An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving

My darling goblin bride requested an Old Fashioned riff using cranberry and this delight was the result. I didn’t get a pic of the first one, but it was so good she wanted another and so I made both of us one.

2 oz Four Roses Small Batch bourbon
¼ oz Eda Rhyne’s Rustic Nocino
A bit under ¼ oz simple
2 barspoons cranberry sauce
2 dashes Fee Brothers’ black walnut bitters
3 drops Fee Brothers’ orange bitters

Combine all but the orange bitters, give a stir to integrate and let it sit for a couple minutes so things can mingle, just long enough to grab and prep your glass. Stir it like you mean it and then double strain over a large ice cube. Top with a splash of soda water and finish with the orange bitters across the
via Instagram
https://instagr.am/p/CIExxJ8JZB7/

The Sauce

It’s a rather different Thanksgiving here, but it’s been a good one all the same. I am thankful for a lot of things: my darling goblin bride, my loving family, my amazing friends.

2 oz applejack
¼ oz velvet falernum
¼ oz dry Curacao
2 barspoons cranberry sauce
1 generous barspoon allspice dram
3 dashes of orange bitters

Combine all in a shaker with a bit of ice, shake vigorously, double strain and serve up.

It’s lovely y’all, really lovely. I hope all of you are having a good day, staying safe, and have something you are thankful
via Instagram
https://instagr.am/p/CIEkGwLJowt/

A very complicated drink

Sometimes you just want a nice glass of scotch. Sometimes you get a nice glass as a belated birthday present in which to enjoy a nice scotch you got as a birthday present because you have wonderful friends who are entirely too generous.

2 oz Oban Little Bay
1 piece of ice

Combine this delightful single malt with a sparring amount of ice in a lovely whisky glass and enjoy. Oban is my favorite scotch, and their Little Bay small cask variety is outstanding. It starts crisp and clear and finishes with an almost chocolate note amidst the warm, peppery spice.

In addition to being very pretty, this small glass is perfectly sized to accommodate a double pour but doesn’t make you feel like a single is a drop in a bucket. I’m also genuinely impressed with how well it conducts the chill of the small bit of ice
via Instagram
https://instagr.am/p/CH81AUGpp4b/

Gorufu Kakuteru

 

While making a second serving of this for my darling goblin bride I was grumbling about how I just hadn’t had the motivation to post here for a bit. As the year winds closer to its end, I find myself often with a drink in hand after I’ve lost the light for a good photo outside, and don’t have things set up for decent interior photos. I managed to sneak a quick picture in of this simple concoction while we’re still in golden hour, so I guess here’s a post!

 

1 & ½ oz Buddha’s Hand infused vodka
3 oz sweet tea
5 drops of Bittered Sling’s Western Haskap bitters

Combine the vodka and tea over ice, stir to chill, finish with the bitters across the top.

This is the first thing I’ve made with the small experimental batch of Buddha’s Hand infused vodka I made a little while ago. I used a bit of zested rind and a couple of hole “fingers” of the Buddha’s Hand, and let the infusion sit for 3 or 4 days before I strained it. I’d wanted to do a tea cocktail with it, maybe using the Chinese restaurant tea blend I use for my Six Demon Bag, but we happened to have some sweet tea in the fridge and the idea of an easy option was appealing so…

The result is a really lovely, simple, refreshing drink. I started with a 1:1 ratio of vodka to tea, and kept upping the tea amount gradually until it hit the mark. It was perfectly nice when I got the ratio right, but the haskap bitters really transformed it. Perhaps better suited to a warmer day, but this will do as I sit here by the fire in our
via Instagram
https://instagr.am/p/CHtY2qLJibQ/