January 4th Tasting

So as we approach the long stretch of the rest of the Winter I figured it might very well be the time for some fireplace cocktails. What is a fireplace cocktail? Well for me it’s something heavy, it’s a sipper, it’s intellectual and simplistic.

1806 Old Fashioned

This is the original “Old Fashioned”. Pre-prohibition and the soda water, muddled cherry and orange old fashioned.

3 oz Old Overholt Rye Whiskey

1 Sugar Cube

2 Dashes of Angostura Bitters

2 Dashes of Fee Bros West Indian Bitters

Splash of water

-Soak sugar cube with bitters and water and muddle

-Add booze and stir

-Add ice and stir

Garnish with orange oil

Martinez

2 oz Beefeater Gin

1 oz Vya Sweet Vermouth

Bar spoon of Luxardo Maraschino

2 Dashes Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters

-Combine and stir

-Strain into a coupe and garnish with lemon oil

December 7th Tasting, “Holiday Traditions!”

I don’t know about you, but my Christmas Tree is up. WROR and Oldies 103.3 have been playing 24 hour Christmas music since Halloween. This is my FAVORITE season. Granted I love my Mai Tais that I get at the Jewel Box, but God damn, throw a Hot Buttered Rum at me and you might as well be my hero.

So let’s talk in brief about what we have to come…Hot Whiskey Toddy, Hot Buttered Rum, and Sherry Egg Nog.

So the Toddy, if you pick up either of Dale Degroff’s cocktail books in our Library section, you will find many different variations…The Chai Toddy, Blackcurrant Toddy, and the Apple Toddy. All are must makes, and The Craft of the Cocktail as well as The Essential Cocktail are must reads and perfect gifts! If we look old school though, we will see that the Toddy itself is this: hot or cold, a spirit of some sort, sugar or sweetener, and water. Now as this evolved you will see the Toddy come into medicine as a “cure” of winter ails. The addition of herbs, teas, citrus juice and peel becomes common. For our tasting I’m going to keep it simple…Hot black chai tea, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Brown Sugar, and a garnish of Lemon Peel.

2 oz Jameson

2 oz Simmering water

Bar spoon of brown sugar

Black tea bag

-Combine and garnish with a lemon peel

On to the Rum…I always drink rum, I embrace it no matter the weather and soon you will have the right rum and recipe to do so as well. We’ll be using some creamy butter, Sonoma Cinnamon Syrup, and Don Q Anejo Rum.

2 oz Don q anejo

.5 oz Sonoma cinnamon syrup

Heaping bar spoon of cinnamon spiced whipped butter

2 oz Simmering whole milk

-Combine and whisk

Finally a little Sherry Egg Nog…Nice sweeter style of oxidized sherry, one might call Olorosso, farm fresh egg, whole milk, vanilla bean simple syrup and a little nutmeg.

1 Whole egg

2.5 oz Olorosso or Cream Sherry

.5 oz Whole milk

.5 oz Sonoma vanilla bean simple syrup

2 Dashes Fee bros chocolate bitters

-Combine and shake with out ice

-Add ice, shake, strain through a hawthorne and fine strainer

Get ready, this is going to be good.

Cape Codder Realized.

So I’d like to take this opportunity to chat about a new Cranberry liquor that just hit the shelf at KJ’s. Clear Creek Distillery, Cranberry Liquor. So  Clear Creek,  it’s in  Oregon, it is indeed an actual creek that runs the the Northwest portion of the state where the distillery is located. Steve McCarthy is the proprietor  and after meeting him multiple times over the past year, his modesty and  vision when it comes to the production of spirits and  liquors is  enlightening .

 

For me cranberry is something that is so New England, problem is…distilling at a level of quality that would make me proud to associate with is still at least 5 years off. So in the meantime I have absolutely no problem showcasing a pacific north western product with such an intensity that it easily makes on reminse of the Cape.

 

I’ll say this… I like cranberries a lot. I like to drink cranberry juice.  The thing is the cranberry offers so much flavor and character that it can easily turn a mediocre drink into one of distinguishable quality. Follow this guideline and I can guarantee that from your great aunt to your 21 year old cousin…you won’t dissapoint during the apertif hour at Thanksgiving.

2 oz Capel Pisco

3/4 oz Clear Creek Cranberry Liquor

3/4 oz Cranberry Juice

1/2 oz Sonoma Syrup Company Cinnamon Simple

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

-shake over ice

-strain into a cocktail glass or in a rocks glass over fresh ice

cheers

November 9th Tasting!

So folks,

I figure coming into the end of Fall we might as well go all in on the apple products. This is the month to drink them! Taste Aspall Cyder of Suffolk, England, JK Scrumpy’s of Michigan, and Neige Apple Ice Wine from Quebec.  And just added: Cabana Caipirinha with pear and rosemary!

