need to know about the Jockey Club.

The Jockey Club Cocktail recipes everywhere else on the internet rely on Scotch, or on Amaretto, or on Crème de Noyaux.

Trust me. You'll want to try one of those recipes instead.

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail

2014-02-14T12:13:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail - Rutledge House Inn

Yes, I was 100% wrong last week. Spring was not right around the corner. Another batch of wintry mix was headed our way instead.

Here's hoping for spring weather in the week ahead!

Japanese Cocktail

2014-02-12T12:32:00.000-05:00

I guess it's the orgeat syrup (i.e. almond flavoring) that makes this a special cocktail? That, and its history.

Jason Wilson has a great article in the Washington Post all about the Japanese Cocktail and Orgeat - well worth reading for some background about this one!

If you're going for the taste that we now call Tiki, the combination of orgeat and lime definitely puts you in the right place.

The downside to the recipe in the Guide is the fact that this makes a very small cocktail. Unusual for the Guide, I know!

Ingredients:

2 oz Brandy

1 tsp Orgeat Syrup

1.5 tsp Lime Juice

1 dash Angostura Bitters

Directions:

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel.

The end result is limey and not quite Tiki enough. In this case, the addition of another two teaspoons of Orgeat wouldn't hurt at all.

Jamaican Cocktail

2014-02-10T12:19:00.000-05:00

And speaking of odd combinations...

The Jamaican Cocktail is one of those drinks that make you worry as you combine the ingredients, and then you taste it and you say "I could drink a stein of these!"

But first, a confession. The Guide calls for Jamaican rum in the Jamaican Cocktail (who knew?) and we don't have any Jamaican rum in the house.

[Side note: we're out of sweet vermouth and rye whiskey as well. Time for a trip to Bottles!]

After a brief debate over whether or not dark or light rum was called for (dark, for the record), I went with the bottle of 12 Year Old Eldorado that we've been using on occasion. The 'true taste of Demerara' may not be Jamaican, but it's awfully tasty, and it turned out to be a star in the Jamaican Cocktail.

Ingredients:

1 part Jamaican Rum (I know!)

1 part Lime Juice

1 part Tia Maria or other Coffee Brandy

Fun story! We spent a long winter in Waterville, Maine a few years ago, and it turns out that Waterville is the buckle of the coffee brandy belt. Every time we went to the Save-A-Lot, there was at least one person waiting in line with a big ol' bottle.

Seriously, whatever it takes to get through the winter.

I don't judge.

Directions:

Add a generous dash of Angostura bitters, shake everything with ice, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

So good!

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail

2014-02-07T12:07:00.000-05:00

Spring is on the way! Our daffodils are on the verge of blooming (just six weeks late), that flowering bush with the sweet citrus Trix-like scent is spreading joy in the Unitarian churchyard, and the rosemary of Tradd Street seems to have survived the ice storm in good shape.

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail - Tradd Street

Cocktails coming up in the Guide include the Jamaican (Dark Rum, Lime Juice, Tia Maria, Angostura Bitters) and the Japanese (Brandy, Lemon Peel, Lime Juice, Orgeat Syrup, Angostura Bitters).

Sounds like we'll be doing some world traveling through the Guide in the days ahead.

Jade Cocktail

2014-02-06T12:05:00.000-05:00

So here's an odd combination... Well, odd-ish, anyway.

This is a cocktail that starts life thinking it wants to be a Daiquiri, and then gets sidelined by Triple Sec, and then decides to go wild by veering into the land of Green Crème de Menthe.

Creating... the Jade cocktail!

Or should I say... the Pounamu cocktail?

It goes for the green in the most obvious way possible, but the layers of lime and rum that join the sweet citrus tart of the triple sec mellow out the mint and leave you with a less-mouthwashy-than-you-might-think cocktail experience.

Definitely a different sort of flavor profile.

Ingredients:

3 parts Dark Rum

1 part Green Crème de Menthe

1 part Triple Sec

1 part Lime Juice

1 tsp Sugar

Directions:

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of lime. Set on a Pounamu coaster (optional).

Yum!

Jack Rose Cocktail

2014-02-04T12:04:00.000-05:00

As I was making the Jack Rose Cocktail I knew it seemed familiar, and a quick search turned up the Jacques Rose (Flor de Cana 4-year Rum, Applejack, Jack Rudy Grenadine, Lime) that my friend Snappy and I had at The Ordinary last year.

The Guide doesn't have as elaborate a recipe as The Ordinary, but even without the 4-year Rum it makes a reasonably tasty drink.

Ingredients:

2 oz Apple Brandy

Juice of 1/2 a Lime

2 dashes Grenadine

Directions:

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The brandy (we used Laird's Applejack) and the lime make for a tart combination, but the addition of the Grenadine (two heavy handed dashes) sweetened it up.

