The D.C. Craft Bartender?s Guild?s 2014 Rickey Competition on Sunday at Jack Rose Dining Saloon honored a new set of mix masters, tapsters and would-be sailors who successfully reinterpreted the city?s native cocktail.

When all was said and done, Lukas Smith of Daikaya beat out his fellow competitors with the ?Supafly Rickey.? Second place went to Dustin Beruta from Cashion?s Eat Place with the ?Vanilla-Key Rickey.? Third went to Casey Hristakos from Sixth Engine with the ?Rickey Del Mar.?

Supafly is a smooth blend of Half Moon Gin, sweet potato soda and rose blossom water. Sweet potato soda, you say? Yes, they used fermentation of the root vegetable to create the ingredient. A single (sometimes superfluous) blade of lemon grass served as garnish.

Lukas himself donned a soviet-era military hat and was surrounded by fellow bartenders dressed like loud, drunken sailors. ?Rum, sodomy and the lash? Winston Churchill said are the gist of British naval tradition. The handful of seamen behind the bar at Jack Rose seemed all too familiar with that grand tradition.

Guild president Owen Thomson and vice president Dan Searing were the masters of ceremonies. Searing held the trophy up for all to see as the winner and runner up were announced. Over 50 bars and restaurants participated from around the city.

It is difficult work judging that many cocktails. Guild organizers took nearly 20 days to round up participating bartenders to make their drink for the judges. The finalists were whittled down to seven for the main event.

?I had to drink 52 rickeys myself,? Thomson said.

2014 Rickey Competition Finalists

• Lukas Smith from Daikaya with ?Supafly Rickey?
• Dustin Beruta from Cashion?s Eat Place with ?Vanilla-Key Rickey?
• Casey Hristakos from Sixth Engine with ?Rickey Del Mar?
• Jo-Jo Valenzuela from Sixth Engine with ?Asian Wickey?
• Eve Maier from Hank?s Oyster Bar with ?Yabba Dabba Dorickey?
• Galen Odell-Smedley from Mockingbird Hill with ?High Rock Rickey?
• Brian Nixon from Rose?s Luxury with ?Rickey #7?

So last week Marshall, Anthony, and I ventured down to Hogo for their one year anniversary party.

If you haven’t been to Hogo, you should definitely come visit. The theme is “tiki nuevo” and they not only have great tiki drinks but also a good menu. There were some specials going on that night:

I didn’t warn Katie I was taking a picture.

If you have been to Hogo, you might remember Tom’s Rum Punch as one of the original drinks on the menu. It was always one of my favorites, too. The whiskey painkiller was also quite tasty.

Tom mans the DJ booth

Speaking of Tom, he was working the DJ booth. While we got there a bit early it was already jumping, and by the time it was supposed to really kick off (around 10) the joint was packed.

She put up with my repeated attempts to coerce my phone into taking a picture.

Dani was shaking up drinks like crazy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the bar that busy — fortunately, I managed to get a good picture (after about three attempts) while she wasn’t quite as slammed.

Cameron had her back

Fortunately, she also had help — Cameron was there, too, and knocking out the drinks.

As the night went on, more and more folks we knew showed up. I managed to get a little bit of food in me, mostly enough to avoid having Marshall kick me in the balls, and stole Mick’s seat to eat it.

A delicious crawfish pupusa

To be honest, I should’ve ordered more than one, but still it was very tasty.

Mick used the time out of his seat well, however. He broke out the remote controlled inflatable shark blimp/helicopter thingamabob (that’s an engineering term) and flew it over the crowd. Marshall took the time to get this video of it, which I uploaded to YouTube — so break out the speakers.

Flying Shark video

All in all it was a great time! Let’s hear it for another good year for Hogo!

Some of the land on the Woodford Reserve Estate.

Have you ever had a road trip where everything just went right? The timing was impeccable, the weather perfect, no drama at all?

