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!

Week of May 9, 2010

Welcome back my friends!

After a nice long weekend out of town with the extended family, it's nice to be back home.  We were in Florida from Thursday to Sunday, and my time down south ran the gamut, from pure family time to visiting old friends, from family friendly beach scenes in Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton to the more urban and hip South Beach, Miami.

I don't know what to make of Florida.  I like the state, but I find it hard to identify with at times.  I love beaches, but don't love commercial beach areas, overrun with t-shirt stands.  I suppose no one does. 

Still, when I think of Florida, that is what first comes to mind, commercial beaches.  So too do retired folks (my grandparents travelled to Florida in the winter back in the day).  Neither commercial beaches nor retired folks make for the most desirable destination, for me anyway.

I know this is unfair.  As often discussed with JB, there are likely many places in Florida that would be right up my alley, I've just not found them yet.  My visits to the state are few and far between, and admittedly, the spring break visits are only prime examples of my and my friends' sophomoric behavior, and not the locale to which we ventured.

By comparison to the t-shirt shilling beach areas, I visited a friend's condo in South Beach.  His place reminded me of a nice hotel one would stay at, with a gorgeous view of the city (and beautiful sunsets).  Miami appears to be a fantastic place to live and work.  It's the rest of the state that's hard to figure out. 

Florida's sun is nice.  The warm weather in the winter is lovely.  The summer?  Probably not as much.  It's too hot, even for Floridians. 

I suppose this aimless rambling leaves me wondering whether there is a place in Florida for me outside of Miami.  Maybe not.  Just as I would probably not live 30 minutes outside of my current city, perhaps the same holds for living in Florida.  Once outside the gates of the main city, the cultural hub, I believe I'd be as lost as Jack and Sawyer are in the Pacific (that was my quick shout out to Lost fans).

Soundtrack this week:

The National High Violet - the new album drops tomorrow.  I posted a link to The New York Times streaming audio of the album on my Twitter feed a couple weeks ago.  Hopefully you were able to listen to their new work.  I think this is one hell of a disc, from front to back.  The National are dark, moody, but overwhelmingly soulful.  Listen to the 9th track, entitled "Conversation 16", and tell me you don't get chills when Matt belts out "I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I am evil."  Put this one on the short list of my potential favorite albums of 2010. 

What we're drinking this week:

After having taken the tail end of the week off, we're back this week with three stellar cocktails.

Tomorrow: French 75 - it has gin, it has champagne...sign me up!  As previously mentioned, this cocktail has been heavily featured in print of late.  Good thing too, it's an excellent cocktail.

Wednesday: Ring of Kerry - Irish whiskey, Bailey's and Kaluha.  Sounds good, right?  And, it's named after arguably the most beautiful part of all of Ireland, the southwest coast.  I'll hunt down some photos I took while there, so you can see the area, if you've not had occasion to visit yourself.

Thursday: Venus - Some gin, some Cointreau, and fresh raspberries.  Umm, yes please.  I think I'm most excited about this drink, as you shake the cocktail the raspberries before straining the contents into a glass.  Sounds unique and delicious. 

Friday, we may pull in one more cocktail if we have time.

One last note:  We had some really good questions sent in last week, and I may pull together a mailbag in the next week or so.  Our e-mail is amateurmixologist(at)gmail.com - feel free to write with comments or questions, and we'll try to get to all of the questions in the mailbag post to come.

Cheers!