Autumn Harvest

Autumn Harvest can be made with Rum or Whiskey

The Thanksgiving holiday, for me, has always been a day of extreme and painful boredom. You are forced into having to be agreeable, and polite, even when that halfwit hippie cousin of yours starts blathering on about the injudicious predicament of the American Indian. Or while you explain for the thousandth time that you do not follow or enjoy American Football, (which of course is on the television in the background) and no, you are not a communist. Small talk fills the air which rarely if ever, turns into anything that invigorates the mind and passions. On the off chance that something of interest does come up, rest assured it will be subdued quickly by someone incanting the magic words; "it's Thanksgiving" or by the dreaded "arm pat" which your wife lays on as you try to speak.

Thus it is I find myself, year after year, silenced and bored, with absolutely nothing to distract my active mind. A mere cardboard cut-out in an imitation Norman Rockwell diorama, I stare listlessly out a window, counting the long minutes, praying for the day to end. It could be worse to be sure, so I am grateful, just not overly pleased.

There is not much a man can do in such circumstance but have a dram or two.

However, even that most enjoyable of pastimes is subject to the dreary, tiring, nature of the day in that you are expected to drink either wine at the dinner table or beer while sitting in the living room. For some strange reason lime green bottles of Heineken appear in the hands of the sweater clad, as they intently watch the light blue team line up in front of the red. It's like a nightmarishly bad beer commercial from the 1980's only without the eye candy of super models.

This year is going to be different though, for I have found a seasonal cocktail recipe that will be sure to please everyone at the gathering called; an Autumn Harvest.

Ingredients:

1.5 - 2.0 Oz. Bushmills Irish whiskey or Goslings Black seal rum
5.0 - 5.5 Oz. Apple Cider
Powdered cinnamon
Cinnamon sticks
Apple slices

Method:

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add rum or whiskey and the apple cider. Shake thoroughly (until you feel the shaker turn frosty in your hand) Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Next, dust the top of the drink with powdered cinnamon, add the apple slice garnish and your cinnamon stick then serve.

The combination of cinnamon with the cider really enhances the scent, and taste of both ingredients, yet fortunately does not overpower the spirit. The cocktail is sweet, but with a light tartness from the cider and cinnamon. Add to that the rolling up on the tongue of the spirit and you experience a complex blending of flavors that opens the eyes with pleasure. Not too heavy or syrupy as many "themed" drinks tend to be you can down a couple of these and still have room and desire for a slice of pie. I found that when using rum as the base spirit the cocktail was enhanced by pouring 2.0 ounces of rum and 5.0 ounces of cider instead of the 1.5 to 5.5 ratio in the whiskey version. This change seemed to bring out more of the molasses flavor in the rum which really complimented and heightened the overall experience.

Dust your cocktail with cinnamon

The Autumn Harvest also has a very pretty and festive look to it, with glass in hand it will make all the other cardboard cut-outs in the house think you have actually embraced the holiday. You will still be bored, silenced, and eyeing the clock in desperation, but at least with one or two of these fine cocktails, you'll be able to camouflage your true feelings and smile pleasantly at nothing. For that is what Thanksgiving is all about anyway, right?

Cheers
AL

Vera Rush

Vera Rush first attempt.

If there is one thing Tuna, Mike, and I agree upon is that having a bottle or two of good dark rum available on game day is of the utmost importance. The smooth, rich flavors of quality rum, soothes the savage beasts in us all and allows us to put up with one another. The hundreds of Dark & Stormy cocktails we have made and consumed over the past year is a testament to our collective love of the spirit.Yet, we also understand one can over do a good thing eventually. There comes a point when your favorite cocktail just becomes "plain old hat", and you find yourself wanting something different.

Recently Mike told me he had purchased a bottle of Gosling's Black Seal so he could mix up a recipe he had for Hot Buttered Rum. (I'll be making these once I can procure some nice Irish coffee glasses) Having quite a bit of rum left over he asked me what he should make up with the remainder? I spouted off a couple of the usual and familiar drinks but I could tell he wanted to try something new. So I made a mental note to dig around and try to find an easy to make but tasteful libation that he could enjoy at home with his lovely wife Heather.

Well after a few days of surfing the internet I found this remarkably simple, but flavorful cocktail, the Vera Rush. Having but two ingredients this little drink will definitely please any and all lovers of rum, from your highbrow sophisticates, and posers, to people like us, of lesser society. Blending the island flavors of Pineapple (tangy and sweet) and rum (a subtle bitterness) the Vera Rush does a balancing act on the tongue which is both pleasing and relaxing.

There are two methods for making these, neither of which takes longer than two minutes to put together.



I over stirred this one which made it go pink?

Ingredients:
2 oz. Dark Rum (your favorite brand)
.5 oz. Pineapple Juice (fresh if you have a juicer)

Method #1:
Start by placing an Old Fashioned glass in your refrigerator , or if you have room, the freezer to chill it up.

Next fill your shaker/mixing glass with ice, pour in your rum followed by the pineapple juice. Stir it up with your bar spoon.

Finish by pouring your mixture, through a strainer, into your chilled glass from earlier. Add an Ice cube or two and serve.

Stock photo of what it should really look like.

