"Pig Pickin" signature drink

[JAZ]

But I still volunteer to play bartendress and mix up some other fine libations if folks are interested.

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I'll be happy to help out as well, Katie, so you won't have to toil alone.

On the drink front, I recently tried a great afternoon drink from (of all places) Martha Stewart Living -- Lillet, gin and orange juice, scented with basil, and topped with soda. I'm not sure about Lillet and barbecue, but with some tinkering, it holds promise.

[KatieLoeb]

But I still volunteer to play bartendress and mix up some other fine libations if folks are interested.

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I'll be happy to help out as well, Katie, so you won't have to toil alone.

On the drink front, I recently tried a great afternoon drink from (of all places) Martha Stewart Living -- Lillet, gin and orange juice, scented with basil, and topped with soda. I'm not sure about Lillet and barbecue, but with some tinkering, it holds promise.

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JAZ:

YAY! Looking forward to toiling with you. This is gonna be fun!

I like the sound of that cocktail, except for the gin. I can't get past that "Pine-sol" flavor in gin. Just don't like it, myself. Happy to help mix them up though. Sounds like it would work with vodka too though, as a variant.

I once made a big batch of herbal simple syrup that was flavored with two parts mint, one part basil and one part cilantro. Really tasty stuff in bourbon or vodka with the carbonated mixer of choice added (we tried it with Bitter lemon or Sprite). Quite refreshing on a hot summer's day, too.

[Varmint]

FYI, I picked up 2 cases of the spicy Blenheim's "red top" and a case of the less spicy "yellow top". Ah, nothing like a shopping trip to South of the Border.

We've also got beer and wine lined up for the pickin' thanks to donations from local proprietors.

[KatieLoeb]

FYI, I picked up 2 cases of the spicy Blenheim's "red top" and a case of the less spicy "yellow top".  Ah, nothing like a shopping trip to South of the Border.

We've also got beer and wine lined up for the pickin' thanks to donations from local proprietors.

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Ehhxcellent! All we need now are a few bottles of Bitter Lemon soda and the Slippery Slopes can be a repeat performance, as well as the Dark 'n Stormies!

[JAZ]

I've been experimenting with a few ideas involving sparkling wine, and ended up with something similar to a drink Audrey made at Bemmelmans, called (I think) The Old Cuban, a sort of mojito variation, but vastly more interesting.

I wasn't trying to emulate her; I actually had an idea that a variation of a French 75 might work well with barbecue. However, after much experimentation (someone's got to do it), I ended up with rum instead of gin. My final recipe calls for anjeo rum, spiced demerarra simple syrup, lemon and lime juice, and bitters, shaken, poured over ice and topped with champagne. I haven't tried it with barbecue yet, but my instinct tells me it will work pretty well.

The beauty of it, in my book, is that it's flexible. It's also very good with gin as the base, which gives it an entirely different character, of course. I'm thinking (although I haven't tried it) that it might be very good with bourbon as well, which would get me back in Varmint's good graces. In line with that, as a stand-alone drink, it's good with ginger beer instead of the champagne -- that was one of my first experiments, and it's great, but too spicy, I think, for barbecue.

So that's my entry.

[Varmint]

It might be important for those of you who are developing these wonderful concoctions to know two things: First, if you've never had North Carolina barbecue, you're going to be challenged a bit here. The pork will be slow cooked over pecan and oak and will be sauced ever so lightly with a vinegar-based brew. That twang from the vinegar often makes it difficult to pair drinks with the barbecue.

Second, if your drink requires you to have a special liquor or other ingredient, I suggest you bring it with you rather than waiting to buy it here. Our state-run ABC stores are not very good, and anything not considered to be mainstream may not be carried here.

[ruthcooks]

Whatever the drink contains, it ought to have the word "swill" in the name, and if it contains a pun, so much the better. For example, if this group was honoring baseball, the drink might be a Harmon Swill-a-brew. I'm working on it.

