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Lula Harp

~ one girl's journey into cooking, crafting and self discovery

Lula Harp

Tag Archives: Irish Whisky

Toast Tuesday: Fernet Redux

21 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by Lula Harp in Toast Tuesday

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Tags

cocktails, Concoct, Fernet-Branca, Irish Whisky, Shelby Farms Park

During my year of drinking adventurously, we tried Fernet-Branca, which is a bitter liqueur.  It is often served as a digestive or a common drink is Fernet mixed with coke or ginger beer.  I was not a fan.  I thought for sure I had just wasted money on a bottle that was going to collect dust on my shelf for eternity.

While doing research for Irish whiskey cocktails, one caught my eye, the Southside Smash from the Jameson website.  It called for lime juice, whiskey, mint… so far so good… and Fernet.  I like all of the other ingredients in there so I think I need to give it a try.  I dialed back the Fernet to almost half what the recipe called for.  This allowed all the flavors to come through and not be bullied out by the Fernet.

The two weeks before my recent Concoct event at Shelby Farms, I had two different taste testing evenings to fine tune my recipes and finalize the menu.  The Southside Smash was one that gave people a new flavor element within the comfort of more familiar flavors.  Everyone did a straw taste of Fernet, one woman really liked it, and no one was repelled by it.  So, here’s to trying new things!

This second Concoct event was so much fun.  The people were amazing, the energy of the group was congenial, and there were some great conversations.  A handful of us went for dinner afterward to keep the party going.

For your next Irish Party, give the Southside Smash a try.

1 ½ ounces Irish whisky
¼ – ½ ounce Fernet-Branca
¾ ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
¾ ounce simple syrup*
4-6 mint leaves

Combine ingredients into a shaker, add ice and shake vigorously for 10 seconds.
Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass.
Garnish with a mint sprig.

*Simple Syrup is equal parts sugar and water.  Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve.  Cool to room temperature and store in the fridge for up to two weeks.

 

Alright, run along now and enjoy this spring!  Slainte!

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Toast Tuesday: Irish Whisky

15 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in Toast Tuesday

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

flood, Irish Whisky, the parting glass, The Year of Drinking Adventurously, toast tuesday, Tullamore D.E.W.

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I want y’all to click on that picture so you can get a better sense of what I am going to tell you.  That black speck on the left is Coe standing up to her belly in water.  From where she is standing to the road you see on the far right of this picture, is a straight line… a road in fact.  We have had so much freakin’ rain!

So, when we weren’t dodging downpours, I was inside sipping some Tullamore D.E.W.  I only had one whisky this week, and for me, it was an obvious choice.  Tullamore D.E.W is my friend Bitsy La Rue’s beverage of choice, so I toasted her this week.

Our author and guide on this journey notes that Irish whisky is smoother, slightly sweeter, and much more approachable than other whiskeys. I would agree with this statement.  He also alludes that this is a good gateway whisky for vodka drinkers because it is so smooth.  I really enjoyed this whisky neat, and this isn’t something I’ve enjoyed with the other spirits we have tried so far.

Everything comes in and out of fashion at some point.  Irish whisky was once the envy of the world before Scotch took over.  It’s all about technology and the still that they use. The key element to Irish whisky is that it is distilled three times.  Until the 1960’s Irish whisky was produced on a pot still, giving it interesting flavor elements that could not really be produced on a column still, but this was a longer and more time consuming process.  Because Scotch producers began using column stills, they had a more efficient and quicker process, and slowly took over over the market.

While Irish whisky was considered some of the world’s best, they eventually abandoned the pot stills in an effort to catch back up to Scotch.  With the recent popularity of craft distilling and a desire by many to drink better booze,  the pot still is making a comeback. For that we are grateful.  Tullamore D.E.W. has a great page where you can see their process in action, including their beautiful pot stills.  I’d much prefer the tour.

I made several cocktails this week, none of which were bad, but I think the whisky got lost because it is so delicate.  I never thought I would use that word to describe whisky, but there you have it.

 

Weeski
Weeski
Blarney Stone
Blarney Stone
on ice
on ice
Porcellino's chicken fried biscuit
Porcellino’s chicken fried biscuit
Our guide
Our guide

The one other thing I did this weekend in order to steer clear of the rain was to go to Porcellino’s for brunch on Saturday.  I had the fried chicken biscuit with sweet pepper jelly.  Oh my. oh my. oh my.  This was divine so I just had to throw this bit of food porn in for y’all.

 

This next bit is a test to see how much alcohol you have absorbed by osmosis from this blog post.  What do these two images have in common?

 

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Check back tomorrow for the answer.  It’s kind of like the wonderword, but I’m not going to make you flip the page upside down.

Tullamore D.E.W has several awesome videos.  Including one where they discuss the “right” way to taste whisky.  I tried all three: neat, water, and ice.  I over poured my water, ice made it very easy drinking, but as I mentioned earlier, neat was beautiful all on it’s own.

So, here’s to Toasting to another Tuesday and may the luck of the Irish be with you this week!  I’m going to leave you with the parting glass.

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  • Pacific Pie Company
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