IMBIBE: A Dorm Daze and Spiced Pumpkin
Fall. Autumn. The season elicits a specific kind of ambivalent response. The death of summer. Harbinger of winter. That special time when kids go back to school, adults rejoice and college coeds fill red cups and get to learning. Not to mention the ubiquitous pumpkinism, spiced eu pumpkin, pumpkinish, pumpkings, a la pumpkins, etc.
Some of us rejoice. Some of us cringe.
All of us should grab a beverage to toast or loathe this time of year. Here are a couple such liquids to pour into glasses … or red solo cups.
What: A Dorm Daze
Go Get:
2 oz Nectarine Bourbon
½ oz Apricot Liqueur
2 dashes Vanilla Bitters
2 dashes Apple Bitters
Fresh Apple Slices
Make:
Pour the bourbon and liqueur over ice and stir. Pour into a coupe (or cup) and dash those bitters. Garnish with a fresh apple slice.
Okay, so I had to do it. If you can’t beat the parade of orange gourds, join and drink up.
What: Spiced Pumpkin
Go Get: 1 oz House-Made Ginger Infused Agave Nectar
1 Tbs Organic Pumpkin Puree
2 oz Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Make:
Pour the ingredients into a shaker and lightly shake. Strain over ice and garnish with candied ginger.
These recipes come courtesy from Joshua Nault, talented bartender over at Besos. Shameless plug for Joshua. Get over to Besos to try his handcrafted Spiced Apple Cider Shrub (flavored with fall spices and fresh apples), Cloved Orange Simple Syrup, Ginger Infused Agave Nectar, and more.
*You know why.
IMBIBE: Lovecraft’s Lament
When in search of refreshment, a fated coupling of spirits and expertise occur, if we’re fortunate enough to notice.
This particular cocktail writer found herself in such a state when rummaging for a cocktail in Lovecraft’s favorite (and home) city. Not just any cocktail, but one that thoughtfully acknowledged this long sleeping master of pulp, fear, grizzle and the cosmic.
From brief historical review, Lovecraft wasn’t known for a particular drink like other authors of his generation (different genres, but those of rum-bending Hemingway or gin-leaning Fitzgerald). Rather, like his elusive works, Lovecraft drank without notice, if at all. Most of his documented ingestion related to his love of cheese, chocolate and eating frugally. Nevertheless, Providence is his town, this is a cocktail article and for f’s sake, we like to raise our glasses high to one of our beloved sons. Take yourself through a few bars and you may notice a cocktail on the menu to honor Lovecraft’s influence. Like his work, these concoctions are not ubiquitous, but rather wait for the critical seeking eye to realize the genius.
One such bar hosted this writer after an exhausted hunt* for such libations. Refreshment found. At the Avery, mixed and described by the magnetic Lori Battaglino, who seeing this writer’s concern for libations a la Lovecraft, aptly shared this jewel of a beverage.
What: Lovecraft’s Lament
Found Where: The Avery
Go Get: 1.5 oz Bols Genever .5 oz St Germain Splash San Pellegrino Aranciata Dash Mint Bitters Float Prosecco
Make: Pour the Bols Genever, St. Germain, and San Pellegrino over ice in a shaker, stir. Drain into a martini glass. Dash those bitters and float the Prosecco as you whisper profound strangelings to yourself, gods and monsters.
Sip, and enjoy good dreams.
* With two lovely and game creatures of the North Midwest
IMBIBE: Damn it, Rosé, it’s Sangria!
I like wine. I like cocktails. I like cocktails with wine. Especially now that it’s summer, I prefer dumping something delicious into a pitcher and pouring (surreptitiously) near the beach or sharing with friends.
Speaking of friends, a friend of mine recently challenged me to bring Sangria to a get-together. Who doesn’t love a good Sangria? But there are lots and lots of bad recipes and crappy pre-made variations out there. And while I love the tiny bits of fruit macerating in booze, I’m also kind of lazy, because — hello summer! — I’d rather be outside than indoors prepping fruit.
Sangria hails from Spain and Portugal and was named as such because of its dark red hue akin to, erm, blood. This boozy baby’s popularity has grown and like any popular item, thousands of iterations and variations now exist.
Well, here’s one more for the books. I found a bottle of rosé I’d not yet drunk (shocking, really) and thought, why not? Think what you want about rosé, but there’s great rosé wine out there, damn the Californian bastard white zin. Go for a dry, lovely, rosé. Drink it straight while using a second bottle for my little, easy, lazy, sublime summer concoction.
Or just give me a bottle.
