It’s Not Your Kid’s Shamrock Shake

The Twilight Lounge – March 12, 2016

Continuing on the Irish whiskey theme I stumbled upon the Shamrock while thumbing through The Ultimate Bar Book this afternoon.  In addition to being a whiskey drink, it would help use up the Crème de Menthe I’d been sitting on for far too long.  It’s not often outside of Christmas that I get to use it!

The Shamrock

• 1-1/2 oz Irish whiskey
• 3/4 oz Crème de Menthe
• 2 oz heavy cream
• maraschino cherry

Combine all the ingredients except the cherry in a shaker with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into a old fashioned glass filled with ice.  Garnish with the cherry.

It is minty and it is creamy…and the whiskey is well hidden behind those two.  Aside from it being green and sweet, I’m not sure what else to think about this cocktail.  If we weren’t heading into St. Patrick’s day I’m pretty sure this would not have ever found a way into a glass raised to my lips.  But I suspect if you are a fan of ice cream drinks then you’ll enjoy this one.

Cheers!

Fish Fry and Bowling Balls

Day 327, Cocktail 333

Friday was a relaxing day for me, a time to recharge after the St. Patrick’s Day festivities.  No, I was not hungover (I’m a professional, after all).  I had just minimized my schedule so that I didn’t have anything that had to be done.

In Wisconsin, Friday’s are fish fry day, and that goes all year long, not just for Lent.  Gwen’s Newcomer’s group had put together a trip to a local bowling alley for their fish fry and bowling last Friday.  Being a former kegler myself I was more than happy to go along.

While we were bowling Gwen offered to get me a drink from the bar and I asked for my usual bourbon and coke.  I say usual because when I’m at a typical neighborhood tavern kind of place that’s what I stick with (unless I order an old fashioned, Wisconsin’s state drink).  So I was just a tad disappointed when she came back with a bourbon and seven, which is her drink.  It was an honest error, and the good news is that it counts towards my goal since I haven’t had one in I don’t know how long.  I am going to dispense with the recipe, however.  I’m sure you know how to make one of these already.  My next post will get back into the normal routine!

Cheers!

St. Patrick’s Day

Day 326, Cocktails 330, 331 & 332

Ahh, it was finally here.  The day that separates the professionals from the amateurs.  The day that is our biggest excuse to consume prodigious quantities of alcohol (as if Wisconsinites needed an excuse).  The day that is always 65 plus degrees in the middle of freakin’ March (yep, its true – at least for the last three years).  And finally, the day I do the all day St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl with Mike and Brett (even though Brett bombed out on us this year). 

Mike and I got a relatively late start, getting to Bub’s Irish Pub in Germantown at about 7am.  Not only is Bub’s an Irish pub, but they are hardcore – the kind of place that has the count down clock to St. Paddy’s day going year round.  Erin (how appropriate) was our bartender (and no, that’s not her in the picture), and she was able to serve up two tasty Irish themed cocktails for my enjoyment.

The first was the Irish Float which consisted of Bailey’s Irish Cream, Captain Morgan rum and root beer (I believe it was Sprecher).  This was very tasty with a creamy consistency.  The root beer complimented the Bailey’s very nicely and, somewhat to my surprise, the Captain Morgan added a level of complexity that complemented the drink.  As Erin and I were talking cocktails I asked if she had added any chocolate liqueur to this to add more complexity.  She hadn’t, and, unfortunately didn’t have any.  However, Kahlua often lends chocolate notes, so we tried and splash of that and it did add a nice chocolate dimension as a variant of her original drink.

The second of Erin’s drinks at Bub’s was called an Irish Flag and was served as a shooter.  This consisted of green Creme de Menthe, Bailey’s Irish Cream and Midori.  The color turns out to be the minty green of mint chocolate chip ice cream, and so does the flavor, much to my delight.  This would be an excellent shooter to have around for next St. Patrick’s day or as a chilled shooter on a hot summer day out by the pool.

Our second stop of the day was the old Rusty’s in Richfield and is now something Ed’s.  In addition to the Irish Buck I sipped on there I also had my first corned beef meal of the day, opting for a deconstructed sandwich.  The beef was very tender and tasty and complimented the Irish Buck.

