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Happy Hour: Pink Torpedoes

partysugar — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:00:54 -0700

Inspired by a cocktail class I recently attended, I decided to make my own strawberry-infused vodka. The technique is simple: all you have to do is slice a bunch of strawberries and combine them with the vodka and a little sugar. Then you let it sit for a couple of days until the vodka has a vibrant pink color. Unlike store-bought-infused vodkas, this homemade variation has a sweet-tart berry flavor that's neither syrupy or cloying. Once the vodka is ready, you can sip it solo or make a pink torpedo like I did.

This fizzy-girlie drink combines the vodka with limoncello and sparkling wine. If you don't have sparkling wine, you can substitute sparkling water. It's a fabulously refreshing concoction perfect for enjoying on a warm afternoon. To look at the recipe, read more.

Pink Torpedoes
Modified from Everyday With Rachael Ray

Ingredients

2 cups vodka, chilled
1 1/2 pints strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
Limoncello
One 750-ml bottle sparkling wine or sparkling water, chilled

Directions

In a large bowl, stir together the vodka, two-thirds of the sliced strawberries and the granulated sugar. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until the vodka turns pink, about 6 hours. Refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days.
Fill 6 glasses with ice. Strain the vodka and divide among 6 tall glasses.
Add a splash of limoncello to each glass and top off with the sparkling wine or sparkling water. Garnish with the remaining strawberry slices.

Makes 6 drinks.

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Happy Hour: Loft Liqueurs

YumSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:00:39 -0800

Earlier this month, I was pleasantly surprised to hear about the opening of the world's first all-organic bar. So when I learned of Loft Liqueurs, the first USDA certified organic liqueur, I had to find out what all the hype was about.

Created by two best friends and San Francisco hospitality veterans to save people from "the bright neon color of your average apple martini," the limoncello-inspired spirits are at the forefront of sustainability and eco-consciousness. In addition to being made with all-natural ingredients, the kosher-certified liqueur is sweetened primarily with agave nectar. The company supports small farms and biodynamic agricultural practices when possible, and uses recycled cases, biodegradable inks, and bamboo-based paper.

I tried four flavors - lavender, spicy ginger, tangerine, and lemongrass. To hear what I thought of them, read more.

Lavender: Although I sometimes eschew lavender in food (if it's too perfumy, I associate it with a spa treatment) the botanical notes were sweet, floral, and prominent yet not overwhelming. In fact, it was my favorite flavor.

Spicy Ginger: Contrary to its name, this flavor was not particularly spicy. PartySugar felt the taste was not as prominent or fresh as Canton, another ginger liqueur. Nevertheless, this flavor would impart subtlety to a cocktail such as a lemon drop.

Tangerine: Although I love tangerines, this seasonal flavor was my least favorite flavor. Ironically, both of us thought it tasted somewhat artificial and syrupy.

Lemongrass: This award-winning flavor was PartySugar's favorite. We enjoyed the delicately fragrant and bright flavors of this liqueur, which could be the star of a lemongrass cocktail, or just as refreshing on its own.

Have you ever tried Loft Liqueurs, and are you impressed by their environmentally friendly practices?

Happy Hour: Lichido Liqueur

YumSugar — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 12:12:52 -0700

Back in January, I told you guys all about how infused liqueurs were all the rage this year. Turns out that I may have actually been on to something. I just found out about a new liqueur called Lichido. It's produced in France from aged cognac, premium vodka, lychee & guava essences, and a "touch" of white peach juice. Personally I want to get my hands on a bottle and swig it down. Has anyone out there tried it? The folks at Liquor Snob say it's worth tracking down. I think it sounds heavenly on its own, but I also found a few recipes. To check them out, read more

Blushing Buddha
From Lichido

4 oz Sake
1 oz Lichido Liqueur
One Pitted Lychee

Shake all the ingredients with ice.
Pour into chilled glass.
Garnish with lychee nut.

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Lichidotini
From Lichido

2 oz Lichido Liqueur
1 oz Vodka
Dash Fresh Lemon Juice

Shake all the ingredients with ice.
Pour into chilled glass.
Garnish with lychee nut.

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Happy Hour: Sabai Sabai

YumSugar — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:18:09 -0700

A friend recently returned from Thailand with tales of lush beaches, charming fire dancers, and fragrant food. She fondly recalled extravagant full moon parties on the beach, where the country's official spirit, an amber-hued liquor known as Mekhong, flowed freely.

At this point, I can only dream of an escape to Ko Samui - but I can get a tiny taste of Thai nightlife through Mekhong, which became available Stateside last year. The spirit ($16.99), which is 35 percent alcohol, is made from distilled sugarcane and rice, then infused with a blend of Thai herbs and spices. When it launched in 1941, Mekhong was Thailand's first domestically branded alcohol - and remains the most popular brand in Thailand to this day.

Mekhong's slightly sweet flavor and distilling process might be reminiscent of rum, but it also channels whiskey, with its burnt-red color and slightly smoky bouquet. It adds balance in the Sabai Sabai, a Thai cocktail with fresh lemon juice and sweet Thai basil. See the recipe.

