Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Homemade

We are quickly approaching Christmas so that means the stores are full of frantic people and shelves are mostly empty. Instead of joining the throngs of stressed out people, why not stay in the comfort of your own home and make a gift. We found a great recipe for bourbon-pecan truffles. They are easy to make and are decadent little treats. 


Bourbon-Pecan Truffles

1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (we suggest Ghirardelli semisweet chips)
2 tablespoons bourbon whiskey (we suggest Old Heaven Hill bourbon)
1 cup finely chopped pecans

1. In medium saucepan, bring cream to boil; remove from heat; and add chocolate and bourbon. Let stand 3 minutes; whisk until smooth. Transfer chocolate to bowl and refrigerate uncovered until thick and firm enough to spoon out. About 2 hours.

2. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Drop teaspoons of chocolate mixture onto baking sheet and refrigerate until firm. About 30 minutes. 

3. Place pecans in a shallow bowl. Using hands, roll each chocolate mound into a ball and roll in pecans, pressing lightly to adhere. Place on baking sheet and refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes to one hour. Store in air tight container in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

You can modify this recipe many ways too. If you don't want to use pecans to coat the truffles, roll the mix in cocoa powder. You can also swap out the bourbon for one of your other favorite spirits like Amaretto or Irish Cream. 

Enjoy!

Monday, December 23, 2013

Get in the Spirits

Today's gift selection for our readers - barreled cocktails. There are lots of make your own kits out on the market. We haven't tried out any of those kits ourselves so we can't say how well they work. What we do know is that High West makes a very good barrel aged cocktail. Simply chill a bottle down in the refrigerator and pour, cocktailing could not be simpler. They have two choices, the barrel aged Boulevardier and the barreled Manhattan.




High West is not able to ship these fine spirits so you'll have to find a place near you that has them in stock, or hope that Santa brings some to you.

Cheers!

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Another Reading Assignment

This is a gift that will keep on giving - at least until the subscription runs out. Two magazines that we really like over here at The Bar are Imbibe and Whisky Advocate.




We enjoy Imbibe because of the variety of spirits that are discussed and all the tasty recipes. And Whisky Advocate has been a long time staple at our table of bourbon and scotch lovers. So get a subscription for yourself and give a gift to a couple of lucky people in your life.

Cheers!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Light My Fire

The Hedonists had the chance to meet the mastermind behind Dashfire Bitters, Lee Egbert. We spoke of cocktails and how adding bitters or tinctures can make the difference between being good or being great. As most of you already know, we at The Bar, are advocates of adding bitters to recipes. We did what any curious person would do - we bought the Dashfire Vintage Orange No. 1 bitters, Lavender tincture, Grapefruit tincture, and Allspice tincture. We tried them all out and we really enjoyed the results. Dashfire has several products to offer so we encourage you to check out the full line. The products can be purchased at a variety of places in the Twin Cities or on Amazon.


 
*Photos from Dashfire Bitters

After the first of the year we'll be posting one of our favorite recipes that uses Lavender tincture.

Cheers!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Hey, where's the candy bowl?

Liquor filled candy. Do we really have to explain why this is a good idea? "Yes" Your in-laws are visiting for the holidays. "Good point. Does it come by the case?" You should probably refer to our previous post about flasks and figure out where to stash reserves around your house and on your person. For the rest of our readers that are looking for a little extra cheer in the candy bowl, we found two options for liquor candy. 

Hard Candy from the Vermont Country Store  


Liquor filled chocolates from the German Deli


The German Deli has a couple dozen choices so you can pick out your favorite flavor or just get the assorted box.

Cheers!


Thursday, December 19, 2013

Useful Notes

The Hedonists are very familiar with taking notes. We have notebooks full of scribbles that detail our travels, favorite recipes, cocktail experiments, and anything else we feel like writing down. The 33 Books Company has created a bunch of these handy little notebooks that you can tuck in a pocket and record your thoughts about a variety of indulgences. You are sure to find a book for someone on your Christmas list with choices such as: Beer, Wine, Whiskey, Cider, Coffee, Cigars, Cheese, Hot Sauce, and Chocolate. You may even want to buy a couple for yourself.

Cheers!

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

We like it dirty

Looking for that perfect cocktail garnish? You could spend hours trying to pick out the perfect cherries, or you can leave the tough work up to the folks at Filthy Foods







Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Leave an Impression, Not a Water Stain

Today's gift idea is all about how you serve your cocktails and drinks. We firmly believe in having the proper glass for your drinks and having a good surface to place them upon. Many of you are already on board with having the right glass for your cocktails, but you're probably wondering why we insist on coasters. We could bore you with talk of interfacial viscosity, particle shape, and drop drying patterns but we won't. Simply put, we use coasters to prevent ring stains on surfaces and to prevent puddling condensation making a mess that lets your glass slide across the table top.

For glassware we like to hit up all the local second hand stores and consignment shops. We have scored some beautiful crystal champagne glasses as well as other serving sets for a fraction of the original price. If you don't have the luxury of bargain hunting through the shops, we encourage you to check out Boston Shaker and Summit Sips. Boston Shaker has a nice selection of new glassware. Summit Sips has a variety of vintage and antique glassware, be sure to visit the website periodically because some items are truly one of a kind finds. 


For coasters, we often just pick up a few at the local bar when we go out for nibbles. If you like eclectic coasters from re-use items, check out Uncommon Goods they have coasters made from recycled bicycle parts, wood, and rubber tires. Of course Amazon and your local big box stores have several choices too.




Cheers!

Monday, December 16, 2013

I'm gonna shine!

This is for the party crowd that likes to make a little show of things. What better way to show your guests where to find tasty beverages than to light up your liquor! 

