Friday, April 2, 2010

Spirits of the West, Vol 10: Irish Whiskey (again)

It's no secret that times have been a little tight the last year or so for many folks, the restaurant game is certainly no exception, and in an over-saturated market like Yaletown, the battle for butts in seats rages on.

HSG is not in a position to employ a 'shock and awe' campaign in this war, we're more of a 'special forces' kind of joint, we've got to get a lot done with limited resources.

'Spirits of the West' has been a great campaign over the past year in holding on to the hearts and livers that we've already got and hopefully corralling in a few more lost souls that may have otherwise spent yet ANOTHER weeknight parting with their hard-earned dollars in some cookie-cutter chain restaurant.

Irish Whiskey was the second installment of the event about a year ago and I was tickled to hear a few requests that I repeat the event this year. At first I was hesitant to start do-overs when I hadn't yet finished all that I'd set out to, but the people had spoken, plus I had all of the info upstairs anyway so what the heck?

The trick, as with last year, was putting together some decent cocktails. One of my favorite, and most straight forward starting points for a cocktail recipe is the season, and the week of the 17th was a beauty (unlike now). So spring was definitely in the air, and if ever there was a quintessential spring cocktail, the Mint Julep would be it, off to the races!

In spite of the ocean separating them, the difference between Ireland's finest malt beverages and Kentucky's are not as great as one might think, so I figured I'd just take a little Tullamore Dew, muddle some mint and a little sugar and be all set for one of the three cocktails, that is until I remembered one of my other favorite sources of mixicological inspiration; dust. That's right, I like a challenge...occasionally... and finding the bottle with the finest pelt of dust on it and concocting a tasty beverage with it is a most satisfying endeavor.

As I gazed down the back bar looking for that tell-tale fleece on a bottle, it became clear that Saint Patrick was smiling down upon my little event, because the dustiest, least used bottle of them all, was the Irish Mist, HA! Anyway using the honey-sweet liqueur in lieu of plain old sugar seemed worth a shot and the result was good, call it a minty, Irish version of a Rusty Nail or a honeyed version of a Mint Julep, either way, it worked!

With one 'original' out of the way, I figured I stick to the classics for the other two cocktails I'd promised. First, a straight-edged whiskey sour, made with Bushmill's 10 Year Single Malt, yum. Finally, a proper Irish Coffee, made with Jameson's and cream, hand whipped with Irish mist and honey. The coffees got good reviews, but the whipped cream was the hit, one distinguished guest actually requested to lick the mixing bowl...I obliged. Cheers!

P.S. Hope you like the name I settled upon for the julep.

Rusty Ryan
2oz Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey
0.5oz Irish Mist
3-4 mint leaves

In a mixing glass muddle the mint leaves in the Irish mist, add the Tullamore Dew, ice, and stir well.
Pour the whole lot into a rocks glass and enjoy

Whiskey Sour
2oz Bushmill's 10 Year
juice of 1/2 a lemon (about 3/4 oz)
1 oz simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water)
one egg white (really one egg white is enough for two or three drinks if you feel like setting it aside for the next round)

Add all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice then shake assertively
and strain into one of your nicer cocktail glasses, or a tumbler or and old shoe or whatever, it'll still be good.


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