What: Damn it, Rosé, it’s Sangria!
Found Where: Your place, or mine
Go Get:
2 btls dry rosé
½ c Limoncello (the good stuff)
4 tbsp agave syrup or simple syrup
16 oz strawberries
1 lemon
Ice
Pitcher
Make: Cut up the lemon and strawberries into as equal pieces (small as you can muster).
Throw them into your pitcher of choice (in a pinch, a flower vase works great). Pour in the Limoncello, rosé and syrup. Stir.
Put in your fridge and try to wait.*
Pour over ice in cups and judiciously strain out the fruit.
That’s it. Enjoy. And if you don’t, I don’t want to hear about it.
*I usually last 5 minutes but if you can wait a few hours, it’s even better. IMBIBE: Simple Summah Cocktails
It’s so easy to overdo it. Like when you offer to host a summer barbeque and realize this also means you should have drinks; after creating your bbq sauce from scratch you find yourself muddling mint for 40 drinks … by hand … for two hours.
I may have done something like this in the past. Now when I think of summer cocktails, I think of leaving it simple if I’m making them at home. Keep it simple, stupid — yes, KISS cocktails.
Here are a few ideas of easy cocktails. Like five or fewer ingredients without the need for belabored concocting … not a lot of muddling, scraping, pounding, boiling, etc., unless you want to make it more complicated, in which case you can only blame yourself.
What: Tequila Spritz
Why: We’ve all heard of white wine spritzers and skinny margaritas. I’ve been making and ordering this as an alternative to overly sweet margaritas and yawningly boring vodka clubs.
Go Get:
1.5 oz Silver Tequila (Espolon or Milagro on my budget, but use whatever you like)
6-8 oz club soda
½ a lime, sliced and squeezed
1-2 slices of orange or tangerine
Make: Put ice then the lime slices and lime juice in a highball, pour in the rest of the ingredients and float the slices of orange or tangerine.
What: The Classic from Douro
Why: This classic beverage hails from Portugal for cooling off on hot summer days.
Got Get:
2 oz White Port
4 oz club soda slice of lime
Make: Pour over ice in a highball and garnish with the slice of lime.
What: Bubble Me Up Why: A take on the super easy and classic champagne cocktail. I like this lots on summer evenings … or mornings. Ahem.
Go Get:
4 oz Bubbly*
1 ripe strawberry, mashed or sliced up
Orange bitters
Mint leaf
Optional: ½ oz Hendrick’s or the Botanist Gin
Make: Put the strawberry in the bottom of a flute and soak it with the orange bitters (say around five dashes). Add the gin if you’re feeling boozy. Top with chilled bubbly of your choice and garnish with a mint leaf.
*Go for a dry style – Brut, and do try a less expensive bubbly like a Cava, Blanquette de Limoux or Bulles.
Now, go kiss off already.
PVD Roller Derby: Real Women, Real Athletes, Real Pain
Okay, okay, okay. Admit it. You read “roller derby” and your mind went, “Tough hot chicks in ripped stuff swirling around I don’t know what’s happening and they’re on skates and they will kill each other while I drink beer and watch.”
Fine. I’ll admit it.
Roller derby women are hot shit. They’re strong. They make skating look easy. They have cool names. And I didn’t even realize I completely overlooked their athletic prowess until I took the opportunity to meet with a few players of the Providence Roller Derby.
Unbeknownst to me, I was a biased asshole, who now reformed, reports to you that, yes, you too, can evolve when you learn more about this SPORT and the REAL WOMEN (and men) involved.
Sorry for the yelling caps. Nah, I’m not that sorry. Let’s talk about this SPORT, damnit. Sport
“The level of athleticism has really escalated,” shares Cindy Lou Screw, who’s been part of Providence Roller Derby for eight years. “The amount of effort it takes to skate fast and knock someone over is really hard. I’ve fallen in love with the way everyone is passionate about athletics. It’s playing a sport. [Roller Derby is] not a hobby. “
Cindy Lou Screw’s fellow members nod as we sit at a bar sipping beer and snacking after one of their evening practices. There’s the first years, Goldie Glocks and Dita Von Muerta, and the veterans Cindy Lou Screw, Varla Gunz, and Citizen Toxie. Each one of them shared their reasons for joining Providence Roller Derby and for staying in the league. I gotta say, I was impressed and also disappointed there’s only so many words allowed for an article.
These ladies on wheels really are athletes; for example, take Gunz, who does a little Crossfit when she’s not on wheels. “Craisy Dukes says, you need to think of yourself as an athlete in order to succeed and take care of yourself like an athlete,” notes Citizen Toxie,.“We really do.”
