Tag: ginger beer

Cocktail of the Week: Washington’s Mule

2014-03-04 20.11.11

I’ve said here before that the Moscow Mule is one of, if not, my favorite cocktail. It was a Moscow Mule I had at Seattle Underground that served as half of the inspiration for this entire series of posts. So, when I see variants on the recipe, I’m developing my own right now, I’m excited to try them. This variant swaps out vodka for Applejack, as a cider fan I was excited to give it a shot.

The ingredients
The ingredients

Washington’s Mule

  • 1 1/2 oz. of Applejack
  • 1/2 oz. of fresh lime juice
  • Dash of Angostura bitters
  • Ginger beer

Combine applejack, lime juice, and bitters in a shaker full of ice. Shake. Strain into an ice filled glass (or go traditional with a copper mug!), top with ginger beer and garnish with a lime wedge.

2014-03-04 20.11.24

Oh, wow, that is nice! The Applejack is so smooth and crisp. The ginger beer is so sharp and spicy.  The bitters bring it all together. This is good. I don’t know if it’s Moscow Mule good, I’ll have to have a few more of both of them to decide that, but it is good. Washington’s Mule is also fairly light and I think it would make a good apertif or digestif. Or drink it on a hot day or warm evening out on the patio, that’s what I plan on doing…

Cocktail of the Week: Shandy

2013-09-15 19.06.12

Seems the Shandy gets a bad rap.  Before making them I thought this might have something to do with the low regard in which people hold mainstream American beer. Also, the low regard mainstream beer has of itself… The cocktail has a long history in the UK and Germany (where it is known as the Radler). But, on this side of the Atlantic I’ve never heard anyone order it or seen anyone drink it.The most common recipe for the cocktail is really simple: equal parts beer and soda, usually a ginger ale or lemon/lime soda. That’s fine but I wanted to class the drink up a little and I didn’t have any Sprite or 7Up. I did some looking around the internet and found a few alternative recipes and using them as a guide and a little experimentation I came up with this.

The ingredients
The ingredients

Shandy

  • 8 oz. blonde beer (I used a lager from the local brewery)
  • 4 oz. ginger ale (I had ginger beer so I used that)
  • 2 oz. fresh lemon juice
  • lemon slices for garnish

Pour into glass and stir.

2013-09-15 19.07.17-2
Turns out, It looks as tastes as good as it look…

These were a disappointment. D couldn’t finish her’s; she said it tasted too much like beer. I thought mine tasted like ginger beer with lemon in it. Perhaps I could have used more beer? Perhaps I should have just gone with the traditional recipe and used ginger ale or Sprite? Or maybe I needed a different beer? I don’t know… I like to have my cocktails be a little escape from the day and the Shandy didn’t offer that. It’s a mediocre beer or a mediocre soda. Why drink that when you can have a superb beer or a superb soda? Or better, a superb cocktail?

Cocktail of the Week: Dark and Stormy

I'm beginning to think every good cocktail has ginger beer in it
I’m beginning to think every good cocktail has ginger beer in it

After kicking off Cocktail of the Week with the Moscow Mule I received some feedback from a reader who recommended this week’s cocktail. Specifically, they wanted to know what I would think of the Moscow Mule after having a Dark ‘n’ Stormy. Now, the Dark ‘n’ Stormy is a trademarked cocktail by Gosling’s Export Limited of Bermuda and it calls for using only Gosling’s Black Seal Rum. I didn’t have any of Gosling’s black rum and neither did any of the local grocers… So, this technically this can’t be a Dark ‘n’ Stormy. I guess we’ll call it a Dark ‘n’ Kraken, you’ll see why in a second.

2013-08-13 20.02.13
The components

Dark ‘n’ Kraken

  • 1.6 ounces (50 mL) of black rum
  • 5 ounces (150 mL) of ginger beer
  • lime wedge

Pour the ginger beer into a glass over ice. Top off with black rum. Squeeze in the lime wedge and drop in.

2013-08-13 20.23.45

These were good! I don’t think they’re as good as Moscow Mules though. I’d like a little more lime flavor to help with the sweetness of the rum and ginger beer. In the future I might add more lime juice and cut out some of the ginger beer.

Cocktail of the Week: Moscow Mule

My favorite cocktail... So far
My favorite cocktail… So far

My Beer of the Week series was fun and it taught me a lot about the vast diversity, complexity, and depth of beers in the world. It was also very, very delicious. But, beer isn’t the only form of alcohol and despite its maturity as a medium it is often seen as the lowbrow option of alcohol consumption. At the top though, the classy form of consumption?

Cocktails.

D has recently taken an interest in cocktails and in our new place we’ve got ourselves the beginning of a bar, and a bartender’s manual. It just made sense to use this opportunity to learn about how to make cocktails.

Our private bar doesn't have a name yet.
Our private bar doesn’t have a name yet.

In San Diego D and I had our first Moscow Mules and we really liked the drink. In Seattle this year at a tourist trap bar we fell in love with the cocktail. (I know it is the last place you think you’d find a good cocktail, but Seattle Underground’s Moscow Mule was fantastic.) What makes the Moscow Mule so delicious is the interplay of ginger beer and lime. A sour, peppery, sweetness is not a taste profile that reads well BUT, it tastes really good. My first foray into bar tending turned out pretty good. In the future though I think I’m going to use a spicier ginger beer. Cool and refreshing these are great for long summer days!

The ingredients
The ingredients

Moscow Mule (serves 2)

  • 1 1/2 oz vodka (I used Black Sea)
  • 1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
  • Ginger beer (to fill) (I used Bundaberg)
  • Ice cubes (more like ice cube using this)
  • Garnish: lime wheel

Shake the ingredients with ice and pour over fresh ice in a high ball glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Tastes really good too!
Tastes really good too!
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