Two At The Most

My initial association with the word Tuaca is a horse. Why someone named a Quarter Horse after an Italian liqueur, I’ll never know. I’ll admit I was surprised to discover the current owner of Tuaca the horse had never heard of Tuaca the liqueur. Then again, even though I had heard of it, I don’t think I’d ever tasted it until receiving a sample recently.

Tuaca claims to be the resurrection of a recipe initially created for Lorenzo de’Medici (1449 - 1492). Often called “the Magnificent,” he was the de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic, and remembered as a patron … Continue Reading

I have fond memories of witnessing a traditional Zen Buddhist tea ceremony at the Smithsonian Museum. We were given small sweets, and after the ceremony, a taste of the matcha tea. It was bitter and strong, not like any tea I had tasted before. I can still remember that taste today. Thus, when I read on the back of the Zen Green Tea Liqueur bottle I received that it used matcha tea, I was intrigued.

Matcha Cocktail

It’s Mixology Monday again. This month, Doug Winship at the Pegu Blog has declared the theme to be “Made from Scratch.” We are to make at least one of our own ingredients and decide if it’s worth the effort.

I have written about Swedish Punsch before. This mix of Batavia arrack, neutral spirits, sugar, water, and various flavorings is common … Continue Reading

By modern standards, the Astoria is a very wet martini. I was telling the owner/bartender of the Three Lions Pub that the Astoria was my current favorite take on the martini, and he nearly fainted when I told him it was a 2:1 gin to vermouth ratio. He makes his martinis by rinsing the glass with vermouth and then shaking the gin separately over ice.

I’ve been experimenting with different gins in the Astoria. I had been using Vya extra dry vermouth, although I find it a little too spicy and, well, dry. Using … Continue Reading

Here in the United States, we have a day for everything. There’s a national pound cake day, national pecan day, and even something on a stick day.

August 16 particularly appeals to me because it’s National Rum Day. Just how this designation was set I haven’t been able to ascertain, but who cares? It’s an excuse to make a delicious rum cocktail!

One of my favorite rum-based drinks is the El Presidente. I first discovered it in Wayne Curtis’s article … Continue Reading

It’s time for Bourbon this Mixology Monday, thanks to the fellers at Scofflaw’s Den. This was one MxMo that Bryan, my chief taste-tester, was very eagerly awaiting.

As always, I used MxMo as a justification to buy a nice bottle. This time it was Ridgemont Reserve 1792. This is a very smooth bourbon, a definite rival to Woodford Reserve, which is currently my favorite mixing Bourbon. Named after the year of Kentucky statehood, this is an 8 year Bourbon that comes in … Continue Reading

Vermouth can make a great replacement for wine in recipes.

One night we had no white wine in the house when Bryan went to make one of my favorite dishes, a chicken and garlic stew that calls for a hardy addition of white wine.

I did have plenty of white vermouth in the fridge, which he hit upon trying instead of beer, which is the usual go-to replacement. We really liked the result, so when he made it again last night, he replicated the experiment, again to our great delight. The broth came out really rich and flavorful.

This is a dish we … Continue Reading

I picked up a bottle of Aperol at Washington State Store #101, which for those in the know is the store to know about, since it’s the most likely to have interesting items on the shelf.

Tonight I opened the bottle of Aperol, and on first taste new I was going to like this “little sister” of Campari.

I knew I’d seen something about it one one of the many cocktail blogs i read, but when I went to find a recipe, I found it wasn’t even listed as an ingredient in the CocktailDB. A quick search, however, revealed … Continue Reading

The Larry’s Market in Redmond Town Center carries vermouths and other fortified wines.

In fact, they have a wider selection than the state liquor store here in Redmond, or most any place I’ve found on the Eastside.

They carry Cinzano, Martini & Rossi, and Vya vermouths, as well as both Lillet blanc and Lillet rouge, and Dubonnet rouge.

Tonight I splurged on a bottle of Vya sweet vermouth. I’m just finishing off the last of the latest bottle of Cinzano, and next on my agenda is to do a taste comparison of the Vya and the Cinzano to see if it’s worth more … Continue Reading

I spent much of today eagerly refreshing my RSS feed and reading the new Mixology Monday posts, hosted this month at Jimmy’s Cocktail Hour. I wasn’t sure what to post on myself - as a rank newbie to the cocktail world, most of my variations have involved trying out the variations I’m finding in many other blogs. It’s scary to try completely new things.

I thought maybe I’d experiment a little more with the Corpse Reviver #2. Lillet is one of those revelatory discoveries for me. I reread the Kaiser Pengiun … Continue Reading