Chip and Shonna join us for a New Year’s celebration! We taste Tamworth Sweetlips Cherry Bounce Liqueur. We make the Orange You Glad it’s New Year’s? Cocktail. “It’s going to look like the Rio Grande.”
HAPPY NEW YEAR from Simple Cocktails!
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Steven uses sugar cookie body spray. What is Cognac? We taste Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac. Look for Greg’s pairings in Cigar and Spirits Magazine. Lisa’s got some tasting words. Last year we made a Casino Cocktail, and this year we make the very-simple Silent Night. Using booze in ice cream? A discussion about Daiquiri Ice.
MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS from Simple Cocktails!
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We’re joined by Steven J. Westman. Steven mentions 505 Faces. We talk about Latitude 33. Letters from the Jack Daniel’s Distillery? We taste Blade & Bow bourbon. A shameless book plug for NM Cocktails. We also mention Shake. Stir.Sip by Kara Newman. We make a Disco Ball cocktail from her book. Greg talks Chartreuse. “I usually carry body glitter…”
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We don’t see many cognacs at Simple Cocktails, probably because like higher-end scotches, cognac is rarely used in a cocktail. Because of some of my cigar pairing work, though, I’ve had the opportunity to taste Pierre Ferrand’s 1840 Original Formula Cognac.
The 1840 Formula is Ferrand’s base cognac, retailing at about $50. The flavor is subtle, sweet and fruity, with notes of pear and caramel – an excellent after-dinner drink. A cigar pairing with the 1840 Formula should be mild so as not to overpower the cognac.
I used Pierre Ferrand to make Sidecars at a cocktail party, and it made for excellent drinks that were very popular. Here’s the recipe I used:
Sidecar
Greg talks to Jordan Silbert, creator of Q Drinks about their history and the importance of a great cocktail mixer. Special thanks to Q Drinks for sponsoring the podcast.
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I’ve been excited to crack into my stock of Q Drinks products since they recently became a Simple Cocktails sponsor, and one of the first drinks I’ve made is a twist on the classic tequila-and-grapefruit cocktail, the Paloma. Here’s a simple cocktail with Q Grapefruit:
Special thanks to our sponsor Q Drinks.
Black Friday? Greg mentions CamelCamelCamel. We taste Cooper’s Craft Bourbon. Jeff loves boxes. Greg talks about the Gin Old Fashioned. Snow shoveling. “The box of Q.” We make a Gin & Tonic with Q Drinks. Did we mention Jeff loves boxes?
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Thanksgiving extravaganza! “Just like Willy Wonka.” Gin, not Jim. We taste Revel Stoke pecan and root beer whiskies. Greg & Jeff talk about hunting. We make a Thanksgiving-in-a-Glass cocktail. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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There is no shortage of great cocktail books on the market, though there are a even larger number of crummy ones. Because of this, you have to be careful that you stick with the writers and bartenders you trust to show real care for the craft of cocktail-making, people who are present in cocktail culture and who know the great bars and bartenders of the world.
Kara Newman is one such person, someone who’s well-connected in New York craft cocktail culture, but is also known well nationwide for her writing in Wall Street Journal or Wine Enthusiast. Kara seems to know all the great NY bartenders and has recently put together a compilation of her knowledge into a great new book: Shake. Stir. Sip. More than 50 Effortless Cocktails Made in Equal Parts.
Now, I’m aware of a handful of equal-parts cocktails, especially the Negroni or the Last Word, but Newman has assembled a great list of cocktails that my readers will love: they’re simple. Organized by how many parts they’re made of, from 2-part cocktails to 5-part cocktails in the end, Shake. Stir. Sip. consistently offers familiar cocktails that reflect the current state of the craft scene (mezcal, amaros and chartreuse, anyone?). All recipes are easy to assemble and, even better, easy to remember!
Shake. Stir. Sip. is beautifully photographed by John Lee and each 2-page spread includes a cocktail photo with it’s name and ingredients and the opposing page has backstory and the instructions for making it. It’s a good cocktail book for those with smaller home bars, too, as the recipes won’t overwhelm those with limited ingredients.
Shake. Stir. Sip. is available in hardcover or Kindle here from Amazon.
Since I got a preview copy this summer, I haven’t been able to get my nose out of Fred Minnick’s newest book: Bourbon: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of an American Whiskey. I’ve been pretty clear about how much I’ve loved Fred’s other book, a tasting guide called Bourbon Curious which I always keep handy as my favorite “drinking dictionary.”
Dubbed the Bourbon Authority of the Kentucky Derby Museum, there really is no other expert I’d put above Fred in his field, and he’s the perfect person to write a bourbon history book, which Bourbon… is.
The big question that Fred addresses in the book is one that has been debated for decades: who invented bourbon? Historically, that prize has gone to Baptist minister Elijah Craig (especially if you ask the Elijah Craig whiskey company), but Fred’s access to historical documents tells a different story (though probably a harder one to market than the Craig legend).
Minnick does a great job of telling a story about something that’s a lot of fun (drinking bourbon) and keeping the tone and the historical stuff just as fun, too. Bourbon is a comfortable, sometimes funny, read. I imagine some liquor companies may ruffle at the accurate historical analysis of the legends of their founding fathers, but Fred knows his stuff, and if you need to know absolutely everything about bourbon, look no further than this book.
Buy Bourbon: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of an American Whiskey from Amazon.
Buy Bourbon Curious from Amazon.
Hear our podcast interview with Fred about Bourbon here.
