my life in cocktails

• 2011-09-30

  Field Work: New Republic Skylight Dunkelweizen

  

  Last Saturday, we went to check out the resurrected Texas Craft Brewers Festival. I’d done some lead-up coverage for Austinist, so it was nice to actually go check the event out.

  The drought meant the usually lovely venue — Fiesta Gardens — was a bit of a dust bowl, and the sun was pretty brutal. But, we survived. We wound up trying just a handful of beers, including a couple from Ranger Creek and one from New Republic. We also hit up Real Ale, which had some fun reserves on tap.

  I have to say, I was pretty impressed by New Republic, and my much more beer knowledgeable spouse agreed. The only thing they had on tap was their apparently brand spanking new Skylight Dunkelweizen (pictured above), but it was excellent. 

  If you happen to be in or near Bryan, Texas tonight, you might do well to track down the Skylight release party. It’s at an undisclosed downtown Bryan retailer. But, if you know anything about small town Texas, you know that is enough information to go on.

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• 2011-09-23

  Field Work: The Spicy Bee’s Knees at Peché

  

  I talk about Peché more than perhaps I should, because I love it more than perhaps I should. But, I met up with Kathryn of Austin Gastronomist for happy hour Tuesday, and I was reminded all over again why I love this bar. Case in point: The Spicy Bees’ Knees. I’m sure its days are numbered, since it’s a summer menu item, but it’s such a perfectly balanced drink. I love spicy drinks, but I find they’re often more of a punch in the face than they should be. Also, how rad is that pepper slice as a garnish?

  In any case, I totally recommend Peché for all your weekday happy hour needs. They have drinks for $5 — and these are craft cocktails, people, not rum and cokes. And, the place was nearly dead when we got there. I’m pretty sure for the first hour, we were the only customers. By the time we left, there were no more than a dozen people there. And, one of the off duty mixologists was having us test drinks he was working on. (They weren’t all winners, but keep an eye out for their winter menu. It looks like the hot drinks are going to be golden.)
  

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• 2011-08-31

  CHeRiTH VaLLeY Farms Spirited Cherries

  Now, I don’t think this is a bad thing, but many of the cherries I received in my jar of CHeRiTH Valley Farms Spirited Cherries looked like they’d had a bit of a rough life. There are no stems. The cherries are not plump and round, instead looking a bit deflated. They are red, but not overly so. They look a bit like good, fresh homemade pie filling.

  

  And this, my friends, leads us to the very best thing about CHeRiTH VaLLeY Farms cherries: they test like good homemade pie filling. If someone poured a bit of rum or bourbon into their prize-winning cherry pie filling, we can only hope that it would taste like these cherries. They’re not visually stunning the way more standard-issue cocktail cherries are. They’re not soaking in the same rich history — or rich syrup — that makes Luxardo’s maraschino cherries such a favorite among cocktail aficionados. But, they’re absolutely delicious.

  These cherries have a satisfying tartness, which I’ve found lacking in the other cocktail cherries I’ve tried. They don’t have that uniform, candied look that people may be used to, but they make up for it, hands down, in flavor. They’re neither overwhelming nor bland, and I’d be hard pressed to think of a drink that they wouldn’t work in. Granted, some of the cherries at the bottom of the jar may practically be pulp, but perhaps we should be suspicious of plant-based foods that appear perfectly uniform, anyhow.

  This is the last of the four posts I had planned on cocktail cherries. As I come across other specialty brands, I’ll likely try them, but, for the moment, I’ll probably be sticking with these — sticking with in the sense that they’re what I’ll buy in the future. I certainly wouldn’t let any of the other brands in my fridge go to waist.

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• 2011-08-17

  Field Work: The Palace Kitchen

  At the tail end of our honeymoon (a word which always makes me think of the bit in Gregory Corso’s “Marriage” where the narrator talks about running around screaming “I deny honeymoon! I deny honeymoon!”), we wound up spending some time in Seattle. I say wound up, because our intention was not in fact, to dawdle three days in Seattle, but to trek across most of the state visiting my husband’s grandparents. Then, we both got a cold. In fact, we both still have a cold 12 days later. My brother got the cold from us. He wound up in the ER. It’s a bad, bad cold.

  Needless to say, we did not want to transfer our bug to the elderly, so we holed up in Seattle. We had a nice time at the Pike Brewing Company, where we were both quite impressed by the beers — especially the Naughty Nellie. We also fell a little in love with The Crumpet Shop, where I had a crumpet topped with almond butter, orange marmalade and Stilton cheese that was one of the most brilliant things I’ve ever eaten.

  

  But, the last night in town, we wanted to live it up a little, so we culled through Yelp reviews and found that The Palace Kitchen, a mere block from our hotel, was very highly recommended. So, we downed some Mucinex, blew our noses real good and then stumbled on over. The food was very nice, but I know you people don’t come around here to hear about what I had for dinner. And, so, I’d rather tell you about what I drank.

  The Palace Kitchen has delicious, playful, classically inspired drinks. While we were waiting in the restaurant’s bar, I started off with the seasonal Kerri’s Cherry Martini, which was made of cherry-infused gin and lavender syrup. The herbal and floral notes in the gin mixed very well with the cherry, and the lavender was so subtle it blended right in. The drink was sweet, but well balanced, which is to say that it was nothing like drinking candy. My husband started off with the seasonal Spokane Sour (whiskey, benedictine, citrus), which you can see pictured in the background.

  

  During dinner, despite my love for the Kerri’s Cherry Martini, I went in for a Rosemary’s Baby (gin, rosemary syrup, grapefruit). I couldn’t help it; the horror fan in me insisted. The drink was pleasant — sort of like a grown up greyhound — but, it was nowhere near as exciting as the drink I’d started with.

  Regardless, it’s really nice to see a bar and restaurant doing such fun things with their seasonal cocktail menu, and if you happen to be in Seattle, I’d recommend checking out The Palace Kitchen for happy hour drinks if nothing else.

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• 2011-07-29

  Field Work: Rohan Meadery

  Several weeks ago — before the wedding was looming too badly — my then-fiance and I took off for Burton, Texas to stay at the Knittel Homestead Inn. We had a voucher from flash-sale site, and we desperately needed some time to ourselves, so it seemed like a fine destination.

  

  I had forgotten that I spent some time in Burton several years ago while working on Republic of Barbecue, but it all came flashing back when we walked into the Burton Meat Market. The market is worth a stop-by if you’re into meats, and the Burton Cafe is worth a visit if you’re into German food or baked goods. Oh, the baked goods. I had a pecan meringue the size of my face. It was decadent.

  The B&B was nice, and we thoroughly enjoyed exploring the area. In particular, I fell a little in love with Rohan Meadery. The tasting room wasn’t too busy, so we enjoyed a tasting and then enjoying several glasses of mead. We got to chat with Wendy Rohan, who co-owns the meadery with her husband John, quite a bit.

  We were not only charmed by the product — which includes sweet and dry meads in several varieties — we were very impressed by how personable and knowledgeable Wendy is. We came away with three bottles, including the Raspberry Melomel. I’ve tried mead several times, and the Rohan meads we tried were by far the best I’ve tasted. The flavor profiles are complex and rich with the floral and herbal notes that tend to creep into honey. Even the sweeter meads were not overly sweet.

  If you’re in the central Texas area, I highly recommend making the drive out. If you aren’t, well, distribution is limited, but you can come by bottles a few places around the state. If you’re outside the current distribution range, which is somewhat limited, try begging your favorite shop to stock a few bottles. It will be worth the effort.

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