Author Archives: Greg

anCnoc Blas

anCnoc is not a scotch I’ve had before, and I recently had an opportunity to pair their Blas bottling with a Hiram and Solomon Traveling Man cigar.

Blas is a collaboration between anCnoc (pronounced uh-knock) and Scottish fashion designer Patrick Grant, which is why the label is so stunningly designed, plus you may get a bonus pocket-hankie as I did, too (pictured above).

Make no mistake, this is a sweet and balanced scotch. A straw-colored highland whisky, Blas is caramely with a potent ABV of 54%. It has notes of vanilla bean and custard a slight rear palate barley-beer tang. It’s an excellent after-dinner drink and it’s a surprisingly sipper even at 54%. I’ve been taking mine with a single small ice cube to add just the right about of cool water. As expected, its a great couple for a cigar, too.

anCnoc Blas retails for $80.

Swift Single Malt Texas Whiskey

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swift single malt texas whiskey

Swift Distillery in Dripping Springs, Texas started with a very noble (and maybe a little expensive) undertaking: to distill scotch-quality single malt whiskey.

Here’s the thing: then a distillery starts, it makes the most financial sense to distill stuff that you can sell right away, like vodka or gin, while your whiskey ages. Swift has not done that, though, choosing laser-focus on the whiskey alone. Founders Amanda and Nick Swift traveled to Scotland, Ireland, Japan and Kentucky for research, then came home to Texas to work on their single malt.

Swift Single Malt is on its way, too: a floral, mild, orange-forward flavor profile that’s balanced and very drinkable. In fact, the only thing you’ll likely struggle with is getting a bottle as it’s only available in the Austin, TX area now.

For a passion-induced, quality American single malt, Swift is a great addition to your whiskey collection.

Podcast 123- International Scotch Day

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new york cocktail

We celebrate International Scotch Day. We learn of “The Tish” cocktail. We drink Usquaebach Old Rare. “Days” are important to Jackson and Tish. “What costs a lot is interesting, not delicious.” Babies make you drink? We taste anCnoc Blas and make a New York cocktail with it.

Download Episode 123.

Gin Rickey

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gin rickey

As a “cocktail guy,” I sometimes get asked about the simple cocktail I make most often, and when I really think about it, it’s not even close. While I make myself Old Fashioneds and Manhattans and Martinis pretty often, by far, the drink I make the most is a Gin Rickey.

A “rickey” cocktail is a mixture of spirit, lime juice and club soda, and you can make it any way you like: Whiskey Rickey, Rum Rickey (a very nice variation), etc. It apparently was a “worldwide sensation” in the late 1800’s when it was made with gin. There was probably some sort of connection to scurvy, too, the big reason gin and citrus started to mix so often in cocktail history books.

I started drinking Gin Rickeys because I found store-bought tonic water to be to sweet for my tastes, but still wanted a gin-and-fizzy-stuff experience. If you look at the ingredients, you’ll see there is no sweetener in this cocktail, only spirit, citrus, club soda. To me it’s crisp, refreshing, dry and the easiest to make. It remains the #1 cocktail I make for myself at home.

Gin Rickey

in a double old fashioned glass filled with ice, add:
2 ounces gin (I used Seersucker)
juice from 1/2 a lime
top with Q Club Soda (about 4-5 oz)
stir briefly and garnish with a lime wedge

Special thanks to our sponsor Q Drinks.

Podcast 122- Deviation Dessert Wine and Valentini

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Deviation Wine

Happy Valentine’s Day! White stag or unicorn? Jackson and Tish! How we met. We taste Deviation Dessert Wine. “What makes a Valentine’s Day Cocktail?” The -Tini Ratio. The Valentine’s date. We make a Valentini. Vodka flavor profiles by Jackson.

Download Episode 122.

Stiggins’ Fancy Plantation Pineapple Rum

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stiggens fancy plantation pineapple rum

If we are to believe rumors, then Stiggins’ Fancy Plantation Pineapple Rum should not exist. Or, it should exist but you shouldn’t be able to buy it. Here’s the story:

In 2014, cocktail historian David Wondrich, along with Plantation Rum‘s cellar master Alexandre Gabriel created a “flavored” rum based on the Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, in which Reverend Stiggins often enjoyed “pineapple rum.”

This rum, dubbed Stiggins’ Fancy Plantation Pineapple Rum, was only given by Wondrich to friends at Tales of the Cocktail 2014. As the legend of this special rum grew, Plantation realized there was enough demand to actually bring it to market, and the retail version of Stiggens’ was born, and it won Best New Spirit at the most recent Tales of the Cocktail Awards (2016).

Let me clarify that this is no “flavored rum” as we’ve come to know it under, say, the Malibu moniker. This is quality, artisinally-produced fruit infused aged rum, and the end product shows. Outside of actual pineapple, no flavor is added, and no sugar either. It’s an amazing sipping rum, just on the rocks and makes some beautiful cocktails. For $30, it may be one of the most unique products you can buy at you local liquor store.

Below, I’ve collected the “how it’s made” cards from Plantation that explains the process they use to make Stiggens’ Fancy. Just click to enlarge:

Podcast 121- Moonlight EXpresso and Russian

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russian cocktail

Mighty big bottles. What Simple Cocktails is all about. If you don’t like it, Greg will drink it. We taste Moonlight EXpresso Coffee Liqueur. “He’s like our Julia Child.” We make the Russian cocktail. Breakfast, lunch and dinner cocktails at our ski lodge.

Download Episode 121.

Cuba Libre

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cuba libre with q drinks kola

When I started Simple Cocktails, I noticed that usually, the classic cocktails are the simplest. A balanced drink is often an issue of a bit of trial and error, too, to get the ratio of liquor and mixer just right.

I’m excited to have Q Drinks on board for this drink in particular, because I feel like soda’s become more and more sweet these days from it’s original makeup, which was a bit spicy balanced with sweet, with notes of clove, cinnamon and vanilla. Q Drink’s Kola is just that, though, a less-sweet traditional cola that makes a killer cocktail mixer because it allows you to make a balanced cocktail, and mixing Kola with rum, which also has some great caramel and cinnamon notes, is a match made in heaven.

This is a cocktail that’s pretty well-known, a slightly jazzed up Rum and Coke really. Just add a touch of lime juice and lots of limes for garnish, and you have the Cuba Libre cocktail: