The Lemon Stag

I decided to tap one of the many little "airplane" bottles of booze that I have sitting on my shelf and the one that stood out to me was the Jim Beam Red Stag Honey Tea bourbon. According to the Jim Beam website:

Through a special infusion process, our distillers start with our fine Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and then infuse it with natural flavors. The result is the distinctive taste of Jim Beam® complemented with hints of honey tea, truly A Different Breed of Bourbon™. Sometimes the uncharted path delivers the greatest rewards.

Red Stag by Jim Beam® bourbon’s smooth, well-rounded taste is delicious mixed, over ice or straight up.

In terms of its flavor profile:

A smooth whiskey that features the flavors of two southern classics: honey and tea.
Taste: Corn and mellow oak notes mixed with a hint of honey and tea
Finish: Smooth and warm

I like it. Its not cloyingly sweet as the Jack Daniel's Honey is. You can still taste the Jim Beam bourbon pop through the sweet flavor of the Honey Tea. It actually has a little spiciness. This bourbon is 40% alc./vol. (80 Proof).

Since I yesterday made myself an Adult Arnold Palmer (Seagrams Sweet Tea Vodka and Lemonade), I decided to do a variation of the cocktail with the Red Stag Honey Tea, Lemonade and Seltzer Water. Here is what I came up with:

The Lemon Stag
2oz (50ml) Jim Beam Red Stag Honey Tea bourbon
4oz (100ml) Homemade Lemonade
4oz (100ml) Seltzer Water

Build in a glass with one large ice cube, stir lightly.

I found the cocktail to be very light with a subtle tartness from the lemonade mixing with the light sweetness of the Red Stag. The seltzer water gave it a small amount of effervescence. With the temperatures reaching close to 100 degrees here in NYC, this light and refreshing cocktail is just what I need to keep cool.

I highly recommend you give it a try.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
Sisco Vanilla

The Raspberry Collins

I was looking to make something that was light, fruity and refreshing without being super sweet and syrupy. The first thing that came to mind was a Collins type cocktail. On my upper cabinet shelf was a Raspberry infused vodka that had been sitting there for months just waiting to be cracked open. So I thought to myself why not make a Raspberry flavored Collins type cocktail. Here is how I decided to make it:

The Raspberry Collins
2oz of Raspberry Infused Vodka
1oz of Fresh Lemon Juice
.25oz of Simple Syrup
Maraschino Cherries for garnish
Seltzer Water or Club Soda to top

Build the vodka, lemon juice and simple syrup in an ice filled shaker. Shake until cold. Pour into a Collins glass with ice, top with Seltzer Water/Club Soda and gently stir. Add two cherries

As you can see from the picture the cocktail has a nice pink color to it. I gave this first cocktail to Momma-San to try it out for me. As I figured, the cocktail wasn't sweet enough for her liking, which means I would like it just fine. For her cocktail, I upped The Simple Syrup from .25 of an ounce to one full ounce. After that change, the cocktail was sweet enough for Momma-San. How did I find the original cocktail?

I found it to be tart and effervescent. The raspberry flavor is subtle. It was exactly what I was looking for on this humid Spring evening. I would actually bump up the simple syrup to half an ounce depending on whether I wanted a bit more sweetness to the cocktail. For my palate, one ounce of simple syrup is a too much on the sweetness factor. This is a cocktail that I can see myself enjoying on a regular basis this summer. I guess I need to start working on my next batch of Raspberry infused Vodka.

For my next post I tried to make something called The Sisco Vanilla Colin's which was made with a base of a Vanilla infused Rum that I have had chilling in the fridge for over a month. Did I find the same success with that cocktail as I did with he Raspberry Collins? You'll have to check not that post to find out.

Until Then Happy Drinking,

Sisco Vanilla

Blood Orange Gin Lime Rickey

I've been looking for a number of cocktail recipes that incorporate Blood Oranges ever since Momma-San got be that bag of Blood Oranges last week. One such recipe that I found intriguing was one for a Blood Orange Gin Lime Rickey from Wearenotmartha.com website. In their post they made a batch large enouh for a pitcher. So I decided to scale it down to a single serving with a slight variation. Here is their recipe:

Blood Orange Gin Lime Rickey
Ingredients:
1 1/4 C fresh blood orange juice, plus a few slices for garnish
1/4 C fresh lime juice, plus a few slices for garnish
1 C Gin
1 C Soda water

Instructions:
1) Juice oranges (until you have a cup and 1/4 of juice... probably about 8-10 oranges).
2) Pour the juice, along with 1/4 C of lime juice into a pitcher. Then pour in the gin and top off with the soda. Add a few slices of limes and blood oranges.
3) Fill a glass with ice and pour the drink in.

(makes about 4 drinks)

Scaling down the ingredients, and making the cocktail I found that it was very light and refreshing but I found that it was somewhat tart. It was missing a small portion of sweetness. So here is how I tweaked their recipe:

Blood Orange Gin Lime Rickey
2oz Gin (I used Bombay Sapphire)
3oz Freshly Squeezed Blood Orange Juice
.5oz of Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice
.25oz of Simple Syrup
Seltzer Water

Pour juices, gin and simple syrup into a glass, add ice and top off with the seltzer water.

I have to say that I love the color that the blood orange juice gives this cocktail. Its gives it a very distinctive reddish color. Adding the simple syrup made the cocktail a bit more balanced. The simple syrup adds that little portion of sweetness that I felt the cocktail was missing. I think that a this cocktail might have another added layer of flavor is a gin such as Hendricks were to be used instead of the Bombay Sapphire. Maybe a little level of spice would also augment the cocktail with perhaps using a gin like the Bombay Sapphire East Asia.

I'll keep working on this one. Make sure to check out the Wearenotmartha.com website. Let me know what you think.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
Sisco Vanilla