Over Memorial Day weekend my old friend Roy, his brother Matt, and I did the nine hour road trip from Washington, DC, to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, basing ourselves out of Louisville. For reasons I couldn’t really specify other than perhaps laziness, I’d been reticent to go, but it ended up being an absolutely fantastic experience.

Buffalo Trace Water Tower

We left Roy’s house right around 5 AM on Friday morning. From that area, it’s not a bad drive – I-66 to I-81 in Winchester, then on to I-64 in Lexington, VA and straight on to Kentucky. We took turns driving which made things easier – I had the most experience with driving 64 through West Virginia, so that was my part both ways. Calling ahead, we learned there was a 2 PM tour at the Buffalo Trace distillery, which was on the way into Louisville. Thanks to some prudent driving, we arrived just in time for it.

Now, here’s the first thing that we didn’t know. We had made up plans for who would be the designated driver. We were very worried about that, up to the point that if we’d had more people we’d considered renting a van or other service to drive us around. What we discovered is that you can only get 1 ounce of whiskey, total, at any distillery, so between that and the time between distilleries, not to mention the tour time, you ain’t gonna get drunk unless you bring some of your own.

Also, prices at the distillery are not better. I’d recommend only getting what you can’t get elsewhere (such as Buffalo Trace’s Bourbon Cream liqueur). To give two examples: a fifth of Buffalo Trace bourbon was $26. In DC, at Costco, you can get a handle for $27. And at Heaven Hill, a fifth of Larceny wheated bourbon was $30, while at the Liquor Barn near our hotel it was $22.

Grounds at Buffalo Trace

Buffalo Trace was a good one to start with for several reasons. First off, it was very well run and did a good job of covering the basics of bourbon distillation and Prohibition. Unfortunately, you didn’t really get to see a lot of the distillation process in person. You did get to see more of the bottling process than we saw at other tours (though at Maker’s Mark, that was due to it being a weekend day). They took us through the area where they hand label and prepare Blanton’s bottles for shipment.

Buffalo Trace Warehouse

You did get to visit one of their warehouses. My picture of barrels there didn’t come out well, but not to fear: we took five tours in total while in Kentucky, and you got to see lots and lots of barrels. (The only one that didn’t show us the warehouses was Four Roses, as their warehouses are about an hour away from the distillery. You have to make an appointment for a tour there but I’d recommend it – that was the only one we heard of where you could taste straight out of the barrel.)

After Buffalo Trace and some purchases (including cigars and cigar cutters for myself and Mr. Fawley) we headed into Louisville to check into our hotel and get some food. For food, we went to the Silver Dollar. That, my friends, was a fantastic restaurant. We had some great food (though I will recommend if you try the fried chicken livers and the onion rings, please do not forget to brush your teeth before bed or you will be despondent come the morning), great drinks, and great service. We walked around the corner afterwards to Apocalypse Brew Works and had a couple of beers before calling it a night.

Just outside the Willett tasting room

The next morning we got up bright and early and headed out to the distillery I was most excited to see, Willett aka KBD. We’d made reservations for the tour which was a good thing as it was full on the list when we got there, though the large group that was supposed to be part didn’t show and so we had room for walk-ins. It ends up our extremely friendly tour guide is moving to the DC area so we gave her some recommendations on good bars to visit. She’d been worried that she wouldn’t be able to get any Willett in DC!

For those of you who don’t know, Ledroit often brings in single barrels of Willett for resell. You can also get the Willett pot still regularly, and occasionally I’ve seen the “Vintage” whiskeys, though I don’t typically recommend those. I picked up some Old Kentucky and Kentucky Vintage while there as I’d not seen them before, and I liked them a lot at tasting.

Fermentation tank at Willett

Here we actually got to see (and smell, and feel the heat of) the fermentation tanks. If you’re not familiar with the process, to start making bourbon (or any other whiskey for that matter) you have to start with a mash. For bourbon, it’s required by law to be at least 51% corn. The rest is either barley, wheat, or rye. This is made to ferment – sour mash refers to the fact that they retain some of the mash from the previous batch(es) to start the current batch. The fermentation creates a distiller’s beer which smells sweet and kind of tastes like corn cereal mush (we discovered at other distilleries).