Method #2:
Fill a rocks glass with ice, pour in your rum and float the pineapple juice on top. Give a quick stir and you are ready to drink.

Notes: I generally reserve stirring for Highballs and drinks that have more than one alcohol in them and shaking for any that have fruit juices etc. You can shake this drink to mix with no bad effect it just seems to be a bit more work than its worth for something so basic. If you use cracked ice the dilution while mixing is increased which I recommend for the first go around. Also the bare juice and rum may seem overpowering to those who do not appreciate the natural flavors inherent in them so, if you like, add a drop of agave, or simple syrup to ease the edge off.

I expect that Tuna will give this recipe a good once over and a thumbs up, and maybe even Mike will enjoy the simple easy flavors mixed together. (Especially if he juices up some fresh pineapple). For me?  I'll have to give it a miss, the aroma of pineapple juice gives me a case of the shivers.

However, just because my neurotic sense of smell prohibits me from enjoying this interesting little drink doesn't mean you should not give it a try. I am but one man suffering from psychosis, whereas the rest of the world for over one hundred years has given this cocktail its proper's.

Cheers
AL

The Sneaky Bastard.

The "Sneaky Bastard"

Spend any amount of time playing table top games with our friend Tuna, and you will quickly realize that he is something of sneaky bastard. He loves to sit back quietly with a disarming little smirk on his face, and build up points, or cards, or whatever the goal may be. Then with a flourish, he will play the most devastating hand or strategy to not just end the game, but to do it all in one brutal and demoralizing move. Think of the old card game Gin Rummy (always liked the name of that one) and you will know what we mean. I cannot count the times Mike and I have been pummeled by our quiet friend with his sly, cunning, and most of all sneaky, play style.

So, to honor our dubious friend, Tuna, I have come up with a cocktail that is aptly named "the Sneaky Bastard".

Essentially this drink is nothing more than an old school daiquiri made with dark rum rather than white and served on the rocks instead of in the traditional cocktail glass. I chose a really sweet, dark rum called Zaya, which is aged twelve long years in white oak casks and distilled no less than five times. This stuff is so smooth that it can be consumed neat, which many purists insist you do. Some may balk at my using such a fine stand alone spirit in a cocktail, on the grounds that there is no need to soften or dilute something crafted so beautifully. And you know? I agree to a point. Yet as Tuna is as fine a person you'd ever wish to meet, I decided to use top quality ingredients in his very own drink, so you pendants can simply "Piss Off".

Ingredients:

3/4 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
1 & 1/4 ounce simple syrup
2 ounces dark rum (Zaya)
lime wheel, for garnish

Method:

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add lime juice, simple syrup, and rum. Shake vigorously. I like to shake drinks till I feel the metal of the shaker frost in my hand. Fill a rocks glass with ice, and strain your drink into it. Garnish with a lime wheel, or for Tuna two skewered pepperoni chunks.


What ends up in hand is a very smooth drink with a tart after twist due to the lime. It puts off a pleasing earthy vanilla bean scent that comes from the Zaya rum. Now, as not everybody likes heavy sweet cocktails you can alter the above ingredients a bit to create more of a tart pop by increasing the lime to 1 full ounce and reducing the simple syrup to 1 full ounce. Thus your count would be 1, 1, 2. Essentially you build to taste.

Our good friend Tuna: The original "Sneaky Bastard"

I not only served these up to Mike and Tuna last game day but to Valerie and Jasmine as well and they seemed to enjoy it too.

Lastly, just like Tuna, these little cocktails WILL sneak up on you if you are not careful, I know firsthand as I think my last one just hit me hard.

Cheers
AL

The Dark & Stormy

Our most popular game day drink.

 

 

The Dark and Stormy.

6-8oz. Ginger Beer (we use Gosling’s brand)

 

2 oz. of Gosling’s Black Seal Rum

 

1 Lime wedge.

 

To make: Fill a glass with fresh ice. Pour in the Ginger Beer gently so as not to make it head. Top off with the Black Seal. When topping off pour slowly so the rum floats gently on the top leaving a definite line between it and the Ginger Beer. Squeeze the juice from the lime wedge in last and place the fruit in the glass. You should now have a very lovely looking drink before you, however we suggest stirring it a bit before drinking as with all the rum on top a first pull can be rather painful. Once stirred, the cocktail will become a dusky reddish orange almost the color of a sunset.

 

Gosling’s Black Seal owns a copyright to the Dark and Stormy, thus if you make it with any other dark rum it cannot officially be called a D&S. We use Gosling’s Ginger Beer because it is not too powerful nor too weak and it adds just the right offset to the smooth tasting Black Seal. You can use any you like and some actually prefer Barritt’s but for us we’ll stick with what works.

I introduced our gaming group to these delectable drinks last summer and they have become the staple of our gatherings. I was not surprised that Tuna took to them like a pirate to booty, he likes dark rum after all, as well as booty and perhaps being a bit of pirate overall. However everyone, who has joined us on a game day including Big Mike, absolutely loves them. We actually ran out of rum one fun filled afternoon so now I double up on the supplies. You and your friends will love these too I guarantee it and a good drink with good friends goes a long way to building great times.

Cheers

AL