Holiday Poached Pears

4 fresh pears (I used Bosc)
1 cup bourbon
1/4 cup cranberries
1/4 cup honey
1 cup water
1 tbs. vanilla
1 tbs. ground cinnamon

Core and peel the pears, leaving the stems on. Combine all other ingredients in a pot and mix, then place pears in the pot. Simmer until pears are soft but not falling apart–roughly 25 minutes. Goes well with vanilla ice cream.

More Thanksgiving recipes:

Grateful Cranberry cocktail

Boozy pumpkin desserts

Drunken Cranberry Sauce

Bourbon Turkey Gravy

Grateful Cranberry Cocktail

1 1/2 oz. bourbon
1 oz. cranberry-honey syrup (recipe below)
Green tea flavored ginger ale
Frozen cranberries
Crushed ice

Fill collins glass three-quarters full with crushed ice and frozen cranberries.  Pour in bourbon and syrup, then top off with ginger ale.

Cranberry-honey syrup

Boil equal parts water, honey and cranberries. Strain out solids, then refrigerate the liquid syrup.

more Holiday Cocktails & Punches
more Drink of the Week cocktails

The word “punch” is derived from the Hindu word “panch or paunch” meaning “5”. Thus, there are typically five main components to a punch- Spirits, spice, citrus, water (or other dillutant, eg. Tea) and a sweetener. This is a modern interpretation of this classic 17th/18th century “punch service” style of imbibing.

Spirted Punch

5 oz. Rittenhouse 100 Rye
2 oz. Domaine de Canton
2 oz. 42 Below Manuka Honey
14 oz. orange oolong tea
1 ½ oz. vanilla sugar
4 oz. fresh orange juice
1 oz. lemon juice
3 pieces orange peel

Place sugar in punch bowl. Add orange peel and muddle to release oils. Add tea while still hot to dilute sugar. Add remaining ingredients, stir & finish with large cubes of ice.

more Halloween Cocktails and Punches
Recipe & photo courtesy Domaine de Canton

Related articles

• Jack-o-Lantern Punch

We collaborated with Savvy Housekeeping on another fun Halloween cocktail.  But don’t worry, instead of using poisonous flowers or berries, we used black currant juice and black currant liqueur (also known as creme de cassis).

Deadly Nightshade

1 1/2 oz. bourbon
2 oz. black currant juice
1/2 oz. simple syrup
1/2 oz. creme de cassis
black or red grapes
club soda

Shake bourbon, juice, syrup and liqueur over ice and strain into cocktail or old-fashioned glass containing ice and chilled red or black grapes. Top off with club soda.

More Halloween cocktails and punches

Related articles

• Berry Scary Sour (drinkoftheweek.com)

Ardmore 30 — a truly layered and unique single malt available only in the U.S. Only 230 cases produced! Distillery manager Allistair Longwell (one of the men in kilts) shared this with me in a private tasting, and I was impressed by how the peat smoke came in gently and carried the other flavors one by one for a strong finish.

Duncan Taylor Lonach Glendronach 42 – The oldest scotch I tasted, though one of the more subtle and light. A little bit of nut taste and subdued finish were pleasantly surprising.

Ardbeg Supernova — Don’t like peat smoke? Then this isn’t the scotch for you. I like ‘em peaty, and this is a scotch that will punch you in the face … twice. But you know, in a totally awesome way.
Pappy VanWinkle 23 — A great limited edition bourbon that balances sweet brown sugar notes with a little bit of citrus. The finish has a little lingering heat.

Yamazaki 18 — A sweet honey and floral nose, followed with a mild melon flavor and pepper finish made this Japanese whiskey a standout.

Moonshine is pretty trendy right now. I’ve seen a number of spirits producers introduce Southern-themed “moonshines” lately, and it’s making me curious. I know liquor companies aren’t actually making distilled spirits without a license and running them under cover of night, so what do they mean when they say “moonshine?”

Piedmont Distillers in North Carolina, makers of Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine, say this spirit earns the name moonshine because of the corn base, copper-pot stills and small-batch production. The company also makes Junior Johnson’s Midnight Moon — which is next on my tasting to-do list.

Information you get from the bottle: It’s 80-proof, it’s flavored … and they’re calling it moonshine. One of these things is not like the other! The branding does not affect the taste, and I will judge the product by its taste. However, someone in the marketing department is confused about what people who buy moonshine are expecting. Hint: A sweet, 80-proof spirit you can use to make a Cosmopolitan isn’t it. I say this because I think they might not be reaching potential fans due to conflicting branding.

