Down-home goodness

Wow, lots of cocktails that need to be blogged about so I will keep this brief. The week started out at the new barbecue joint Hill Country, which was so good it made me feel a little homesick. See, I'm from Philly, but my Granny is from the South (Stanardsville, VA to be exact) and holiday meals where filled with green bean casserole, cornbread, sweet potato mash, mac-n-cheese and deviled eggs. All very fattening and all very good. And that is just what you'll find at Hill Country. But my favorite was what I washed it all down with. This was SO good:

Texas Nectar
Courtesy of Hill Country
2 oz. Maker's Mark
1 oz. Southern Comfort
Orange juice
Splash of almond extract

Pour Maker's Mark and SoCo in a highball glass over ice. Fill to the top with OJ. Top off with a splash of almond extract.

Global Sips

This past week I was in Washington D.C. filming a WeddingChannel.com segment for FOX. I was super-excited when my car pulled up to my hotel, which was located right in the heart of Georgetown! I have loved this posh town ever since college. As I was walking along M Street I got even more excited when I saw Mie N Yu. I had met the marketing and events coordinator, Mike Cherner, at a market party for The Knot a few months back, and he told me to stop in if I was ever in town...and so we did. When I walked through the door, I was sold. With a passion for travel and all things exotic, I immediately fell in love with the Moroccan-inspired decor. It was like we were transported to a far-off land. The menu was just as exciting: banana pesto hummus, panko-crusted Japanese eggplant, wasabi mash potatoes, and one heck of a spicy Mie N Yu roll made with tempura shrimp, spicy tuna, avocado, cucumber, sesame seeds. And then there were the cocktails....I absolutely LOVE martinis made with blood orange juice, so I just had to try the Emperor’s Nectar: Absolut Apeach, Mathilde Peach, white cranberry, blood orange juice.

But this post would not be complete without mentioning Mie N Yu's Guillotine Martini. If you are ever D.C. (and you are rollin' like Kanye) you might want to plop down $325 for this lux sip: a blend of Louis XIII, Grand Marnier 100, and fresh juices that is handcrafted tableside.

Let's hear it for the Pegu Club!

The next stop on my old-school cocktail tour of NYC came unexpectedly last weekend when a friend suggested we go to the Pegu Club. I was super-excited because this place was on my list and, thankfully, the cocktails did not disappoint. Though, I have to say, the atmosphere sort of did. It just seemed like everyone knew about it already, unlike PDT (even though everyone pretty much does). Needless to say, the bar was really crowded with a well-dressed crowd, but despite this, the bartenders still managed to concoct a mean cocktail. We sipped a Jamaican Firefly (dark rum, ginger beer, fresh lime juice) and an Ode to Ankarah (St. Germain, gin, grapefruit juice, orange bitters, lemon juice).

One thing I did love: the Asian-inspired decor. Check out the Pegu Club's website for the history of it's namesake cocktail lounge in Burma. In the meantime, here is a recipe for the original Pegu Club Cocktail:

The Pegu Club Cocktail
Courtesy of The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock
1 1/2 oz. gin
1/2 oz. Cointreau
3/4 oz. freshly-squeezed lime juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Just Peachy

Switchin' up the layout of my blog and didn't want to forget about this lovely lady,the Peach Blossom Martini, a favorite of mine that I sipped while celebrating my 31st birthday with my amazing brother, Justin, and his fabulous wife, Jenn.

The Peach Blossom Martini
Courtesy of Nineteen XIX
Stoli Peachik vodka
Dubonnet Red
Fresh Lemon Juice
Fee Brothers Peach Bitters
Homemade Simple Syrup

Shameless plug...whatever

If you are a bride (or groom)-to-be who wants to introduce their wedding party to one another over a few cocktails, check out the Fall/Winter 2008 issue of The Knot Magazine (yes, I'm an editor there). Courtesy of Slurp! Drinks and Light Fare, All Day, All Night, you'll find classic sips, from the chic Bellini to the kitschy Singapore Sling. Here's a preview:


The Casablanca
Courtesy of Slurp!
3 oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. coconut milk
1 oz. rum
1/4 oz. grenadine
ice cubes
1 slice of lime, for garnish
1 slice of pineapple, for garnish

Place all ingredients except for the lime and pineapple slices in a shaker and shake well. Pour into a tall glass and garnish with slices of lime and pineapple.

Mixology Monday: Milk Punch

While I don't like my martinis with milk, a drink on the rocks is just fine. My all time favorite cocktail is a good white russian (skim milk, please, and Starbucks Coffee liqueur). So for my first Mixology Monday I chose to make Milk Punch -- New Orleans' requisite pre-noon sip. Inspired by a recipe found in Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century (Viking, 1998), I made my Milk Punch with vanilla rum and skim milk, of course. Disclaimer: Instead of bourbon, I also used Jack Daniel's -- it was all that was available in mini bottles at my corner liquor store, and it was too hot to walk to the other one to find Maker's Mark. Despite this, I still think it turned out pretty good.

Milk Punch
2 oz. Jack Daniel's
2 oz. skim milk
1 tsp. simple syrup
Splash of Brinley Gold Vanilla Rum
Nutmeg

Combine liquids in a shaker with ice. Strain into a highball glass over ice. Dust with nutmeg.

Please don't tell...

...that I've been to PDT. Even though PDT's cover has been blown, it's still super cool. While the cocktail world was in New Orleans this week, my friends and I got a reservation at one of New York's most-talked-about speakeasy-style bars, and let me tell ya -- it definitely lived up to the hype. Once we got in (yes, it was tough, even though we did have a reservation) we poured over the cocktail menu as various taxidermy gave us the evil eye. Here's a look at what we sipped:

Bee's Sip: A saketini of sorts made with chamomile-infused pisco, junmai sake, and honey liqueur.

Coda: A rum-based concoction made with two types of rum, lime juice, allspice dram, and egg whites ('cause if you're gonna make the effort to go to a speakeasy, you have to order a cocktail with egg) -- this was, by far, the best drink on the menu.

Other cocktails consumed: the Kin Kan (made with St. Germain), the Swiss Mist (mixed with absinthe), a Rhubarbita (you can figure that one out), and a caipirinha-style cocktail I can't remember the name of...but it was still good.