A little bit ago we told you about the Jameson's Pickle Back, and expressed our nervousness about the shot. We have been overwhelmed by reader response since the story ran, telling us we need to sack up and give it a try. We will, but we'll plan on still waiting until St. Patrick's Day before we take our Pickle Back virginity, so to speak. What pushed us over the edge to wanting to try it, you might ask?
It was partially the parade of drunks who emailed us with sentiments along the lines of "DUDE IT'S AWESOME!!1!" but the real convincer was the article we found today from Jason Wilson at the Washington Post. He included all sorts of great info about Irish whiskey, but here was the kicker for us about the Pickle Back:
As a pairing, that might sound less than promising, but here's the surprise: A Pickleback is simply awesome. Brine and whiskey make one of those mysteriously wonderful combinations, and it doesn't hurt that pickle juice is second to none in preventing dehydration (thus helping to stave off the post-St. Paddy's Day hangover).
There are some moments in your life that you will always remember. Your first kiss? Hopefully. The birth of your first child? Probably. The first time you drink a shot of whiskey with a chaser of pickle juice? Most definitely. Or at least we imagine so, because we haven't actually done it.
You see, drinking a Pickle Back, as it's called by those who actually drink it, seems like a red pill/blue pill moment - a choice that will change your life forever. The shot was described to us using Jameson, a perennial Liquor Snob favorite, and we can only imagine sitting there at the bar, looking at those glasses full of golden and green liquids, knowing that nothing will ever be the same again. Plus, if you drink enough of them, we're pretty sure you'll decide you know Kung Fu, just like Neo.
The folks who told us about this shot claim that "Jameson's smooth taste complements the bitterness of the pickle juice nicely." That remains to be seen. We challenge our readers to send us their Pickle Back comments pictures, videos, haiku, whatever, to jake [at] liquorsnob [dot] com. We will also be accepting recommendations for the best pickle juice to use, as long as it's available.
If you convince us, we'll try our very first one on St. Patrick's Day, and we'll find out for ourselves how deep this rabbit hole goes.
As you can imagine, every holiday season, the Liquor Snob office gets a lot of emails about holiday-themed cocktail recipes. Valentine's Day is no different, with just about every liquor company, PR agency, and sodden drunk coming up with some way to romantically ingest alcohol. In the spirit of a new decade, we're trying to be better about giving those recipes a forum these days, so we're putting together a roundup of all the Valentine's-themed recipes we receive between now and February 14.
We're putting them in there in the order they come in, so come one, come all, and send us your romantical recipes, and we'll do our best to get them posted. We accept no responsibility for the luvvy wuvvy names some of them have, and hey - viva la romance, or barring that, viva la buzz!
A while back we told you about our dream of creating a prune-based laxative cocktail and calling it the "Pootini." We haven't done that yet, but we've found a cocktail that recalls the Master Cleanse, a two-week juice fast we tried once on a dare. We spent the entire time drinking cayenne lemonade, wondering why we weren't hungry, and looking into the toilet saying "I don't recall eating that."
This detox cocktail is the best of all worlds - similar ingredients to the Master Cleanse lemonade, without the commitment, and you can get a buzz out of it. Sounds like we know what we're doing this weekend.
The Detox
3 oz vodka (I used Martin Ryan)
2 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz honey-rosemary syrup (see recipe near bottom of this post)
dash cayenne pepper
For the rim: cayenne, puebla chile powder, and date sugar (recipe below)
Glass: cocktail glass
Tools: shaker, strainer
Rub a lemon slice along the outer rim of the cocktail glass and dip it in the chile and date sugar mixture. Pour the other ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake until well chilled. Strain, enjoy, and repeat until your system is fully cleansed.
To make the rim mixture simply blend together 3-4 tbsp date sugar (found at most health food stores) with 1 tsp puebla chile powder and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper. If you're spice averse you can exclude the cayenne pepper on the rim, since there'll already be a dash of it in the cocktail.
We were talking about holiday punch yesterday, and how we were looking for an alternative to the typical punch bowl. Almost like magic, we got an email right afterward including all kinds of recipes we could use to fill said alternative. These are interesting punches, a little different than your typical mulled wine, and definitely looking like they'll put you in the holiday mood. With no further ado, here are the recipes for Honey Spiced Punch, Old Sidney-Town Punch, and Champagne Holiday Punch.
We have a little game we play with a certain set of long distance friends called Dial-A-Shot. Everyone is at a bar, though in separate cities. A phone call is made, and synchronized drink shooting is performed. Usually it's straight booze, but sometimes we like to mix it up. That's where the iShot Machine iPhone app looks like it'll come in handy.
