Category Archives: Cocktails

Drink of the Week: Clark Griswold

Posted on December 14, 2012 | 1 comment

Sometimes the holidays get away on you a little bit. Your redneck cousin shows up in his motorhome, the sewage line backs up into your house and you discover a rabid squirrel living in your Christmas tree. On those occasions you might want to mix yourself a nice strong Clark Griswold.

It's pretty, boozy and yummy.

Mmmm…gin-nog. It’s pretty, boozy and yummy.

The good folks at Bombay Sapphire have updated the modern eggnog recipe by adding gin, Amaretto and chocolatey Creme de Cacao, and renaming it after Christmas Vacation’s star character. You will drink it quickly, forget all about your first-world problems and be ready to embrace “the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse.”

Clark Griswold

  • 1 oz Bombay Sapphire gin
  • 1/2 oz Bacardi Oakheart spiced rum
  • 1/3 0z Amaretto Disaronno
  • 1/3 oz Creme de Cacao
  • 2 oz eggnog
  • Shaved dark chocolate garnish

Combine all ingredients with ice. Stir briefly and fine strain into a rocks glass. Top glass with ice, garnish with shaved dark chocolate and serve.

— Recipe courtesy Bombay Sapphire

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Drink of the Week: Appleton Estate 50 Year Old rum

Posted on December 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

Ever since I visited Barbados two years ago I have developed an appreciation for dark rum. I love its distinct flavour in a rum punch, dark and stormy or mai tai. But I also like sipping an aged rum straight up or on ice, as I chronicled in a Spirited Calgary column earlier this year, so I felt pretty special when a 100 mL sample bottle of Appleton Estate’s new 50 Year Old rum — Jamaica Independence Reserve — arrived earlier this fall.

It smells like liquid brown sugar but tastes of smooth rum with hints of vanilla and cinnamon. Yum.

It smells like liquid brown sugar but tastes of smooth rum with hints of vanilla and cinnamon.

Now, 100 mL may not sound like a very big sample, but considering a 750 mL bottle of the 50 Year Old blend retails for about $5,ooo US, you do the math (that’s about $33 per sip).

The rums that comprise the Jamaica Independence Reserve were specifically set down in 1962 and then managed over time so that, a half century later, the island nation would have a national drink worthy of commemorating 50 years of independence. It’s also rare (only 800 bottles have been created).

Since I’m not a collector, I have a hard time getting my head around paying that much for anything that comes in a bottle. While I enjoyed sipping this rum, most recently on a chilly evening, it didn’t blow my mind in the way I would expect at $33/sip. Sure it smells heavenly, tastes of vanilla and cinanamon in a strong rummy way, is smooth on the finish and warms the belly appropriately, but so do many other sipping rums.

On the other hand, there are bottles of scotch and wine that cost $5,000, so why not rum? If you can afford it, this would make a yummy Christmas gift for a rum-obsessed friend. It even comes in a bespoke crystal decanter. Fancy. And exclusive. As pirate-Santa would say, “Yo ho ho!”

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Drink of the Week: Mint Julep

Posted on November 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

Yes, it is totally the wrong time of year for this minty spring sip. However, since I was lucky enough to sample a lovely, strong version of the Mint Julep at Booker’s Crab Shack during a recent TMAC (Travel Media Association of Canada) meetup, I wanted to share it now instead of saving it for Derby Day.

Besides, bourbon is a nice, dark fall spirit, and I’m taking a gamble that the star ingredient, mint (which is joyously available in Calgary all year long), will evoke images of candy canes, not Kentucky blue grass. It’s a stiff sip and somewhat of an acquired taste, but stick with it — as the ice melts and dilutes the bourbon, you will find your minty-sweet happy place.

The taste of boozy candy cane in a glass? You decide.

Mint Julep

  • 2 oz Maker’s Mark bourbon
  • 1/2 oz mint simple syrup*
  • Crushed ice
  • Mint sprig garnish

Pack a julep cup with crushed ice. Add bourbon and simple syrup, then swizzle a straw around in the ice to mix. Slap a mint sprig against your hand to release the essence, then poke the stem into the ice-hole where your straw was, as a garnish. Poke a new hole with the straw and serve. (This sounds like a lot of work and just the kind of task your seven-year-old will want to help with. Be sure and supervise or she might get a little sippy with your julep.)

*Mint simple syrup

  • 2 bunches mint, stems removed, set aside enough sprigs for garnishes
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup water

Combine sugar and water and heat until the sugar is dissolved (be careful not to bring to a boil). Pour the syrup over the mint leaves in a bowl and let steep for 20 minutes. Using a fine strainer, remove mint from syrup, then cool syrup and refrigerate (discard the mint).

— Recipe courtesy Booker’s Crab Shack

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