Copper Pot Kettle at Willett

After fermentation it’s distilled – they have a columnar still and a copper pot still. If you’ve seen the bottles of Willett’s Pot Still bourbon, you’ll recognize that shape. After cutting off the heads and tails (see video below), getting the whiskey to the proper proof, it’s put into barrels to age. Like most of the distilleries, Willett uses tall warehouses so that the whiskey (they make both rye and bourbon) will age at different temperatures over the years.

You can even buy your own barrel, if you’d like. They’ll bottle it up for you (as required by law) and bang, you’ve got 200-some bottles of whiskey.?I cannot express strongly enough how much I want to do that!

Here’s a video of the heads and tails coming off, plus some pictures of the landscape. I can’t get over how beautiful the Kentucky landscape was. There might even be a picture or two of barrels!

VID_20130525_102957_706

The pond at Willett will help run a water wheel soon

Distillery building, columnar still, grain bin at Willett

Barrel run at Willett

Another pond and warehouses at Willett

Barrels at Willett

After we stocked up at Willett, it was time to go to our next stop. We headed to nearby Heaven Hill. Our tour wouldn’t start for about an hour, so we ducked over to Mammy’s Kitchen in nearby Bardstown for a great country lunch. Seriously. The Ultimate Fried Bologna sandwich was FANTASTIC.

Heaven Hill does not do distillation on premises, so we could not see that portion of the process. They don’t really talk about it, but quick Googling can show you stories of the fire that they had back in the 1990s. (Also, while they don’t talk about it, the other distilleries will!)

Heaven Hill warehouses

The tour at Heaven Hill basically consists of a video talking about how wonderful they are, then a short walk over to a warehouse to look at tons of barrels. After that, you walk back through their large Bourbon Heritage Center, which has lots of cool exhibits, and do a sampling of some of their whiskeys.

Tasting and judgment (at Heaven Hill)

One of the nifty things they did there was to provide two small vials before your tasting. These had different scents in them and helped to practice your nose before smelling and tasting the whiskey.

While the Heritage Center was nice, this was one of the tours I cared for the least. By this point, we knew the laws and stories regarding bourbon, and so when our tour guide got some small details wrong it was annoying. Like Buffalo Trace, not being able to see the distillation was also disappointing, as rack after rack of barrels isn’t exactly the most exciting thing to look at.

(One example of small details wrong: most distilleries will tell you that the portion of the alcohol that evaporates off during aging is called the angel’s share. Also, it was pointed out to us that the black stuff you see on the walls of the warehouses is mold, and all of them get that. Some clean it off, some don’t. However, our tour guide told us that the black stuff on their warehouses was the angel’s share. If I remember correctly – and it has been a month – she referred to the part commonly known as the angel’s share as the devil’s cut, which other distilleries define as the bourbon that seeps into the wood of the barrel during aging. That’s the stuff that Jim Beam is using a rinse process on the barrels to get for their new Devil’s Cut bottling, and Maker’s Mark, also owned by Beam, will start doing as well.)

HELLO DISTILLER! at Maker’s Mark

Following Heaven Hill we drove over to Maker’s Mark. Of all the tours we did, this one was definite the slickest corporate-wise. The visitor’s center is done up like it was in the olden days, except with a phone that rings to tell you a story about Maker’s Mark, talking portraits, and other silliness. It was probably the most crowded distillery we’d been to at this point but it was also very well managed.

There’s a lot of the little things at Maker’s Mark that are interesting to note. For example, the shape of the bottle is carved into all of the shudders on the windows. Their warehouses are black, to hide the mold. There was a very friendly cat who visited us. And you got to see the entire process of bourbon, from fermentation to distillation to aging to bottling (except we only saw the bottling line thanks to it being a weekend, it wasn’t in operation).