 LED color changing coasters will light up your cocktail glasses and bottles



LED submersible lights will be like a beacon when in your punch bowl or drink dispenser. 






Cheers!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Turned On

**This product is only intended for consenting adults**

The folks over at Epic Meal Time have made a product that will make your privates smell like whiskey - Whiskey Dick Lube. "Ewww! Why would I want that?!" Maybe your lover is a booze hound? Or maybe you want to try something new to spice things up in the boudoir. "Um, no." Okay, okay, maybe you just want to give an embarrassing gift to one of your friends or your idiot sibling. "Hahaha, now you're talking!" 
Have fun!


Saturday, December 14, 2013

Get Baked

No, seriously, let's do some baking. This is a great gift for the confectioner in your life. Cookie cutters from Cakes Under the Influence. 

* Photo from Cakes Under the Influence

And to go with those cookie cutters, the folks over at CUI have recipes for cut out cookies and miniature cakes that look like classic cocktails - yum!

 * Photo from Cakes Under the Influence

Cheers!

Friday, December 13, 2013

Stone Cold

Sometimes we want a cold drink without it being watered down by ice. There are many products on the market to help us chill our beverages. We picked out a small handful from the folks at Uncommon Goods.

Wine Pearls for your vino lovers.
  



Double Whiskey stones.



A rocks set made from New England granite.

Drink Chillers that are a coaster with a stone inset giving you a two-for-one way to keep drinks cold, and rings off your tabletop.





Shot glasses made of stone.




Cheers!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

A Taste of New Orleans

Here we present a set of gifts that are inspired by a famous New Orleans cocktail that was created in the 1800's by a Creole immigrant named Antoine Peychaud. Folks that enjoy the flavor of Absinthe are well acquinted with the Sazerac cocktail. The Sazerac is a staple here at the bar. You can get your hands on almost everything you need to make a great cocktail at the Sazerac Gift Shop - recipe, bitters, glassware, and mixing tools. The spirits will have to be procured from your local liquor store. For the best flavor we suggest using Sazerac Rye whiskey and Absente absinthe. The absinthe will last you an incredibly long time, so we suggest getting resealable beer bottles from a home brewing store and splitting it up between several people. A bonus to buying a case of resealable bottles is you'll have extras on hand to store your homemade syrups.


 

So what does a Sazerac taste like? "Delicious" Well, yes, we think it is very tasty. The rye whiskey, black licorice flavor of the absinthe, sugar, and bitters make it a lot of sweet and a little spice.

*photo from the Sazerac Gift Shop
Cheers!

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Tools of the Trade

Any good craftsman will tell you that good tools are key to producing a quality finished product. We could not agree more. We have a countless supply of tools and gadgets behind our bar. Just in time for holiday gift giving, we put together our list of must haves for making cocktails.





Cocktail Shaker - We much prefer to use 2 shaker tins for their low cost, ease of use and good seal they provide. Many are familiar with 3 piece shakers, but we are not big fans. Our experience has been that they tend to leak and are more difficult to use. We recommend getting a 18 ounce and 28 ounce shaker tin from BarSupplies.com


Hawthorne Strainer - You may not know the name, but you probably have seen this indispensable tool before. Used for straining liquid from ice or other ingredients for cocktails served up or those served over a large ice chunk. We really like this one from OXO available at Target.











Juicer - Fresh citrus juice is essential to a great cocktail. We have tried several juicers with mixed results. Some did not do a very good job of extracting the juice, others were not very easy to use. We much prefer this juicer from Williams and Sonoma





Measuring - Proper balance of ingredients is key to a great cocktail. Unless you are have been trained to free pour with accuracy and have pour spouts on all you liquor bottles, you are going to need some way to insure you are pouring the proper amount. We really like these 2 jiggers from OXO.  Available from many local retailers and online merchants, is it a small investment to make in order to be certain your cocktails a consistent and delicious. 


                                


Peeler - We have found a y peeler to be the easiest tool for making cocktail garnished. The volatile oils released by squeezing fresh citrus peel over a cocktail provide a vibrant freshness that is sure to complete any cocktail. The OXO y peeler makes easy work of stripping of the peel without removing the bitter pith. We got the professional version from Amazon.com.  








Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Sneaky Sneaky

Holiday parties starting to get to you? Is your family driving you to drink more than usual? Or have you found yourself stuck somewhere and the only drinks are *gasp!* non-alcoholic? We have scoured the interwebs for a variety of flasks that range from classic to kind of sketchy. Cheers!

The crafty folks at Etsy have over 13,000 options for flasks. We were overjoyed :-)

Steampunk Wedding Garter Flask Corset Holster.  For Wedding, Costume, Bridesmaid Gifts, Bridal Garter, BacheloretteParty Girl Glitter FlaskHollow Book Safe & Flask THE GODFATHERCat Smoking  Liquor Hip Flask Stainless Steel 8 oz (FK-0375)Polished Flask Personalized Engraved with Monogram Gifts for Men Under 20Mountain Man Leather Flask - Personalized initials, Red Wood Tree -  brown leather, wedding hip flasksOctopus Attacking Ship Liquor Hip Flask Stainless Steel 8 oz (FK-0141)American 'Merica Fuck Yeah USA Stainless Steel Hip Flask America

The Bev-Brush, Bev-Cam, Bev-Burry, & Binoculars from Binocktails

 

A 64 ounce jumbo flask
     

Tampon flasks... um, yeah we don't know what to say about these...


Christmas ornament flasks! Now that is friggin' genius! The only bad part is we can't find someone currently selling these. Guess we just have to hide some small flasks in the branches.



And finally for your snappy dresser, a flasktie.



Cheers!