Lime, Cinnamon, Cranberry Simple Syrup

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, if you are still looking for something unique and fun to add to the celebration, my Cinnamon, Cranberry Simple Syrup is just what you are looking for.  This 15 minute preparation is a fun and easy recipe that is sure to add a little Thanksgiving flavor to all of your favorite cocktails. 

Lime, Cinnamon, Cranberry Simple Syrup
Time to Prepare: 15 min
Time to Cool: 30 min

Ingredients:
1 c. water
1 c. white sugar
2 c. washed cranberries
2 sticks cinnamon
zest of one lime (try to minimize the white pith just under the outer peel as this part of the peel can impart overwhelming bitterness)

Stir all ingredients together over medium heat and simmer for 11 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand to cool. When cool, strain out solids and store syrup in refrigerator for up to one month. 

(The remaining sweetened cranberries should not be discarded as they can be used to garnish a delicious cocktail recipe or be a good addition to the Thanksgiving dinner table as a sweet cranberry relish. Remove the cinnamon sticks and lime zest before serving.)

Cranberry Spice Margarita

•  2 oz favorite Tequila blanca
•  juice of 1 juicy lime
•  (splash) 1/2 oz Limeade or Margarita Mix (splash)
•  (splash)1/2 oz OJ
•  3/4-1 oz cranberry cinnamon syrup

Garnish is a mixture equal parts coarse salt, white sugar and cinnamon to rim the serving glass.
Build over ice, shake, rim glass with garnish. Pour shaken Cranberry Spice Margarita into glass rimmed with white sugar, ground cinnamon, and coarse salt, garnish with a lime wedge and serve.

Cranberry Spice Cosmo

•  3 oz Absolute citcron vodka
•  (splash) 1/4oz lime juice
•  3/4 oz Cranberry Spice Simple Syrup

Glass garnish is a mixture equal parts white sugar and cinnamon to rim the serving glass.
Build in a shaker, serve in chilled martini glass garnished with sugar and cinnamon and a lime wedge.

Cinacran and Bourbon

•  2 oz Favorite Bourbon
•  3/4 oz Cranberry Spice Simple Syrup

Build over ice, shake, serve in a bucket glass.
Garnish with lime.

Here are a few more ways that this cranberry cinnamon syrup can be used.
Mocktails/Non-Alcoholic Drinks

•  CinaCran Lime/Lemonade
•  CinaCran and 7
•  CinaCran and Soda

Cocktails

•  Spiced Cranberry Lemon Drop
•  Spiced Cranberry Hot Whiskey
•  Absolute Citron, soda - spiced CinaCran Syrup
•  CinaCran Bay Breeze/Sea Breeze

Beer tasting week 3 - 52 beers 52 weeks

Week: 3
Category:  Black Beer
Beer: Shiner Bohemian Black Lager
Brewer: Spoetzl Brewing Company
Style: Schwarzbier

Appearance: Dark with a thin tan head that quickly vanished leaving a slight lacing.
Smell: Roasted malts, carmel and hints of coffee.
Taste: Initial notes of malts, bitter dark chocolate and carmel, yet remarkably crisp
Mouthfeel: Noticeably light and dry, yet carbonation keeps things lively.
Drinkability: Seriously a session beer if you enjoy the dark varieties.
Rating: Smooth drinkable and relatively inexpensive and available. This beer is not loaded with complexities, yet there is still enough going on here to enjoy a few of these brews with some friends. This beer won't make my favorite list, yet I will return to this black lager.

Welcome to week three of my beer examination, I hope that you take the opportunity to try this beer and share your opinions here. If you are new here, please see what 52/52 is all about. Click on the links throughout the article for an opportunity to learn more about beer and beer tasting. Cheers!

Beer tasting week 2 - 52 beers 52 weeks

Una birra, per favore!

Week: 2
Category:  Birra from Italy
Beer:  Peroni Nastro Azzurro
Brewer:  Birra Peroni Industriale
Style:  European Pale Lager

Getting down to business...

