Two At The Most

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we seem to have transitioned from winter directly to summer. For me that means it’s time to rediscover cachaça, especially as International Cachaça Day approaches us on June 12. Tonight I’m enjoying a bottle of Boca Loca that was sent to me for review.

Pearl Button with Boca Loca Cachaça

Boca Loca (“Crazy Lips” in Portuguese) comes to us from the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. On the … Continue Reading

Beefeater London dry gin has long been a go-to gin in my collection. Now Desmond Payne, the Master Distiller, is bringing us a premium take on the standard recipe, Beefeater 24. I had already heard great things when I received not one, but two full bottles for review in preparation for this week’s Beefeater 24 sponsored Thursday Drink Night.

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

When I got my bottle of Genevieve, a genever-style gin made by Anchor Distilling, I immediately tried the plain, fancy, and improved Holland gin cocktails.

Barleyflower cocktail

Then I started searching for other cocktails that took advantage of genever’s malty, strong flavor. I enjoyed the Amsterdam cocktail, which bring orange juice to the fore.

Even more, I enjoyed the Rembrandt cocktail, which uses Drambuie to blend with the big … Continue Reading

Over at Kaiser Penguin, Rick has posed a challenging question:

If you could only have 10 bottles of alcohol, what would they be? You have to name brands, and you must include vermouths if you want them. They are, at least, infinitely replenishable.

I tried to focus on my favorite cocktails, and favorite categories of cocktails, as I made my decisions. I must have at least one scotch, mixable or not. I have to have my Manhattans. And I give up the ability to have something approximating a mai tai in order to have Pisco sours.

So here’s my … 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