Wood Pairing

Dear Felicia,

I know spring is filled with all kinds of great stuff like planting herbs and watching flowers bloom, but I just got a shit-ton of firewood delivered (shit-ton [shit tuhn] - noun 1: five cords; 2: 4ft by 8 ft by 20 ft pile of wood). I'd like to know what alcohol you recommend pairing with this task.

Signed,

I Want to be Stacked

Dear Stacked,

You are definitely going to want a drink for this job. Think wood. A high-end bourbon, a smoky scotch, a nicely-oaked chardonnay, or a tannic cabernet saugivnon. Or go rugged and do a couple of shots of Jim Beam; that's one of my work boot favorites. Beer also pairs well with wood. There are some great scotch ales on the market, like Oksar Blues Old Chub. If it's raining, consider a boilermaker.

You're going to need all the help you can get.

Love,

Felicia

Fernet Branca: The Toronto

First, you need to know that Fernet Branca is one of the scariest liquids I’ve put in my mouth in a long, long time; second, that it is a liqueur highly regarded by the cocktail community.

I warned Leah,“Only buy one bottle,” but, ever-vigilant of quantity discounts, we've got three. Fernet Branca is an amaro, which doesn't come from the Latin word for love, but rather is Italian for “bitter and tragically disgusting yet for some reason we are compelled to drink it.”

Describing Fernet Branca as medicinal and herbal with notes of eucalyptus and mint is a serious understatement; that would be like describing gasoline fumes as earthy and peppery. Think camphor meets green Nyquil. Or, have you ever used Alkalol? Alkalol is a “natural formula” brown menthol liquid that you snort into your sinuses, which both cleanses them of pollen and burns all the flesh off of your nasal passages. Alkalol and Fernet Branca: separated at birth?

If I haven’t scared you away yet, then on to the cocktails! With much trepidation, I poured our first drink: Fernet Branca and Coca-Cola, wildly popular in Argentina.

The responses from the elite panel of judges: Dad says it tastes like Vicks VapoRub meets birch beer. Leah says, "I wouldn’t dump it out," but I notice she doesn’t drink any more of it, and later, she dumps it out. I like the bitter finish, but I simply can’t stomach the menthol edge.

Take two. I mix Fernet Branca with something bolder than Coke: Finger Lakes Distilling’s McKenzie rye whiskey. The resulting drink, the Toronto, is a classic reminiscent of an Old Fashioned, but with an invigorating smack in the nostrils and a bitter finish. The three of us agree we can almost appreciate this cocktail.

Supposedly, Fernet Branca is an acquired taste that develops only with regular drinking. Stay tuned: We’ll revisit this one in a second column and see if the Fernet Branca lands on the bar beside the Campari, or on the bathroom counter next to the neti pot.

The second - more hopeful - post in the Fernet Branca series can be found here: http://feliciaspeakeasy.blogspot.com/2010/05/fernet-branca-pipe-cleaner.html

The Toronto

2 oz Finger Lakes Distilling McKenzie rye whiskey
¼ ounce Fernet Branca
¼ ounce simple syrup
twist of orange peel

Pour all ingredients over ice. Stir for twenty seconds. Garnish with a twist of orange peel.

Review: Finger Lakes Distilling

First - get it on you calendar - Felicia's is hosting a tasting of Finger Lakes Distilling's products at the Lounge this Thursday, September 10, 2009 from 7pm-8:30pm. Prez Brian McKenzie will be there to pour the goods, and you get to meet the Master Distiller, Thomas McKenzie, who is an entertaining, story-filled deep south Alabaman with the accent to prove it.

Now let's talk booze.

Here's what we're carrying at Felicia's and some of our thoughts about tasting and mixing with Finger Lakes Distilling liquors:Vintner's Vodka - The cool thing about this vodka is that it's made from local grapes. What you'll notice when you taste it is that it is fruity and floral, almost but not quite sweet, making it great for a martini with a twist of lemon or if you're a wussy, you might like it with cranberry juice. Olive juice with this vodka is a no-no.Seneca Drums Gin - The gin has been a big seller at the Lounge. Also made from grapes, it has a bunch of subtle herbal notes that shine through any mixer. We like it with tonic, lavender lemonade, in a mojito (in place of the rum, silly, not in addition to it) or as a stand-alone sipper.Glen Thunder Corn Whiskey - Drink it as a shot. Try it in an old fashioned. Or be like Felicia and substitute it for cachaca in a caipirinha. Earthy and potent, this hooch tastes like Hector would taste if a backwoods town could turn into a liquor.Vintner's Wild Berry Vodka - Tastes like exactly what it is: vodka mashed up with local blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. Also rocks out with lavender lemonade, plus we like it in a cosmopolitan.
Felicia's is also carrying Finger Lakes Distilling's liqueurs: blueberry, raspberry, cassis and maplejack. My personal favorite, berry whore that I am, is the raspberry. I could drink it straight.Hector has long been known as the land of making hooch, and this time it's legal. Finger Lakes Distilling has gotten some great press, not only because it's unique to have liquor on the wine trail, but because they got some good hooch going on over there. Hope to see you Thursday, and if you can't make it, you'll just have to visit the distillery yourself.