Appearance:  Pale golden in color, short white head
Smell:  Light lemon and skunked hops
Taste:  light, smooth, a little skunky with residual sweetness ( from corn)
Mouthfeel:  Crisp and carbonated, medium lager-style body
Drinkability:  Highly drinkable

Rating:  First words, drinkable, yet boring.  I give this beer a middle of the road review and leave you with these words.  If this is what you have or what is on sale, serve it cold and enjoy what it offers, otherwise go with another selection.
Welcome to week two of my beer examination, I hope that you take the opportunity to try this beer and share your opinions here. If you are new here, please see what 52/52 is all about. Click on the links throughout the article for an opportunity to learn more about beer and beer tasting. Salute!

GIN DROP

Curious to try something new when you go out or looking to impress your friends when you stay in? Unsure where to start? Don't want to go over the top, but you do want something unique, try out this earthy and refreshing cocktail. It marries the traditional pairing of fresh lime and a delicious Gin, with a hint of some sweetness.  You can ask your bartender to make this if he has time, but he surely won't have heard of it yet. 

Gin Drop

Build in a shaker full of Ice

• 3oz Gin ( Tanquery, Hendrick's,  Bombay Saphire)
• Juice of half of a juicy lime
• 1/2 oz of watermelon pucker ( more if you like)
• Shake and serve as one martini or as two to three shots.

For Home Bartenders, this is an awesome recipe to add to your bag of tricks because most good home bars will already have everything for this recipe except the Watermelon Pucker, which is both cheap and readily available in most liquor stores in full bottles or in tiny airplane bottles for the non-comital type. It is nice NOT to have to buy a bunch of new ingredients just to try a new drink, and it also nice to acquire a new cocktail for your bar at home for less than the cost of one at the pub.

Beer Examination 52 Beers 52 Weeks

I love beer and have tried hundreds of beer over the years, but never in a massive, well orchestrated approach. I am starting a beer tasting project that will be incredibly fun as well as an interesting learning experience. It will also be a great opportunity to try some beers that I have never tried but wanted to, discover some new beers and brewers and revisit some old favorites and some questionably popular selections as well.

I encourage you to join me on my journey, 52 beers in 52 weeks. I will photograph, review and enjoy one beer a week for an entire year, post my photos and reviews on my blogs and encourage you to try the beers with me and share your opinions about my selections and reviews.


Here are my thoughts on how it could break down, but there are no rules to this tasting, so I will provide lots of information in a well organized fashion but I can not promise any predictable structure to my tasting selections.

I will examine:
1. Domestics/American Pilsners
2. Mexican Beers
3. Brown Beers
4. American Micro Brews
5. Classic Cans
6. Beers from my travels
7. Colorado Beers
8. Beers with Cool Labels
9. Red Beers
10. German Beers

You can likely expect to see roughly 4 beers in each category and possibly a couple of additional categories that are more obscure.

I hope that you join me in my tasting and the discussion about beer and that you find this project both fun and informative.

Beer tasting week 1 - 52 beers 52 weeks

Week 1 of 52

Category: Colorado Beer

Beer: 1554 Enlightened Black Ale

Brewer: New Belgium Brewing Company

Style: Belgian Dark Ale

Tasting Beer can be a bit like tasting wine in that there are different ways to experience and describe beer, but it does not need to be complex, too serious or intimidating.  Here is one idea of how to approach a beer tasting and reviewing

• Appearance: Deep dark brown
• Smell: Coffee, cocoa, malt,
• Taste: Roasted coffee, carmel and malt, finishes with dark chocolate
• Mouthfeel: moderate body and mouthfeel, rather light for such a dark beer
• Drinkability: Great fall and winter beer. I could enjoy a few of these, but more than that would prove to be too much for me.

Rating: I enjoyed New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Ale.  Not too heavy, though full flavored and complex in taste and smell.  I can recommend this beer and say that it is one of the better Black Ales on the market.

*Welcome to week one of my beer examination, I hope that you take the opportunity to try this delicious beer and share your opinions here.  If you are new here, please see what 52/52 is all about. Click on the links throughout the article for an opportunity to learn more about beer and beer tasting.  CHEERS!