To even make it to the first year level like Glock and Muerta you have to pass nearly a full year of trials and training. That’s up to four practices a week. This isn’t meant to scare you, reader or fan who’s interested in trying out, but it does separate the merely interested from the true member.
“We accept from every level,” emphasizes Toxie, who happens to be the Providence Roller Derby league president.
The Providence league has five teams broken down between the competitive travel teams — The RI Riveters (A travel team) and Killah Bees (B travel team) — and the home-city teams: Mob Squad, Old Money Honeys and the Sakonnet River Roller Rats.
Right now it’s travel season until July. Travel season is more competitive as it means rankings and a chance at the WFTDA Championship title.
Real Women
Okay, so I’ve established we’re talking athletes here, not just a bunch of dolled up actors pretending to hurt each other in skates.
Want to hear something else? Each of these players are real people. Shocker. But it’s true. I sat next to them and they are sort of like everyone else. By sort of, I mean I still wouldn’t pick a fight with these ladies, but otherwise, I was sitting next to art directors, a veterinary technician, a professor, and a start- up office manager.
These athletes on skates hold down careers and manage to play a demanding sport.
The references to a roller derby widow are real. They all laugh and agree that the sport can definitely take up a lot of personal time. But it’s really about community.
“Know the dedication it takes,” says Glock. “We take on two to three jobs within the roller derby league to make it all happen.”
Toxie and the ladies also emphasized how the league does more than just develop athleticism; it offers ample opportunities for professional development, too. Each member wears many hats because of the leagues’ non-profit status (insert shameless plug here about donating to a local nonprofit such as the Providence Roller Derby).
Alright, alright, these are real women and real athletes … but you still want me to convince you that Roller Derby isn’t all show. Fine, WWF fan, I’ll tell you.
It’s not.
Yes, there’s a level of showmanship – the names, the cool outfits, the outspoken players hustling around the track. But that’s part of the appeal. We let ourselves watch millionaires in spandex run, walk and skate on TV with flashing lights and shiny helmets, yet we call them athletes. In other words, Providence Roller Derby is more than fluff, it’s freakin’ substance. Real women, real athletes, real pain.
So. Don’t be an asshole.
Do go to the next bout. Do cheer for a real-live Providence team. And hey, there’s beer, too. We actually don’t have that many home-city teams. Think about it.
Hot damn.
Check out the first bout in July – and the entire season by going to the Providence Roller Derby website: providencerollerderby.com.
IMBIBE: Spring Stinger
Has spring sprung yet? The bitch usually does with a sting, at least here in New England, where this idyllic season greets us with hearty slap in the face from sleet, freezing rain or a final snow.
So aptly does this edition’s cocktail come named: Spring Stinger.
The Stinger, a supposedly popular pre-prohibition drink, uses cognac and crème de menthe, shaken, rather than the usual stirring for spirits-only cocktails. This little punchy number has a rather obscure history, noted by some as a favorite of the flyboys in WWII as well as having brief cameos in Hollywood reels of the ’50s (Carey Grant ordered them in Kiss Them for Me).
None of this is news to Elizabeth Sawtelle, of Nick’s on Broadway, and Secretary of the RI chapter of USBG. When asked about her cocktail influences, she thoughtfully said, “Most prominently the whole Nick’s philosophy and Derek’s style of food … Seasonality, high-quality crafted products, different styles of cocktails to work in different dining applications, and mutual use of great, unique ingredients.” Her take on the Stinger definitely reflects this.
What: Spring Stinger
Found Where: Nick’s on Broadway
Go Get:
1.5oz Dingle Gin (it’s Irish)
1.5 oz Bigallet Menthe-Pastille*
Dash lime juice
1 egg white
Make: Pour into a tumbler with ice and shake. Strain into a bell-shaped coupe. Garnish with edible flowers or clovers.
When Elizabeth handed this lightly foamed, white silken herbal concoction over, I paused. It’s really pretty. Delicately mint, lightly green. This drink has an early spring pasture effect: momentarily transporting said drinker to an emerald knoll with frolicking lambs while a small Irishman plays a fiddle in the distance.
The sting hits next with a fresh, soft bite on the finish, snapping me back to Nick’s on Broadway’s barstool and the view of slowly melting gray snow outside.
Well, we wouldn’t be living here if we didn’t enjoy a little dysfunction in our seasons, so grab a glass and hold on tight, better days are just around the corner.
*Elizabeth strongly suggests this high-quality French liqueur.
