Tag: Bittercube Bitters

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Chainsaw Cut Ice… for these unbearably hot days!

WB1

Chainsaw Cut Ice

Take a 300-pound block of ice and set carefully on a towel to prevent escape! Don’t have a block of ice so large? Go to a local ice house and ask them to chip off a hunk for you to work with.

If you’re nice, they might cut it up for you!

Use a small electric chainsaw with a clean blade. Wear eye protection! Ice is sharp! Cut extremely carefully with your saw. Wear heavy gloves and use an ice pick to separate large usable chips from small ones (less usable because they dilute a drink, rather than chill it).

  • To a cocktail shaker filled with fresh ice add:
  • 3 ounces of Bluewater USDA Certified Organic Vodka from Seattle, Washington
  • 1.5 ounces Orleans Apple Aperitif from Vermont (similar to Lillet but with frozen apples instead of grape-driven wine and herbs)
  • 3 drops of Bittercube Bitters (I like their Cherry Bark Vanilla for this cocktail; you can also use the salubrious bitters from Bitter End or even the German-made bitters from Bitter Truth. Don’t have these? Try Angostura!)
  • Freshly squeezed lime, lemon and tangerine juice — about 1 tablespoon of each

Add all liquors and fruit juices and cube ice (save the chainsaw ice for the cocktail) to a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously until frost forms on the side of the shaker like the steam rising off a road after a summer thunderstorm.

Strain into a tall rocks glass with that perfect chunk of chainsaw ice. I prefer a long, tall ice cube rather than smaller chips.

Finish cocktail with exactly three drops of Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla Bitters and sip through to a finish that speaks of languid, humid days in New Orleans. Serves 1.

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Early Fall Cocktail

I came up with this little beauty while fishing some leaves out of my pool on an unusually cold day — what to do when it’s too chilly to swim? Make a drink.

The Early Fall Cocktail is based on the premise of a cold winter coming. Days before the Labor Day holiday, it’s freezing cold here in the Northeast and I wanted to concoct something truly American for the upcoming holiday.

The anchor of this cocktail is the Tuthilltown Manhattan Rye Whiskey, redolent with the flavors of late summer, and it’s easy to produce in large batches. Peaches are fresh now and grill beautifully.

The Early Fall Cocktail

  1. Heat a charcoal grill. Grill slices of peaches until uniformly brown and caramelized.
  2. Add ice, rye and vermouth to a cocktail shaker with ice.
  3. Chill, don’t shake. Add bitters.
  4. “Purée” the peaches with a cocktail muddler. Add 2 tablespoons of the grilled peach mash to a sterling silver julep cup and add some crushed ice.
  5. Pour rye and vermouth mixture into the sterling silver julep cup.
  6. Mix carefully with a wooden mixer — never use metal on silver (you know by now that’s my pet peeve).
  7. Serve with grilled corn and barbecued ribs that have been marinated with peaches and rye whiskey.