Thanksgiving Drinks, Bourbon and Otherwise

[eje]

As a person of Norwegian ancestry, I would say ice cold Aquavit straight from the freezer. Ahem.

What sort of things do you like, where are you, what's available, and how much money do you want to spend?

[ada]

I generally only drink white wine, and an occasional marguerita. My husband likes tequila on the rocks, and the kids will drink whatever the latest is. Vodka would be okay too. Price is not so much an object, except that I'm going to try several things before next week, and that might get expensive.

I live in the Hudson Valley of New York,and our guests are from various parts of the country.

Edited November 13, 2007 by ada (log)

[markemorse]

Our families have used Patron Silver tequila in the past to great success.

[bostonapothecary]

if i could toast any of the upcoming holidays i would use haus alpenz stone pine liqueur or their nocino... beautiful eclectic traditions. reflective of the season from my point of view...

[ludja]

if i could toast any of the upcoming holidays i would use haus alpenz stone pine liqueur or their nocino... beautiful eclectic traditions. reflective of the season from my point of view...

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Here's a thread on Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur: click

and here is a website with some more description of the Stone Pine Liqueur and some other Austrian spirits. It looks like they have distributor(s) in NY but I can't tell exactly where from the website.

I still haven't tried it yet!

I usually have them after a meal but a Calvados, Poire Williams or Lambig/Lambic might be nice at Thanksgiving as they are made with apples or pears.

If you want an American and autumnal product for T-day a bourbon would also be nice...

Edited November 13, 2007 by ludja (log)

[eje]

I dunno why; but, tequila at Thanksgiving seems a bit incongruous.

It is just as native American a spirit as Bourbon, after all.

If you like it, and you and your husband will drink the remains of the bottle, I say get a nice bottle of reposado or anejo tequila and go for it.

[Mayur]

If you want to get ever so slightly fancy: Do a spiced applejack, bourbon, or rye shot. Easiest way to manage this is to take the bottle, pour off a little (for a night-before-Thanksgiving old fashioned, for example!), and then add some spiced simple syrup and perhaps a dash of bitters (Fee's Old Fashioned for the win, or even just Angostura). This gives you a nice, clean-but-potable drink that won't burn too much, but will still make a non-cloying shot.

[ada]

This is great! I'm going to spend the weekend tasting everything. Thank you all so much for this wonderful input.

[markemorse]

And if you feel like tequila just isn't "Thanksgiving-y" enough, you've still got time to do a homemade cranberry-infused tequila...

Edited November 13, 2007 by markemorse (log)

[ada]

How would you do that?

I saw that there is a cranberry Aquavit (on their site). What do you think?

[eje]

Gunther Anderson's Cranberry Liqueur

I made the recipe above a couple years ago and it was quite popular.

You'd have to cut the infusion time short, but, since you're starting with a liquor with flavor, it might not be so bad.

I know slkinsey had an interesting cranberry drink preparation around here somewhere that wasn't quite as time intensive. I'll find it and post a link.

[eje]

Some ideas in this topic, including a couple slkinsey Thanksgiving ideas.

Cocktails for Colorful Foliage, new and old drinks for fall

[Alchemist]

I dunno why; but, tequila at Thanksgiving seems a bit incongruous.

It is just as native American a spirit as Bourbon, after all.

If you like it, and you and your husband will drink the remains of the bottle, I say get a nice bottle of reposado or anejo tequila and go for it.

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If I may suggest a brand of bourbon to infuse...Wild Turkey would seem right for the occation.

[Chris Amirault]

Back at it again this year. I think I'm starting with this cocktail, another applejack sour (I pander to family tastes -- what can I say) using the vodka spice infusion I've been working on (click), this one based on Dave the Cook's Crop Duster, an Aviation variation:

2 applejack

1/2 Maraschino

1/2 vodka spice infusion

1/2 lemon

dash Angostura

[Chris Amirault]

Trial run on that was a bust; the wife hates licorice, and there's star anise in that infusion. So we're going with the Crop Duster:

2 oz applejack

1/2 oz lemon juice

1/2 Maraschino

Dash orange bitters

Dash peach bitters

[KatieLoeb]

The Crop Duster sounds awesome. Might have to mix me up one of those whilst I'm cooking up Thanksgiving treats all day tomorrow.

I've got a batch of "Cran-cello" working that's on short notice. I buzzed up a bag of cranberries and about 3/4 cup of sugar in the processor a couple of nights ago. I dumped it into a wide mouthed infusing jar and added one 750ml bottle of Smirnoff 100 proof, and the zests of one lemon and one orange. I'm shaking it daily and I'll strain some off on Thursday morning. I'll add some spiced simple syrup to taste and maybe a tablespoon or so of cranberry concentrate if it isn't "cranny" enough. It will become Cranberry Mimosas on Turkey Day and again on the Sunday following at a friend's housewarming party. I'll report back on how they turn out.

[nikkib]

how did this go katie?

[KatieLoeb]

Pretty well, thanks! I strained the works through a fine chinoise and pressed down on the solids to extract as much flavor as I could. The "cran-cello" came out appropriately holiday seasoned due to the sweetening with a tasty spiced simple syrup and I cheated just a little and added a little cranberry concentrate since I did this infusion on such short notice. End result was a very deep ruby colored and very cran and spice flavored liqueur that made for some tasty Cranberry Mimosas both on Thanksgiving proper and the following weekend at a friend's housewarming party. A few folks enjoyed it just chilled in a cordial glass.

I'll take a picture of some in a glass and post as soon as I'm able.