Our third stop was Sheryl’s Place in Ackerman.  Nikki was our barmaid (yes, that is her in the picture, holding my Twilight Lounge business card, if you can pull your eyes away from her shamrocks) and she sold us on a cocktail with the delightful name of Leprechaun Piss.  Now, I’ve never had leprechaun piss before, so if it really tastes like this, then it’s not half bad.  Not great, but not bad either.  It consists of Island Punch Pucker, UV orange, 7 up and sour mix.  The color is this iridescent green that looks like it might have leaked out of the cooling system of your car.  Fortunately, it did taste better than that!

After finishing our piss and leaving some of our own behind it was on our ultimate destination for the day, the Tally Ho in Erin (the town, not the bartender).  The Tally Ho sets up a couple of tents and draws hundreds after the Erin parade, especially with the weather as mild as it was.  At this point I pretty much stuck to … well, I’m not sure what I stuck to.  Mike was driving, so I didn’t worry too much about it.  I do know that I stopped taking notes and just concentrated on having fun and not falling down (which is more than I can say for some of the folks who were there). 

So there’s the St. Patrick’s day report – and I promise, no more Irish drinks until next March!

Cheers!

Everybody’s Irish – Good God, I Hope Not!

Day 325, Cocktail 329

The day before St. Patrick’s day and I was going to have one last Irish cocktail to prepare myself for my all day pub crawl with my buddies Mike and Brett.  As I thumbed through the Ultimate Bar Book I found a cocktail named Everybody’s Irish.  How could I lose with this cocktail, right?  Well, I lost.  Big time.  For once my thought that there’s no way this combination of ingredients can taste good came true.  I’m going to post the recipe here, but I can not suggest that you actually try this one, unless of course, some person in the distant future attempts to recreate my journey because I’ve become famous.  Even then, though, I’d give dispensation to skip this drink!

So, without further adieu, I give you Everybody’s Irish.

  Everybody’s Irish

• 2 oz Irish Whiskey
• 1/4 oz green Chartreuse
• 1/4 oz green Creme de Menthe

Combine the ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake, shake, shake.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a green olive.

Overwhelming mint and anise flavors just knocked me on me ass with this one.  While I did drink it all, it was awful, with the brine from the olive just adding injury to the insult of this cocktail.  I think it’s whole purpose is to be green, which it is – a very bright, almost flourescent, green!  One last note, Chartreuse is one of the few liqueurs not in stock at the Twilight Lounge, so substituted Pernod.  The flavors of the two are very similar although the Pernod is not green like the Chartreuse.

My next post will get into our adventures from St. Patrick’s day.  Until then…

Cheers!

Dancing Leprechaun’s and Pots of Gold

Day 319, Cocktail 322

Ok, so not everyone is into Nutty Irishmen or Car Bombs (or Guinness for the matter) for St. Patrick’s day.  Some of us are looking for leprechaun’s and their pots of gold.  Poor little buggers, working their fingers to the bone making shoes, only to have some blundering idiot steal their earnings!

Whew!  Well, I had come across a cocktail called the Dancing Leprechaun in the Ultimate Bar Book while getting ready for last Saturday’s NID.  It looked good, but a little to complicated to mess with at a dinner party, so I didn’t use that night.  However, it was just the drink for Thursday night.  So I mixed one up and hoped to find a leprechaun’s pot of gold…

  Dancing Leprechaun

• 1-1/2 oz irish whiskey
• 3/4 oz Drambuie
• 3/4 oz lemon juice
• ginger ale

Combine the ingredients, except the ginger ale, in a mixing glass with ice.  Stir to combine then strain into a collins glass filled with ice.  Top with ginger ale and garnish with a lemon twist or wedge.

This would make a very good mid day break from the Guinness on St. Patrick’s day.  Light, refreshing with just a hint of whiskey and the honey sweetness of the Drambuie.  There’s even a connection between the Scottish Drambuie and the Irish whiskey – both Ireland and Scotland have chafed under British rule, so it’s natural that they join forces, at least in a cocktail!

Cheers!