Columnar Still at Maker’s Mark

One thing about Maker’s Mark is that it’s a wheated bourbon – that’s a fairly small number of the bourbons out there. If I remember correctly, there are only 5 or 7 labels of wheated bourbon in Kentucky. (Heaven Hill has one, Larceny, and you have Maker’s Mark and Maker’s 46. Though more on 46 in a couple.)

Fermentation Tank at Maker’s Mark

Maker’s was the first distillery to let us taste the fermenting mash. That was pretty cool. They also have a heads and tails part of the distillation portion of the tour but unfortunately were not distilling in that section when we were there. After that, you get to visit the bottling line, where (as a fun fact) each bottle is sterilized with a shot of Maker’s Mark bourbon before being filled. They also told us of the occasional bottle getting an extra deep dip into the wax and how some people consider those bottles collectors items.

After viewing all that and the warehouses, they also showed us how Maker’s 46 is different. Maker’s 46 has the bourbon removed from the barrel and additional charred white oak staves added to the barrel, then refilled with the bourbon. To me, that seems to violate the spirit of the bourbon laws, if not the letter, but they insist it can still be called bourbon.

Finally, we got to taste their white dog, regular label, and 46 in a nice tasting room surrounded by barrels with plaques on them. The barrels are part of their ambassador program where you can get your name on one, and when the bourbon is ready, you can buy it.

After we were done for that day it was back to Louisville. That night we went to the Blind Pig for dinner – another fantastic choice of venues with great food and service. From there, we walked over to Rye for a few more drinks. It was quite quiet there, and my friends like more crowded places, so we walked down to the Garage Bar for a few more drinks. After that, we hit an Irish bar called Molly Malone’s and I made the decision it was time for bed. The BP near the hotel was out of alcohol so I went straight to sleep – my friends stayed out much, much later.

Four Roses

We knew Four Roses opened at noon so we got up in time to get there, along with the requisite stop at Waffle House on the way. That was the best Waffle House ever, probably because we were so hungover and starving.

We ended up on the second tour of the day at Four Roses. The tour was probably one of my favorites, thanks to the honesty about it. They admitted that their product had been crap for a number of years while owned by Seagram’s. They talked about how they have a variety of mash builds, and different yeast strains, and how they use those to make a consistent product.

Mash and yeast, at Four Roses

The distillery has a much different style than the other ones, more of a Spanish style. Inside, it was also more crowded and automated, something they are not shy about telling you about (though we wonder if some of the other ones just hide behind the guise of everything done by wizened old men).

Outside at Four Roses

I will admit, Four Roses is one of my favorite bourbons. For the price and the consistency, it’s a regular go to for me. At the gift shop, you can pick up some of the rarer single barrel selections that are selected by the distiller. I got a bottle of the OBSV (Delicate Fruity (Pear, Apricot), Spicy, Creamy) aged 11 years 10 months and bottled at 61.6% alcohol (123.2 proof).

But enjoy some pictures of the inside of the distillery…

After Four Roses, we made the longer-than-expected trip to Woodford Reserve.

Woodford Reserve Visitor Center

Unfortunately for us, the tours were sold out by the time we got there. We were given a drink ticket for a taste of Woodford and wandered the visitor center a bit.

There was some decent displays there. There was no real direction to the tasting and it just reminded me that I don’t care for their product that much. Of all the ones we visited, Woodford has the least amount of products to try or buy in terms of alcohol of all of them.

Press to smell white dog. Uh, okay, I guess. At Woodford Reserve.

It was also incredibly crowded there, but not surprising given the weekend and such. When we left, we came back the way we came, and I only learned too late that the other way has the ruins of some other older distilleries you can see. Ahhh, well.

Being done with that, we decided to visit Churchill Downs on what ended up being family day. Yay horses!

Churchill Downs

It was very pretty on the inside. I was actually kind of surprised at how run down it seemed on the inside.