Randomness plus drunkenness? It's like your cocktail recipe book humped a slot machine, and this is the baby they made. Also, if your bartender doesn't know how to make the drink that comes up, the recipe's right there, plain and simple. There are over 3000 shots on this bad boy, and you can download it for free. So what're you waiting for? Oh, some more features? Here you go:
Our man DKF has been in his secret lab again, flogging the cocktails, and he's come up with one that really caught our attention. We love both Buffalo Trace bourbon and Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur - they're fucking delicious. Check out what happens when you mix them up in one glass and add some cocktail-y stuff to the mix. We even think his name for it - Shanghai's Last Gentleman - is the bee's knees...at least he didn't call it Shanghai Surprise. Keep 'em coming, DKF.
Shanghai's Last Gentleman
This sultry bourbon-laced cocktail is a true 'East Meets West' concoction, mingling slow Southern hospitality with classic Asian flavors. Muddled oranges - the "Chinese Apple" - orange blossom honey, and Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur meddle with Buffalo Trace Kentucky bourbon for a charmingly exotic cocktail.
2 oz. Buffalo Trace bourbon
1 1/4 oz. Domaine de Canton ginger cognac
1 tbsp. orange flower honey
3 drops, Fee's Old Fashioned Bitters
3 drops, Regan's Orange Bitters
1 slice of orange
1) Muddle orange, honey, and both bitters in a cocktail shaker.
2) Add bourbon, ginger liquer, and ice cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously.
3) Pour into an old fashioned glass. Enjoy the simple bliss of life that is a well-made cocktail.
Sorry for the lack of pictures due to a fritzy camera, but we decided to use a picture of fireworks. Because where were fireworks invented class? That's right...China.
A while back, we introduced you to the McNuggetini, an assplodingly horrible idea for a cocktail. "But wait," you're probably saying to yourself. "I remember this McNuggetini story, but I ignored it since it was not in video form!"
Fret not, dear readers, for we offer you the McNuggetini in full, Technicolor, motion picture glory! You'll thrill at the barbecue sauce-rimmed cocktail glass! You'll swoon as vanilla vodka and chocolate shakes are combined in a cocktail shaker! You'll gag as you watch the look on their faces as the ladies take that first nauseating sip! All we can say is they'd better deliver that ham daiquiri they promise at the end of the video...
So you know that urban legend about comic book geeks? The one that says they live in their parents' basements, and don't know how to interact with the really real world? As comics collectors ourselves, we've fought long and hard against that stereotype, but alas, we're afraid our brethren have shown their true colors.
After all, what else could possibly explain the comic book- and superhero-themed cocktails the fine folks from Comic Book Alliance dredged up from across the Web? These cocktails are hyper-stylized, more reliant on bright colors than real substance, and are more focused on a bad-ass punch than any kind of artistry. Either it's a subtle meta-commentary on the state of sequential entertainment, or these folks are really limited in what their parents have in their liquor cabinets.
Most of these recipes sort of made us throw up in our mouths a bit, then scratch our heads. Why does The Hulk's drink feature a spoonful of sugar ON TOP OF the unlimited Mountain Dew? Why are there pop rocks in the Spider-Man? Why would Superman want peach schnapps AND coconut rum? We're hoping these were created by people who never picked up a back issue, but if we were cynical, we'd say this is a misguided attempt to get chicks to like comics (Isn't Wonder Woman awesome? Have another one, then we'll go back to my place and dust my Sandman trades!).
Out of solidarity, however, we are including the recipe for the Iron Man Cocktail, because he's one bad ass drunk.
Iron Man Cocktail
• 3 oz. Vodka
• 7 oz. Whiskey
• 5 ice cubes
• Soda Water
Mix vodka and whiskey in an old-fashioned glass. Stir. Add a few ice cubes, fill with soda water and stir gently.
Oh, and try not to rust your power armor when you cry yourself to sleep. Check out the full list of Comic Cocktails at Comics Alliance.
A couple years ago we were really impressed with a book called What to Drink With What You Eat, a tome dedicated to helping you pair your food with the right drink, and your drinks with the right food. Well, when we say "impressed" we mean by the concept, because we didn't actually pick up the book until a couple weeks ago, but we've been fascinated since then. When we ordered that one another book was recommended to us called "The Flavor Bible," (Amazon) and we wanted to share with our readers about that one as well.
Not a cookbook or recipe book per se, this book is dedicated to simply telling you what flavors go well together. A very simple concept well executed, the book is formatted to let you know which flavors complement one another (the no-brainer apple/cinnamon home run) and which shouldn't be on the same plate or in the same glass (you can shelve your plans for an oyster and tarragon cocktail).
In the short time we've had it this book has helped our cooking immensely, as well as helping us be a bit more adventuresome with our mixology. Now we can check to see what kinds of flavors go well together, and use that as a springboard for creating more interesting, exciting cocktails. Both books are highly recommended for cooking and cocktail creation.