Review: Michael Collins Irish Whiskey

The companies that send you free liquor as a marketing ploy are typically the underdogs. I don't expect anyone to show up asking me if I want to taste-test Jameson. Something about the popular kids draws excessive attention from fans and wanna-bes. Are the popular kids pretty? Do they have more money, better clothes, their own cars? Do they have sex with everyone?

Behind the popular crowd are the less recognized but often just as talented kids. Michael Collins Irish Whiskey is in this latter group. Some people - the aware ones - say, "Oh, sure, he's a pretty good guy." They know who he is even if they don't hang out with him much. The self-centered ones stare blankly. "Michael who? Is he that quiet dude in my gym class?"

What the other kids don't know is that Michael Collins is pretty smart. He's going to grow up to be a damn good Irish Whiskey, while the popular girl drops out of school pregnant, works at Dunkin' Donuts, and marries the football star who goes bald prematurely and gets really fat.

Yes, Michael Collins has something.

After we drank most of the bottle a sip at a time, Leah made good on her promise to actually create a cocktail, where Michael Collins gets to mingle with a very nice girl:

Michael and Rosemary

2 1/4 ounces Michael Collins Irish Whiskey
1 ounce rosemary-maple syrup (see recipe below)
1 orange wheel (1/4 inch thick)
3 dashes Angostura bitters
sprig of rosemary

Muddle all ingredients, using only 1/2 orange wheel. Add ice. Garnish with rosemary spring and other half of the orange wheel.

Rosemary Maple Syrup

1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup water
6 inch spring rosemary

Put maple syrup and water into a saucepan. Remove rosemary leaves from sprig and discard stem. Break leaves into pieces, and add to maple syrup mixture. Bring to a quick boil then reduce heat to low. Simmer for five minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Strain.

Give us a week or two, and we'll have some Michael Collins stocked at the Lounge for you to try in some cocktails.

Dalmore and Mount Gay

Ask and the booze gods shall giveth. In a June blog post, I included Dalmore 1263 King Alexander III ($200) and Mount Gay Rum Extra Old ($45) in my Father's Day gift list and lamented that my sexy marketing pal, Sarah, did not include samples when she sent me info on these liquors. Well, Sarah just happens to be one of the three people who read my blog (my mom is the second and the third is some guy who lives in Sweden). Sarah heard my thirsty cries, and guess what I got in the mail a week later?

Let's get a few things straight about the Dalmore. Even if I did get a whole bottle of the good stuff, I probably would not share it with you. I discovered that there is a huge difference between expensive scotch and cheap scotch, and I'm keeping the good stuff for myself. But I will tell you what you are missing:

Dalmore 1263 King Alexander III is sweet and rich like butterscotch. It has a lightly toasted vanilla caramel flavor that skates smoothly across a wood undertone. Leah says that if scotch were a hard candy, she would want it to taste like Dalmore 1263. It made me - and this never happens to me - it made me want a cigar. I don't have $200 to spend today, but if I did...Oh, if I did. Mine all mine.

And in the other glass, Mount Gay Rum Extra Old. The website is annoying to navigate (Sarah, why are liquor websites so extravagantly complicated?) but Mount Gay is a damn good fruity rum swollen with the flavors of ripe banana and molasses...Hey, wait a minute, haven't we served Mount Gay at the Lounge? Why, yes we have. Time to get more on the shelf. Sorry to not remember this sooner but I have a little rum issue. My aversion to rum hearkens back to an incident at age 14 that involved a roller skating rink and Bacardi Rum 151. Oh, the 1980's. My parents punished my by making me go to work the next day, and god punished me when at work, ends up I had to serve rum cake to everybody. Thinking back on it, my mouth is watering. In a bad way. Rum, it's me, it's not you. You're OK, and I know the right person for you is out there reading this.