Once we got in and found our way around we got the requisite mint juleps. They had fruit-infused Woodford if that was your thing – for me, it was not. I got a basic one so I could keep the glass, really.

I am not a gambling man. I’ve never really seen the thrill in it. When I was in Reno, staying at a casino for work, I put $20 down on the Steelers opening game because I felt like I should try it once and I hated it. I didn’t want to bet on them but their my favorite team and I knew that Denver would beat them. I was right. It didn’t make the game more exciting it made me sadder that I’d wasted $20.

However, my friends wanted to make some small bets on the horses. I decided to place $5 on one horse to win, and see what happens. I just needed one with a good name. And guess what?

The ticket for Gentleman’s Kitten

WAIT YOU’RE KIDDING ME NO FUCKING WAY WTF

That’s $34 cold, hard cash, baby.

Yeah. I won. IT FELT GREAT AND I’M NEVER DOING IT AGAIN.

Go out while ahead, I say.

That night we hit Proof on Main for more great food – which I ordered WAY TOO MUCH OF – and then wandered the streets. There was a festival going on called Abbey Road on the River, which seemed pretty cool if you’re a Beatles fan.

But, really, from there it was all pretty much done. The next morning we got on the road for the long drive home.

This was one of the most fun trips I’ve ever done in my life. The scenery is beautiful, the people are fantastic, the food awesome. If you haven’t tried it you really, really must. I can’t wait to go again.

Cheers y’all!

Snowfall as of 9pm

Now I love snow.? And truthfully, I’m excited to be in my first blizzard warning.? Of course I want everyone to be safe and warm all that jazz, but this is just cool.? And obviously, this kind of weather calls for more warm beverages . . . preferably those of the alcoholic variety.? In my last post, I gave you the Celestial Warmer.

Non-Union
5.0 oz African Roobios Tea, hot
1.5 oz Mezcal, I used Ilegal Mezcal
0.5 oz agave syrup
1 very long strip of grapefruit peel

Pour syrup and mezcal into a glass or mug and stir to combine.? Brew the tea and pour into your container of choice, stirring to combine.? Cut a long strip of grapefruit peel over the glass and throw it in.? Enjoy.

Finally, I’ve had some folks ask me about how much snow we’ve had so far in DC.? I decided to take a little video and share it with everyone.? This video was taken on my balcony around 11pm Friday, Feb. 5 2010. The noise you hear in the video is the wind.

Tomorrow I’ll post another video that shows the overnight accumulation. And, of course, another warm drink!

Cheers!

For any new readers, or folks not paying attention, Sean and I live in the Commonwealth of Virginia.? Virginia, like a few other bass-ackwards states, have a government controlled liquor monopoly.? The whole-sellers/distributors must sell directly to the Commonwealth, who then distribute the products through out the Commonwealth to the Commonwealth owned stores.? The Commonwealth determines the prices.? And the way I understand it (and someone please pipe up if I’m mistaken!!!) if you, as a distiller, do not have the capacity to manufacture or and provide enough product that meets a set minimum the Commonwealth determined quantity, then the Commonwealth will not purchase your products.

This means that small producers such as Tuthilltown Spirits, Anchor Distilling (yes, the folks who make Anchor Steam Beer), and House Spirits have an extremely hard time, almost non-existent, getting their products sold in the Commonwealth.? Ninety-five percent of the liquor The Scofflaws buy, we travel into Washington, DC to purchase.? (Note: Insert shameless plug for Ace Beverage here.)

During the most recent election for Governor, Bob McDonnell (R) campaigned that he believed the Commonwealth should step out of the spirit business once and for all.? Well, Bob won.? And what does he say now?? In the video below, produced by Reason and Reason.tv, we hear directly from the Governor.

Can Governor McDonnell privatize liquor sales in the Commonwealth? Is this a good idea? I’d love to hear what people think on the subject, so start right below here in that “Comments” section.

Cheers!

For some reason the embedded video I had here was screwing up the formating, so instead here is the link for the video.

