Boozy Cherries for your Old Fashioned and Manhattans

These are terrifically easy and delicious, and besides topping drinks, they make a great snack before board meetings...just kidding! Use any cheap brown liquor you have laying around...dark rum, bourbon, brandy...and get to work!  (I would avoid particularly smoky whiskeys or scotches as the flavor will be weird, but you probably want to keep that stuff for sipping anyway.)

Boozy Cherries

1 1/5 cups dark rum, bourbon, etc.
1/3 cup white sugar (maybe a little less if you're using a sweet liquor like brandy)
2 cups pitted dark cherries

Bring the rum and sugar to boil in a small saucepan, whisking to completely dissolve the sugar.  Turn off heat and leave it for about 15 minutes while you pit this cherries.  I don't have a fool proof method for this, but I tend to favor a chopstick.  The guy in this tutorial is also adorbs. Stuff your cherries into a jar, pour the liquid over the top  to cover, and twist the lid on tight. Will keep in the fridge for about a month, if they last that long. If you have any leftover rum syrup, use it to make last week's banana daiquiris!

Now, what are you going to do with them?  May I suggest two classics?

(I'll Take) Manhattan

makes 1 drink

2 oz. rye whiskey
3/4 oz. sweet vermouth
dash Angostura bitters

Put 2-3 cubes of ice into a cocktail shaker. Add bitters, vermouth, and bourbon and shake. Strain into a martini glass and sink a cherry or two in there.

Old Fashioned

Makes 1 drink

1 1/2 oz Bourbon or Rye whiskey

2 dashes Angostura bitters 1 

Sugar cube

Place sugar cube in old fashioned glass and saturate with bitters, add a dash of plain water. Muddle until dissolved. Fill the glass with ice cubes and add whiskey. Garnish with orange slice, and a cherry.

Cold weather: a great excuse to drink!

Alright, it has already snowed here in Wyoming and northern Colorado--like, a lot.  If that doesn't make you want to break out the rum, you must be a better person than I.  Or just crabbier!

Cinnamon Toast
Makes 1 drink

• 1 1/4 ounce(s) Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
• 6 ounce(s) hot apple cider
• 1 tablespoon(s) sugar
• 1 tablespoon(s) cinnamon

Add hot apple cider and Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum to a glass rimmed with sugar and cinnamon.

Suburban
Serves 1

• 1 1/2 ounces rye whiskey or bourbon
• 1/2 ounce dark rum
• 1/2 ounce port
• 1 dash orange bitters
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir well with cracked ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Or perhaps whiskey is more your style...

Chancellor Cocktail
Serves 1

• 2 ounces blended Scotch whiskey
• 1 ounce ruby port
• 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes orange bitters

Stir well with cracked ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass; it should pour a luminous garnet red.

Old-Fashioned
Serves 1

• 1 sugar cube
• 3 dashes Angostura bitters
• club soda
• 2 ounces rye whiskey or bourbon

Place the sugar cube (or 1/2 teaspoon loose sugar) in an Old-Fashioned glass. Wet it down with 2 or 3 dashes of Angostura bitters and a short splash of water or club soda. Crush the sugar with a wooden muddler, chopstick, strong spoon, lipstick, cartridge case, whatever. Rotate the glass so that the sugar grains and bitters give it a lining. Add a large ice cube. Pour in the rye (or bourbon). Serve with a stirring rod.

The Beauty of Whiskey in a Strip Mall

Thank you, Living Social local deals, for introducing me to this oddly satisfying little whiskey bar nestled into the depressing strip mall at Drake Rd. and Timberline in Fort Collins, CO.  If I turned the right way in my seat I could avoid the reflection of windshields lined up in front of King Sooper's and just gaze at my vested, arm-banded bartender pretending it was the 1930s.

William Oliver's Publick House is all that and even more, because once you get inside, it's a pretty nice place to be.  You will curse the traffic and possibly help a senior male up the curb to his Great Clips destination, or possibly see a lady drop a watermelon outside the grocery store, but this place is actually doing a lot of things well.  I only hope they can move out of this location if enough people visit.  And if you're using the Living Social deal you got a few weeks back (every single person was doing so when I was there), be sure to tip on the full amount.  Because they deserve it.

My Living Social deal was for a four 1/2-ounce flight of whiskeys and a snack tray from their sparse menu.  I say it's sparse, but the menu is perfect and perfectly manageable--they make sandwiches, or you can choose from one of the very generously built appetizer platters.  There's hummus and veggies, chips and salsa, or an artisanal cheese plate for the vegetarians in the crowd, or meat eaters can choose from smoked salmon or the Perfect Platter, which was loaded full of spicy, crisp pickled green beans, two very garlicky dill pickle spears, the largest white cheese curds I have ever seen in my life (and they were delightfully salty), some Irish cheddar, sliced corned beef and salami, and Fort Collins-made Nita crisps (also available in low-gluten varieties with any plate).  It was delicious, the ingredients were high-quality (except for the bright yellow French's mustard.  Spicy Coleman's really would have been stunning), and the plate was positively overflowing with food.  Some people got the other Living Social deal for two pints of beer and two sandwiches, and the eager-to-please bartender made each and every one to order: "How's the mustard amount look? You want cheese?"  I mean, really, they were killing themselves to please us.

