The ROYAL KISS - Perfect Cocktail for the Balcony?

To celebrate the royal wedding the alchemists at Bénédictine Liqueur have teamed up with cocktail experts, Shaker BarConsultancy, and created a cocktail for Kate and Wills’ big day.

The ‘Kiss Royale’ combines the sweet flavour of Bénédictine with elderflower liqueur and sparkling wine to create a distinctive, beautiful, tall drink. Served in a flute or champagne saucer and garnished with a sprig of lavender, this cocktail is the perfect drink to help toast Mr and Mrs HRH Mountbatten Windsor.

 So raise a glass of ‘Kiss Royale’ on the 29th April when the happy couple have their first royal kiss and let it help to squash the jealousy a little bit that we SWEAR we don’t feel…


Created by: John Clay
 
Glass: Martini/Coupette
Method: shaker and strain

Recipe:
25ml Bénédicitine
12.5ml Elderflower liqueur
12.5ml Lime
Dash egg white

Top with Ridgeview Merret Grosvenor (best sparkling wine in the world 2010 and a few miles south east from Windsor Castle!)
Shake and strain into a flute or champagne saucer and garnish with
dried lavender sprig!

The Remix; Now Serving | Hold The Tonic

Gin is ready for its close-up. Though most of us associate it with lethal cocktails, and with at least one memorably bad night in college, a new generation of distillers is ignoring its mixed reputation and creating versions that are distinctive enough to convert even the most resistant palates. 

By United States law, gin must have a flavor dominated by juniper berry, so each brand's unique profile comes from its secondary notes. Hendrick's Gin, introduced in 2000, is distilled with 11 botanicals, rose petals and cucumbers, a combination that makes it dangerously easy to drink.

Bourbon & Brown Sugar Marinated Steak

by Molly Stevens // FineCooking.com

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup bourbon or other whiskey
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar, preferably dark
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. hot sauce, such as Tabasco
1-1/2 to 2 lb. beef steak, preferably flank, or 1-1/2-inch-thick New York strip steaks

---

Tip: You can marinate the steaks in the refrigerator for up to 2 hours before grilling. Just bring the steaks back to room temperature before grilling.

Prepare a medium-hot grill fire. Meanwhile, combine the soy sauce, bourbon, sugar, mustard, and hot sauce in a large zip-top bag. Seal and shake to combine the ingredients and

Scotch Whisky Trifle - it's not just for the Holidays

FIRST STEP:  Coffee-Caramel Custard

• 2 2/3 cups half and half
• 6 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons chilled whipping cream
• 1 1/4 teaspoons instant espresso powder or instant coffee powder
• 3 tablespoons Scotch whisky

SECOND STEP:  Trifle

• 1 1-pound frozen pound cake, thawed, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 6 tablespoons Scotch whisky
• 1 cup raspberry jam (about 10 1/2 ounces)
• 2 1/2-pint baskets fresh

It's ALMOST Grill'in time! Poundcake w/ Tequila creme!

Grilled Pound Cake with Pineapple "Salsa" and Tequila Whipped Cream

3/4 cup heavy (whipping) cream
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon tequila (preferably gold)
8 slices pound cake (each 1/2 inch thick)
2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Tequila Creme
Place the cream in a chilled mixer bowl or in a large metal bowl. Beat with a mixer until soft peaks form, starting on the slow speed and gradually increasing the speed to high. The total beating time will be 6 to 8 minutes. When soft peaks have formed, add

Exploring the Option of Liquor Licenses for Food Cart Owners

by Elaine Albrich

Portland, Oregon-area food cart owners are innovative, creative, and continue to contribute to Portland’s food and beverage culture. The range of food options varies greatly, but it is easy to find what you are looking for, or get updated on the recent cart happenings, with the likes of Food Carts Portland. Portland’s food cart culture has even been featured in Sunset Magazine and the New York Times.

Morning Cocktails Get a Wake-up Call

By ASHLEY GARTLAND / Photography by MOTOYA NAKAMURA

Well, carrots are health food, right? So a carrot martini seems like a reasonable way to start the day. 

 
Bloody Mary and mimosa might headline the brunch menu at Country Cat Dinner House & Bar, but that doesn't mean they're the sole stars of the morning cocktail hour. Rather, these ubiquitous eye-openers share the spotlight with the Maple Leaf, the citrusy G'morning Sunshine and the spritzy French 79th -- all cocktails that hint at bartender Jessie Matthews' mission to move beyond the mimosa.
  
Matthews isn't the only local bartender set on shaking up the brunch cocktail scene. At Toast, owner Donald Kotler mixes tequila, spiced rum and vermouth into cocktails for Woodstock regulars, while Accanto's bar manager, Chris Grant, offers a

How is Scotch Whiskey Made?

Skittles Vodka (with instructions)

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Here is the recipe for making this fun
Vodka at home!