IMBIBE: Queen Anne’s Lace
Hold onto hope, people. And I don’t mean clinging to the East Side street sign while bracing for 40mph winds and ice in your face. Although if you find yourself in that predicament, godspeed and we’ll wait for you at the bar.
I mean hold onto the hope that someday, somehow, we will see dirt, grass, concrete again.
It was one such night between snowstorms I found myself lamenting to Josh Nault, who heads up the cocktail creations at Besos in East Greenwich. Josh – who’s no dummy – quickly went to work on something to cheer up this doleful cocktail writer. He served up a drink named for wild carrot flowers, made from his catalogue of infusions and simple syrups.
What: Queen Anne’s Lace
Found Where: Besos
Go Get:
3 oz Carrot Vodka* 1 oz Ginger Anise Simple Syrup** Ice (small cubes)
Make: Pour into a small snifter laden with ice and stir lightly.
At first sip, you’ll find earth, clay and floral aromas, followed by a rich, mellow finish. This may sound odd and may not be everyone’s cup of booze, but this drink has me sipping, pondering, thinking of carrots and believing someday I’ll be digging in a garden again. Until then, stop by Besos for your fix.
*Carrot vodka*
Shave carrots and rest them in vodka for 3 to 4 weeks. You’ll have to play around and experiment with how many carrots suit your taste, but the more and the smaller cut, the better for maximum surface area infusion. Strain and giddyup.
**Ginger Anise Simple Syrup
1:1 ratio of Water Brown Sugar Finely dice a small fennel bulb and ginger nob Boil with water and add brown sugar Sit over low heat for 20 minutes Let it cool and strain it
IMBIBE: The Promenade
Health. Detox. Cleansing. No more Booze. No more processed okra. No more white stuff of any kind (humans excluded because they’re everywhere).
We’ve all done it. Claimed New Year’s resolutions with such fervor those staunch proclamations might as well be set in stone on Mt. Sinai.
You know the particularly difficult resolutions — completely nixing the old cocktail list. Not that there’s anything wrong with taking a break and assessing one’s health. But this is a cocktail article, damn it, so we’ll briefly note the fact many an alcoholic libation has been used medicinally for health and healing for centuries.
Come on, there’s even the well-known cheers, “To your health!”
However, it’s a lot harder to find a cocktail worth mentioning in this body-mind issue.
Fate also likes to drink, which is why she had me cross paths (over a delicious Bloody Mary) with Evan Gravell of the Salted Slate.
He may very well be my new health guru. “I came up with this drink as a digestif, but it really seemed like something you could have as an aperitif,” he paused, “or through the night. So that’s why I named it The Promenade.”
What: The Promenade
Found Where: The Salted Slate
Go Get:
1 1/2 oz Tarragon and Orange infused Gin*
1/2 oz Fernet Branca
3/4 oz Lemon juice
1/2 oz Simple syrup
3-4 Dashes of Peychaud’s bitters
Make: Pour into a shaker with chipped ice and stiffly and quickly and righteously shake the tumbler. (When done repetitiously you’ll find nicely honed triceps and forearms.) Pour into a coupe with a wide slip of orange peel.
Evan’s right. This drink holds such clean, bright, herbal complexity you really could sip on it before, during and after dinner. Try adding this to your weekly workout routine: Hold the cocktail high in the air, cheers to your health, move from left hand to right hand over the evening to manage muscle imbalance and sip over and over and over again.
Oscar Wilde would be proud.
*Neda Khan, another Salted Slate bartender, made the infusion using orange peel and tarragon on gin for about a week. Evan’s background in the subtleties of coffees helped inspire him with this and many a cocktail creation. IMBIBE: Your Guide to the Bloody Mary
It’s that time of year, kids. You know, the time where you’ve shoved chocolate-covered, gin-soaked, cheese-smothered, ham-glazed, bourbon-nutball-smashed-whatever-the-hell-it’s-calleds into your quivering mouth for likely over a month.
Happy Holidays.
As first-world westerners living upon a New England foundation built from stoic puritanical immigrants, it’s important to flog ourselves once said indulgences are over. Many of us like to do this by crafting oft- unattainable resolution lists, such as:
Going on a diet of nuts and veggies until June Volunteering every Friday night rather than dating Shaving, something, anything, regularly Waking up an hour early to run 5 miles Giving up processed foods Replacing beer with tepid mineral water
We all know resolution lists are crap and make us feel like crap. Many of us also know that on New Year’s Day, we’ll open bleary eyes, parched lips, and with voices cracking we ask for what will make us feel better: Bloody Mary, please.