Of course, I really need to get some Jack Rudy Grenadine in the house. I just hate to do it before we use up the last of the bottle of Perruchi that we picked up at Southern Season while visiting our friends up in the Triangle a long, long time ago. How long ago? So long ago that you had to go all the way to the Triangle to find a Southern Season.

Anyway, the Jack Rose seems to be a cocktail that lives or dies by its ingredients, and I don't think we'll be trying it again until we get some new ones.

Off the Grid: Goodbye Yo!

2014-02-03T12:29:00.000-05:00

Yo Burrito has closed. Site of so many rounds of River Dog IPAs, so many enjoyable Hoptobers, so many Thursday evenings with friends. We will miss you, Yo!

In fact, we did miss the closing celebrations. That blast of freezing rain on Thursday evening kept us from our appointed rounds, and we ended up snug and cozy at home rather than trying to convince Snappy to try a pint of Westbrook.

Snug and cozy at home translated to cocktail creativity, starting with the drink you see above, the one I'm calling a...

Freezing Rain

1 part Scotch

1 part Punt e Mes

1 part Cocchi Americano

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Directions:

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Our Freezing Rain is a riff on the Affinity, which uses equal parts Scotch, Sweet, and Dry Vermouth. The Punt e Mes works for the sweet vermouth, and DP suggested the Cocchi as the dry vermouth substitute. Why not!

The resulting cocktail was... interesting. I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from mixing the Punt e Mes and the Scotch together, but adding the crisp grapefruit flavor of the Cocchi took the dark, earthiness of the other two ingredients and twisted it all up.

It took me awhile to pin down what I was tasting, but I think I finally figured it out. Chocolate covered lingonberries. Seriously! Tart berry dark earth toasted chocolate. Strange, but compelling. I'm not sure I'll be in a hurry to make it again, but it was fun to make the first time around.

Before we had finished our first round (you can see the remains of the Freezing Rain in the background), DP was inspired to make a variation on a Manhattan. A sort of a French Manhattan. A cocktail he's calling the...

Île de la Cité

2 parts Bourbon

1 part Byrrh

2 generous dashes Angostura Bitters

Directions:

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

The vanilla of the Bulleit Bourbon rides the top of this one, the Byrrh is fruit-licious and not too sweet, and it all makes for a really tasty cocktail.

We may not have been able to see Yo out in person, but we lifted our glasses to 12+ years of good memories. Thanks, Yo!

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail

2014-01-31T12:01:00.000-05:00

Like everyone else in Charleston, I've been running around documenting Winter's rare appearance in the city that we love. As long as you keep your eyes on a building's north side, you're still in luck... Just check out the drifts at St. John's Reformed Episcopal Church on Anson Street!

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail - Anson Street

Of course, this wasn't always a Reformed Episcopalian church, you know. The building started life as a Presbyterian.

Fun family story below!

John Bailey Adger was a great-great-nephew by marriage of the original James Jacks, and a Presbyterian missionary to Armenia. However! When his wife, Elizabeth Keith Shrewsbury, received slaves in an inheritance, he ran up against a policy of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions which forbade slaveowners to serve as missionaries.

Apparently J. B. felt more of a calling to be a slaveowner than a calling to the mission field, because the Adgers did not emancipate their slaves. Instead, they chose to keep their fellow human beings in chattel slavery, and J. B. decided to devote himself to establishing a Presbyterian church to preach to the slaves of Charleston.

And, no, before you ask, the slaves of Charleston were not consulted.

The Charleston Presbytery built the church at 93 Anson Street, and it was dedicated on Sunday, May 26, 1850. Of course, as J. B. noted in My Life and Times, "the congregation that assembled to take part in the dedication of the house to the worship of God by negroes, was composed exclusively of white people."

And, no, before you ask, non-white people were not consulted about this arrangement.

Anyway! J. B. preached to enslaved Charlestonians at Anson Street for another year or so (fun fact: in 1850, six people were held in slavery by the Reverend J. B. Adger while he served as minister of the church) before moving on to his eventual professorship at Columbia Theological Seminary.

The building later became a Catholic church, and then the Reformed Episcopal church that it is today.

Off the Grid: Wintery Mix

2014-01-29T15:00:00.000-05:00

The nasty weather that started rolling across the South yesterday made it to Charleston around cocktail hour last night, and we decided to pay our respects with a drink.

A Hot Toddy seemed too obvious, more of a way to avoid the storm than a way to recognize it, and the range of chilled drinks that we could make was limited by our lack of Rye and Sweet Vermouth (I knew we should have been stocking up on something while everyone was clearing the shelves of bread and milk!)