One last note about Mount Gay: If you come into the Lounge and think it is cool to pronounce Mount Gay with an overly dramatic French accent, like, "Can I please have some "Mow Geh" and coke?", we will laugh at you and make fun of you, unless you are actually French.

Boilermaker

Hopefully by the time you read this, the sun will be shining in Ithaca. If not, we will just have to accept the latest fashion trend: Rain is the new sun.

Over the past few months, umbrellas have been accidentally and shamelessly abandoned at Felicia’s Atomic Lounge; most of them are shiny black or navy blue, with the occasional hot pink, red polka dot or blue striped umbrella intermingling with the drab. While inspiring fashionable raincoats and designer umbrellas, the rain has not been inspirational in the creation of sunny summer cocktails.

We fall back instead on one of our old standbys, the Boilermaker. A Boilermaker is a simple concept: a shot of whiskey with a beer on the side. A tradition maintained by our grandfathers and their grandfathers before them, the Boilermaker is the perfect drink to blend your mood in with the drizzly landscape.

Amelia’s tasting tip: Whiskey tastes best when drunk out of one of your dad’s old, beat up rocks glasses.

Leah’s tasting tip: Try Dogfish Head's Raison D'Etre mahogany ale with a shot of Glenlivet scotch.

Boilermaker

1 beer
1 shot of whiskey (or tequila or vodka)

Drink. Mope. Hope for sunshine.

St. Patrick's Day

A plethora of boisterous activities and traditions are associated with St. Patrick’s Day: green beer, a shamrock painted on one’s cheek, Irish car bombs (the drink), green clothing, Guinness, public drunkenness, and the cult-like hunt for the Shamrock Shake (which incidentally is available at the Ithaca McDonald’s). Since St. Patty’s is on a Monday this year, the Lounge is closed so you’ll find Felicia avoiding the drunken barhopper shenanigans and sitting at home by the fire with her favorite Irish drink, Jameson and Ginger with a couple of dashes of bitters. Felicia met this swell couple and their bitters sidekick three years ago at a Jameson tasting and subsequently introduced them to all of her friends. They were a hit and have been the talk of the town ever since. The tough whiskey edge of the Jamo gets softened by the sweet ginger ale, and the bitters add some character and depth. Better than a Shamrock Shake? If you run into Uncle O’ Grimacey, offer him one of these Irish cocktails and see what he thinks.

Bitter James and Ginger

1 ½ ounces Jameson
2 dashes of bitters
ginger ale

Fill a rocks glass with ice. Add Jameson and bitters. Top with ginger ale. Kiss the Blarney Stone.

The Sazerac

In the spirit of Mardi Gras, Felicia cannot resist writing about one of the most famous New Orleans-based cocktails: the Sazerac. Sazerac drinkers are fussy, which is probably one of the reasons that one rarely finds the Sazerac on a cocktail menu outside of Louisiana. The tradition of the Sazerac goes back a long way, to the times of apothecaries and absinthe. The making of this drink is quite specific and almost ritualistic; you will be shamed by most mixologists if you suggest substitutions to the required ingredients and techniques. Stray not from these instructions, and with only one sip you will feel like you are gaily parading the streets of New Orleans.

So put on your Mardi Gras beads, make yourself a Sazerac, throw doubloons out your window at passersby and try not to lose your shirt. As Stephen Sondheim wrote (possibly about Felicia?): “She has a weakness for Sazerac Slings…”

The Sazerac

¼ ounce Pernod
2 ounces Old Overholt rye whiskey
3 dashes Peychaud or Angostura bitters
¼ oz simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water) or 1 tsp sugar
lemon twist with white pith removed

1. Fill an old fashioned glass with ice so it can chill.
2. Fill a shaker halfway with ice and add whiskey, bitters and simple syrup. Do not shake; instead swirl the liquid around in the shaker until the shaker is frosted on the outside.
3. Discard the ice from the old fashioned glass. Pour Pernod into the old fashioned glass and swirl it around, tilting the glass, coating the sides and bottom of the glass. Discard excess Pernod.
4. Strain the contents of the shaker into the Pernod-coated old fashioned glass.
5. Twist the lemon peel over the drink and rub around rim, and then discard lemon peel.
6. Drink and enjoy.