We're on a bit of a gin kick right now, and we recently got an email from a good friend highly recommending the following drink recipe he found at Chicago's Violet Hour. It's an amazing mixture of some great ingredients, but of course, you don't have to take our word for it - GQ rated it as one of the Top 20 Cocktails in America.
If you can't make it to Chicago to check it out, try whipping one up for yourself - think gin, lime, mint, rose water, and cucumber...a perfect mix for a steamy day. Our advice if you mix it yourself? Use a delicate hand with your muddler or you could make it too bitter.
Great! Just what we need is another iPhone app aimed at getting us drunk. We realize that might come across sounding sarcastic, but we really mean it. There aren't enough electronic ways to get us drunk. The latest is the Drinkspiration from Absolut - 400 drink recipes, and no...they're not all for vodka-based drinks.
Try vodka, gin, rum, brandy, whisky, and tequila-based cocktail recipes, depending on your mood, location, popularity, color, and time of day. We like the GPS function too, where you can check out what people are drinking based on location...a little big-brothery but why wouldn't you want to share what you're drinking?
Check out the video below, and download the app at iTunes.
We spent some time down in New York this week, and the main attraction of our whirlwind trip was sitting down with Bobby "G" Gleason, Master Mixologist for Beam Global, so he could trot us through some of his favorite Red Stag cocktails. In a masterly fashion, he mixed us a batch of cocktails that surprised us on multiple fronts, and most importantly, gave us a minor buzz at 10 AM.
We were fascinated by Bobby's patter about flavor profiles and his enthusiasm for experimentation (he told us of a bacon-flavored tequila he created), and we dug the drinks too.
We're including the recipes for our favorites - the Manhattan is one we'd drink with enough regularity to be worrisome, the Mating Call moved Red Stag from sweet to tart, and the addition of Tabasco to the Red Hot Stag worried us a bit, but turned out to be one of our favorites of the bunch. See the recipes and our take after the jump.
We've got a friend who's getting into the Sloe Gin Fizz of late, and sent an envoy to us asking if we knew any good recipes. Truth be told, we didn't, because while we've heard of this particular cocktail we've never sought it out. However, being the liquor nerds we are, we were able to dig through our many cocktail recipe books and come up with a few recipes that might fit the bill. We also found a recipe for something called a "Sloe Comfortable Screw," that we had to include just because it had an awesome name.
Find the recipes (and their sources) after the jump.
Update: We just found an article on Esquire that hints the reason for sloe gin's decline in the States - we don't have access to the real stuff, just artificially-flavored knockoffs that don't do the drink justice. Has anyone found a truly good sloe gin out there to combat this claim? Anyway, maybe that's why, as reader Megan puts it in the comments, "old people like sloe gin." It's because they've had the good stuff we don't have access to, and know what the drink can really aspire to.
Pickle Back Rears its Head Again
A little bit ago we told you about the 
There are some moments in your life that you will always remember. Your first kiss? Hopefully. The birth of your first child? Probably. The first time you drink a shot of whiskey with a chaser of pickle juice? Most definitely. Or at least we imagine so, because we haven't actually done it.
As you can imagine, every holiday season, the Liquor Snob office gets a lot of emails about holiday-themed cocktail recipes. Valentine's Day is no different, with just about every liquor company, PR agency, and sodden drunk coming up with some way to romantically ingest alcohol. In the spirit of a new decade, we're trying to be better about giving those recipes a forum these days, so we're putting together a roundup of all the Valentine's-themed recipes we receive between now and February 14.
Continue reading: 
A while back we told you about our dream of creating a 
We were talking about holiday punch yesterday, and how we were looking for an alternative to the 
We have a little game we play with a certain set of long distance friends called Dial-A-Shot. Everyone is at a bar, though in separate cities. A phone call is made, and synchronized drink shooting is performed. Usually it's straight booze, but sometimes we like to mix it up. That's where the iShot Machine iPhone app looks like it'll come in handy.
Our man DKF has been in his secret lab again, flogging the cocktails, and he's come up with one that really caught our attention. We love both Buffalo Trace bourbon and Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur - they're fucking delicious. Check out what happens when you mix them up in one glass and add some cocktail-y stuff to the mix. We even think his name for it - Shanghai's Last Gentleman - is the bee's knees...at least he didn't call it Shanghai Surprise. Keep 'em coming, DKF.
So you know that urban legend about comic book geeks? The one that says they live in their parents' basements, and don't know how to interact with the really real world? As comics collectors ourselves, we've fought long and hard against that stereotype, but alas, we're afraid our brethren have shown their true colors. 
A couple years ago we were really impressed with a book called 
We're on a bit of a gin kick right now, and we recently got an email from a good friend highly recommending the following drink recipe he found at Chicago's 
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