1. Separate your skittles into colours

2. Mix 60 skittles and

8 Seconds......Canadian Blended Whiskey - EVERY SECOND COUNTS!

2011 WHISKY BIBLE 86 PTS. 

This 8 year old Canadian whiskey has developed elegant nuances from its eight years in oak barrels. Highlights include vanilla, light caramel and faint orange blossom essence.  Delicious neat and well balanced enough to blend with your choice of mixer and still have the nuances of the blend dance on your tongue.

ABOUT VODKA!

Our Thanks to Chris Carllson w/ The Spirits Review

State of the Spirit Address

Story by Kate Verotsky

Next time you want to learn a thing or two about America's cocktail scene, arrange a chat with Lucy Brennan over one of her beet martinis - or perhaps an avocado daiquiri is more your style.  Without a doubt, Brennan is a bona fide celebrity bartender.  The proprietor of the much lauded restaurant Mint and adjacent 820lounge in Portland, Oregon, her list of big name kudos is approaching intimidating status.  Nightclub and Bar magazine recently named her one of America's most successful women in the industry.  She landed a coveted place of Playboy.com's 'A-List," as one of America's Top 10 bartenders.  The list goes on.  Food and Wine magazine named her one of the nation's top 5 mixologists in January 2006.  Of course by that time she was well-accustomed to the attention, given her November 2005 recognition in Spirit magazine as one of the best nine bartenders and her (now familiar) moniker as one of

Taking the bitters with the sweet…

By Hoke Harden

America is right in the middle of a cocktail revolution these days, and all spirits categories are benefiting as a result. This isn’t simply a coastal thing or a big city phenomenon either:   it’s everywhere. The cocktail is back in vogue again.

Cordials…whiskey….gin…vodka…rum…tequila…brandy: they are all getting more attention from consumers in one of the best trial formats possible, the bar or lounge 
near you.

Bartenders — or as some now call themselves, mixologists — are constantly looking for new and daring creative concoctions to tempt their clients. The fever pitch for creativity in spirits is stronger than it has been since the great golden years of cocktailing.

But there’s another key ingredient in the cocktail revolution, a necessary addition that can make all the difference in

A Rainy Day Drink for Oregonians (or anyone else)!

RAIN FOREST COCKTAIL

 

1 oz Bacardi® light rum
1 oz Captain Morgan® spiced rum
1 oz Midori® melon liqueur
1 splash orange juice
1 splash pineapple juice
1 splash sweet and sour mix

Mix all ingredients and pour over ice in a tall glass. Garnish with a pineapple wedge or a cherry and an orange wheel.

CREDIT:  drinkmixer.com

1928 Krug breaks record for most expensive Champagne

By Jessica Yadegaran
Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 10:17 am in Corkheads.

Check this out. A 1928 Krug has broken the world record for the most expensive bottle of Champagne sold at auction. The auction,
Acker Merrall & Condit, took place on March 28  in Hong Kong.

After several rounds of bidding, Krug collection 1928 went HK$164,560 (US$21,200) above the highest estimate of HK$120,000.
The record was previously held by a Methuselah of Louis Roederer, Cristal Brut 1990, Millenium 2000 that sold in the US for US$17,625 in 2005.
Here are the tasting notes of the wine in 1999 from Serena Sutcliffe MW, Champagne expert: “Medium gold colour. Fabulous bouquet of vanilla ice (remember the first fermentation in wood). Deep dimensioned with bready notes, “sweet” and ripe on the palate, soft yet big.”

KAH Tequila: Spirit of the Afterparty

LiquidLivingMagazine.com

LiquidLiving Editor  // Issue 1 // August 2010

Over the past couple of decades, we’ve seen tequila evolve from a spring break and game day staple to a myriad of spirits.  Hit your favorite bar or retailer, and you will find a tequila for everybody, from the urban hipster to the devoted foodie to the traditionalist Mexican grandparent paying his or her respects to the culture and heritage.  Just like Mexican Food, tequila
is no longer a one-size-fits all affair.  Available in high-end, budget-priced, regionalized and, now, fresh organic variations, distilleries have new tequilas devised for every type of tequila fan.

Kim Brandi and her company, Elements Spirits Inc., meanwhile, bucked trendiness in favor of launching KAH Tequila, which draws its inspiration from Mexico’s Day of the Dead. This choice seems a little surprising at first glance. However, when one discovers that Day of the Dead (originated with the Aztecs 3,000 years ago) is actually a celebration of life, creating a tequila around it makes perfect sense.

“The word KAH literally means

Agave Spirits Tequila or Mezcal, it’s a growth market

By Hoke Harden

Anyone who has been paying the slightest bit of attention the last ten years or so has noticed the explosive growth of Tequila in the U.S. market. 
Here’s some more news: that growth is going to continue. But it isn’t just Tequila that’s going to continue, and not just in the U.S. Mezcal has entered the mix, so it’s now about the entire agave spirits category. And agave has gone global, so it’s a worldwide phenomenon.

When Tequila did that, and became “respectable”, it encouraged the emergence and growth of many smaller artisanal brands in the market. Store shelves and back bars are