Pink Sparkles

Posted on December 6, 2015 by BoozeNerds

IMG_4831-closeWe are now officially into the thick of the holiday season, so it’s time to break out the sparkling wine cocktails. OK, we’re actually fans of having sparkling wine cocktails at any time, but now they’re especially nice. For this post, we decided to experiment with rose sparkling wine, since that’s a fun change of pace. Besides, the only thing more festive than fizzy wine cocktails is *pink* fizzy wine cocktails.

Continue reading →

Posted in aperol, kirschwasser, peychauds bitters, simple syrup, sparkling wine, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Pomegranate

Posted on November 29, 2015 by BoozeNerds

IMG_4804-closeHere in the Pacific Northwest, ’tis the season for pomegranates. Normally one thinks of grenadine when mixing with pomegranate, but that isn’t the only way to showcase the flavor of this delicious fruit. Taking advantage of the season, we decided to make a couple drinks using pomegranate juice instead. Read on to see what we came up with.

Continue reading →

Posted in angostura bitters, boker's bitters, gin, honey, Original Cocktail, pomegranate juice, pomegranate molasses | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Pisco

Posted on November 22, 2015 by BoozeNerds

IMG_4777For those that don’t know, pisco is the national spirit of Peru. Made from grapes and legally required to be distilled to proof (not easy, from what we understand), it is a very interesting liquor, kind of a cross between brandy and grappa. We were fortunate to have been introduced to pisco in the early days of our mixology odyssey, and it remains a favorite alternative when we want to get ourselves out of the usual gin/bourbon/rum rut. Back when we started, there were only a few piscos being imported into the States. Now there are a lot more (yay!), so we decided to try a number and see what we think.

Continue reading →

Posted in angostura bitters, ginger ale, lime juice, pisco, Tasting Notes | Tagged , | Leave a comment

MxMo CIII: The “Standoffish” Roundup

Posted on November 21, 2015 by BoozeNerds

mxmologoWe are very excited with this month’s entries! We asked folks to create or discover a tasty cocktail that used at least one non-mixed element (float, sink, rinse, etc.) and everyone really delivered with a range of different approaches and ingredients. Read on to see what everyone came up with…

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

MxMo: The Golden Calf – 3 ways

Posted on November 15, 2015 by BoozeNerds

It’s Mixology Monday time again! This month we’re hosting and our theme is Standoffish, where one of the ingredients doesn’t want to mingle 🙂 (for more detail, see our announcement post.).  We thought we’d tackle the theme by creating a cocktail that uses a small amount of a strong ingredient, and then trying several iterations with different standoffish techniques to see how they affected the aroma and flavor of the drink.

Continue reading →

Posted in becherovka, demerara dark rum, lemon juice, limoncello, maraschino, Mixology Monday, simple syrup | Tagged , | Leave a comment

DIY Booze Advent Calendar

Posted on November 7, 2015 by BoozeNerds

IMG_4745Both of us loved the idea of advent calendars when we were growing up. The little doors you got to open, a small treat or gift. What’s not to love about them? So when a friend pointed out a whiskey advent calendar a couple years ago, we were very excited about the prospect. Then our “adult” brains kicked in, and we thought, could we just as easily make our own?

Continue reading →

Posted in DIY | Tagged | 2 Comments

MxMo CIII: Standoffish

Posted on November 2, 2015 by BoozeNerds

Update: The roundup is now live.

Happy November, everybody! Now that we’re into the cold weather, it’s a good time to be bringing out the richer, stronger ingredients for use in cocktails. How to use them in good proportion though, where they speak up but don’t overwhelm? Well, one way is to include them in smaller amounts, perhaps slightly offset from the other ingredients in one way or another. They can introduce themselves at the start or the end of the drink, or shepherd the other components into a cohesive whole, depending on how they are used. Which brings us to this month’s theme: standoffish! We’re looking for cocktails that use at least one non-garnish ingredient that is not stirred or shaken with the others. Rinses, floats, foams? Sure! Mists? Why not? We welcome whatever your creative geniuses can come up with.

  • Find or create a booze filled drink that has a standoffish ingredient that makes a big difference to how the drink tastes. Then include a photo, recipe, and such on your blog or eGullet’s Spirit’s and Cocktails forum.
  • Do all of this by midnight Monday, November 16th. Late submissions may be taken, but try to be on time lest you be left out! Make sure to post a link to your post on THIS article in the comments. Or tweet it to @boozenerds.

Looking forward to everyone’s aloof creations! Cheers!

Posted in Mixology Monday, Uncategorized | Tagged | 17 Comments

Peychaud’s Comparison

Posted on November 1, 2015 by BoozeNerds

IMG_4687Way back in July, at Tales of Cocktail, we acquired some barrel aged Peychaud’s bitters. One of the (many!) nice things about Tales is that there were a lot of bitters to take a look at and we were able to try a bunch of them. The barrel aged Peychaud’s were quite interesting; the same basic structure as the regular Peychaud’s was there, but some flavors were more muted while others were more pronounced. Given those differences, we decided to see how it affected a cocktail.

Continue reading →

Posted in absinthe, Cocktail Comparisons, peychauds bitters, rye, simple syrup, Tasting Notes | Tagged | Leave a comment

Flip, flop, fly

Posted on October 25, 2015 by BoozeNerds

IMG_4663Fall is officially here in the Pacific Northwest. There’s a chill in the air, the trees have changed color, and the rains have returned. With that in mind, this week we decided to talk about a richer, more cold-weather style of drink. Most folks are familiar with eggnog and even the Tom & Jerry. These are actually flips, drinks that are made with a whole egg, either hot or cold.

Continue reading →

Posted in benedictine, black walnut liqueur, Bourbon, demerara dark rum, egg, maple syrup, milk, rye, simple syrup, yellow chartreuse | Tagged , | 2 Comments

MxMo: Funeral Pyre

Posted on October 17, 2015 by BoozeNerds

It’s Mixology Monday time again, our favorite post of the month. This month’s theme is courtesy of JFL over at Rated R Cocktails, one of our favorite tiki themed blogs. The theme this month is Spoooooooky cocktails. JFL was very liberal in his definition of spooky; garnish, appearance, tribute to a horror icon, you name it. Read on to find out what we came up with.
Continue reading →

Posted in 151 rum, gold rum, grenadine, lemon bitters, lime juice, mezcal, pineapple juice | Tagged , | Leave a comment