Tag Archives: Drink of the Week

Drink of the Week: Pickled Cowboy

Posted on July 5, 2013 | 1 comment

Yeehaw! The Calgary Stampede has arrived, and with it a 10-day pass to do a lot of drinking. Some yokels might drink beer out of a sweaty cowboy boot, or sidle up to the bar for shooters with raunchy names like “Cowboy Cocksucker,” but not you, right? You’re classy. I get it. So I have just the drink for you: a Pickled Cowboy.

The Pickled Cowboy is my new favourite tequila cocktail, and perfect for sipping during the Calgary Stampede. Drink a couple and you, too, will be pickled. Yeehaw!

The Pickled Cowboy is my new fave tequila cocktail, and perfect for sipping during the Stampede. Drink a couple and you, too, will be pickled. Yeehaw!

I was introduced to this sublime drink last summer in San Antonio, Tex. when I mentioned I like tequila. There are lots of tequila-swilling cowboys down yonder in Texas, and judging from this recipe, they like them some pickling, too. Hot pickled okra juice is the preferred ingredient to pull off this cocktail properly (you can buy jars of delicious pickled okra in most Walmarts in southern U.S. states). Failing that, use the juice of hot pickled beans, or similar.

As for the taste of my new fave tequila bevvy? Not unlike a spicy, somewhat pickled margarita, with a dash of sweet, fresh-squeezed O.J. that makes all the difference. And remember, “Pickled Cowboy” is a play on words — you will become what you drink after a couple of these bad (cow)boys during the Calgary Stampede. Giddy up!

Giddy up and go Stampeding after downing a couple Pickled Cowboys.

Giddy up and go Stampeding after downing a couple Pickled Cowboys.

Pickled Cowboy

  • 2 oz reposado tequila
  • 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
  • 1/2 oz hot pickled okra juice*
  • 1/2 oz agave syrup
  • 1/4 oz fresh orange juice
  • Salt for rimming glass
  • Pickled okra* and orange wedge garnish

In a cocktail shaker, combine tequila, lime juice, hot pickled okra juice, agave syrup and orange juice and top with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a salt-rimmed rocks glass filled with fresh crushed ice. Garnish with an orange wedge and a pickled okra*.

*Pickled okra is not available in Canada. Instead, use the juice from a jar of hot pickled beans (or similar), and sub in a pickled bean or asparagus garnish.

— Recipe courtesy San Antonio, Tex. resident Annice Hill

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Drink of the Week: Blisskey

Posted on June 21, 2013 | Leave a comment

If the name of this week’s drink sounds made up, that’s because it is. I didn’t know what else to call my muddled blueberry-mint-lime juice-whiskey cocktail. I was going for a take on a mint julep, but the end result more closely approximates a mojito. At any rate, it’s a little glass of whiskey-blueberry bliss = Blisskey.

Fresh mint, muddles blueberries and a tot of whiskey will be key to your bliss this weekend.

Fresh mint, muddled blueberries and a tot of whiskey will be key to your bliss this weekend.

When creating a cocktail I first see what fresh ingredients I have on hand (blueberries, mint, limes) and then I think about what spirit might taste good with them. I settled on the maple whiskey because it’s slightly sweet and I thought the maple would play well with blueberries and mint. If I’d had lemons on hand I would have opted for them instead, but limes also work (hence the mojito-like taste…even my husband guessed that rum was the base spirit. Maybe I should up the whiskey to 2 oz?). The blueberries don’t add very much in terms of flavour, but they sure make the drink a pretty pink-purple hue.

It’s just the kind of drink you want in-hand when you’ve been trapped indoors all week because of the rain, the children are chasing the dog around the house. Blisskey, take me away!

Whiskey mojito meets mint julep in this pretty cocktail.

Whiskey mojito meets mint julep in this pretty cocktail.

Blisskey

  • 1-1/2 oz Gibson’s Finest maple whiskey
  • 1/2 oz lime juice
  • 3/4 oz honey simple syrup
  • 8-10 fresh blueberries
  • 6-8  mint leaves, plus mint sprig garnish
  • Ice

Gently muddle the blueberries, mint and whiskey together in the base of a cocktail shaker. Add the lime juice and simple syrup and some ice. Shake, and then strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a mint sprig.

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Drink of the Week: Vodka Martini

Posted on June 13, 2013 | 2 comments

It’s Father’s Day on Sunday, which means there will likely be a Dad in your life (your father, or the father or your children) who wants nothing more than to chillax in his Dad Chair and toss back a couple stiff drinks. So why not put in a little effort and shake up a vodka martini?

Why a martini, you ask? Because it’s boozy and means business, and our favourite manly man (that would be James Bond) drinks his vodka martinis shaken — not stirred — just like the Luksusowa recipe, below.

Happy Father’s Day!

This manly martini is heavy on the vodka and features three olives.

This manly martini is heavy on the vodka and features a snack: olives. Image courtesy Luksusowa.

Vodka Martini

  • 2 oz Luksusowa vodka
  • 1/4 to 1/2 oz dry vermouth
  • Crushed ice
  • Olive, onion or lemon twist garnish

Sparingly atomize the inside of a martini or rocks glass with the dry vermouth (less vermouth equals a martini that is drier. Gently shake (or stir, if you must) Luksusowa vodka with the crushed ice in a stainless steel shaker, or glass pitcher. Immediately fine strain into the glass. Garnish with the olive, onion or lemon twist.

— Recipe courtesy Luksusowa

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