happy st. patrick's day

As a proud Irish lass, I love St. Patrick's Day. I skip the green beer in favor a (single) Guinness or (several) Jamesons. Towards the beginning of this blog's life, I posted a recipe for ginger syrup. Today would be the ideal day to make this syrup and drink whisky and gingers.

gold rush

Last night I meet up with a friend at The Belvidere at Broad. As I sat at the bar to wait for my friend, I heard a man two seats down ordering a drink that had whiskey, lemon juice and honey. The bartender recommended using the bar's homemade ginger-honey syrup. I immediate asked to be in on the experiement. Whiskey double gingers are my favorite drink to make, and the honey/lemon added new complexities. I will definitely try to make this drink on my own, and be back at The Belvidere to have it again. An appoximation of the recipe is below, based a recipe I found online and the changes we made.

GOLD RUSH

Juice from half a lemon

3/4 oz ginger-honey syrup

2 oz bourbon

Spritz of club soda

Combine first three ingredients in cocktail shaker. Fill ice and shake hard, about 6-7 times. Pour into a rocks glass and top with club soda.

A quick note about The Belvidere, I really liked this place. It was nicely decorated and very friendly. The food was tasty, I had the roast chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries. The fries were great, though they didn't come with aoili which would have been nice. I just asked for mayo and was happy with that. The roast chicken itself was the standout, very juicy. The bartender was very attentive throughout the night so I'll definitely be back for food and just for drinks.

sending all my love to you

I sent my boyfriend these amazing vintage science-lab glass containers. I figured he could use them with his bar set (that I also sent him) to hold syrups to make cocktails. I had to get these for him cause he's a science-y minded guy (phd candidate in engineering. I make him explain many things to me!) I even included two glass swizzle sticks. One of my favorite cocktails is a whiskey double ginger made with homemade ginger syrup. A drink that works with every season but is especially good for fall! Hope you enjoy.

Ginger syrup
4 inch piece of ginger
1.5 cups sugar
1 cup water

Peel the ginger and cut into 4 or 5 pieces. Place in a saucepan with the sugar and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved and syrup has slightly thickened. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Take out the large ginger pieces and strain to remove any smaller bits. Store in the refrigerator.

Whiskey Double Ginger
2 oz whiskey
1 oz ginger syrup
ginger ale

In a double old-fashioned glass, pour whiskey and ginger syrup over ice. Top with ginger ale.

The ratio of this is totally up to you, however I recommend the following. A medium priced whiskey is fine, especially with the ginger ale. Go with Jim or Jack or even Evan Williams. You can just spoon a little ginger syrup onto whiskey on the rocks, and then I'd recommend something nice like Makers or Knob Creek. Never ever use SoCo. It is acceptable on in college when doing SoCo and lime shots.

(Additionally: when at college bars, do not order a whiskey and coke with anything other than shelf liquor. You are wasting your money ordering Makers that is then completely diluted. No Southern girl is impressed.)