[Flocko]

FYI, I picked up 2 cases of the spicy Blenheim's "red top" and a case of the less spicy "yellow top".  Ah, nothing like a shopping trip to South of the Border.

We've also got beer and wine lined up for the pickin' thanks to donations from local proprietors.

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Dean or others:

What whiskey do you recommend to go best with the Blenheim's?

Bill

[enrevanche]

What whiskey do you recommend to go best with the Blenheim's?

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Rebel Yell.

Edited August 13, 2005 by enrevanche (log)

[slkinsey]

IMO, the real whiskey match is Rye. Most everyone can find Wild Turkey's 100 proof rye, which I am sure is awesome with Blenheim's.

[Flocko]

What whiskey do you recommend to go best with the Blenheim's?

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Rebel Yell.

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Oh, man, do I like Rebel Yell. A local gentleman from South Carolina used to bring me Rebel Yell and boiled peanuts when he came back from his quarterly visits home........some good

[Flocko]

IMO, the real whiskey match is Rye.  Most everyone can find Wild Turkey's 100 proof rye, which I am sure is awesome with Blenheim's.

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Sam:

Our Utah State Liquor Stores only carry Rittenhouse at about $12 or one may special order Van Winkle Family Reserve, 13 years old @ $29. No Wild Turkey Rye available. Any thoughts on either of these?

Thanks,

Bill

[KatieLoeb]

IMO, the real whiskey match is Rye.  Most everyone can find Wild Turkey's 100 proof rye, which I am sure is awesome with Blenheim's.

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Sam:

Our Utah State Liquor Stores only carry Rittenhouse at about $12 or one may special order Van Winkle Family Reserve, 13 years old @ $29. No Wild Turkey Rye available. Any thoughts on either of these?

Thanks,

Bill

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The Van Winkle is awesome stuff. Hard to find here in PA, don't know about NC. If you're a rye fan, this one's a good one.

[Flocko]

IMO, the real whiskey match is Rye.  Most everyone can find Wild Turkey's 100 proof rye, which I am sure is awesome with Blenheim's.

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Sam:

Our Utah State Liquor Stores only carry Rittenhouse at about $12 or one may special order Van Winkle Family Reserve, 13 years old @ $29. No Wild Turkey Rye available. Any thoughts on either of these?

Thanks,

Bill

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The Van Winkle is awesome stuff. Hard to find here in PA, don't know about NC. If you're a rye fan, this one's a good one.

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Thanks, Katie. I look forward to seeing you in Raleigh!

Bill

[KatieLoeb]

IMO, the real whiskey match is Rye.  Most everyone can find Wild Turkey's 100 proof rye, which I am sure is awesome with Blenheim's.

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Sam:

Our Utah State Liquor Stores only carry Rittenhouse at about $12 or one may special order Van Winkle Family Reserve, 13 years old @ $29. No Wild Turkey Rye available. Any thoughts on either of these?

Thanks,

Bill

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The Van Winkle is awesome stuff. Hard to find here in PA, don't know about NC. If you're a rye fan, this one's a good one.

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Thanks, Katie. I look forward to seeing you in Raleigh!

Bill

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Same here!

[slkinsey]

IMO, the real whiskey match is Rye.  Most everyone can find Wild Turkey's 100 proof rye, which I am sure is awesome with Blenheim's.

Our Utah State Liquor Stores only carry Rittenhouse at about $12 or one may special order Van Winkle Family Reserve, 13 years old @ $29. No Wild Turkey Rye available. Any thoughts on either of these?

If it's the Rittenhouse 100 proof, it's definitely the choice. Van Winkle's rye is very good, but I think it's best for drinks where it doesn't have to compete with too many other flavors (a Sazerac, for instance). Van Winkle only uses 51% rye in their grain bill (the minimum required by law), so it is not a very "rye like" rye and would be lost with something as powerful as Blenheim's.

