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In honor of my birthday (the 11th for those of you that are uninformed), I created a wonderful way to start or end your day. It’s very soft and comforting. I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

Baby Blanket

1 oz of Gilbey’s Gin

3 spearmint leaves

1 oz of Barsol Acholado Pisco

1 egg

1/2 oz of orange curacao

1/4 oz of simple syrup

1 oz of seltzer

Add gin to shaker, along with the spearmint leaves. Lightly press (not muddling, keep the leaves intact) the mint, and extract/discard. Then add all the rest of the ingredients, minus the seltzer. Shake like you’ve got tremors and strain into a highball glass with one large ice cube in it. Add seltzer, stir gently. Garnish with one large spearmint leaf (after clapping it).

Wonderful morning drink.

Photography by Emily W. Kincke.

This beauty is what followed:

Natural Harmonic

2 oz of Damrak Gin

1/8 oz of I.P.A. Syrup (see below for instructions)

1/4 oz of fresh lemon juice

1/2 oz of Maraska Maraschino Liqueur

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Squeeze lemon peel over, rim glass with peel, then drop in.

Fantastic with a baked potato.

Make the I.P.A. syrup by taking two 12 oz bottles of I.P.A. (I used my organic homebrew) and reduce it to a syrupy consistency in a saucepan. Let cool and put in refrigerator.

Photography by Emily W. Kincke.

Brandon, the boy who takes care of me, was so kind to supply me with the rest of the Infusionique line. I’ve been pretty exhausted as of late, so I actually didn’t want to force making a drink with my newly received hooch. When I was nearing heading off to bed, the bottle of Angelique told me that it was lonely and that I should find it some friends to play with. A woman that needs no pity:

2 oz of Angelique Tequila

1/2 oz of fresh lime juice

1/4 oz of grenadine

1/4 oz of Suze

2 dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters

Build in a highball glass filled with large ice cubes, then add seltzer and Peychaud’s. Stir gently, garnish with a slice of pineapple.

Excellent paired with a fresh green salad tossed with cranberries.

Photography by Emily W. Kincke.

Ok, so I got really sick of having the choice of paying out the wazoo for true maraschino cherries or needlessly suffering through the lye-soaked mess that they pass off as “cherries,” so I made my own. I made a mishmash of brandied cherries and maraschino cherries, and they turned out fantastically.

Cherries A La Kincke

1.5 pounds of fresh cherries

1/8 cup of sugar

7/8 cup of water

1/2 oz of lemon juice

7/8 cup of brandy

1/2 cup of maraschino liqueur

Fill half-pint mason jars with fresh cherries (I left stems and pits in). Put water, sugar, and lemon juice in a container that you can easily pour from, stir to dissolve sugar, then add brandy and maraschino liqueur. Pour liquid into cherry filled jars, then place jars into a water filled pot (like you’re making jelly). Boil for approximately 20 or more minutes. Let cool and get ready for yumminess.

Photography by Emily W. Kincke.

Ok, reading the tracking information that UPS supplied me for a package I’m expecting led me to this line: “UPS, UPS brandmark, and the Color Brown are trademarks of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All Rights Reserved.”  So lemme get this shit straight, UPS just called dibs on the color of dirt, tree trunks, and most everything that has existed before time……incredible.

If you didn’t have the foresight to attend Tales this year, you missed out on a whole mess of great stuff. Great people, great food, and most of all, great spirits. A number of companies are producing organic or all natural products which make for great beverages all around. One spirit, which I refer to as gin without the juniper, was mixed up nightly by The Fabulous Shaker Boys, and its name is VodkaHerb. It is a product that hails from the Netherlands and is crafted by Fedde Sonnema. It is a very light blend of herbs that comes off mildly grassy on the nose, but honestly, should not be called vodka. Even though the flavor isn’t overpowering, it still brings a lot to the table.

Being that its about 10 billion degrees outside, I felt that a long drink was in order:

Dew Of The Sea

2 oz of VodkaHerb

1/2 oz of fresh lime juice

1/4 oz of Jim Beam Rye Whiskey

1 spearmint leaf

1/4 tsp of amber (dark) agave nectar

1 1/2 oz of tonic water (I used Whole Foods brand)

Add all but the tonic water to mixing glass/tin, shake and strain into a collins glass filled with cracked ice. Top with 1 1/2 oz of tonic water, stir gently. Finally, garnish with the top of a rosemary sprig.

Photography by Emily W. Kincke.

Well, you may have thought I was done for the evening (as I did), but the bottles started speaking to me as I sauntered by. I don’t have a story that accompanies this drink, other than it was sent to me through the ether……which is enough for me.

 

I give you the

Phoenix

2 oz of Diabolique Bourbon

1/2 oz of Heering Cherry

1/4 oz of Vya Dry Vermouth

1/8 oz of Fonseca Bin No. 27 Port

1 dash of Regan’s Orange Bitters

Stir with generous amounts of large, fresh ice for approximately 40 seconds. Strain into a cocktail glass and flame an orange peel over the drink. Bend the peel slightly and float on top as shown.

Photography by Emily W. Kincke.

Hey kids, turns out that I actually had the images on my posts using a thumbnail of a pre-shrunk image.  Yes, I know, I’m a tard.  But now y’all can see them for all their glory on the front page.  So enjoy.

Odd, complicated, and delicious. All three of those adjectives describe a product from Crop Vodka. It’s not what you would expect though: it’s tomato flavored. The wonderful thing about it is that it’s not gimmicky flavored, it’s actually USDA organic. On the nose, tomato really rings out, smelling like V8 minus 7. I was also really pleased when I tasted it, because it is hands down one of the smoothest grain spirits I have tasted to date. Let me be the first to tell you that their statement, “This organic tomato flavored vodka is distilled so efficiently from certified Organic grain that no carbon treatment or charcoal filtering is required,” is absolutely spot on. I’m not sure what magic the distillers at Crop weave, but I’d love to have the spell. I could go on for a while telling you what it tastes like or what it reminds me of, but let’s be honest, you really have to try something tomato flavored for yourself.

I wanted to create something quite different to really complement the flavor of this spirit, so here is

The Compass

3 grams of fresh cut organic onion

1 1/2 oz of Crop Tomato Vodka

2 peppermint leaves

1/2 oz of simple syrup

Shake gently at first (almost rocking) and finish with a few hard shakes. Then fine strain into a pre-chilled cocktail glass and float one peppermint leaf on top (after rubbing or clapping it).

Photography by Emily W. Kincke.

P.S. Crop has also crafted a straight grain vodka and a cucumber one as well. More news on those later.