Monthly Archives: August 2016

Brandied Cherries

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Cherry Glass

This was my first foray into homemade brandied cherries, and they turned out pretty damned well, if I do say so myself.

The recipe was pretty simple, you should really give it a go yourself. These cherries taste 100 times better than those Day-Glo red monstrosities you see on the supermarket shelves. As an added bonus, you can tweak this recipe to your liking, as we did.

The depth of cinnamon and vanilla notes with these little beauties brings a fullness of flavor to your cocktails that is tough to match. See for yourself!

Brandied cherries:

1lb sweet cherries, pitted and stemmed
1 cup Demerara sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp of fresh grated nutmes
2 vanilla beans
750ml of brandy, dark rum, Luxardo, or any combination of the three (I did equal parts of each)

Cherry Cook

  1. In large saucepan, combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla beans and liquor. Bring to a low simmer. Simmer, stirring until sugar is fully dissolved.
  2. Remove saucepan from heat. Add cherries and stir until coated with syrup. Let cool to room temp, stirring occasionally.
  3. Remove to clean canning jars, then refrigerate 4-6 weeks before serving. Cherries should last for up to a year.

Cherry Jar

Whiskey Vinyl Vibe #11 – All Things Seattle

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PJ 4

I can still clearly remember the first time I listened to the Pearl Jam “Ten” album – it was sitting in the stands at a Freshman basketball game, waiting to play the Junior Varsity game afterward (in my high school Freshman and JV teams played on the same nights, one right after the other). It was my friend Greg’s cassette tape, but he let me borrow it. So, I slapped it into my Walkman cranked the volume up a bit and pushed play.

That was my introduction to “grunge” or “90s alternative” and I was immediately smitten. I listened to the album front to back and back to front that night – in fact, I don’t think Greg got his cassette back for another couple of days as I devoured the unique vocals of Eddie Vedder mixed with the fuzzy guitar riffs, the dark lyrics sad, angry and full of mistrust – perfect for a teenage boy clumsily finding his way. It was unlike anything I had really ever heard before. I couldn’t get enough.

PJ 2

Pearl Jam was my gateway to Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots and to many more obscure bands like 7 Mary 3 or Dinosaur Jr. or The Crash Test Dummies (I still love Afternoons and Coffeespoons). I owe Eddie, Stone, Jeff and Dave an immense debt for that.

So, then, “Ten” will always hold a special place in my heart. Like a first love, you can never forget it and it forever changes you on a personal level.

Since Pearl Jam, and the grunge scene in general, is associated the most strongly with Seattle – I figured a coffee themed cocktail was appropriate. I just happened to have a recipe for one – The Revolver – the recipe is below. I hope you enjoy it and that it inspires you to give your favorite 90s alternative album a spin while you sip.

PJ 1

The Revolver:
1.5 oz of bourbon
0.5 oz of coffee liqueur
2-3 dashes of orange bitters
orange twist for garnish

PJ 3

Here’s mud in your eye!

 

–Him

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