Catdaddy has a nutmeg and vanilla nose — very sweet and dessert-like. If you like flavored vodkas, I’d recommend this to you. It has a little more kick in the finish than most vodkas (particularly American vodkas) but is very mixable and uniquely flavored. It starts with a spicy note, followed by intense sweet and ending with a little heat. It’s quite versatile for mixed drinks. I can see it in a mojito or a gimlet.

Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine

Photo by Piedmont Distillers

Canadian Club Old Fashioned Cocktail

In a short wide-mouthed tumbler:

Place a lump of sugar, to which add as much Angostura Bitters as the lump will absorb. Then dissolve the lump of sugar in a little water. Add a few ice cubes, stir until the sugar is dissolved. Nearly fill the tumbler with small ice cubes. Add a wine-glass full of Canadian Club 12 year reserve whisky.
Stir to chill.

Twist a lemon peel over the drink and drop it in.

past drink of the week’s
recipe & photo courtesy Canadian Club Whisky

Along with Savvy Housekeeping, we experimented with alcoholic popsicles (cleverly called shotsicles!). The results were tasty. Chocolate Bourbon and Tequila Melon were the flavors we triumphed with, but a few substitutions and you can devise your own tasty flavor.

Shotsicles have to be low in alcohol because alcohol doesn’t freeze very well. To get them to work, you need to combine the alcohol with juices and syrups, and even then they take longer than your average pop to freeze. But they are worth the wait–sweet and delicious with a tinge of booze in the background, just enough to give the popsicle some edge.

The result won’t get you drunk, but it will taste great!
Shotsicle recipes @ Savvy Housekeeping
More on Boozy Popsicles @ The Bitten Word

Photo credit: Savvy Housekeeping

Enjoy this day be day account.

Semifinal 1: Spirit - Whiskey, Secret Ingredient - Fresh Herbs

Drink 1 - Brandon Skaggs of Cortez - Irish Peach (Tullamore Dew, Cynar, peaches, sage, bitters, honey)
Drink 2 - Nick Varacalli of RN74 (Wild Turkey Rye, American honey, honey, canton, thyme) winner
Drink 3 - Joel Baker of Bourbon & Branch (Russels Rye, Luxardo, lemon juice, peaches, mint, Curaçao, bitters)

Semifinal 2: Spirit - Skyy Infusions, Secret Ingredient - Fresh Cherries, Apricots & Peaches

Cocktail 1 Carlo Splendorini of Gitane - (Skyy citrus, canton, ferlum, peach, orange, hot salt, chartreuse, ferlum) The Bouquet winner
Cocktail 2 - Scott Baird of Romolo 15 (Skyy passion fruit & pineapple, ferlum, cherry and more)
Cocktail 3 - Borys Saciuk of Zapatistia - The Passionate One (Skyy pineapple & passion fruit, peaches, apriocot, cherry, allspice dram & more)

Finals: Spirit, anything from Gruppo Campari, Secret Ingredient - Peppers

Nick vs. Carlo

Ambassador Pepper
by Nick Varacalli of RN74

1.5 oz. Wild Turkey Rare Breed
0.5 oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liquer
0.25 oz. Orange Curacao
0.25 oz. Velvet Falernum
0.75 oz. Lemon Juice
Dash of Orange Bitters
Muddled Red Pepper

Carlo Splendorini of Gitane Restaurant & Bar

1.5 oz. Cabo Wabo Reposado Tequila
1 oz. Malthilde Pear Liqueur
0.5 oz. Green Chartreuse Liqueur
1 tbsp. Honey
¾ oz. Lemon
Jalapeño

and the winner is …
Ambassador Pepper
by Nick Varacalli of RN74

photos & recipes courtesy Skyy Spirits

It’s copper-pot distilled and aged for two years plus in toasted oak barrels.  The reason they don’t call it a “rye whiskey” on the label despite the fact that it has a much higher rye content than other American whiskeys is that U.S. standards require the oak to be charred in order to give a whiskey that designation.

I’m not as picky as the U.S. government, so I’m calling it rye.

Made by Anchor Distilling in San Francisco (the Anchor Steam beer folks), this rye whiskey is relatively hard to find. According to the bottle, it is only sold in California.

It’s a rough spirit, not as refined tasting as a Kentucky bourbon or the 51% rye mash rye whiskeys we’re accustomed to. However, the heat and kick of this whiskey won’t deter true spirits enthusiasts.

The grassy nose and oily mouthfeel are unique, and followed by overwhelming warmth and a peppery finish.  It has a peaty flavor that is unusual for a traditional rye.

It could easily overwhelm a Manhattan, but could be an intriguing choice for a sazerac.

I’d recommend letting it open up before drinking. If you like the heat, sit back and enjoy. If not, add an ice cube to balance the liquor.

A bottle will run you anywhere from $50-$100 … depends on where you live.

Old Potrero 18th Century Style American Whiskey