NID Irish Dinner, Pt 2

Day 314, Cocktails 318 & 319

So just where did this whole thing about the Irish being drunkards come from anyway?  I spent some today trying to find out and … I really didn’t find anything conclusive.  The best explanation is a combination of what does seem to be an above average per capita consumption of alcohol (although not as high as the Russians) along with a cultural bias against the Irish, particularly as they were emigrating to America in the early 19th century.  Painting the Irish as drunks and brawlers made it easier for other groups competing with the new immigrants for jobs to demonize the Irish as a group.

So, enough of the history.  Back to last Saturday’s NID, where I was doing my best to fulfill the Irish stereotype.  I had started the night off with a couple of convential cocktails.  By the time I got to cocktail number three I was ready to wing it a bit.

  Bombed Nutty Irishmen

• 1-1/2 oz Baileys Irish Cream
• 1-1/2 oz Frangelico
• 1 oz Irish whiskey

Combine the ingredients in a shaker with ice.  Shake to combine and chill.  Pour into a rocks glass with additional ice to fill the glass.

A much more potent version of the Nutty Irishmen, yet still very, very drinkable.  The whiskey gives it a bit of a bite, but not so much that I would call this a boozy cocktail.  More like dangerous…as in tasty yet potent.

By now the creative juices were really starting to flow.  So for my next and final number I did a take on the Irish Car Bomb.

  Irish H-Bomb

• 1-1/2 oz Irish whiskey
• 1-1/2 oz Baileys Irish Cream
• 4 oz stout

Combine the whiskey and Baileys in a shaker with ice and shake to chill and mix.  Pour into a collins glass, add a bit more ice and top with stout.  Gently stir to mix and enjoy!

This is the Car Bomb on steriods.  What I’ve always found interesting about this combination is how it ends up so smooth and chocolatey!  In fact, this may be just a little too smooth as again the flavor masks just how much booze you get in this drink.

Cheers!

NID Irish Dinner, Pt 1

Day 314, Cocktails 316 & 317

I know, I know…corned beef is not Irish.  At least not Ireland Irish.  It was the Irish immigrants living next to their Jewish neighbors in New York that picked up the corned beef that we now all eat on St. Patrick’s Day (yet another holiday the native country knows nothing about while we all get slightly inebriated).  Not that corned beef is a bad thing – personally I love it.  The fact that I get to have some Irish whiskey or beer with it just makes it all the better!

So just where the hell is this going?  Well, last Saturday was another installment of the Newcomers International Dining group and the theme was…Irish food.  Despite my protests that it wasn’t Irish, corned beef was on the menu, along with several other authentic Irish dishes.   Kudos to Gwen for an Irish bread pudding that required 10 days of fermentation time with half a liter of Irish whiskey in it!  This also proved to be an ideal opportunity to try out Irish drinks and get them published before St. Patrick’s day.  As it turned out, I put together a total of four Irish cocktails.  Thus, a two part night for the blog.  I started the night with two standard recipes and then adapted them with two off the cuff drinks.  This post will cover the standard recipes and I’ll fill you in on the off the cuff drinks in the next post.

  Nutty Irishman

• 1-1/2 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream
• 1-1/2 oz Frangelico

Combine in a mixing glass with ice.  Stir to combine and chill.  Strain into a rocks glass with ice.

It doesn’t get much simpler than this classic.  A nice, creamy, slightly chocolately and distinctively hazelnut flavor greats your palate as you sip this.  While more appropriate as an after dinner drink, I actually started the night of with this cocktail. 

  IRA

• 1 oz Irish whiskey
• 1 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream

Combine in mixing glass with ice.  Stir to combine and chill.  Strain into a shooter straight up.

We’re not talking about retirement here.  Named for the old Irish Republican Army, which those readers of a certain age will remember, this is a cousin of the Irish Car Bomb.  (Bonus drink – use 1/2 oz each of the Baileys and whiskey in a shot glass, then drop the shot glass into a rocks glass filled with Guiness for the Irish Car Bomb.)  The Bailey’s tones down the whiskey considerably (I was using Clontarf, a serviceable 80 proof whiskey) but this still packs a punch.  We ended up sipping on this since tossing it back would have led to drinking three more which then leads to table top dancing.  That’s never a good idea (unless your name is Andrea). 

With the IRA we also wrapped up the appetizer and soup courses.  Next, I’ll get into the dinner and after dinner drinks.

Cheers!