Drink Up, Autocorrect

A "damn you, autocorrect" moment between Woody and me

We can offer you sanctuary, or we can offer you sangria. Either way, It's $5. If anyone has a good recipe for sanctuary, let me know.

What We're Drinking Now

beet graphic by Leah Houghtaling © 2012

Beets and Grapefruits

It's hard to be a locavore in the middle of winter. We could make boozy sno cones, but we haven't even had any snow to speak of this year. Global warming cometh.

This winter, our beets are from Stick and Stone Farm, which is a few miles up the road. Our spiced beet syrup is great with champagne, tequila, vodka, everything. But not with your white shirt. Watch out.

In lil' ol' Ithaca we can buy almost any produce we want from farms within ten miles of the Lounge. Except citrus fruits, but with how crazy warm this winter has been, I think we could be growing them soon. For now we'll have to get our Florida grapefruits for our fresh-squeezed grapefruit cocktails at the grocery store.

Rye

Leah's latest infusion? Caraway seeds in vodka. Smells like fresh-baked rye bread. We're still tweaking recipes, but stop by the Lounge to taste-test our latest cocktail, Carried Away. The caraway vodka is combined with fresh-squeezed grapefruit (of course), and lavender syrup. An incredible, unexpected joining of flavors.

And a non-caraway kind of rye is in the house: Bulleit Rye Bourbon. The bartenders are practically shooting it up. Even Abby made a cocktail with it - without Midori or Peach Schnapps! Our little Abby is growing up...

Catcher in the Rye

2 oz. Bulleit Rye

3/4 oz. Pimm's

1/4 oz. simple syrup

1/4 oz. lemon juice

lemon twist

Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Chartreuse

We bought a bottle of Chartreuse after a period of abstaining from weirdly colored herbal liqueurs, and the bartenders have gone ga-ga for it. Here's a drink that has been wildly popular this week:

The Gypsy

1.5 ounces gin

3/4 ounce St. Germain

1/2 ounce Chartreuse

1/2 ounce fresh lime juice

lime wheel

Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Beer

Rooster Fish Black IPA

Southern Tier Eurotrash Pilz

Wine

Jelu Malbec

Ports of New York's Meleau Semi-Dry