Tag Archives: now spinning

Whiskey Vinyl Vibe #13 – Summertime

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While mixing up a surprise cocktail in the kitchen last night, Trent asked me to pick out an album that made me feel like summer. When considering that we were kicking off a long holiday weekend with no real plans in sight, I didn’t hesitate at all when I pulled Bleachers – Strange Desire, from the shelf. Two summers ago, I came across this album like many people did, and I was completely blown away by the fun and upbeat 80s vibe of it. To quote Mat Smith over at Clash Music, “Jack Antonoff wanted to aim for the kind of emotionally stirring songs that would have appeared as the title track to a John Hughes movie” – and I’d say he did so perfectly.

This album was our entry into summer late last night, followed by the Terrible Thrills Vol. 2 album. In case you missed it on Record Store Day 2016, Terrible Thrills is the Bleachers – Strange Desire album covered entirely by some pretty incredible women including Sia, Charlie XCX, Carly Rae Jepsen and 80s fireball Susanna Hoffs. Besides the music opening the door to summer, Trent’s cocktail definitely topped off the summer holiday fervor. I am strongly considering setting all of this on repeat for the next three days.

-Her

 

Every year when the weather starts to warm, people naturally tend to want to stray away from whiskey cocktails for lighter base spirits.

Hopefully this recipe will help shed you of that notion and prove to friends and family that whiskey can be a summer drink, too. Cheers!

Elderflower Old Fashioned

2.5 oz of Bourbon
0.5 oz of elderflower liqueur (St. Germain is what we used)
2-3 dashes of Angostura bitters
1 lemon twist for garnish

Directions:

Add all liquid ingredients to a cocktail pitcher filled with ice. Stir well. Strain into a rocks glass with ice and garnish with the lemon twist. Enjoy!

-Him

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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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Whiskey Vinyl Vibe #8: Love Is In The Air

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It’s been a couple of weeks since our last post as our world has been incredibly busy, but we finally had some quiet time together last night – and I must say, that it was a perfect Saturday night. With our San Francisco & wine country trip coming up in two weeks to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary, I was inclined to take advantage of this beautiful night and enjoy a recent addition to my vinyl life list: Jack Johnson’s In Between Dreams.

Jack Johnson2Released in March 2005, just a few short months before Trent and I met, I was playing this album like mad when we started dating that summer. It’s good thing for me that he liked it, too, otherwise I might not even be writing this post. I’ve heard some music enthusiasts (I’m trying to refrain from using the term “music snobs” here) scoff at artists like Jack Johnson and this album in particular. Maybe it isn’t indie or complex enough for them, but for me, I love the simplicity of the singer-songwriter beachy vibe that Jack Johnson delivers, and you’ll eventually see that I feel that way about a number of other artists, too.

This album in particular holds so many memories for me, for the time that I met and fell in love  with the man of my dreams, and the years that we’ve spent together. Every time Banana Pancakes comes on I just have to stop and smile – and the best part is that he does it too. Although, I did have to give him a hard time about serving up our cocktails in glasses with a skull and crossbones on them last night – perhaps his take on the upcoming anniversary is a tad different than mine…

-Her

Well, as she said, she picked this album because of our impending anniversary. I love this record and will gladly listen to every track on it just about any day of the week. It’s definitely not something I need to be “in the mood for” like some music. A large portion of the reason for that is the emotional connection I have between this record and meeting the love of my life.

What to drink with it, though? Obviously something beachy or something suited for warm weather, at the very least. We didn’t have everything in the house for a Singapore Sling (plus we still haven’t bought proper tiki mugs), so we decided on a cocktail called the Shipwreck.

I hope you give this drink a try and find it enjoyable. We were well pleased as we sipped these on the back porch last night, listening to Jack Johnson float from the speakers, mixed with the sound of the frogs and the warm early-spring breeze.

JJ

The recipe:

1 oz bourbon
1 oz aged rum
3/4 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz heavy syrup
4-5 mint leaves
2-3 dashes of bitters (I used whiskey barrel aged bitters)

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice, shake well and double strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice. Garnish with more mint.

With most of these cocktails that call for citrus, I find the juice to be slightly over the top, so for round 2 we used less lime juice.

