— Jenny Neill

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Tag "house cocktails"

What do Scrappy’s Bitters, “Fox Zilla,” and Shakespeare all have in common? Each shares a fondness for the complex. We might never know what the Bard of Avon himself preferred to drink. Surely though, he was fond of his character Falstaff, the cowardly knight who recited the famous line this week’s House Cocktail is named after. Attributed to Allison Webber (aka Fox Zilla), The Better Part of Valor balances bitter, sweet, and herbal notes in one of my favorite sip-it-slow drinks.

Head of a Falstaff statue

Photo courtesy of shotsbystevo. Some rights reserved.

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A few weeks ago, I was on the prowl for drinks that used lime. I juiced a few too many for the meal I was making and thought, “No way can I let good citrus go to waste!” My aim was to find a libation suitable to sip with the layered flavors of Tom Yam Gai, the chicken version of a spicy soup from Southeast Asia. The one I chose has a name that might offend some.

Classic ingredients for the Oriental Cocktail

Classic ingredients for the Oriental Cocktail
Photo courtesy of Mike Russell. All rights reserved.

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If my blog were to have a birthday, it would fall in June of 2011. That means I’ve been blogging 18 months and have averaged about three posts per month since I started. But that average doesn’t tell the real story of how I struggled to find a rhythm. Nor does it capture how I’ve experimented in long and short compositions, fiction and non-fiction, or including pictures and video as adjuncts to sharing my words with you.

Flaming Orange Peel

It took several tries for Mike to capture this image of me flaming an orange peel.
If you do decide to try this at home, use a longer match than the one I’m holding!

Photo courtesy of Mike Russell. All rights reserved.

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Wine was always my drink of choice until a few years ago. That’s when I started doing double duty as sommelier and service bartender at Ray’s Boathouse on slow nights. It’s also when I began to associate the onset of the rainy season with trying new (to me) cocktails. As I developed my palate for booze, I struggled with gin. The strong flavor that juniper imbues to this base alcohol was usually too much for me. That is, until I put myself in the hands of Murray Stenson.

Murray Stenson

Photo courtesy of Scott Heimendinger. All rights reserved.

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Already, dear readers, you know I have a fondness for putting bubbles and bitters together. Sometimes, the occasion calls for something a bit stronger and more nuanced. This week, I’m drinking another favorite cocktail that combines bubbly with bitters. This one features Kentucky whiskey and is sweetened by an orange-flavored liqueur. Top that all off with a healthy pour of champagne and garnish it with a twist of lemon to complete this pre-prohibition classic.

Seelbach Cellar

Photo courtesy of Brian Hoffsis.

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I am a sommelier. Not only am I a sommelier, I am among those restaurant wine-slingers who consider themselves “acid hounds.” Alcohol, tannins, and viscosity in a wine of high intensity flavors is often not enough to be able to pair it with food. Such wines can be great fun to sip on by themselves. But to go with many sauced, rich, or spicy dishes, a wine needs acidity to give it a little lift. Liking that brightness is why I also like sour drinks. And why the Sidecar is in the top five for cocktails I make at home.

Flaming Orange Peel

Photo courtesy of Mike Russell. All rights reserved.

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I was a teetotaler for all of my 20s, typically a formative period for those who like to imbibe a little alcohol now and then. That didn’t stop me from learning the tradition of drinking an aperitivo during a series of trips I took to Italy. An Italian friend introduced me to Sanbittér so I could participate in the tradition of “opening” one’s appetite before dinner. (Aperitivo is derived from the Latin form of “to open,” aperire.)

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