Tag Archives: cocktails & drinks

Drink of the Week: Hashtag Boom (#Boom)

Posted on November 16, 2012 | 1 comment

Bourbon is super trendy right now and I had the chance to sample several bourbon cocktails at a small competition held at Vine Arts wine and spirits shop this past Sunday evening.

The event was sponsored by Beam Global. Competitors from six Calgary restaurants and lounges were asked to create an original cocktail using a product under the Beam umbrella, ranging from bourbons to a rum (Curzan Black Strap Rum),  cognac (Courvousier VS) and even a single malt scotch (Laphroaig).

Franz Swinton creates an original cocktail at Vine Arts.

You’d expect competition to be stiff with talent from Anejo, Cilantro, Milk Tiger Lounge, Ox and Angela, Raw Bar and Taste all wooing our taste buds — and it was. I was impressed with Franz Swinton (representing Anejo), who managed to create a delicious and smoky number by combining scotch and tequila with sweet milk, cinnamon and star anise.

Everyone loved this tart yet peachy-sweet creation from Matt LaRocque at Taste.

On our way out we were asked to vote on our favourite cocktail. I quite fancied the Pulque Sazerac from Cilantro, but I also liked the winning cocktail from Taste. Hashtag Boom (#Boom) mixes Knob Creek bourbon with a homemade red pepper simple syrup, lemon juice and ginger beer. The result is a tart-meets-spicy-meets-peachy-sweet liquid taste explosion. #Boom will be available at Taste for the next month. Or, you can make the cocktail at home:

Hashtag Boom (#Boom)

  • 1-1/2 oz Knob Creek bourbon
  • 1 oz Red Pepper Gastrique (see recipe, below)
  • 1/2 oz lemon juice
  • Fentiman’s Ginger Beer
  • 3 dashes Fee Brother’s Peach Bitters

In lieu of a kimchi praline garnish you could always just use a lemon wedge.

Shake bourbon, gastrique and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker full of ice. Strain ingredients into a rocks glass, and proceed to fill glass to the top with ice. Top drink with ginger beer, and add three dashes of peach bitters. Garnish with a kimchi praline (or even just a lemon wedge).

Red Pepper Gastrique

  • 3 oz red peppers
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 oz red wine vinegar
  • 2 oz white vinegar
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Boil sugar, water and vinegars together. Reduce heat and add peppers. Puree and strain (consistency should be able to coat the back of a spoon). If too thick, thin with a little hot water.

— Recipe courtesy Matt LaRocque, Taste

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Three cool Calgary drinking holes

Posted on November 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

On Fridays I usually write about a cocktail I’ve sampled and post the recipe to go with it. This week, however, I’m taking a different approach. I get around to various Calgary meetup spots regularly. Not all of them are known for cocktails and, as you can imagine, sometimes I’m in the mood for beer or wine. So, here are three spots worth a stop if you happen to be in Mission, Eau Claire or Inglewood. They are very different from one another but have one thing in common: drinks!

This spicy twist on a traditional marg makes me say, “Omyomyom!”

1. Oh, Anejo, let me count the ways I love you. Your margarita selection, cool Latin vibe, tasty fish tacos and Mexican decor all helped win me over. I’ll be back for another La Capital (a Mexican twist on the Manhattan, with tequila in place of bourbon), and soon. And that would be awesome if you started selling your “I heart Tequila” T-shirts, too. I’ll be writing about this new 4th Street hot spot in an upcoming Calgary Herald column, so stay tuned.

2. Most people in Calgary have been to the Garage, usually for some kind of corporate, team-building, pool-playing afternoon. With 15 pool tables, 15 beers on tap and lots of televisions broadcasting sports, it’s easy to guess the main pursuits here. Now you can enjoy them in an updated space.

Pool playing, sports viewing and beer drinking are still the main pursuits at the Garage.

The Garage closed in August for a two-week reno that brought in new paint, new art and new TVs. I enjoyed Dunkelweizen, a dark German wheat ale made by Big Rock. Other top sellers are High Country Kolsch from the Mt. Begbie Brewery in Revelstoke, and 1516 from Sleeman. “Craft beer is taking over our sales,” says manager Nadia Bull.

3. I’ve taken to using Gravity Espresso & Wine Bar in Inglewood as my office-away-from-home. It provides tea and coffee for daytime meetings; beer and wine for evening brainstorming sessions. The atmosphere is lovely — warm and welcoming, with big harvest tables and funky art — and owner Andy Fennel will stop by your table to chat. He left the corporate world to open a meetup spot that would pull in people like, well, gravity. Judging from how busy it is every time I’m there (and how often I am there) I think it’s working.

My new office-away-from-home: Cafe Gravity.

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Drink of the Week: Innis & Gunn Winter Treacle Porter

Posted on November 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

‘Tis the season for snuggling under a blankie on a cold Friday night and locking lips with something dark and slightly sweet, like an Innis & Gunn oak aged beer. I have completely fallen for this Scottish craft brewer — I especially love their Original and Spiced Rum Finish beers, so I was excited to sip their seasonal brew, the Winter Treacle Porter.

“Soothing like an open fire on a cold day.”

Evidently, “treacle” is a fancy word for molasses, and I think the beer would sound more appealing if they’d called it Winter Molasses Porter. Just sayin’.

It’s the first time Innis & Gunn has brewed and oak matured a porter. Treacle was used to add depth and sweetness, and give the drink more viscosity and thus a heavier mouthfeel.

Check to all of the above, and I’ll add in the extra complexity found in an oak aged beer: the malty notes and hints of yummy things like vanilla. There was, however, a lingering sort of bitter taste that I didn’t love. My husband, on the other hand, had no problem fininshing off the bottle (to fortify himself for an evening taking the children trick-or-treating in -6C weather).

“I like that it’s beer,” he said. Well, cheers to that!

*Note: The Winter Treacle Porter is also available as part of a “Holiday Gift Pack” that includes a bottle of the above, a bottle of Original, a bottle of Highland Cask and a branded glass (from $14.95).

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