Ah, Bloody Mary. This prohibition-era elixir has a contested birthplace – bars in New York and Paris lay claim to the invention as well as a few bartenders between the 1920s and 1930s. Kind of like how barkeeps, magpies and drunk uncles argue about how to make one. There are thousands of recipes with thousands more suggestions.
We’ll keep this ode simple.
In honor of lists that are actually attainable and because Bloody Marys are just so damned good when they’re good, here are a few bullets on places to grab one, mixes when you’re lazy and a little ditty of a recipe for home bars.
Find Your Bloody Here*
Nick’s On Broadway Salted Slate Julians Trafford Midtown Oyster Bar The Ocean Mist Matunuck Oyster Bar
Decent Bloody Prepared Mixes for the Lazy Stirring’s New England’s Best Bloody Mary Mix
An Easy Bloody Mary Because sometimes we just can’t bear to drink in public, here’s a decent recipe that’ll set you right on New Year’s Day. It’s for a pitcher to share … or to keep to yourself.
5 lemons, juiced 1 tablespoon celery seeds 3 tablespoons grated fresh or prepared horseradish (or more if you’re brave) 2 quarts tomato juice, chilled 2.5 tablespoons hot sauce (Frank’s Red Hot or Tabasco or your favorite) 1 1/4 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (I like more, personally) Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste) 1 1/2 cups vodka** (Choose your favorite as long as it’s plain or pepper, bacon, or pickle infused … mmm pickles) Garnishes (Whatever you want such as celery sticks, cucumber slices, pepperoncini, shrimp, bacon, provolone, olives, lots of olives, your ex-lover’s pinky.) Take the celery seeds, a dash of salt and pepper and muddle or grind them up. Then throw everything in a big pitcher or whatever vessel you have. Stir, stir, stir. Taste and add more of anything you want to taste. I usually add more salt. And vodka (or sometimes gin). If you have time, let it chill for a while in the fridge. Or, shakily, hastily, pour over ice-filled tall glasses and dump in your favorite garnishes. Drink, with relief.
**[Weird alert: If you wanna get weird, try substituting Tequila or London Dry Gin. If you wanna get really weird, keep the vodka and add dashes of Bitterman’s Orchard Celery Shrub and/or a couple of hits of Amontillado Sherry.]
Resolved: Bloody Marys cure most night-before-ills, and really, just burn the sin right out of us. Definitely going on this girl’s resolution list for 2015 to craft them and drink them — more often, of course.
*This is a highly subjective list based upon months of bloody research. Please note the reviewers love very spicy, olive or accoutrement-laden glasses, thick with horseradish, not the runny thin type of tomato juice cups your favorite airline pours at 20,000 feet.
IMBIBE: The Sazerac
As trendy as mixology can be, it’s just as necessary to go back to our roots and hunker down with a glass of simple origins. Now let’s be clear, drinkers, there’s actually nothing simplistic about this cocktail – simple and easy are not the same thing. This drink has endured modifications and adulterations over the centuries. We’re here to revisit a bit of history with a clever bartender I’ve been lucky enough to run into while trolling the streets of Newport in search of good elixirs.
And now let me introduce Don Byrd, who currently cracks, stirs and shakes at the bar of Fluke restaurant in Newport:
“I started drinking Sazeracs in 2009, when Kevin (a bartender at Lili Marlene’s) made one for me. Over the years, I found it increasing difficult to find people who made a good one, as many had their own version. So I started researching, found the original recipe, and have been making it for about five months.”
What: The Sazerac
Go Get:
½ oz Absinthe
Ice
2 oz Rye whiskey (note: the original recipe used cognac until it was difficult to acquire)
3 dash Peychaud Bitters
1 tsp sugar or 1/2 oz simple syrup
Rocks glass
Make:
Rinse an old-fashioned glass with 1/2 oz Absinthe, add cracked ice to chill, and let it sit.
Stir the Rye, bitters and sugar or simple syrup (in a separate glass or beaker) over ice for 15 to 20 seconds.
Pour out Absinthe and pour drink into glass.
Take a lemon peel, twist it over the cocktail, quickly wipe around the glass once, and drop it into the finished cocktail.
You’ll find this drink a lovely hue, with spicy hints of absinthe, rye, and citrus — just what you’d want to drink at this time of year (or almost anytime of year). When asked about modern versus pre-prohibition drinks, Don thoughtfully said, “The time and creativity they put into each cocktail is astounding. Where would the industry be without this part of history?”
So give thanks this holiday for a little history in your glass.