In addition I’ll be spinning one kick ass seasonal rye cocktail with pumpkin. We are getting our first shipment of great rye that just happens to be a great value! Old Overholt produced first in 1810 in PA about 35 miles south of Pittsburgh, is one of the few 100% Ryes readily available on the market. It is relatively lighter in body than say a Rittenhouse, but comes across full flavored with classic Rye spice and a slight vegetal character, making it perfect for mixing. We’ll be doing a caramelized pumpkin puree, lemon juice and our new Cinnamon Simple Syrup from Sonoma Syrup Company.

See you Monday from 5-8, remember to come by 5:15 if you’d like to see the making of the caramelized pumpkin puree!

Cheers,

Corey

October 5th Tasting

It’s getting cold out there folks. Get your plaid pants and tweed blazers out. I think I mentioned a love affair with apples in the last post so it should be no surprise that we started with hot spiced apple cider and bourbon. And it may be not surprise that if I have a bottle of bourbon open, that maybe just maybe I might utilize for more than one drink.

Hot Spiced Cider

1/2 gallon, local apple cider

3 cinnamon sticks

1/2 nutmeg, grated

4 whole cloves

4 black peppercorns, crushed roughly

pinch of kosher or sea salt

-Simmer

-Strain to order into:

2 oz of Eagle Rare Bourbon

-Grate cinnamon over the top.

Bourbon Red Hook. I would be doing Mr Enzo Enrico, the inventor of the Red Hook a slight disrespect by saying that a red hook is a bourbon cocktail. It is a rye cocktail. Bourbon is still quite damn tasty.

2 oz Eagle Rare Bourbon

1/2 oz Punt Y Mes

1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino

-Stir

-Strain into a cocktail glass

Sherry Highball. Little freestyle something something for anyone looking for a delectable, low alcohol highball.

2 oz Lustau Fino Sherry, “Los Acros”

1/2 oz Mathilde Poire

1/4 oz Freshly squeezed lemon juice

-Shake

-Strain into a collins glass filled with ice

-Top with Fever Tree Bitter Lemon Soda

September Grand Tasting, September 27, 2009

Hellllo hello…. So I’d like to do a quick recap of the two cocktails I shook at our September Grand Tasting.

-Apple and Smoke. You’ll notice from September through December a slight obsession with apple based cocktails, distillates, pies, cider doughnuts etc etc. Maybe it’s being born and raised a New Englander, maybe it’s a the experience of picking apples from trees in Millbury and professionally at Glorie Farms in the Hudson Valley of NY. It could be the aroma, the balance of sweet and tart, the texture being so crisp and remincent of the fall weather.

Apple and Smoke is a fall Collins of sorts. Spirit, lemon, and effervesence. Woodford Reserve  adds a beautiful plush smoke element to really define the drink. Try it with Scotch too!

2 oz Woodford Reserve

.5 oz Freshly squeezed lemon juice

.5 oz Cinnamon Simple Syrup, Sonoma Syrup Co.

-Shake and strain over ice into a collins glass.

-Top with hard apple cider such as Harpoon or West County Baldwin.

-Arolla Gimlet. Tad bit more of a November/December cocktail, but when I saw that we had gotten the Zirbenz in, I just couldn’t wait. Arolla is the name of the stone pine that grows throughout the Alps in Austria. It has a reddish hue unlike any cordial one might ever see, a sweet pine aromatic, and the flavor being mild, approachable and with a slight sweetness. We integrate this into a gimlet that uses Luxardo Maraschino as the sweetner…add layers…add depth. Simplicity and quality can be one in the same.

2 oz Beefeater Gin

.5 oz Freshly squeezed lime juice

.5 oz Zirbenz Stone Pine Liquor

.25 oz Luxardo Maraschino

-Shake

-Strain into cocktail glass

Welcome, September 30th, 2009

Hi all,

My name is Corey Bunnewith and for those of you who have not met me, I am the resident mixologist at KJ Baaron’s, the premier supplier for beer, wine, booze, books and tools in Massachusetts. I’d like to take this first entry on this blog to explain a few things: my objectives, KJ’s objectives, visions, missions, cultural views, etc. A short disclaimer… I do not have a formal training via an institute of higher learning when it comes to English and the practice of writing.

First and foremost my goal  is to build relationships with consumers and products, consumers and KJ Baaron’s, and consumers and myself. Now like anything in life I feel that a good relationship is based upon a few key notes: Communication, having an open mind, challenging complacency, and a little bit of love. Now of course all of these items need to be adhered to from both my end and yours or I can warn you right now… we will never get anywhere. I’m here to listen to your needs as consumers as well as have the foresight an experience to see potential needs based on professional experience in the industry. I’m here to challenge complacency when it comes to the quality and value of products and you are here to question my judgment. And at the end of the day it all comes down to love. I love what I do and by you entering our doors or opening a line of communication with me I can tell that you love or at least care when it comes to craft, product, tradition and the value of something that you are going to consume.

I taste, think, mix, shake, stir, strain, and serve. I talk and I listen. I’m here to educate and to engage and to embrace. I’m here to develop a vision and to raise standards. Welcome to my piece of space that I will be sharing views, knowledge, philosophy, ideas, and recipes. I hope you enjoy and I hope to see you all at KJ’s soon.

Cheers,

Corey

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