Tea-quila Highball
3 oz. In Pusuit of Tea brewed Lemon Verbena Tea
1.5 oz. Blanco Tequila
.25 oz. Agave Nectar (or simple syrup in a pinch)
.25 oz. St Germain Elderflower Liqueur

Build all of the ingredients in a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with a twist of lime. Can serve hot or cold.

Cheers!

In today’s Washington Post, specifically the Weekend Section, there is a nice article about local mixologists creating “Nojitos.” The Post set out looking for alternatives to the ubiquitous mojito and found five recipes to share.

There is Todd Thrasher’s (Restaurant Eve/PX) The Strawberry Smash.
Adam Bernbach (formerly of Bar Pilar) contributed his The Mylan.
The L’Enfant Lemonade made by Dan Searing (Warehouse Theater and the soon to open Room 11.)
Firefly’s Alice Gaber created the May Flowers.
And Gina Chersevani of PS7 whipped up a Thai’s the Limit.

I can’t wait to try each of these cocktails!

As a special treat, here is a video of Gina discussing her inspiration for and demonstrating the making of Thai’s the Limit.

See if you can spot the cameo by a few troublemakers.

Cheers!

Well, here it is! From Owen Mack and coBRANDit the Mata Hari Absinthe TDN. Enjoy!

For this year’s party, I decided to print up a cocktail menu.? The reasons were simple.? First, I didn’t want to end up making forty-five different drinks or deal with the inevitable “Make me something fruity.”? Number B, I didn’t want drunk people rummaging around my hooch.? (Wow, that sounds kind of scandalous and dirty.)? Finally, I wanted to have a little something for everyone in addition to wine, beer and non-alcoholic drinks.

Here is what the menu looked like:

Once opened, guests were treated to six possible drinks, the non-alcoholic options mentioned above and, for the brave, a traditional absinthe drip.? (Or as traditional as I can get without having the huge water faucet drippy thing.)? Below are the drinks, their descriptions as printed on the menu, and the recipe.

Devil’s Daughter
Sugar and spice and everything nice with a heart as black as the night.
Vodka, Lemon, Lime, Egg White

This cocktail is actually a riff on Eben Freeman’s Bazooka Bubblegum Cocktail served at Tailor.? You can find the original recipe here. I followed Eben’s recipe to the letter, except I replaced the regular vodka with Blavod.? The resulting cocktail was dark violet in color but tasted just like bubblegum.? It was a hit with everyone who tried it.

Corpse Reviver #2
The dead will rise over this little refresher.
Gin, Cointreau, Lillet, Lemon, Absinthe

This was the basic Corpse Reviver #2 recipe.
Corpse Reviver #2
1oz Gin
1oz Cointreau
1oz Lillet Blanc
1oz fresh lemon juice
2-3 drops of absinthe

Shake everything with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.? Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Murderous Manhattan
Reportedly the very recipe drunk by David Berkowitz after each kill.
Bourbon or Rye, Vermouth, Maraschino, Bitters

The twist on this Manhattan was that I used Bianco vermouth and added a barspoon of maraschino to the mix.? I also used some cherry bitters and aromatic bitters.? Here’s the recipe:

2oz Bourbon or Rye
1oz Bianco Vermouth
1 barspoon maraschino liqueur
dash of cherry bitters and aromatic bitters

Stir over ice, strain and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Ignis Fatuus
The hellish flames found in the dark deadly swamps.
Chardonnay, Cognac, Pumpkin, Cider

This is another borrowed recipe.? This time from that crazy Canadian media hound Jamie Boudreau.? His original recipe is here.? This is another cocktail that went over really well.? A few months ago, our friend Roy tasked me with finding a cocktail using pumpkin.? His wife Danielle loves pumpkin and he wanted something that he could make for her.? At the time, he wanted me to use this “Pumpkin Spice Liqueur” that will remain nameless.? But you know what I’m talking about.? Yes, you do.? Well, I toyed around with playing with an actual pumpkin and doing an infusion of some sort, but then Jamie came along with this little number.? I’m still planning on doing a pumpkin infusion this fall/winter (keep your eyes peeled!) but Jamie’s creation was spot on.? Great drink.? Go to his site and see how it’s done.? You won’t be sorry.

