Mess of Greens

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Drinks

The Seat Heater

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Are y’all watching the National Football Championship?!?
ermm.. probably not if you’re reading MoG, but YOU SHOULD BE if you’re a real southerner. I mean Clemson AND Alabama? C’mon.

As a born-and-raised Mississippi girl, I’ve gotta cheer for the SEC tonight (ROLL TIDE!) but my honey is a ACC guy all the way. Tonight would probably be contentious except I really only watch football as a social thing. (I am like 90% sure that a bunch of other southerners feel the same way but are too scared of the super intense football fans to say so. But I’ll say it. “Meh.”)

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Christening our New bar with an Old Fashioned

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The jazzed up Old Fashioned

Serves 1
I’d been on the hunt for the perfect piece of furniture to serve as our bar for months. 6 months, if you want to get specific. I went to new stores, I looked online, we’ve stopped at every antique or junk or thrift store in the surrounding 100 miles, but either found things that were perfect but too expensive (to the tune of $1,500) not so great, or lovely but way to big or too small for the space. then, on our country looping expedition the other day (read about that here) we stopped in a “junkique” in cleveland that’s only open on weekdays and found something that was PERFECT. It was the right size, the right era, and, best of all, the right price. We brought it home and after filling it with our collection of spirits and barware, decided that 4:45 wasn’t really too early to christen it with a drink.
But what drink? Well, we had about a zillion juice oranges and clementines, and we love bourbon, so we decided to mix up a few old fashioned… besides, who wouldn’t want to break in the new bar with an old fashioned. While I googled recipes I learned that there are right ways and wrong ways to make this classic cocktail, and that the midwestern version comes from Wisconsin and involves brandy, 7Up, and marachino cherries, while the southern version is Kentuckian by origin, decidedly less dressed up and made with bourbon or rye.
Obviously we were going with the bourbon version, but I couldn’t see what was so wrong about a little muddled fruit. I know…I know… no matter who or where you’re making the drink, technically, there is no cherry and no orange slice in a real, classic old fashioned. None. The classic involves bitters, sugar, a twist of orange or lemon, the spirit of choice and some ice. But, I had a new bar, a whole lot of oranges, and a desire to mess with tradition just a teeny bit. so there. If you’re looking to be a purist and make the classic, omit the fruit, but if you want something delicious, and a little bit irreverent, why not go whole hog?
What you Need:
2-3 oz Bourbon
One Orange Slice
1 or 2  frozen fresh cherries (the purists will frown on this, but I had them and they’re SO pretty)
2-3  dashes of Angostura Bitters
1/2 tsp Brown Sugar or one sugar cube
No more than 1 oz Water or club soda (optional)
Ice

What to Do:
Put the orange slice (with the peel), cherry, sugar, and dashes of bitters into an old fashioned style or double glass. It’s important to throw in the orange rind since it has so much flavor and the oils that seep out as you muddle it all together gives the drink a nice citrusy flavor..also, if you’re not sure what a “dash” of bitters is, don’t stress. The bottle top is specifically made for “dashing” and only allows a few drops out at a time (a lot like a bottle of tabasco sauce). I added two good shakes of the bottle and then one to grow on, because I felt like my bitters bottle was being a little stingy. The moral of the story- just go with your gut, there.
 
Muddle these together in the base of a glass with a muddling stick, or a lipstick, or the handle-end of a knife, or other blunt tool until the juices meld together and the sugar has been ground in and there’s a slight lining to the glass. Add in the bourbon (or your spirit of choice).
Now, at this point you can stop if you’re feeling serious about your cocktail, but if it’s a regular old Thursday night and you just wanted that one drink while you visit about the day and plan the dinner menu then add in the water to cut the sincerity, top with ice, and enjoy with style.
If you want to stop by to see our new bar, come on over around cocktail hour.

 

The Basic Bloody Mary

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I love, love, love day drinking. not day drunkenness, but you know, a beer at an afternoon BBQ, a mimosa at a girls’ morning out, and definitely, definitely, a bloody mary with brunch. I’ve made them all kinds of ways…with just tomato juice and then with mixes, with lots of condiments…with differne brands and types of vodka…..and really, I’ve never had a bad one as long as it had enough spicy kick and vodka.

The most recent version I made for some pals who spent the night after my 30th birthday bash (Top 40 karaoke! a dinner party! cocktails!)  involved Cat Head vodka, a local Mississippi vodka that donates $1 of every bottle to live music, V8 Juice, pickles, sriracha, lime juice, and woschester. pretty good. Seriously, you can make them so many ways depending on your taste, but this recipe is a good place to start as you test out your own favorite combination.

What You Need
Makes one 1 large or 2 small Bloody Marys.

1-2 oz of Vodka (Cat Head is a GREAT choice!)
1-2 cups of classic or reduced sodium V8 juice. I’ve used regular and off-brand and plain tomato juice often, but it just takes more seasoning. You can go this route, but double the salt and other seasonings for the right kick)
3 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 small squirt Sriracha (an asian hot sauce)
1 dash Woschester Sauce
3 teaspoons Black pepper
2 dashes Soy Sauce
1 Small pickle
1 celery stick
1 lime wedge

What to Do:
Mix all of these ingredients, taste it for salt and spice, and garnish with the pickels, lime wedge, and celery. If it’s not spicy enough, add in more tabasco and soy. Drink with reckless abandon.

Want more versions? I recommend Garden and Gun’s recent article “How to Build a Bloody Mary Bar”