If you’re one of those living in an area with actual seasons, fall may be starting to creep your way. I’m one of many who think fall is simply a delightful time of year: the heat of summer seeps away and a certain crispness fills the air. Things are less dramatic here, but I’m extremely grateful to wave goodbye to the late-August heat wave.
How have I not heard of this already? According to Avenue Vine, on August 27th of this year, the US Senate passed a resolution to officially declare September 2007 “National Bourbon Heritage Month.” While that might not sound too official, it certainly seems good enough for me!
All credit for this drink goes to Paul from The Cocktail Chronicles who inspired me to give it a shot. The Paloma cocktail is fairly simple; basically adding some sort of grapefruit soda to tequila and a lime. The “por Mi Amante” is the signal that a wonderful shift has occurred and that strawberry infused tequila is being used instead. Oh goodness, but this is a delightful drink.
I live in San Diego, home of temperate weather nearly all year around. The flip side of this is that, when it’s hot and humid like it is now, I really feel it. We don’t even own a fan; normally the breeze from the sea is enough, but today it’s 85 degrees and muggy in our apartment. Naturally, I did what any thinking person does in situations like these: searched the internet for a cooling cocktail. The one I ended up drinking is an upcoming post, but my runner up was from Forbes 10 Cool Summer Cocktails list. The fancy picture is from that article and shows a drink I plan on making soon: the Campari Smash. It’s mainly Campari and limoncello, both of which I happen to have. They have lots of other drinks, so take a look, make a drink, and cool down.
Today is a milestone in that this website officially saw it’s two millionth visitor who found us by searching for “bruise gin”. Now, these fine enlightened visitors are obviously attempting to make (or have made for) themselves a fine martini. They’ve already taken the first important step and decided the martini will be gin. I like them already.
So the batch of not-steeped-for-long-enough limoncello (see previous entry) finished and was surprisingly tasty. It was well received and is long gone at this point, although I played around and made another batch (pictured here in an old tequila bottle) which is also good. I’m holding off on a longish post as I have another variant to try, but if you’re looking for an easy to make, tasty liquor limoncello has my recommendation.
As for the tequila por mi amante, it looks and smells delicious. The smell of strawberries leaps out of the jar when I open it to peer inside, anxiously waiting out at least three weeks. I can’t wait to give it a sip!
I just started two projects: A rushed limoncello and a less rushed Tequila por Mi Amante. Both are concoctions I’ve never had the pleasure of making myself, nor even tasting for that matter. Limoncello is an Italian liquor based on, you guessed it, of lemons and sugar. Or at least that’s what I’m told. I’ve been seeing it around for a while and wanted to try it out for the fabled Fig Party we knew was coming up sometime. Unfortunately, we didn’t know quite when the party would be, and I waited until we heard, and it’s this Saturday. Decent limoncello seems to take a week minimum, often a bit longer, so we’ll see how this goes. If anyone has any fig-themed cocktail ideas, I’d love to hear them.
This cocktail is actually what led me into researching a somewhat distant variant, the Monkey Gland. I first came about them both in Dr. Cocktail’s very enjoyable book “Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails.” The ingredients for the Income Tax are easier to find, so it’s more likely you’ll be able to try one of these out with even a modest liquor collection.
The Income Tax Cocktail
1 1/2oz gin
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
1/2 oz dry vermouth
Juice of 1/4 orange (about 3/4 oz)
dash of angostura bitters
Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass and garnish with an orange wheel.