Tag: drinks

1821, cocktails, thanksgiving

The best fall cocktail

littleshoeprincess

Each year when we host Thanksgiving, we like having a signature cocktail for the day. Something that embodies fall flavors, is relatively easy to make in batches, and that can give that little turkey day buzz we all need.

And because we can’t just serve a cocktail cold turkey (see what I did there?), we have a day or night where we’ll test out cocktails to see which ones makes the cut. Last year’s cocktail – the Brown Sugar Cranberry Bourbon cocktail – (and the entire cocktail tasting day) was delicious.

This year, Mr. KK and I were taste testing on our own, and we started with just one cocktail. And it was a winner – no further testing needed! (However, I should probably drink a few more of the chosen cocktail to make sure it’s exactly perfect).

This year, we will be shaking up the Fig Bees Knees.

Fig Bees Knees Cocktail

Makes 1 cocktail.

Ingredients:

2 oz gin
1 oz honey syrup (see note below)
1 oz lemon juice
1 Tablespoon fig preserves
Sprigs of thyme
Fig slices (for garnish)

Directions

In a cocktail shaker, add the gin, honey syrup, lemon juice, fig preserves and 2 sprigs of thyme. Add ice and shake vigorously.

Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a sliced fig and thyme sprig.

Honey syrup:

Combine 1 cup of water and 1 cup of honey in a small sauce pan over medium heat. As the honey starts to melt, continue stirring until the honey and water are completely combined. Store is air tight container.

Cheers!

cocktails, Gifts, Mr. KK, NaBloPoMo

Give the Gift of Drink

littleshoeprincess

Gift giving is especially interesting this year. But based on the last 8 months, I feel you can’t go wrong with alcohol. And if you have friends who enjoy fancy libations, this will be their favorite gift.

For Father’s Day, I got Mr. KK a 3-month subscription to Shaker & Spoon Cocktail Club. Our date night’s out had turned to date night’s in, so why not kick off the night with craft cocktails?

The idea behind this subscription box is simple: each month you receive a box of 3 recipes and everything you need to make 12 drinks (4 from each recipe) of cocktail goodness. The only thing you need to purchase is the spirit: one bottle makes cocktails for the entire box (and then some).

The recipes are crafted from mixologists across the country, with little-known ingredients such as fancy bitters or aromatics, hard-to-find sodas and garnishes.

For our subscription, we enjoyed the tequila, Japanese whiskey and mezcal boxes. It was fun trying new cocktails, and pairing foods and snacks to match.

Tonight we sampled the El Palenque, made with Mezcal, pineapple shrub, lime ginger beer.

Each drink comes printed on it’s own recipe card with full directions, method and glass type.

This was my first mezcal drink, and it was…smoky. Not offensive, but you can definitely taste the smoke. When we make our second drinks (each kit makes 4 of each kind of cocktail!) we substituted tequila for the mezcal, and I got stronger notes of pineapple. Both versions were good, and were a drink I would never think up on my own (let alone have pineapple shrub lying around!)

We had so much fun with our subscription box, and helped us try new cocktails and break us out of our “old standbys”.

I love this gift!

Past subscription boxes have included vodka, aperol, elderberry liquor and more. Each cocktail is unique. You can skip any box you’re not interested in (how cool is that?) And the best part of the gift is the active social community on Facebook for members: people who post photos of drinks, their at-home bar set ups and glassware – these are my spirit (animals).

Cheers!