Category: cocktails

Cocktail of the Week: Kentucky Buck

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Last week, while I was enjoying my margaritas, a friend’s instragram caught my eye. It was the picture of two deep amber cocktails with the caption being “Kentucky Buck.” I’d never heard of the drink and so sent them a small note asking what it was. The reply? “Think a Moscow Mule but with bourbon and lemon instead of vodka and lime.” That definitely got my attention! So, with excitement, I jotted down the drink name and the recipe in order to make it this week.

The ingredients
The ingredients

Kentucky Buck

  • 1.5 oz Bourbon whisky
  • .5 oz lemon juice
  • .5 oz simple syrup
  • 1 strawberry
  • 2 dashes Angostora bitters
  • ginger beer

In a shaker muddle the strawberry and lemon juice. Add bourbon, simple syrup, and bitters to the shaker. Fill with ice.  Shake well. Strain into glass filled with fresh ice. Top with ginger beer and garnish with lemon wheel and strawberry slice.

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Maybe I just like cocktails with ginger beer in them? ‘Cause this was a fantastic drink. The bourbon pairs wonderfully with the sour lemons and the sweet strawberry and all of it is tied together and giving some effervescence by the carbonated ginger beer? I don’t know what magic is happening in this drink. I just know I want to drink more of it. The more of these cocktails I make the more I want a front porch to sit and enjoy them on. Cocktails are domesticating me!

Anyway, this was a phenomenal drink that I want to encourage all of you to make it or go out to a nice bar and order it; I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Shout out to friends Justin and Dior for bringing it to my attention.

Cocktail of the Week: Cucumber Jalapeno Margaritas

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This probably would have been more appropriate last week. But, I’m not really big on Cinco de Mayo and margaritas are a great cocktail for any time of the year. D found this recipe and has been begging me to try it for a while now. I have to admit the mix of jalapenos and cucumbers had me intrigued… So, this weekend I made sure I had all the ingredients and go to work!

Most of the ingredients
Most of the ingredients

Cucumber Jalapeno Margaritas

  • 4 oz. tequila
  • 1 lime
  • 1 lemon
  • small cucumber
  • jalapeno simple syrup (see below)

Juice the lemon, lime, and cucumber. Cool the liquid in the refrigerator. Combine juice, tequila, and syrup in a large pitcher with ice. slices of cucumbers and jalapeno may be added as garnish. Serve in salt rimmed cups (margarita, martini, or whatever glasses you happen to have lying around.)

Jalapeno Simple Syrup

  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 jalapeno

Slice the jalapeno, removing seeds. Put water, sugar, and jalapeno slices into a pot. Boil the water on medium until sugar is dissolved. Simmer for about ten minutes with pot covered. Drain liquid through a fine mesh colander. Cool completely.

P.S. – if you don’t have a juicer getting liquid out of the cucumber could be a problem. I chopped it up and threw it in to the food processor and blended it into a rough paste and then put the puree into cheesecloth and squeezed the liquid out. Seemed to get the job down.

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This was a surprisingly good take on the traditional margarita. D says it might just be here favorite variation so far. Her exact words were, “A plus and five gold stars.” That’s quite the endorsement and I’m inclined to agree with her. I think I like the traditional margarita a little more but this is certainly my favorite twist on the drink. The jalapeno syrup brings the heat and the cucumber brings the cool. It’s a lovely combination.

Cocktail of the Week: Gin Hound

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You think with it being Cindo de Mayo, the cocktail of the week would be some sort of margarita. And, if I had spent any time thinking about the date or Cinco de Mayo at all it very well might have been. But, I didn’t. So, if you’re looking for the perfect pairing for your Cinco de Mayo party you’re just out of luck and will have to serve your guests Corona or Pacifico. Or you could click here. This week’s cocktail is a strong riff on the Greyhound.

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The ingredients

Gin Hound

  • 2 oz. gin
  • 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
  • 3 oz. grapefruit juice
  • 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

Combine lemon juice and grapefruit juice in a shaker full of ice. Add gin, vermouth to shaker. Shake well. Pour over ice.

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I really recommend that the first time you drink this you do so on the rocks. This is a boozy beverage! It tastes great though. Clean, refreshing. If you use good gin you might even miss the fact that there is alcohol in this drink! Maybe I can get D to sit out on the back porch with me while I sip at this and watch the dogs play in the yard?

Cocktail of the Week: Mint Julep

2014-04-22 20.34.27We had plenty of mint left over after making Planter’s Punch. D experimented with putting it in some of our food dishes but it’s a notorious difficult flavor to pair with. I had the bright idea of making Mint Juleps with the remaining, I mean it is Spring and all. The first step was getting a handle on what exactly goes into a Mint Julep, and like a lot of things that have been around for a while, there are quite a few varieties of the cocktail. Some call for white sugar, some call for brown sugar. Some insist that you use only powdered sugar, some mention soda water others leave it out. I decided to go with the most basic recipe I could find with the assumption that it’d be the closest to the original. Just bourbon, brown sugar, fresh mint, and a lot of ice.

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Mint Julep

  • 2 oz. bourbon
  • 1 tsp. brown sugar
  • 10 mint leaves
  • 4 cups of ice

Crush the ice. In a cocktail shaker muddle 8 mint leaves and brown sugar. Add bourbon and stir. Pack a cocktail cup with crushed ice until overflowing. Strain bourbon into cup. Stir until sides of cup frost over. Top with more ice and garnish with remaining mint leaves.

2014-04-22 20.34.47 Not really much to look at is it? It wasn’t really much to drink either… I suppose if I was at the Kentucky Derby under a hot sun, sipping on a Mint Julep might not be a bad idea. Or if I had a porch to sit on during a long warm, summer evening than a Mint Julep might make sense. There just isn’t much to talk about here. Sightly sweetened bourbon with a hint of mint that gets more and more watered down as you drink it. If I tried this again I think I’d crush the ice a little finer and see if club soda adds anything to the drink. In all likelihood though, the next time I have mint lying around I’ll make a Mojito.

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