DP thought that something with Scotch would be appropriate, and after batting a few ideas around we turned to Brad Thomas Parsons' indispensable Bitters book.

His recipe for a Rob Roy provided the right template, and we tweaked it with what we had on hand to create what we decided to call a...

Wintery Mix

2 parts Scotch

1 part Punt e Mes (excellent Sweet Vermouth alternative)

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Directions:

Stir with ice, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

It's a dark and smokey cocktail, bitter with just the right bit of sweet (Punt e Mes is growing on me). The hint of spice and herbs from the Angostura mixed well with the spritz of citrus oil from the twist, and we ended up with a well balanced drink.

Not a light drink, however. It was a cocktail to slow you down, to make you settle in for the night, to put you into a warm place and to make you comfortable.

Thank goodness! A warm place was what we needed last night. The blades on our heat pump were iced over by 9:00 pm, and we ended up turning it off in order to keep it from turning itself into something that sounded like an unbalanced washing machine.

Our down comforter kept us toasty until dawn, and a little warm water poured over the blades got the pump working again.

Not that things got warm inside the house anytime soon!

And everything outside is covered in ice. I'm feeling sorry for the new growth on the Mutabilis, seen there on the right, but I'm told that encapsulation should keep it in good shape.

We'll see...

Jack in the Box Cocktail

2014-01-27T12:52:00.000-05:00

Here we go... The first of the 'J' cocktails! Three years and three months into this project, and we've finally made it to the tenth letter of the alphabet.

And the first cocktail in the tenth letter is the Jack in the Box.

More cocktails should be named for toys!

We could have the Jump Rope, and the Hula Hoop, and the Pick Up Sticks... Or maybe that's just really inappropriate, and the Guide should be ashamed of itself.

At least I can see how the Jack in the Box got its name. It's half Applejack and half Pineapple Juice, and anytime the apple brandy is that prominent, it probably should get a special shout out.

Ingredients:

1 part Apple Brandy (Laird's Applejack around these parts)

1 part Pineapple Juice

1 dash Angostura Bitters

Directions:

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Fresh juice is always the way to go, if you can make it happen, and DP (thank you!) happened to pick up a pineapple at Trader Joe's. Slicing up the pineapple is no problem at all, but I always run into problems when I try to get a few ounces of juice out of those slices.

My technique this time around involved squeezing little pieces through a garlic press (it was perfectly clean and garlic free!) and, while there may be easier ways to get 3 ounces of juice out of a pineapple, I'm convinced there's no way more difficult.

Still, one big mess later, I did get enough juice to mix with the brandy, and the end result was much less pineapple-y than I would have expected. In fact, it had a sort of a mulled cider flavor. Sweet (from the pineapple), and spicy (from the Angostura), with strong apple notes throughout (the Applejack, of course).

Really good, and really deceptive. You don't taste the booze, and then - surprise! All of the sudden you're knocked off your feet.

Maybe that's the real reason behind the name.

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail

2014-01-24T12:05:00.002-05:00

We're still working our way through winter here in Charleston...

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail - Tradd Street

I can't believe that it's still below freezing! At least this is giving the Palmetto Bugs a hard time. And at least there aren't any more Cooler cocktails coming up in the Guide anytime soon.

We're done with the 'I' cocktails, and will be starting the 'J's. Next in the Guide we have the Jack in the Box (Angostura Bitters, Apple Brandy, Pineapple Juice), and the Jack Rose Cocktail (Apple Brandy, Grenadine, Lime Juice), and the Jade Cocktail (Brown Sugar, Dark Rum, Green Crème de Menthe, Lime Juice, Triple Sec), just to keep things interesting.

Unusual flavor profiles coming soon!

Irish Cooler

2014-01-23T12:29:00.000-05:00

It's so very, very much NOT the night to have an Irish Cooler...

But what can I say, I'm in thrall to the Guide. The temps may be dipping into the 20s by morning, but that's no excuse to skip over the last of the 'I' cocktails.

Anyway, as I've learned on this cocktail journey, sometimes even a cooler can warm you up.

Ingredients:

2 oz Irish Whiskey

Club Soda

Directions:

Pour the Irish Whiskey (yep, we're still using the Jameson) over ice cubes in a Highball glass, and top with club soda. Garnish with the peel of half a lemon cut into a continuous spiral.

I got all cocky with the lemon peel on this one, doing an entire lemon in a continuous spiral and then splitting it lengthwise down the middle to garnish two drinks. Fancy!

The cocktail itself is as straightforward as they come. A simple whiskey and soda. DP took his initial sip and asked "Is there lemon in it?" And there's not. Just a hit of citrus on the nose from the garnish, and nothing else to interrupt your enjoyment of the whiskey.

