Jameson and Lemonade

I got into a bit of a kick of checking out bottling websites for recipes.  Last week's St. Germain Cocktail was pulled from the St. Germain website, and today's drink was pulled from the Jameson website. 

We're a little short on photos today due to some studio work (read: the house was a mess).  But, we did bring out the classic Al Harrington glass for this one, as captured in the photo below.

Jameson and Lemonade, recipe taken from the Jameson website, available here. 

1 part Jameson
2 parts club soda
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
3 teaspoons of castor sugar

Place the sugar and the lemon juice in a highball glass and stir vigorously until the sugar is dissolved.  Then add Jameson, stir and top with ice.  Finish the drink by topping up with soda water and garnishing with a lime wedge.

Imagine a Mike's Hard Lemonade, or something similar, and you're pretty close to a Jameson and Lemonade.  This cocktail tastes far better than a pre-made malt liquor counterpart, likely because the Jameson and Lemonade is made from fresh ingredients.  It's quite sweet though, and unless you love sweet things, one of these drinks is likely enough.

The club soda is a nice addition, because it cuts at some of the sweetness, and you can use more or less of it to taste.  I thankfully already had castor sugar available - but if you don't have castor sugar specifically, just use any superfine sugar and it'll do nicely.


On Friday, we're drinking a cocktail called Spa.  It's a gin based drink, with cucumber, some sugar, water, and we'll top it off with some creme de violette.  Should be excellent.  See you then!

Shamrock

The Shamrock cocktail, a name that evokes thoughts of Ireland, and perhaps a minty-quality as well.  Listen, I'm not giving anything away by telling you that this thing is a sweet drink, perhaps too sweet for the comfort of some of the male readership.  But lest we judge too quickly, let's look at its ingredients:

The Ultimate Bar Book, page 368

Shamrock

1 1/2oz  Irish whiskey
3/4oz creme de menthe
2oz heavy cream
Maraschino cherry

Shake the liquid vigorously with ice.  Strain into an ice-filled old fashioned glass.  Garnish with the cherry.

The Shamrock tastes like a minty shake, and with a full 2 ounces of heavy cream added to the mix, you'll want to drink these as sparingly as a shake.  It's rich, it's thick, and it's cold. 

I'd be lying if I said I didn't like this drink, it tastes like candy after all.  But, this is a little foo-foo-y.  I'd expect this on some cocktail bar's pictured drink menu called something like an "Irish Mintastic!" or the "Minty Clover!" - something with an exclamation mark at the end of the title.

JB tried it and thought it tasted like an alcoholic Shamrock shake from McDonald's.  Seems fitting to me.

After a few enjoyable sips, I felt like I was drinking nothing but heavy cream.  It was just a lot to take in in one sitting.  Two of these drinks, and you'll have consumed your the next month's worth of dairy.  Heavy cream is just not meant to be ingested in large quantities in this form.  Mix it up to make some whipped cream, or use it as an ice cream ingredient and it becomes palatable.  Drinking it straight though, it's not all that appealing to me.

I'd suggest this as perhaps an alternative to egg-nog, come the holiday season (it is Christmas in July somewhere).  This may have been an ill-timed choice in the middle of the summer ("milk was a bad choice"), but it's still a good cocktail, just sweet, with a large amount of heavy cream.


This weekend, I'm travelling to a bachelor party for one of my good friends.  I hope you have a fantastic weekend, and enjoy the Shamrock, or whatever it is you'll be drinking.  Until Monday - salud!

Ring of Kerry Cocktail

Today we're drinking a cocktail called the Ring of Kerry, a drink named after the southwest coast in Ireland.  We will of course be discussing the drink in greater detail, but before proceeding ahead, I have to talk about Lost.

I don't want to post over and over again about television shows, but I just watched this week's Lost episode, and I feel like I have no choice but to write about it.

I've been with this show since day one.  I liked the pilot episode, and was hooked thereafter. 

This episode threw more sci-fi stuff into the equation than ever before, and I'm not sure how I feel about it.  You always figured that this day would come, that one day there would be an episode with questionable special effects, and even more questionable explanations of island events.  But I almost wanted to believe that with such little time left, they may gloss over such things, and neatly explain the island here and there in the episodes that remained. 

I'm conflicted.  I appreciate trying to tie the island into something greater than say, generic mysticism, but isn't that what they're doing with a beam of light emanating from a cave?  And what's the mother's backstory?  I suppose it's as the mother says in the episode, every question will lead to more questions.

Maybe what troubles me most is that when the light emanates from the cave I feel like I'm watching Star Trek.  I know that Lost was a sci-fi drama from essentially day one, but, the producers and writers played it cool and never used special effects in such a way that I checked-out mentally.  This episode provided me with such a moment with both the cave-light, and the terrible generic description of what the light meant. 

I still love the show.  I still think it's the best TV series I've seen (I haven't seen The Wire yet, which I always hear may be better).  I'm still going to watch the last couple shows with great interest.  I just wish that this past episode dealt with the cave, the light, and whatever it represents in a better manner.

From Lost's island realm, we now turn to another island, Ireland. 

I love Ireland.  It's easily accessible from the east coast, and cheap flights are always available.  It's culturally rich, has excellent drink and food selections, and has some of the most beautiful pastoral scenes this side of a Giorgione's Fête champêtre.

