For this year’s Holiday Dinner Buffets at Woodford Reserve, I was tasked with crafting a few holiday-themed cocktails including at least one hot toddy.
Here are the three I came up with. Click the pictures for the recipes.
Rich, creamy, warm and bourbon-y.
Bright and sweet with apple, ginger, caramel and vanilla.
Rich, spicy and buttery. Tastes like drinking Christmas.
I absolutely loved my November 2012 Bespoke Post Box of Awesome – the Slate Box. I’ve got an unboxing video here.
But I’m skipping this month’s box. There are actually two boxes to choose from but neither is really appealing to me (but it’s probably just me – read on).
This is actually a really nice margarita starter kit. It’s just that I have everything in the kit save the Round Ice Ball Tray (but it’s on my wishlist :)). I also have a much more comfortable shaker, courtesy of Woodford Reserve. BTW – the tequila is not actually included in the kit. 🙁
If you don’t have a mixology kit of your own, this is a great start. One tip – skip the included jigger and get the Oxo.
Another imbibing box (again, without the alcohol). So there’s a nice decanter, funnel and filter. But you know what those little beads are? They’re for cleaning the decanter.
Maybe it’s just me but I’d much rather just use my Venturi Essential Wine Aerator. It decants perfectly and is trivial to clean. 🙂
Conclusion
If you don’t have a nice mixology kit, I do recommend getting the Agave box. But save yourself the $20 and get the Venturi over the Breathe box.
Sign up for a Bespoke Post Box: http://bespokepost.com/r/1c10f6
(full disclosure this is an affiliate link)
The new official Woodford Reserve product from Matt Jamie’s Bourbon Barrel Foods.
This one has been under development for quite a while. Matt Jamie worked directly with WR’s Master Distiller Chris Morris to craft a bitters especially suited for bourbon-based cocktails. Continue reading First Look: Woodford Reserve Bourbon Barrel Aged Spiced Cherry Bitters
Need something a little different than bourbon and craft cocktails? Check out this excellent series about James Bond and his drinks of choice (there’s more than one!) on Primer Magazine.
Preface
As a surprise to no one, I’m a big fan of whiskey barrel aged beers. Being that I am fortunate enough to live in the heart of bourbon country where we are experiencing a renaissance of craft brewing, I have easy access to a pretty decent number of bourbon barrel beers.
Prior to this writing, Alltech’s infamous Bourbon Barrel Ale was my hands-down favorite with BBC’s Bourbon Barrel Stout in second place. So let it also surprise no one that I picked up a 4-pack of the new Alltech Bourbon Barrel Stout right out of the delivery box – it never even hit the shelf.
Alltech’s Bourbon Barrel StoutYep, the label’s coming off the bottle. Not something I would ever hold against the contents of said bottle but in this case it should have been an indicator of things to come … Continue reading Two Reviews: Alltech’s Bourbon Barrel Stout & West Sixth’s Slap Happy