Happy Thanksgiving!

Howdy folks! I do hope you'll indulge me for doing my first non-movie-related post; I'm just excited to share our brand new bar shelving, and a few seasonal cocktails I've totally been crushing on lately but was too impatient to wait for the right films to pair them with. So here are a few freebies!

Totally in love with the Tiffany-blue color... so pretty! We used to have everything stuffed in a cabinet under the sink, but that started overflowing before too long. This is wayyy better!

Cocktail #1: Cynar Flip
Super easy, just 3 ingredients... Okay 4 if you want to get all fancy with bitters. I've served it to guests who don't usually favor eggs in their cocktails (me, I love 'em), and I've had no complaints! It's rich and creamy with a nice herbal finish. Not for everyone, but I've been sucking them down like crazy so I thought I'd share the wealth!

I got the original recipe from Jeffrey Morganthaler's The Bar Book, but later came across this version on The Five O'Clock Cocktail blog and was intrigued by the idea of cilantro syrup.

     

• 2 oz Cynar
• 1 whole egg
• 2 tsp simple syrup (or cilantro syrup)
• Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub bitters (optional; I like the extra kick it gives)

The star anise garnish is gorgeous and adds a lovely fragrant "nose" to the drink, but is also totally optional, since I can typically drink these puppies faster than I can make them. Cheers!

Cocktail #2: Holiday "Sauce"
A riff on a drink by the same name from Liquor.com. We've been keeping up with our juice diet, not necessarily as a replacement for all meals but rather as a rich and tasty, nutrient-filled supplement to all the other protein and healthy fats we're trying to cram in to our mouths... and what better time of year to play around with freshly squeezed, mouth-puckeringly tart, yet 100% delicious cranberry juice? With a bit of ginger, just for kicks.

     

• 1 & 1/2 oz cognac
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 oz simple syrup
• 1 oz fresh cranberry ginger juice (I did a mixture of 3 cups cranberries to about 1/3 cup chopped ginger, and ran it through our Omega slow juicer)

Coat the rim of a martini or coupe glass with a mixture of equal parts cinnamon and sugar, and set aside. Add the remaining ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice. Shake, and strain into the prepared glass. Garnish with an orange twist. So festive!

Cocktail #3: Pumpkin Pie
(a.k.a. "I just ate my entire body weight in turkey and stuffing but can probably still make room for a little something sweet...")

This one is a throwback to my early days of alcoholic experimentation... back when we actually kept bottles of whipped cream vodka in the house (eep!). I've decided to document it here for posterity's sake, but probably wouldn't recommend buying a whole bottle of the stuff unless you have other uses for it. I find it overly sweet now that my palate has changed, but it does create something fantastically similar to pumpkin pie (minus the crust) in a glass. Of course regular vodka works too, just up the simple syrup a bit to your liking. But that's not nearly as much fun as drinking your dessert :)

     

• 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1 (heaping) tsp pumpkin butter
• 1/3 oz dry curacao
• 1 & 1/2 oz whipped cream vodka
• 1 tsp simple syrup or honey syrup (increase to taste if using unflavored vodka)

Cocktail #4: Gingerbread Flip
We first fell in love with beer-based cocktails at barmini, in the form of the Penn Quarter Flip (swedish punch, vermouth, averna, benedictine, egg, porter). Then my awesome bf sent me a link to the Gingerbread Flip at 10th Kitchen. I made one for him a few weeks later (had to take the time to make my own allspice dram, of course), upon which he couldn't recall ever having sent me the link, promptly finished the concoction within minutes, and declared it a favorite. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

     

• 1 & 1/2 oz stout beer (I've used both Mission Dark Seas Imperial Stout and Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout)
• 1 & 1/2 oz blackstrap rum
• 1 oz ginger liqueur
• 1/2 oz allspice dram
• 1 egg white
• Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters
• Fresh grated cinnamon and nutmeg

Pour the stout into a chilled coupe (or double rocks) glass.

In a cocktail shaker, combine the rum, ginger liqueur, allspice dram, egg white, and bitters. Shake until combined. Add a big handful of ice, then shake again, vigorously for about 30 seconds. Strain into the glass, and top with cinnamon and nutmeg. Spicy, nutty, deep and dark.

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And finally to top it all off, a bit more gratuitous cocktail porn... just because we bought a bunch of pineapples and I wanted to try my hand at coring one without a coring tool. I just used a long, slim knife and carefully worked my way around the edge, leaving about 1 inch on all sides, and then hacked away at the hard inner core with a shorter paring knife. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. It's filled with rum, fresh pineapple juice, and Blenheim's spicy ginger ale. Can you tell I'm a tad reluctant to let go of summertime completely, despite the cold weather being upon us?

Happy Thanksgiving folks!