I was last in Ireland in 2006, and took the following photos while at the Ring of Kerry, to give you an idea of the landscape (and one self-evident sign that I found humorous).  It's a beautiful place, and well worth your time when there.

The Ultimate Bar Book, page 169

Ring of Kerry

1 12 oz Irish whiskey
1 oz Bailey's Irish Cream
1/2 oz Kahlua

Shake all the ingredients well with ice, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Sprinkle 1 tsp grated chocolate over the top.

For this cocktail, I used good old Jameson, the highest selling Irish whiskey in the world.  Use whatever you like, but if you have good Irish whiskey, something that's worth drinking neat, save it.  I also realized I had no chocolate in the house, or at least, nothing I could shave.  I used cocoa powder in its place, and it turned out great.
This is an outstanding cocktail.  It's not too sweet, not too rich, and has just enough alcohol to give it a little bite.  It will remind you of all the Bailey's or Kahlua cocktails you've had in the past - the White Russian in particular.  The difference though, is that this cocktail isn't made with any cream or milk, and as a result, there less more of a pronounced flavor. 

Consider this cocktail a nice choice in the event you have some leftovers from your St. Patrick's Day party.  Or, drink it for a late May Day holiday treat.  May Day is an Irish holiday occurring on May 1st.

Tomorrow, we're going to check out the Venus cocktail - a cocktail that includes fresh raspberries that are shaken along with the rest of the drinks contents.  I'm looking forward to checking it out. 

Until then, cheers!

Irish Coffee (Drink # 10)

One week from today is St. Patrick's Day - my favorite holiday of the year.  No other celebration is as joyful, and let's be honest, St. Patrick's Day doesn't carry the baggage that comes with other holidays.

It is a unique combination of tradition (sort of), good drink (definitely), good music (save for Danny Boy), and good food (even if corned beef and cabbage is completely inauthentic).

I was in Ireland back in 2006, ripping through all of the south, from Shannon, to Galway, to Dublin, Kilkenny, the Ring of Kerry...on and on and on...in 8 days.  It was amazing.  I came away with a fond appreciation for the country and its culture.  And, it should go without saying, its drink.  (Cue obligatory photo of Irish landscape).

Ireland is probably best known for Guinness, and Irish whiskey. 

Guinness of course, is the brewery in Dublin that brews the stout beer of the same name.  It's excellent beer of course, few could disagree.  Word always is that it tastes better in Ireland than it does stateside, but I didn't find that to be case.  I think it's more likely that the Guinness in Ireland tastes about the same - but YOU'RE IN FREAKING IRELAND!, and that has to account for something.  Sentimentality makes everything taste better!

If you're a hard alcohol man, there's no more prominent Irish whiskey than Jameson, by far and away the best selling whiskey export Ireland has to offer.  Irish whiskey is different than other forms of whiskey in various ways - but rather than get into details (in this post anyway), it's safe to say that Irish whiskey is the lighter flavored, less peaty cousin of scotch whiskey.  One of my favorite whiskeys, Irish or otherwise is Tyrconnell, an Irish single malt that costs around $30-35 a bottle.  Great value, and a great whiskey. 

Today, I am fortunate enough to be drinking Irish Coffee, a drink supposedly first created in the 1940's after some American passengers had a particularly rough go on a "flying boat".  Yes sports fans, you read that correct: a flying boat!  Perhaps we account for their rough trip because they agreed to ride on a flying boat in the first place.

Recipe
The Ultimate Bar Book, page 403

Irish Coffee
1 1/2 ounces Irish whiskey
1 teaspoon brown sugar
5 to 6 ounces strong hot coffee
Heavy cream or whipped cream

Pour the Irish whiskey into a warmed Irish coffee glass, add the brown sugar, and stir until dissolved.  Pour in the hot coffee, and slowly add the cream to float on top; do not stir.

Or top with a dollop of whipped cream.


This is the first drink that I've had more than a handful of times before starting this blog.  It's no surprise that I think it's fantastic.

But, this recipe is surprising to me for a couple of reasons.

First, I've never added brown sugar before, and never thought to do so.  Second, I'm not used to such a small amount of coffee in my Irish coffee.  In my trusty 1984 USA Olympic mug, 6 ounces makes up just over half of the mug, and that seems like an incredibly small amount of coffee relative to what I normally drink.  I'm downing two or three of these mugs if given the chance.  Is 5 or 6 ounces considered a serving?!?

With the smaller amount of coffee, the Irish whiskey is noticeably stronger.  That's not a bad thing.  It is an overwhelmingly warming drink.  With each sip, the heat of the drink, coupled with the whiskey makes the stomach feel as though it is surrounded by a heat-wrap, turned up to 11.  It's great.  Funny though, that the cold weather has been demolished by the 73 degree day we had today!  I'll drink a warm drink in 73 degree weather after the winter we've had.

Even though this is a tried and true classic, using the recipe did change my perspective just a touch.  If I had survived a calamitous journey in a flying boat, I too would have upped the ratio of whiskey to coffee - perhaps as high as equal parts coffee to equal parts whiskey.  Though if someone offers me a ride in a flying boat, I'm running in the other direction.

Tomorrow, the Brandy Champagne Cocktail!