QuikLinks

Here are some interesting and cool food links, simply click on the link and enjoy.

*Slow Food-  a cool site opposed to Fast Food
*Food Timeline- ever been curious as to when certain foods appeared on the scene
*International Chili Society- serious chili lovers
*Best Bars in Denver- a great link to awesome bars throughout Denver, organized by neighborhood
*Gin- great info on Gin and its origins and interesting characteristics
*Limes- cool Lime facts.  Ideas for uses and nutritional info.

Chili Recipe

Big Time Chili

I love to get back in the kitchen and food is the best when you have people to share it with.  This recipe is great for Monday Night Football if you've invited your friends over and promised to feed them, but don't have much money to spend.  This recipe doesn't cost much money or take much effort, especially if you like to cook.  Get your crock pot out because this is a Quick Prep, Slow Cook Recipe.

Chili, like a Bloody Mary, is an open canvas.  I will share my favorite home chili recipe, and then a list of ingredients that were found in some other notable chili recipes.  There is also a multitude of ways to serve chili.

1.5 lbs beef ( you choice fat content, don't go above 90/10.  Fat is flavor here.)

1 c. onion diced

4 cloves garlic minced

1 can black beans

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can Rotel's tomatoes and chilis

1 sm or 1/2 can of corn

1 sm can of whole green chilis

1 can of refried beans

1 amber/dark beer

1 pkg of Carrol Shelby's Original Texas Brand Chili kit

Start by browning the beef. At the last minute add your onions and garlic.  Carefully drain off half of the liquid in the pan, add what remains, meat and juice to the crock-pot.  Empty contents of Carrol Shelby's Texas chili kit (empty all packets) and add the kidney, black and garbanzo beans as well as the Rotels tomatoes, the chilis and the corn. In addition, add one amber or brown beer.  Start the crock-pot and cook on low for 2 hours.  Check, stir and add refried beans to chili and cook for 2 hours more.  This has got to be one of the easiest and most delicious recipes around.

Serving Ideas:

-hot dogs, fries, nachos, chili cheese Tater Tots, chili Mac, etc

Toppings:  shredded cheddar, jack or jalepeno jack cheese, sour cream, salsa,  diced white or sweet onion, and diced tomato.  Fritos or torilla chips are also great.

Hot Sauces:  many of us have our favorites, but for me, I have 3 go to's
       - Cholula, Tapatio, and Sriracha

This chili is amazing, but there are so many more ingredients that you can add, here is a list for some ideas.

Additions:

-bacon

-green pepper

-red pepper

-jalepenos

-brown sugar

-whorstesire

-bbq sauce

-chalula

LIQUIDS: chicken stock, vegi stock, water, canned tomato paste or tomato sauce.

SPICES: cayenne, paprika, black pepper,,chili powder, crushed red pepper, cumin, oregano, etc.

If you are preparing this recipe just for yourself or a small group, pre-portioned leftovers freeze up nicely and reheat for well for future dinners or snacks.

This recipe should be both easy and delicious, as well as an affordable option when having guests for a party or just stretching your food dollar throughout the winter.  Some people like to leave the meat out, some people like to leave the beans out.  Try it however you like, but enjoy cooking and you will enjoy what you make all that much more.  

Bloody Mary for Breakfast!

As far as I am concerned, one of the marks of a good bartender is their ability to make a great bloody mary.  As a great bartender, I make a great bloody and jump at the chance to make my own when I am drinking them.

This morning I woke up and wanted to have a bloody and wanted it my way.  I headed over to Max Gill and Grill to indulge in their do it yourself Bloody Mary Bar.  I arrived late so the Bloody Bar was a little worked( no photo ), but there was still essential elements present from all the spices, and over 15 hot sauces to fresh fruit and great garnishes.  For me a bloody is booze, lots of flavor, lots of juice, but not lots of tomato juice. It all starts with a pint glass rimmed with lime juice and salt and filled with ice, the recipe follows but make it your way, if you get the chance.  Or stop by Max Gill and Grill weekends for $5 Bloody Mar Bar.  Awesome.  For those of you that are more a mimosa than bloody, come along for the fun with all you can drink mimosas for $10.

