Choose Your Shirts Wisely

Did you know February is Tiki Month?

Well, now you do.

I figured that I already do enough tiki posts (as I've said before, it comprises my cocktail roots), so perhaps I shall celebrate the month by sparing readers from tiki rather than providing it for them.

I'll tell you who isn't sparing his readers, however: Doug Winship. In fact, he's gone so far as to change his site's logo for this month, but the change isn't only superficial. Doug's Tiki Month blog content has been of exceedingly high quality, and you'd do yourself a favor to check some of it out.


I will share one of my favorite posts of Doug's for this month that talks about a subject near and dear to my heart, thereby employing what Doug calls "Rule #2". I hope you enjoy the post.

On Choosing a Good Hawaiian Shirt

MxMo:Tea Roundup

Now you can go over to Frederic's blog and see the a summary and list of links for those around the world who participated in Mixology Monday: Tea.

Tons of folks put on their thinking caps and came up with some pretty damn interesting ideas on how to use tea in making cocktails. Do yourself a favor and see what they did! Who knows, you may even like to make one of their concoctions!

Recipe & Rating: Xeres

Xeres

Source: Robert Hess

2 oz sherry (used Savory & James Amontillado)
1 dash orange bitters (used Angostura)
1 dash peach bitters (used Fee Brothers)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass(used small wine glass).


I'm wary of 1) cocktails that consist mostly of wine, and 2) cocktails whose main supporting ingredient is bitters (Pink Gin is an exception). I laughed when I first laid eyes on this recipe, but because I had some sherry lying around and I don't usually, I decided to make it. I was very surprised. The sweetness of the sherry is lightened with the dilution; the drink is actually tart. What was a fairly heavy and nutty sherry is now a light, fruity, and refreshing drink. It really isn't my kind of drink at all... I generally prefer the earthy wallop of an Old Fashioned, but this one really brings out the care-free side of me. I can't help but think of warm breezes and sunny locales when I sip this stuff. This one is an impressive sleeper.

Rating: 7/10

Recipe & Rating: Twelve Mile Limit

This is a new segment I'll be writing on this blog called "Recipe & Rating". It will simply be the occasional plucking of a drink recipe, the making of the drink, (specifying which types/brands of ingredients I've used) and my rating of the recipe along with a few very brief comments. I'll choose recipes from any source, and the source I choose may not always be the original source, as in this first case. Let us begin!

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Twelve Mile Limit

Source: Rumdood

1 oz white rum (used Appleton White)
.5 oz brandy (used Ansac VS cognac)
.5 oz rye whiskey (used Old Overholt)
.5 oz grenadine (used 1-2-3 Cocktails brand... all natural with cane sugar)
.5 oz lemon juice (fresh squeezed)

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.




The lemon is singing the lead here... perhaps the Appleton White doesn't have enough heft? The fruitiness of the brandy seems to add to the lemon. The rye, as I figured, falls behind in terms of getting attention. Overall pleasant, a fruity rum and brandy sour, mostly. A little too nondescript for me.

Rating: 5/10