This drink also reminded me that we don’t have a fine strainer in the house, either – another thing to add to the list…. It seems to be never-ending.

Slainte! (It’s almost St. Patrick’s Day)

-Him

 

3/28/2006

3/28/2006

Whiskey Vinyl Vibe #7: Blood & Sand

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Blood and Sand2

Given my age, I was a bit late to the party on a number of musical discoveries, but I clearly recall when The Cure’s Boys Don’t Cry entered my life. It was the summer of 1988, I was just about to enter high school and this album hit me like a ton of bricks.  It was funky, a bit tinny, twangy, and had a punk vibe that I didn’t understand at all. It shocked me a little with Killing An Arab, Subway Song gave me the creeps, and I couldn’t get enough of F-I-R-E-I-N-C-A-I-R-O! Although the album had been out for over 8 years, it was unlike anything I had really been exposed to at that point and I wore that cassette out.  I still love it today, which is why it made its way onto my vinyl quest list. This album takes the 1980 position, given the year of its release, and it is my first find on the quest list. Thank you to the seller in the Netherlands for this near mint beauty!

As for the cocktail selection, given that I’m solo this evening, I opted to do my own pairing. When I unwrapped the package containing this beautiful vinyl today, the first thing that came to mind was a Blood & Sand, which likely had to do with the album cover and the various tracks that bring the desert to mind, even if inappropriately so. I couldn’t deny myself the treat, and having never made one before, I had to hunt down some Heering Cherry Liqueur – which is something quite different than the Luxardo we recently added to the bar, and apparently isn’t always so readily available here in NC. Fortunate for me, we happen to have one of the best liquor stores in the area nearby and they did not disappoint. Blood oranges are not a requirement for this cocktail, but given that we had one left, I decided to squeeze the life out of it – which was a beautiful decision. The standard recipe calls for equal parts of the ingredients, but I went a little heavier on the scotch as I prefer a bit more peat and felt that the sweetness needed to be toned down just a bit.  This one is definitely a keeper, and I imagine my husband is going to be a tad jealous that he missed out. Cheers!

Blood & Sand

3/4 oz Orange Juice (Blood orange, if you have it)

3/4 oz Heering Cherry Liqueur

3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth

1-1/4 oz Blended Scotch Whisky (I used Johnnie Walker Black)

Add all of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake, strain and pour into your glass of choice.

Garnish with orange zest or a cherry – my preference is the zest.

-Her

Whiskey Vinyl Vibe #4

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INXS

One would think that with the cold, icy night here in Charlotte I would have selected a mellow and moody album to settle in to. Instead, I know just what I need – my own brand of comfort music: INXS – Listen Like Thieves. Not only is INXS likely to show up on any given day in my playlist (if you’ve ever been around me when I’m playing DJ, you know this to be the case), but today also happens to be Michael Hutchence’s birthday, so it seems all the more appropriate.

As a freshman in high school, a friend gave me her copy of Kick on cassette because she didn’t care much for it, and from that day forward I wore that tape out. INXS immediately became one of my favorite bands, and 27 years later, that still rings true. Sure, I was a little late to the party just discovering them with Kick, but hey – I was young and too immersed in New Order and OMD to notice much else at the time. After exposure to Kick, I quickly dug back and figured out what I had been missing with Shabooh Shoobah and the glorious Listen Like Thieves. It’s no surprise that one of the first additions to my newly expanding vinyl collection would be this album, and on a night such as this, with another fabulous cocktail concoction, things are starting to warm up nicely.

-Her

 

Since it’s cold and icy outside, I figured a little spice would be welcomed tonight – so I decided on a rye whiskey cocktail.

Enter the Old Pal. We used an overproof, single barrel Whistle Pig tonight, I wanted something boozey to stand up to the Campari. It was a hit with the Mrs. and me both, the right fit for the right evening.

Another simple recipe, which I favor because it lets the main spirit shine.

Old Pal:

1.5 oz Rye whiskey

.75 oz Campari

.75 oz Dry vermouth

Lemon twist

Add the rye, campari and vermouth to a cocktail pitcher about 2/3 full of ice. Stir well, until the cocktail is good and chilled (30-40 seconds), then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the lemon twist.

-Him