7&7

1 1/2 ounces Seagram's 7 blended whiskey

7 up soda

-Add whiskey to iced highball glass and fill with 7 up.

My father drinks a variation on the 7&7 (the CC&7 or Canadian Club and 7 up), so it makes me think of him. I think he drinks it with a lot less 7 up though because mine was very very sweet. A little to easy to get down the gullet in my opinion. Similar to a horse's neck, but less of a whiskey flavor, and I think prefer it that way to be honest.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Perfect Manhattan

I don't remember what I said about the original version of the manhattan (I could just look it up but this is my second post today and I really can't be assed), but I can't imagine it was a glowing review. Maybe if I had better whiskey I would be okay with this, but I'm just really not. It left a bad aftertaste in the back of my throat, and the during-taste wasn't so hot either. I know this is one of those classic manly drinks (see martini, old fashioned), but I guess I just not classic or manly.

I keep thinking that I'm going to make myself like these kinds of drinks in the same way it took a couple of times drinking coffee before I liked it (she says with a cup of coffee nestled snug in the lapels of her robe, using it to keep herself warm -- see pocket cup). I just don't know that it's going to happen, unfortunately.

1 1/2 ounce blended whiskey

1/2 ounce sweet vermouth

1/4 ounce dry vermouth

dash of bitters

-Stir with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass or on the rocks.

I'm dragging a little bit on this project because all the drinks I can make with my current ingredients sound either a) terrible or b) like a less exciting version of something I've already had. Oh well. Hopefully I'll be able to afford something new soon.

Until then, enjoy and bottoms up!

Manhattan

Another from the Classiques section of my book. I think I drank it after doing nothing all day, possibly while watching football. More interestingly, yesterday I went over to my parents house, watched White Christmas, basked in the glory of their Christmas decor, ate lots of food, and watched more football all before coming home and playing the roommie's new Wii for a bit (and eating ramen, of course). Today is a productive day though. It pretty much has to be.

The Manhattan was okay, but I liked the Metropolitan better -- maybe I should have the Manhattan with a dash of simple syrup to make it better.

1 1/2 ounce blended whiskey

3/4 ounce sweet vermouth

dash of bitters

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Horse's Neck

Whiskey and ginger ale = pretty good drink. I think I ended up with a little more ginger ale than is standard issue, but it was just that much easier to drink. It's a nice switch up from the usual highballs, and I enjoyed it. Do it!

1 1/2 ounce blended whiskey

Ginger ale

-Add whiskey to iced highball glass and fill with ginger ale.

Onto more important things: I'm rewatching Ally McBeal now, and I can't tell you how much I hate the Ally/Billy combination. He's just so so lame! SOOOOO annoying! I'm basically just biding my time until Robert Downey, Jr. is on so I can be in love with him. Sigh.

Drink related: I've had 46 drinks now! I'm doing so well! I'm also planning on taking a picture of all the alcohol I have in the house because it's pretty epic.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Eggnog/Soynog

So one of the recipes in my book that I've been thinking about for awhile is eggnog: I'm vegan and I couldn't decide if I should take a veg-break and make this properly or just buy some Silk soynog and call it good. I obviously went with the latter:

4 ounces soynog

1 ounce whiskey

1/2 ounce rum

-Mix ingredients together in rocks glass or mug.

The nog is good with or without the alcohol, but I was surprised at the interesting change in flavor that the alcohol provides. Without booze, the nog is just sweet and delicious. With booze, it has a more complex and layered flavor. A definite thumbs up from me!

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Whiskey Sour

So, I'm a little behind in the world of blogging. I'm going to try really hard to write another entry later tonight to get caught up, but I am real real sleepy. We'll see.

As to the whiskey sour: I've had the much girlier vodka sour before so I had an idea of what to expect. And it was pretty much as sweet and easy to drink as I expected. Nothing palette expanding, but good for sure. This is something one could easily order at the bar and, I know many people who live by this drink.

2 ounces blended whiskey

1/2 ounce simple syrup

Juice of 1/2 a fresh lemon

-Shake with cracked ice strain into chilled cocktail glass.

I will admit that, like the above picture, I drank this one on the rocks. However, I did do the leg work of using fresh lemons instead of buying sour mix, and it's definitely worth it. Really, squeezing lemons isn't that difficult and you should really be doing it whenever a drink calls for lemon. Really, I promise it will be better.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Ward Eight

A Ward Eight is essentially a whiskey sour with grenadine added, which means I probably should have tried the whiskey sour first, but I didn't.

1 1/2 ounce blended whiskey

1/3 ounce simple syrup

Juice of 1/2 fresh lemon

1/3 ounce grenadine

-Cocktail shaker w/cracked ice. Strain into cocktail glass.