Let's talk about the whiskey.  My coupon limited me to the Colorado whiskeys available, which took up a full page in the menu and was so overwhelming I was grateful for the limitation.  There were rye whiskeys, corn whiskeys, white whiskeys, single barrel bourbons, etc. etc.  I wanted to try this place because it seemed like a low-cost way to experience some whiskey and try to learn something about it, and I did walk away with a (very expensive) favorite that I would definitely order again: Colorado's own Spring 44 Single Barrel Bourbon.  It was rich and warm, with vanilla and tobacco overtones and a lightly smoky finish.  It was actually delicious, and I am not easy friends with whiskey.

The menu at William Oliver's has 9 pages of whiskeys, bourbons, and even some moonshines, 2 pages of cocktails, and a nice, manageable page of snacks to go with your drinks.  They offer plenty for non-whiskey drinkers, including straight spirits from local distilleries around the Front Range and some great local beers on tap. Coffee and tea are also available, and you know, I bet they're actually delicious.  I do not think there is anything available at this place that they are not prepared to dazzle you with.

William Oliver's is actually a fantastic place in a terrible location.  They would do well in Old Town or near the university, and I hope to see them do well enough to eventually be able to afford those high rent districts.  In the meantime, please go to William Oliver's Publick House.  Because I want to go back, and I don't want them to go out of business because no one wants to go there on the way to Starbucks.

Summer drinkin', part 1: cocktails

For anyone whose lives are touched by a school year, the summer is quickly fading, and with it, those carefree evenings of drinks with friends on the porch (and patio, and living room, and eventually while sitting on the front sidewalk crying) and piles of grilled veggies and meats to accompany them.  I'm mourning the loss with a retrospective of my favorites from the summer, and I insist on continuing to drink all of these things until it's too cold to sit outside with a martini glass. So, here's to the next four months!

Arkansas Punch

Serves 6

1 1/2 cups bourbon
3 cups pomegranate juice
2 cups orange juice
sparkling wine or club soda
fresh mint leaves and lemon slices (optional)

Pour bourbon and fruit juices into a punch bowl and stir to mix. Top with sparkling wineor club soda to taste, garnish with mint leaves and lemon slices, and serve.


Bicicletta
Campari was so ubiquitous when I was in Italy last summer that I'll always associate it with sumer drinking!

Serves 1

2 oz. Campari liqueur
2 oz. dry white wine (Pinot Grigio would be perfect)
Club soda

Pour the spirits into a tall glass with ice cubes and top with club soda. Garnish with a slice of lemon.


Cowboy Roy

Serves 1

2 oz. rum
2 oz. vodka
6 oz. orange juice

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice and shake vigorously. Pour into a tall glass and enjoy.


Gin Spritzer

Makes 1 drink

2 oz. gin
2 teaspoons lime juice
4 slices cucumber
tonic water

Combine cucumber slices, lime juice, and gin in a cocktail shaker and mix thoroughly. Strain into a short glass over ice and top with about 4 oz. tonic water. Garnish with lime and cucmber slices if desired.

Last Days of Summer

Serves 4

1 cup orange juice
1 cup apple juice
1/2 cup vodka
1/2 cup amaretto
1 orange, cut into thin slices

Pour all ingredients into a pitcher and stir. Fill four glasses with orange slices and 3-4 cubes of ice and pour equal amount of punch on top.

Leap Year Cocktail
Alright, Leap Year is in February, but the lemon is so summery.

Serves 1

1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/2 oz. gin
3/4 oz. Grand Marnier
3/4 oz. sweet vermouth

Combine all ingredients in cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Blend and strain into a martini glass; garnish with a twist of lemon if desired.


Martinez
This is a great appertif before dinner with friends on the patio.

Makes 1 drink

2 oz. gin
3/4 oz. sweet vermouth
1/4 oz. maraschino cherry juice
dash Angostura bitters
lemon twist and maraschino cherry for garnish

Combine gin, vermouth, cherry juice, and bitters in a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a martini glass; garnish with a twist of lemon peel and a maraschino cherry.


Mexican Martini
My attempt at the Tradicional martini at the restaurant Rio Grande in Northern Colorado...

Serves 1

2 oz. tequila
3/4 oz. Grand Marnier
1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
1 tablespoon lime juice

Pour all ingredients into cocktail shaker and mix with plenty of ice. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with a lime wedge if desired.


The Southside

Makes 1 drink

2 ounces gin
¾ ounce lime juice
¾ ounce simple syrup
Two sprigs of mint
A few drops of Angostura bitters

Fill a shaker a quarter full of ice and add the gin, lime juice and syrup, one of the sprigs of mint and the bitters. Shake for about a minute, then pour the mixture into a cocktail glass.


Summer Shandy

Serves 4

12 oz can of limeade or lemonade concentrate
vodka
4 light beers

Empty the limeade concentrate into a pitcher. Fill the empty concentrate can with vodka and add that to the pitcher as well. Depending on your taste and circumstances, another half can of vodka is acceptable. Add the beers and stir with a long spoon until the concentrate has broken up.

Whiskey, glorious whiskey!

I am not always proud of my freelance work writing food articles for Examiner.com (and even less proud of the near-illiteracy I see elsewhere on that site), but I'm going to suck it up and show you something because I am SO EXCITED to try bourbon and, coming soon, whiskey from Wyoming Whiskey.  They were the first distillery to open in Wyoming (2009) and they're a truly home-grown operation.  Check out info and some of my favorite recipes here.

And the best cocktail of all utilizing whiskey:

The Millionaire

Serves 1

2 ounces rye whisky

1/2 ounce Grand Marnier

1 dash grenadine

1 egg white (this could make it through two drinks to save on the waste)

Shake with cracked ice thoroughly, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.