Alcademics.com

New Kentucky Derby Cocktails

Bulleit Bourbon asked a few bartenders to come up with new Mint Julep-adjacent cocktails. I posted three of them to Alcademics RecipeFeed:

Bulleit Train by Jackie Patterson

Bare Back by Mindy Kucan

Back in the Saddle by Mindy Kucan

What's always fun with Diageo recipes is that they have to go through corporate lawyers, so all their drinks have less than 1.5 ounces of alcohol in them in total. On the press release I got each one says something like "recipe contains .6 ounces of alcohol" so I guess each drink serves two people. Right.

Personally I would prefer a recipe that states "serves six people" so that the recipe is in standard pourable quantitites, rather than recipes that call for .15 ounces of vermouth. Really.

Finally, A Swine Flu Cocktail

Seriously, it's been like four days since the swine flu outbreak and nobody has created a cocktail in its honor? Oh wait, here's one:

Drink writer Robert Haynes-Peterson came up with this awful-sounding recipe that involves tequila (Mexico, get it?), bacon-infused bourbon, limoncello, and lemon.

If the flu won't make you vomit, perhaps the Swine Flu Cocktail will!

Bountiful Bourbon

Jason Wilson writes a big story for the Washington Post about bourbon. It's a good read overall, but particularly for this gem of a quote:

Heaven Hill, for instance, uses the same yeast strain and mash recipe for all 150 of its bourbon products. "The only difference in our brands is age and proof," Hafer said.

Wow on both accounts. I don't know quite what to say about that.

What do you have to say about it?

Tequila Week: A New Tequila Book

I received a review copy of Joanne Weir's new book Tequila: A Guide to Types, Flights, Cocktails, and Bites. The book has a release date of Cinco de Mayo, but it's already on the market.

There are over 35 cocktail recipes in the book by folks like Joel Baker, Jim Meehan, Jacques Bezuidenhout, Dominic Venegas, Andy Seymour, Lucy Brennan, Audrey Saunders, and Julio Bermejo.

I noticed the recipes are fairly heavy on Chartreuse, Aperol, and egg whites, all of which are A-Okay with me. Most of the drinks are not terribly difficult, nor terribly obvious either. This is my favorite combination for a cocktail book- other than fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme called for in various recipes, I have most of the ingredients at home. Most of the time I drink tequila straight, but the recipes here will tempt me into experimentation.

There are about 24 food recipes with everything from appetizers to desserts, and I believe all of them contain tequila. It appears Weir developed all of the food recipes, which makes sense as she's a cookbook writer. As I hardly cook, this portion of my copy of the book will likely go unloved.

The beginning of the book is a history and introduction to tequila, with some facts that I wasn't aware of previously. Weir claims that tequila had its greatest gains in popularity during the Civil War, Prohibition, and WWII when supplies of other drinking alcohol were scarce. She also dismisses mixto tequila entirely, saying "Only a fool would drink mixto" and "You're basically buying a headache in a bottle." Nice.

Neither the history nor the production notes are as thorough as I would like and it seems at times she may be over-generalizing, but this is hardly the main focus of the book so it's hard to fault her for it. This one is all about the recipes and it looks to me like Weir did a great job of collecting them. Even the food looks good, so if someone wants to cook it for me, just let me know.

Derby Designs

Limited-edition bottles in honor of this weekend's Kentucky Derby.

Woodford Reserve:

Woodford Reserve Bourbon is the “Official Bourbon of Kentucky Derby 135” and has served as the official bourbon for the past eleven years. Capturing the adrenaline-filled world of horse racing through the eyes of a jockey, Woodford Reserve, an award-winning small-batch bourbon, is honoring the country’s favorite horse race with the release of its limited edition 2009 Kentucky Derby bottle featuring artwork by retired jockey Tom Chapman.

Early Times Pre-mixed Mint Julep:

In recognition of its “Official Drink of the Kentucky Derby” designation, Early Times commissioned renowned equine artist Celeste Susany to create an original oil painting of an actual scene at Churchill Downs® for its 2009 Derby bottle. 2009 marks Celeste’s 10^th anniversary of painting the artwork for the Early Times Mint Julep commemorative bottle. Entitled “Dueling Towards Destiny”, this year’s painting depicts two powerhouse horses in stride racing towards the finish line with the Derby crowd and famed Twin Spires in the background. Launching in April 2009, the newly labeled one-liter pre-mix bottle will be available in limited quantities throughout the United States for a suggested retail price of $14.99.

Also, this year for the Derby, Maker's Mark is making their pre-mixed Mint Julep available to more places, including California.

The Unstoppable Jackie P

Jacqueline Patterson's cocktail contest winning streak continues. The Heaven's Dog bartender won the US portion of the Cherry Heering Accessorize 2009 contest and will fly to Singapore to compete against mixologists from around the globe at the Raffles Hotel this June. Jackie was only recently in Bordeaux reaping the rewards of winning the West Coast Marie Brizard competition.

Jackie's drink, Star Crossed Lovers, is here.

The Galaxy, Now Available in Berry Mojito

Galaxy's centre tastes of raspberries and smells of rum, say astronomers

The hunt for chemicals in deep space that could seed life on other planets has yielded a large, fruity molecule.

Alcademics in India

Alcademics was mentioned in The Telegraph, a newspaper in Calcutta, India, in a big story on cocktail blogging. Also mentioned were CocktailChronicles, TheLiquidMuse, KaiserPenguin, SpiritsAndCocktails, MyAchingHead, IntoxicatedZodiac, and Cocktailians. 

The global takeover continues!