This is another in the line of "didn't love but didn't hate" drinks. I think I would have put a little less grenadine in because it just seemed a little too syrupy, not light enough in consistency. I'm really still looking for the whiskey drink that knocks me off my feet (with deliciousness not drunkenness).

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Algonquin

My drink for night one of house sitting for my parents was an unusual one: I don't know why anyone would think to put these flavors together. It seems like an end of the night drink, when you only have a little bit of several random alcohols/mixers but you don't even care because you've had so much to drink you won't taste it anyway. What's really impressive is that someone had that moment and still remembered the recipe the next day:

2 ounces blended whiskey

1 ounce dry vermouth

1 ounce pineapple juice

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Now, the first sip I was a little unsure, but I actually ended up enjoying this one. I didn't have to grimace or make strange noises in order to get it down at all. It is weird, no doubts there. I don't know how to tell you what it tastes like, other than weirdly pleasant. It's a nice change of pace: I feel like I've been having a lot of lime or cough syrup, lime or cough syrup. The algonquin was a nice little surprise.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Irish Coffee

So this drink came about on a day of both productivity and hypochondria. I finished reading Notes from the Underground and The Gambler (both by Dostoevsky), worked on two new grad school apps, and studied for the subject GRE. Good. I also convinced myself that I had some serious lung issues and had trouble breathing all day. Bad.

I should also make sure that everyone knows that I don't usually drink coffee. It's delicious, but I react way too strongly to caffeine and turn completely insane. It's especially bad when I drink coffee in the afternoon or evening. Needless to say, this did not help with the hypochondria situation.

Anyway, recipe:

4 ounces hot, strong coffee

1 1/2 ounce blended or Irish whiskey

Sugar to taste

-Mix together in a mug. Add whipped cream if available.

So far, this is how I've liked whiskey the best. I got my coffee from Espresso Roma and didn't add any sugar because I prefer my coffee black (I also don't really need to have a sugar high on top of a caffeine buzz). I was drinking this around 4PM and couldn't get to sleep for the night until 4AM. Who has a coffee buzz that lasts 12 hours? Seriously, I should be drinking decaf, but I can't help but feel like that would be wimpy. Luckily, there are no more coffee drinks in my book and I can stick to tea.

Also, I've now done at least one drink from every chapter in the book! Milestones...

Enjoy and bottoms up!

New York Cocktail/Blizzard

So the above picture is not what either of these cocktails looks like at all. I couldn't find a decent looking picture, so I went with a cocktail IN New York as opposed to the cocktail OF New York. Don't be surprised if you order this at a bar and it is pink, on ice, and in a rocks glass. JSYK.

So yesterday was lovely and included a few of my favorite things: talking to a friend from NY, making yummy vegan steak and potatoes for me and the roommie, and watching Top Chef with El whilst drinking. Complete perfection.

The New York Cocktail is what I made for El to drink. Here's how she goes:

1 1/2 ounce blended whiskey

1/2 ounce simple syrup

Few dashes of grenadine

Juice of 1 lime

-Shake in cocktail shaker with cracked ice. Strain and serve over cracked ice.

I only had a sip of this one, so I can't give great detail on its deepest and darkest secrets. Basically, you can put an entire lime in almost anything and I'm happy. It seemed like a very girly way to do whiskey. Maybe I should go through and make a tag for girly drinks. Y/N?

And here's what I was drinking:

Blizzard:

1 1/2 ounce blended whiskey

1/2 ounce simple syrup

1 ounce cranberry juice

Juice of 1/4 fresh lemon

-Shake in cocktail shaker with cracked ice. Strain and serve over cracked ice.

This was an okay drink. I had no problem finishing it, but it was certainly nothing to write the folks at home about. It was about the color of cola dregs when you've let the ice melt down, so not terribly appealing. Not something I would go out of my way to order/make, but not something I would go out of my way to avoid.

Preview for tomorrow's entry: my first drink from the dessert's chapter, which comes from my ancestral land, Ireland, where recovering alcoholics are just quitters.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Old Fashioned

So I had my little poll (which you shouldn't vote in now because I've already bought the booze), but I decided to defy the will of the masses (4 votes) and go with whiskey instead of tequila. I guess I've become a tyrannical blogger and can only wait to be violently overthrown. The guillotine it is.

I bought Seagram's 7 blended whiskey and made a classic from the 19th century: an old fashioned. Here's the recipe:

2 ounces bourbon or blended whiskey

splash of simple syrup

2 dashes of bitters

-Stir ingredients in an iced rocks glass.

This pretty much tasted like cough syrup. But, for the first time, I adjusted the recipe after trying a couple of sips: I added a little more simple syrup and it was much better. A very simple fix.

I drank this while watching Top Chef with El. Good choice. There were cookies too. Nice evening.

Enjoy and bottoms up!