Learn How to Make Your Own Bar Ingredients

partysugar — Tue, 19 May 2009 10:15:08 -0700

Last week it was Cocktail Week here in San Francisco and I was lucky enough to attend a bunch of the events. The highlight was Thursday's bar school - a day of education. Since I'm an avid home mixologist, I checked out the House-Made Ingredients How-To taught by Jeff Hollinger, general manager at Absinthe, and Neyah White, bartender extraordinaire at Nopa.

In the drinks industry, both Jeff and Neyah are pioneers when it comes to creating bitters, cordials, tinctures, syrups, etc. The duo has made it its mission to bring back the craft of cocktail making one bottle of bitters at a time. To check out their tips for making bar ingredients at home and see a gallery of images from the class, read more.

The class started with a quick rundown of basic bartender terminology. A simple syrup is a mixture of water and sugar that is the foundation of an endless variety of syrups. A cordial and liqueur are spirits that have been infused with a flavoring agent (a fruit, herb, or spice) and are then sweetened. A tincture is a super-concentrated flavoring agent that is made from one specific ingredient. Bitters are like tinctures, but are made from a variety of ingredients.

Don't rely on recipes. Instead White recommends lots of creative experimentation.
Never throw anything away. Hollinger uses everything that comes out of the kitchen - including pickle juice leftover from one of Jamie Lauren's dishes - to make drink flavorings. White reserved the tops and bottoms of a season's worth of oranges in a large jar. After months of macerating in a high-proof alcohol, he had a complex and flavorful orange bitters.
Use in-season fruit to make syrups and shrubs (a mixture of fruit, sugar, and vinegar).
When making bitters and other highly concentrated flavoring agents, don't use the most expensive alcohol. Select an affordable pot-stilled alcohol.
It doesn't matter which type of alcohol you use. Rum, vodka, and everclear are all good options.
When working with citrus peel, be sure not to use the white pith. It will make the liquor or cordial bitter.
Be patient. The longer a mixture sits, the more flavorful it will become. Hollinger and White leave bottled flavorings in dark, cool cabinets for up to a year.
Strain and strain again. Once the liquid has reached the desired concentration, strain several times in cheesecloth. The final mixer should be clear and clean.
Make small batches. You can experiment with more ingredients that way.

Now I'm excited to get started on making my own bitters and cordials! Have you ever made your own bar mixers? What kind? How did they turn out?

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Happy Hour: Campari Squeeze

YumSugar — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:00:15 -0700

I'm still rather novice to the category of spirits known as aperitifs. These old-school standbys - which include liqueurs, dry champagne, and fortified wines - rose to fame in Europe in the 1800s, and have remained popular ever since.

I'd made it my mission to educate myself in aperitif studies, and after professing my love for Dubonnet, I felt adventurous enough to move onto the Italian spirit known as Campari. Invented in 1860, this bitter, which is used in a slew of different cocktails, is made by infusing alcohol and water with fruit, bitter herbs, and aromatic plants. Campari on the rocks is far too bitter for me, but I loved its complex, fruity, slightly medicinal flavor in the Campari Breeze, a cocktail that's perfect for warm-weather days.

To cool off on a sweltering weekend, I doubled the recipe for a bigger thirst quencher, employing Party's advice to save the ice until last. To see the recipe, read more.

Campari Squeeze
Adapted from Danny Boome

Ingredients

Ice cubes
2 shots Campari
2 splashes red grapefruit juice
2 splashes club soda
2 orange peels

Directions

Add the Campari and grapefruit in a shaker with ice, and shake.
Pour into 2 glasses filled with ice. Top off with some club soda and garnish with an orange peel.

Serves 2.

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2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 3 (Alcohols & Mixers)

YumSugar — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 13:48:48 -0800

DSC_8290.JPGBelieve it or not, we're not finished with all of our Fancy Foods coverage. There are still a few trends that I wanted to discuss in a little more depth, so expect a few more posts throughout the week. Today it's the all things alcohol trend. Okay, so this isn't exactly a new thing, but it was definitely something I noticed a lot of. There were organic mixers, regular mixers; hand bottled infused alcohols, organic alcohols, new flavors and so much more.

One of my favorite things at the entire show was the Tamborine Mountain Distillery booth. At first I was just wild for founder Michael Ward (when you watch the video you'll find out why, he's so amazingly charismatic and fun!), but after tasting several of the infused liqueurs as well as the Australian Vodka Company vodkas, I was wild for their product too. They were all deliciously smooth (seriously, the Lemon Myrtle vodka was amazing) and beautiful (the liqueur bottles are all hand-painted). Besides, he's a great storyteller and like I said, I was wild for him too. To check out their history in Michael Ward's own words, watch the video (more show highlights below the video, so scroll down).

Two more products I liked, plus a gallery of others, read more

Another really interesting product was from 267 Infusions. Their hand-bottled "premium" spirits (which have been at all the latest celebrity parties) contain actual pieces of fruit inside of a perfectly pretty bottle. As they said, "their trick is how they get the fruit in, your trick is how you get it out." Normally, I would find something like this to be rather gimmicky. However their product stands up to the hype. Available in eight flavors (including olives & pearl onion vodka, and mango infused rum), a bottle of 267 will definitely bring a zing to your party.

