Tag: cocktails

Michelada – a beer Bloody Mary

~ Meg ~ 55 Comments

Week 38 in The year of Drinking Adventurously. Chavelas and Micheladas.

I love beer, I love Bloody Marys, so this week’s adventure makes me happy. At first this may seem like a weird combination but it’s really no weirder than some of the other things people do to beer. Hello, pumpkin anyone?

Both of these cocktails hail from Mexico and are slotted into this week because of Mexican Independence Day on September 16th. The chavela is a more involved version of this cocktail: served in a large bowl-like glass rimmed with salt and picante spices, filled two-thirds of the way with a tomato based liquid. This could be tomato juice, V8 or Clamato on the rocks, mixed with hot sauce and garnished with shrimp. The bottle of beer comes on the side, ready to be emptied in after resting for a bit.  Not being a fan of shrimp, this was out for me.

The michelada, on the other hand, is basically a Bloody Mary – just swap out the vodka for beer. To make things interesting, I went all “foodie” for this one, making my own tomato juice in the handy, dandy Vitamix blender. I added Worcestershire sauce, Cholula hot sauce, lime juice, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. The volume was about half of what would eventually comprise the cocktail. The beer half is my own home-brewed lager on tap in the kegerator. So good!

As cocktail culture has become a ‘thing’ all sorts of new concoctions are gaining popularity. Still waiting to see this on a cocktail menu in my neighborhood, though. Until then, I will continue to make it at home. So if you like a Bloody Mary, I encourage you to give this one a go. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Make sure to see if Lula liked her cervezas y mas, this week!

And one more thing, since we’re talking about Mexico and its recent commemoration of independence… My friend Roger Moore, professor and poet, traveler and story teller, has spent time in the Mexican State of Oaxaca getting to know the people and their history. One of my favorite poems- Inquisitor – is part of The Sun and Moon collection, now available on Amazon. Please do pay a Roger a visit and enjoy his wonderful poetry!

 

🎶When the samba takes you…🎶

~ Meg ~ 27 Comments

Week 37 in the Year of Drinking Adventurously. Cachaca.

Back to the adventure! I succeeded in finding this week’s spirit (although not any one of the brands recommended in our guide) and sampling the classic cachaca cocktail – the caipirinha, which is cachaca, lime juice and simple syrup poured over ice. (Just like a gimlet, only with cachaca. And I love gimlets.) I hope Lula had the chance to try this!

Since cachaca is distilled from sugar cane, it is often called Brazillian rum. However, while rum is distilled from molasses, the dark syrupy product of sugar, cachaca is distilled from the pure juice of the sugar cane plant. In addition, cachaca predates rum by about 100 years. And since its origins are somewhere in the 1530’s, it also means it’s the first spirit of the Americas (as in New World America… I am not going to assume the native populations didn’t produce something distilled or fermented, I really don’t know. That, however, is a subject for another day.)

As with many things old, there is a legend associated with the ‘discovery’ of cachaca, but it’s not a nice one… From our guide:

The legend associated with it—the part that falls squarely in the myth column—relates to its unexpected discovery. When the early colonials were processing sugar cane by boiling it, the steam would condense back to water on the roof. It would drip off the ceiling and sting the badly scarred backs of slaves. It supposedly got its nickname, “pinga,” that way. It was the “ping, ping” from the ceiling; probably not a legend on which makers of cachaça (or the slangish “pinga,” if you prefer) really would want to hang their hats. Slavery’s not something that a brand would proudly market as its heritage.

Not cool….

So my cocktail as seen in the photo above was good… Honestly I’d have to sample it side by side with a rum for comparison, but I enjoyed my drink. As I was pressed for time, I did not try it neat, which I am generally want to do. 

Anyway, cachaca being from Brazil, it reminded me of the samba – the dance originating from that country which in turn reminded me of the song… Avalon.

But when the samba takes you out of nowhere… Enjoy some sexy Roxy Music…

Port out, starboard home – that’s right it’s posh.

~ Meg ~ 35 Comments

And that is apropos of nothing… It’s week 26 in The Year of Drinking Adventurously! This week its port and wow, we’re halfway through the year. Well, that’s depressing…

Eh, I suppose serving port at your dinner party is a posh thing to do. If you are serving it, it comes after the meal and there’s a ritual involved. But first, what is port?

Back in the days of war between Britain and France, the British decided to quit drinking French wines. Nevertheless the thirsty population needed an alternative. Enter wine from Douros, Portugal. The trouble was that in the days of lengthy sea voyages, the wine fared badly. Thus the British had to find a way to make the wine more seaworthy. The answer? Halt the fermentation process part way through and fortify it with brandy! Which then leaves a considerably sweeter and more potent alcoholic beverage.

The port I chose to try was a tawny port. Tawny refers to the light brown, sandy color of the wine – a result of aging in barrels. Food pairings with a tawny port include brie, nuts and dark chocolate. Sounds pretty decadent, right? Also sounds better suited to a cold winter’s night if you ask me… Alas, I’m just following my guide.

The port should be served in a white wine glass. The whole idea of port having a special glass or being served in a brandy snifter is merely a marketing ploy. Oh and I mentioned the ritual…

The port should be opened and transferred to a decanter. The person with the decanter pours their own glass and then passes the decanter to the left. Don’t pour for that person, only for yourself. It’s a big faux pas to pass the bottle the wrong way and to let the decanter sit too long in front of you when your fellow drinkers are waiting to top off their glasses.

My port experience was preferable to that of my experience with sherry. Although sweet and strong, the port made a nice after dinner drink to accompany a bite of dark Belgian chocolate with hazelnuts. Nevertheless the bottle will have to wait for a chilly, rainy day to get opened again!

Go see how my posh friend Lula liked her port…