Perhaps that's what makes the Irish Cooler a winter appropriate drink. Your hot water pipes may freeze (I wouldn't believe it, if it hadn't happened to a friend), you may be shivering in the cold, but a splash of whiskey and a splash of soda may be all you need to set things right.

Irish Coffee

2014-01-21T12:08:00.000-05:00

We did it! Our kitchen floor has been re-tiled.

One long afternoon of prep work (lots of scraping old tiles), followed by dinner at our friends' Norfolk and Gardner's place.

One long morning of waiting for adhesive to dry (the Roberts 2057 is the stuff to use), broken up by brunch at Rue de Jean.

One late afternoon of slapping new tiles into place, followed by a half sheet of Sicilian Squares from Mia Pomodori (get them with anchovies, I say).

And, at the end of the night, an Irish Coffee.

You know how to make an Irish Coffee, of course, but the Guide spells it out, just in case.

Ingredients:

Irish Whiskey

Coffee

Whipped Cream

Directions:

Pour 1.5 ounces of the Irish Whiskey into your glass, add coffee, and top with whipped cream. Enjoy!

The recipe in the Guide also says that a teaspoon of sugar is optional. I like my coffee black, like my soul, which is probably why Buzzfeed says I belong in New York City. DP likes a bit of sweetness with his. Your choice. Go crazy!

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail

2014-01-17T12:58:00.000-05:00

Frosty in the morning, but warm enough by noon to be writing this with my windows wide open. Winter in Charleston isn't half bad!

Charleston Photo in Place of a Cocktail - Reid Street

Big weekend plans for us... It's time to do some re-tiling of the kitchen floor, and I'm predicting a messy project and at least one dinner out.

And probably a cocktail or two.

Wish us luck!

Off the Grid: Aviation Cocktail

2014-01-16T12:48:00.000-05:00

We're back! We spent a week and a bit over in England visiting DP's aunt and uncle (and sister and brother-in-law, who joined us there), and it was wonderful, although not very cocktail focused. Maybe because all of the cocktails in London are served Speakeasy style these days? It makes them hard to find!

DP was intrigued by Evans & Peel Detective Agency, where you make an appointment and "every new case will be handled with utmost confidentiality", but we didn't make it. Lots of great beer and mussels at Belgo Centraal, though!

And, really, all of the excitement was happening here in Charleston, with the deepest of deep freezes last week. It looks like we didn't lose much - the rosemary took a hit, and the creeping fig is battered, but everything else seems fine, so that's good.

Also good? The lemons that a friend of a friend decided to harvest from her tree before the frost arrived. Gorgeous Meyer lemons, perfect for making a cocktail or two.

We were batting around cocktail ideas (the Guide doesn't have many lemony drinks in the near future), and realized that we've never made an Aviation cocktail for posting. It's about time! That light blue color, that purple jelly bean flavor, that sweet tart on the tongue... What's not to love about an Aviation?

Ingredients:

2 oz Gin

1/2 oz Lemon Juice

1/2 oz Maraschino

1/4 oz Crème de Violette

Directions:

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

It's warming on a cold winter's night, the sweetness of the Meyer lemon is a taste of sunlight, and if you follow cocktail hour with a nice curry you won't regret it. It's good!

Off the Grid: Autumn Sweater

2014-01-07T12:55:00.000-05:00

Our friend Pam paid a visit to Charleston recently, and she and our friend Fancy Pants came over for cocktails (thanks, Pam and Fancy Pants, for the photo op!)

You remember Pam - she was the very first person mentioned in my very first blog post, and so - of course - we completely ignored the Guide this time around and turned to Brad Thomas Parsons' indispensable Bitters book.

The last time we saw Pam, it was the middle of summer, but summer heat wasn't such an issue for us this time.

Instead of some sort of summery fizz, Parsons' recipe for the Autumn Sweater seemed like the perfect match for the season. And it absolutely was.

Autumn Sweater (from Brad Thomas Parsons)

Ingredients:

2 parts Rye Whiskey

1 part Averna

1 part Amaro Nonino

1 part Maple Syrup

1 dash Maple bitters
1 dash Orange bitters

Directions:

Stir with ice and strain into an Old Fashioned glass over a big ol' ice cube.

Drape an orange twist (after spritzing the citrus oil across the glass and rubbing it around the rim), studded with two whole cloves, over the ice.

The sweet maple syrup pulls the dark notes of the Averna out of the hole in the earth where they hide, and the orange of the Amaro Nonino works with the cloves and the garnish to bring the spiciness in the depths of the Rye out to play with everything else.

Not too sugary, not too bitter, with a warm comfort that wraps around you like a sweater... Yep, it's a good one to share with friends on a rainy winter night.