Trader Joe’s Single Malt Irish Whiskey

I’m not a whiskey guy.  Every time I tried Jack Daniels, I shivered at the taste. My friend is a Jameson fan, and I discovered that Irish whiskey has the smoothness I couldn’t find in its Tennessee brother.  I found a bottle of Single Malt Irish Whiskey at Trader Joe’s (their house brand) to try out for $20.  Jameson was $30 at Trader’s, but I know you can find it for $20 too if you shop around enough.

It’s good – definitely as good as Jameson – on my tongue.  There’s some bite, but it’s very smooth, and there’s a great citrus nose (fancy drinking word) and aftertaste.  I bought this as a “sippin’ whiskey,” so I haven’t bothered to mix it in a cocktail, though I’m likely to try and old fashioned and a manhattan soon.

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greg, May 17th 2012 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in reviews, whiskey

I won a book! It’s about gin.

Thanks to one of my favorite cocktail sites 12 Bottle Bar for having a giveaway that I won!  When I heard about the book over at their site, I was considering buying from Amazon since gin’s my favorite base liquor, but free is better.  I’ll post a review after I’ve read through it.

You can buy a copy by clicking the image below, and we can be book club buddies:

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greg, May 2nd 2012 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in gin, publications

206 Distillery in Seattle

I had the opportunity to visit 206 Distillery in downtown Seattle recently, who make Counter Gin and Batch 206 Vodka, and got a tour from Rusty Figgins, their master distiller. Rusty let us start with a small (1/2 oz) colder-than-freezing taste of their vodka, which was good (I’d give it a 7/10), then after my palette was cleared, I had an ice-cold sip of their gin.

Rusty then showed us the distilling chambers and some of the new projects they’re working on, which were aging in barrels at the time (hint: whiskey and brandy) and let us see the clean red wheat that their vodka is distilled from.

All in all, it was a fun day, and Rusty is a lot of fun to hang out with. I bought a bottle of Counter Gin for $25, and it’s been well worth it. The gin is great, a good strong taste, very botanical. Rusty showed me the various botanics that go into the gin as part of the tour. To give it a review, it’s got plenty of juniper flavor and some burn, and I’d call it a gin-lover’s gin, which is to say it’s not as smooth and friendly as Hendrick’s is to the common man. I would give Counter Gin a 8/10.

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greg, April 30th 2012 | Tags: , ,
Posted in gin, reviews, vodka

Homemade Cocktail Cherries

I have an aversion to high fructose corn syrup. I began avoiding it 4 years ago and lost a bunch of weight as a result.  One of the final hurdles for my HFCS-avoidance is maraschino cherries.  The jars of cherries at the store contain pitted cherries, red dye, and HFCS.  I’ve been looking for alternatives, and found a simple recipe to make your own.

Combine:

  • Trader Joe’s Dried Bing Cherries (these are pitted too).
  • Brandy of your choosing.  I used Pierre Duchene, which is $8 at Trader Joe’s.
  • A container.

Combine them so that the cherries are completely submerged, and leave some room because they’ll swell quite a bit.

Ew….but leave them in there for 2 days minimum, and here’s what you get:

Wow! I had to top it off again with brandy as they really swelled up on me.  Now the result is a firm cherry, not sweet at all (I’m considering using a little sugar in the jar next time).  I’ve used them in Old Fashioneds and they come out great!

Remember, Simple Cocktails at Home is now a $1 PDF!  Buy yours:

How many copies would you like?
 

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greg, February 21st 2012 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in recipes, tools

Simple Cocktails at Home, now a $1 PDF!

SCAH Cover

I’ve decided that selling my book Simple Cocktails at Home through Lulu.com was too convoluted.  I am now selling the digital (PDF) edition on my own, without any digital rights management, for $1 each.  This puts them at a really convenient price, and you can buy multiple copies for yourself and give them away to friends.  I will just email you the PDF for the book when you buy it, simple as that.

I want to exclude any other parties from the purchase process so that you can have unrestricted access to the book that doesn’t expire or require passwords or anything.  You have permission use each copy on all your devices, like your iPhones, iPads, or computers.  Just don’t steal it by sharing it with people who haven’t paid for it.  I worked pretty hard to assemble and tweak the right recipes and the right drinks.

Simple Cocktails at Home contains simple cocktail recipes in 2 sections: a shopping list for the first 10 drinks, then an additional shopping list for the second 10 drinks. It was designed for people who want a small home bar without breaking the bank, and answers the question, “how do I get started making some cocktails for friends?” The PDF is 29 pages and looks great on the iPhone (no zooming required!) or iPad. Thanks to all of you who buy it in advance. Click below to buy.

How many copies would you like?
 

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greg, February 6th 2012 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in publications, recipes
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