Charon’s Dingy
Only the most damned have to cross the River Styx in this leaky vessel.
Brandy, Amaro, Lemon, Cinnamon, Honey, Bitters

This was actually a renaming of a drink I created during Thursday Drink Night at the Mixoloseum.? I based the drink off a standard Sidecar recipe – with a few tweaks of course.? First, I substituted the Cointreau with Ramazzotti Amaro.? Then, to compensate for the lack of sweetness, I added cinnamon and honey syrups.? I also guilded the lilly with whiskey barrel bitters and a flamed lemon peel.? I called the drink “A Sidecar to Milan” to highlight the origin of the Ramazzotti.? For the Halloween party, I simply renamed the drink.? Charon ferried the dead across the river Styx and I thought what would the the sidecar equivalent to a ferry?? A dingy!? So you’ve got Charon’s Dingy.? Here is the recipe (and the original name):

Sidecar to Milan
1.5oz Brandy
1oz Ramazzotti Amaro
.75oz fresh lemon juice
.50oz cinnamon syrup
.50oz honey syrup (or can substitute rich simple syrup, but may need to adjust proportions)
2 dashes whiskey barrel bitters

Shake everything with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.? Garnish with a flamed lemon peel.? After flamed, rub peel around edge of glass and drop in.

Luckily, one of my guests, Victor, brought along his video recorder and through the magic of the interwebs you can see the flamed lemon peel.? And before any of you say it, I was using plastic cups for the cocktails.? I don’t have enough nice glassware for everybody and plastic is a lot easier to get rid of.

Halloween 2008 from Marshall on Vimeo.

Kill-Devil Punch
A misnomer: The Devil will kill YOU over this punch.
Rum, LIme, Pineapple, Bubbly

I found this recipe at Epicurious and it turns out to have been supplied by Phil Ward of Death & Co.? Everyone seemed to really like this punch and by the end of the night I had gone through an entire bottle of prosecco.? The recipe makes enough for six drinks.

Kill-Devil Punch
9oz Rum
6oz Pineapple Juice
5oz Simple Syrup
4oz Fresh Lime Juice
5oz Champagne/Cava/Prosecco

Combine everything except the bubbly in a container and chill in the fridge for a few hours.? Pour over ice and top with the champagne/cava/prosecco.? Garnish with lime wheels, frozen raspberries, blackberries or other fruit.? Or garnish as I did, with a stick of sugar cane.? One note regarding the recipe, depending on how sweet/dry your bubbly is, you will probably want to adjust the amount of simple syrup.? For a dry champagne, leave at 5oz.? If using a sweeter sparkling wine, you may want to use less.

There you have it.? My Halloween 2008 cocktail menu.? Give these drinks a try and feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Part one:  I was at the VA ABC store next to the Harris Teeter near my house today.  I was buying a bottle of dark rum (Gosling’s) since I’d Twitter-ed some good tiki type drinks yesterday that used Myer’s, but I’m not a huge Myer’s fan.  I was also debating a bottle of Smirnoff Black Cherry vodka since I wanted to try to make a different drink they’d made at Clare & Don’s.

On my way out the door there I noticed a bottle of Rittenhouse 21 year old rye.  I hemmed and hawed, I called

tmfiii

, I debated.  After my visit to the Harris Teeter, I bought it.

I’m very excited about it.  I’d try it tonight, but we hit part two…

Part two:  I’ve been promising for a while that I’d make a video for my friend Mike Strack about how to make a Long Island Iced Tea.

Thanks to my glorious skills at teh webcamz, here’s the second part:

And that’s what I’m drinking right now.

Mmmmm.  It ain’t so bad, dudes.  If a bit strong.  Methinks I need more food…