Two At The Most

The Blood and Sand is a classic example of a recipe you shouldn’t judge without tasting.

Blood and Sand

Blood and Sand

1 ounces blended Scotch whisky
1 ounces orange juice
0.75 ounces cherry brandy (Cherry Heering or Cherry Marnier)
0.75 ounces sweet vermouth

Shake all ingredients well and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with orange twist or brandied cherry.

This recipe doesn’t look like it could possibly work. And yet it does, and when well balanced, it works very, very well. The scotch is strong enough … Continue Reading

The second drink on the list of 25 cocktails every bartender should know is the first on the list I have never made before. I’m not sure if I’ve even had one before.

Bellini

Bellini

1.5 ounces white peach puree
4 ounces prosecco
1 dash grenadine

Add peach puree to champagne flute and top with prosecco. Give gentle stir to incorporate.

Given that I live well outside of the peach tree’s comfort zone, and peaches tend to ripen from May to August, I wasn’t surprised I couldn’t … Continue Reading

I love to ride, and I love to taste wine, so it will be no surprise one of my favorite activities is a winery ride.

Essential Extra Tack

This was the first time I made it to the Northwest Peruvian Horse Club‘s wine ride. This year we toured five wineries in the Rattlesnake Hills AVA. We were led by Linda Spurlock of Severino Cellars and Shannon Bird, Executive Director of the Rattlesnake … Continue Reading

Friends on the other side of the International Date Line have already celebrated the arrival of 2009. I will be meeting up with friends later tonight to ring in the new year with laughter and great drinks.1

In looking for some ideas, I came across one of the drinks I invented for Thursday Drink Night, Gin Edition.

Étourneau Cocktail

Étourneau

1.5 oz London dry gin (No. … Continue Reading

Tomorrow afternoon is the weekly wine tasting at work. Theme this week is Spanish wines. Somebody’s already bringing Martin Codax Albariño, which is my current fave, so I’m looking for some suggestions of other nice Spanish whites (I still can’t drink red) in the <$20 range.