Aside from flavored and infused liqueurs, there were several different mixer companies. One of the ones that stood out was Mixerz (which actually launched the first day of the show). I had an opportunity to speak with one of the founders (Al Williams) and he told me that the company was born due to the resurgence of retro cocktails and that he wanted to make a product that was "bar-chef quality - something that would be easy to make in the home or in the bars." Personally I enjoyed their Sour Apple mixer, it was nice and crisp and lacked the awful sweetness found in most apple mixers (also, it wasn't bright green). After the apple, I tasted the Bloody Mary mixer, and thought it was okay, but a tiny bit thick. Based on some of the things I overheard, it seems that fruit is the way to go.

Stirrings was also around. I've been a fan of their company for a while now. In addition to mixers, they now offer bar ingredients (grenadine, bitters, triple sec, etc.), as well as cocktail essences (rose martini, rosemary martini, etc.).

To go along with your mixers, there were also several organic alcohols. Most of the ones we saw were imported from England (such as Juniper Green and UK 5 Vodka). Both PartySugar and I found these to go down easily and both lacked a weird aftertaste. I definitely think I'd hunt these down again.

Overall there were many mixers (even Jelly Belly had some new slushy options) and many alcohols to taste. The biggest trend was definitely more all natural and organic products. And if you ask me, if all natural and organic means tastier and easier to drink, then I'm all for it.

Check out some pictures of the alcohols and mixers:

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Taste Test: Starbucks Tazo Tea Infusions

YumSugar — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:00:01 -0800

Despite hard times, coffee chain Starbucks continues to try new tactics. Two weeks ago, I introduced you to the company's tea lattes, its latest beverage to hit counters nationwide. But if lattes aren't your thing, Starbucks is hoping you'll reach for its new Tea Infusions instead, which are available in two flavors: Tazo Berry Chai and Tazo Apple Chai. I had a chance to give these drinks - a nondairy blend of Tazo black chai tea and fruit juice - a try. To find out how they fared, read more.

Tazo Berry Chai: Described as "a blend of aronia berry and blackcurrant juices steamed with black tea and exotic spices," I could taste the cloves and cassis sticks in the chai blended into this beverage. Although the drink had a mellow blackberry taste, each sip had a spicy, peppery ending. It did strike me as very sweet, and I wondered how much sweeter it would taste once lukewarm.

Tazo Apple Chai: Although there were supposedly "sweet spices" steamed into this beverage, PartySugar and I thought it was a dead ringer for spiced apple cider. It was also heavy on the sugar.

If you're in search of a spiced cider with a caffeine kick, or want to enjoy a drink akin to mulled wine without the alcohol, these drinks would be for you. It's hard for me to rationalize forgoing the taste of classic chai tea in exchange for one of these infusions. I found them both to be too sweet. While Starbucks maintains that they can also be served on ice, I wonder whether they would taste even more cloying when enjoyed cold.

Have you tried either of these drinks? What did you think of them?

Would You Drink This Rattlesnake-Infused Vodka?

partysugar — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:27:31 -0700

I'm all for infusing vodka at home, but homemade vodka infused with rattlesnake may be going too far. I'm not the only one who thinks it's a little much - the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission recently seized 411 bottles of the illegal substance. Apparently this type of alcohol - liquor infused with insects or reptiles - is popular in some Asian cultures, as it is believed to be an aphrodisiac. I don't think I could take a swig from the bottle, but might be able to take a chilled shot of the potent concoction. How about you? Would you drink this rattlesnake-infused vodka?

Source

2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Final Recap

YumSugar — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:04:40 -0800

It has only been two weeks, but I feel like I've been talking about the Winter Fancy Food Show for months now. If you're bored of it, don't worry, this is the last one and if you're afraid you've missed some of the coverage, then fear no more. I've got one final recap that rolls all the other recaps into one.

The Winter Fancy Food Show was a "gorge yourself silly, check out our new products and taste our old ones too" sort of an event. With over 1,000 vendors and 80,000 things to eat, it was a bit overwhelming, by day three I was tired of walking the aisles and needed to take a long nap (that happens after a sugar crash).

While there we ran into a few celebrity chefs:

Paula Deen
Ina Garten (aka The Barefoot Contessa) - be sure to see our video interview
Martin Yan - he was also kind enough to do a video interview

We also identified some major food trends:

Teas - blooming teas, organic teas, fair trade teas - be sure to check out our video interview with Ineeka's Shashank Goel
Superfruits - who doesn't love anti-oxidants?

Infused Waters and Sodas - apparently if your water doesn't give you something else, it's just not good enough
Infused Alcohols and Mixers - a drink is no longer just a drink - be sure to check out our video with TMD's enthusiastic Michael Ward
Goat Dairy Products - Move over cows, goats are taking over!
Real wasabi - okay, this one isn't a food trend, but I forgot to mention it anywhere else and wanted to share this picture with you

If all of that is overwhelming, then check out this video clip to get the complete idea:

To check out a LARGE gallery of images, read more