[Flocko]

IMO, the real whiskey match is Rye.  Most everyone can find Wild Turkey's 100 proof rye, which I am sure is awesome with Blenheim's.

Our Utah State Liquor Stores only carry Rittenhouse at about $12 or one may special order Van Winkle Family Reserve, 13 years old @ $29. No Wild Turkey Rye available. Any thoughts on either of these?

If it's the Rittenhouse 100 proof, it's definitely the choice. Van Winkle's rye is very good, but I think it's best for drinks where it doesn't have to compete with too many other flavors (a Sazerac, for instance). Van Winkle only uses 51% rye in their grain bill (the minimum required by law), so it is not a very "rye like" rye and would be lost with something as powerful as Blenheim's.

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It is the 100 proof Rittenhouse. I scored a bottle of it and was able to find (thanks to my friendly Moab State Liquor Store manager ) a bottle of the Van Winkle Reserve 13 years old at an agency up north (they had one bottle and are saving it for me till Friday.....only one in the state).................So, maybe a taste test is in order

Thanks Sam!

[Varmint]

So, have all the kinks been worked out? How many different drinks will we be tasting in a couple of weeks?

[Flocko]

So, have all the kinks been worked out?  How many different drinks will we be tasting in a couple of weeks?

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Dean:

I'm donating, from the spirit sodden steppes of Utah, a bottle of 100 proof Rittenhouse Rye and a bottle of Van Winkle 13 year old Family Reserve to try with the Blenheim or for whatever other nefarious concoctions Katie and JAZ can come up with.

[Dave the Cook]

I'm not saying that this is my final entry, because I'm still messing around. Let's say it's an entry.

I went through a series of really awful experiments with tea infusions (alcohol extracts tannin from tea at an alarming rate), including ways to mitigate the astringency: egg white (it works, but I kept coming back to Audrey's MarTeani); and cream (I rarely actually spit things out, but I made an exception). I tried washing the leaves it in both water and vodka before infusing, but these steps diminished flavor along with the tannins. Finally, I dosed the infusee with a bit of lemon juice, having read on a brewing site that acidity (< pH 5.4 or 5.6, depending on whom you listen to) reduces the extraction of tannin from hops. I doubt that this is how Nestea makes their canned product, but that crap is practically indistinguishable from what I got. So I gave up on tea infusions. I know one or two others are working on this approach; I hope they do better.

Last week, I made my occasional cookware-glassware foray into TJ Maxx. They're always rearranging the product, so I wasn't surprised to find myself confronting the edible cast-offs instead of the gleaming $23, 9-quart Sitram Profisserie that I always hope to encounter. Most of what's on these shelves is crap; face it, most of what's in the cookware section is crap, too, but I keep going back, because every once in a while there's a jewel nestled among the cowflops. Not this time, but I found a bit of helpful spoor; a map: a bottle of green-tea concentrate. Green tea wasn't the direction I wanted to go, but it reminded me that black teas come in concentrate form, too, and some of them are decent.

Sure enough, on the shelf at Kroger, between the Country Time lemonade mix and the Lipton orange pekoe bags, was a bottle of Pappy's Sassafras Tea Concentrate. As often happens when one is smacked in the face by serendipity, I found myself propelled in a new direction. Instead of a grown-up iced tea, a sort-of grown-up root beer (and an excuse to use those stupidly over-sized martini glasses). It's even got a slightly hot finish like a robust root beer has.

Sweetie

1.5 ounces white rum

1.5 ounces sassafras tea concentrate

0.5 ounces Velvet Falernum

1.0 ounce lemon juice

2 t rich mint syrup

Shake with ice (really hard; something in here doesn't want to let the lemon juice combine easily). Strain into a 9-ounce martini glass containing 1/4-C finely crushed ice.

[Varmint]

Just a reminder: if you're planning on coming to NC and buying any liquor here, don't count on finding anything other than the ordinary. We have a state-owned liquor store system, and their selections are awful.