It’s been a while since I have posted a cocktail here, which has primarily to do with the fact that I’ve now been sick twice in three weeks. Unusual, I know, especially for someone who generally doesn’t get sick more than once a year, but sadly true. This cold has kept me in or near bed for most of January—a fact which neither pleases nor excites me. I’m feeling much better today, though, and as such I’ve followed my doctor’s standing orders and am taking a dram to cure what ails me.

Amusingly, this is the cocktail Ted was drinking the last time we were able to visit a bar together when he was the one being assailed by a cold. As such, the aptly named Prescription Julep is an accepted cure-all for these pesky viruses, the word “julep” being very old and, for a good portion of its history, associated with medicinal potions for ensuring health and vitality. The ingredients and applications have varied over the centuries, but julep has been interpreted in Middle English, Persian and many other languages as a flavored syrup, which is obviously still true to a large extent. Referenced in many sources, including Milton and Pepys, juleps medicinal, alcoholic or non, are an old favorite of the Old South—though we can’t be exactly sure when mint came in to the equation—and an American icon.

This julep, made with brandy and rye whiskey, was published (humorously) in Harper’s Monthly during the nineteeth century and republished by Dave Wondrich in Imbibe!. Spicy, sweet, complex and delicious, it really does help you cope with a sickness… mostly by inducing naps. Look no further for the ultimate julep for a cold night by the fire—or even a summer day by the pool. Continue →

Happy New Year, friends, and welcome to the fifth anniversary year of SLOSHED! It hardly seems possible that I’ve been sitting behind this keyboard banging out posts for five years, but the calendar does not lie.

My planned week off after the New Year has spun out into nearly three, thanks to a nasty cold and various other distractions. And, with what’s gone on and is continuing to happen in Haiti, blogging about cocktails hardly seemed like the thing that should be taking up my time. Speaking of which, I’d like to give a small plug for charity. I know everyone is texting their donations to the Red Cross, but I’m more than a little suspicious of non-profit organizations with CEOs paid over $400,000 a year. There are many other, less bureaucratic, aid groups out there who could also use your ever-more-precious dollars—groups like Oxfam International and Doctors Without Borders.

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Since this is the beginning of our fifth year, I thought I’d do a little photographic flashback through the gradual development of the bar, and of the blog. After years of work, we finally have all of our bottles and tools housed safely and accessibly, a fact which I can only disclose after a lot of trial and error and messy, overcrowded solutions—namely, the single, large cabinet that has attempted to house our unwieldy collection of bottles since 2005. All the cocktail geeks will tell you that bottle, book and tool storage is a real problem, especially when you live in a tiny little apartment with no space for a wet (or even a dry) bar. Eventually we found the best solution for us, which you can see as part of the morphology below: Continue →

Well, here it is: the end of 2009. It’s been a great year for Dan and I, personally and professionally. Our wedding, the weddings of some very dear friends, lots of interest in the website, my ever-expanding garden and some excellent job fortunes have all added up to a pretty stellar year. We feel blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by our wonderful family and an incredible group of talented, supportive, loving friends. All in all, 2009 has turned out better than we could have hoped and we have even higher hopes for 2010. There are travel plans in the works and lots of fun adventures ahead so bring it on, new year!

Speaking of which, before we close out the archives on 2009 we have to recap the ten most popular cocktails on the site this year. I’ve excluded the Cocktail Archive—which was technically the third most popular page on the site this year—in favor of actual posts, but feel free to peruse it for inspiration in tonight’s festivities. And so, here are the ten most popular cocktails on SLOSHED! in the past twelve months:

1. Blood Orange Margarita
2. Home Bar 101
3. Brandied Cherries
4. Corpse Reviver #2
5. Satan’s Whiskers
6. Pumpkin Cider
7. Le Tourment Vert
8. Violet Fizz
9. Bourbon Renewal
10. Snowshoe

And to close the year out right, there is one final cocktail for the books. The Last Word is aptly named, as it is generally a last word in many respects, being both a fine and rather strong concoction. Simple and tasty, this is one of our favorite gin cocktails any time of the year and we hope you’ll like it too. Use it to bid adieu to this year or ring in the new, or just to savor one of the little pleasures whenever you need one. Continue →

It was supposed to rain today, but instead it is windy and icy cold—in short, unpleasant without even the beneficial aspects of precipitation. Thus I am inside tending the fire, enjoying a hot beverage and working on finishing up a few more Christmas treats. This particular hot beverage is a personal favorite, being as it is both soothing and warming with the added bonus of holiday spice.

It isn’t complicated to make and has a passing similarity to eggnog, though without the extra fat and extra work. And, though the recipe here calls for rum—taken as it is from Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide, Revised—you could easily make this with brandy, whiskey, or even applejack. I’m pretty sure it’d be okay with a little slug of amaretto, Kahlua or créme de noyaux too, but then again when it comes to cocktail variations I’m a rebel and I ain’t no good. Continue →

This recipe is so simple that it almost feels like cheating. Two ingredients, no shaking—really, how much easier does it get? Not much, and yet this is one of our favorite winter warmers. It is even Doctor Cocktail-approved, given that the good doctor himself gave us the formula and the impetus to try this delightful beverage over a year ago. Since then I don’t think I could count how many Snowshoes we’ve made, nor how many empty bottles of peppermint schnapps in the recycling bin have caused our neighbors’ eyebrows to arch. If you’re feeling a chill this yuletide, or if perhaps the holiday cheercheercheer has worn you down, read on. A quick Snowshoe is a warm, cozy balm for your cold, weary self. Continue →