Conk's Bloody

Build this Bloody in a lime salted pint glass full of ice

healthy pour of vodka

juice of half of a lime

juice of 1/4 lemon

1/2oz olive juice

1T. bloody mary concentrate

2 oz tomato juice

garnished with pickled green bean or cucumber as well as an olive and a lime.

Celery and lemon are traditional garnishes, but for me, minimum I want an olive and a lime.  If we are going to throw down and get fancy lets talk about grilled asparagus, pickle spears, pepperoncini, a long foodpick with assorted cheeses, shrimp, or my favorite, pickled green beans.

For the home bartender, a bloody is your canvas, have your friends over for a weekend game, use your favorite ingredients and you are sure to impress .

As for the Vodka, we all have our favorites.  For me, Stolichnya and Absolute are my go tos but Three Olives Tomato Flavored Vodka makes a cool choice as well.  If you have a great Bloody Mary vodka infusion at hand, jump at the opportunity.  If you are unfamiliar, look for Infusions as a future topic.  Pour, mix, enjoy.

Milwaukee St Tavern

Are you tired of your same old bar, looking for chill place to watch a game or just kick back?  Are you new to Cherry Creek and looking for a great neighborhood tavern that serves up delicious pub food in an unpretentious setting?  Let me introduce you to the Milwaukee Street Tavern.  This downstairs bar is located in the heart of Cherry Creek north and is accessible from the corner of 2nd and Milwaukee.  It caters to the Cherry Creek local as well as the friendly passer by.  If you stop by on the day of a Colorado Rockies game you will find a pub full of frenzied sports fans and bar with drink specials of the hometown favorite, Coors Lt. throughout the game.  If you miss the game and are just interested in some drinks at reasonable prices, the Milwaukee Street Tavern offers drink specials every day of the week including an all day Happy Hour on Sundays.  That's right, Happy Hour all day for NFL football.

Though the Milwaukee Street Tavern is a great place to watch a Rockies game, they offers something for everyone, with all the sports packages shown on HD plasma TVs mounted on walls and bar stocked with everything you'd want out of a great tavern.  Not only do they serve the hometown favorite, Coors, as well as other domestic beers, they also serve Stella Artois, 90 Shilling, Stone Arrogant Bastard, New Belgium products and an IPA served on nitrogen for the most discriminating beer drinkers.  For the sports fan, the tavern provides all of the major sporting events on some of the best looking TVs around and caters drink specials accordingly.  If you come hungry, Milwaukee St. Tavern serves a great full menu from 11am until 10pm. and a late night menu served until midnight.  If the food and booze or the sports don't bring you in to try the Milwaukee Street Tavern, let your curiosity guide you here to try ThunderBowl, a miniaturized, coin operated version of bowling.  Bowling in a bar you ask?  Yes, and it is free Monday and Tuesday from 10pm until they close at 2am.  Head over to the Milwaukee Street Tavern on 2nd and Milwaukee for the next big sporting event, a quick drink with friends or to get a bite to eat and try your hand at miniaturized bowling.  Service industry gets lots of love on Mondays and Tuesdays as well so if you have worked hard all weekend in a restaurant or bar, come in for a complimentary drink and wind down with others from the service industry.

Milwaukee Street Tavern's Hours
11am-2am daily
Full Menu: 11am- 10pm
LateNight Menu: 10pm-12am

Checkout the map below for directions.

Denver

I just arrived to Denver and look forward to calling it home.  Look out for a lot of great eateries and bars coming soon.

BEER HERE!

So the California Beer Festival comes to Ventura California and it did so only half heartedly. The event was billed as 60 + beers in Mission Park, Pre sell tickets for $35.  The event sold out their alloted 2000 advance ticket sales one week prior to the event, promising more at the gate and let the success stand there.

I personally am part of the masses that procrastinated in buying a ticket expecting that a I could purchase entrance to the event at the gate. I found possibly 1000 others eager beer lovers at the gate when I arrived to buy my entrance to the guzzling event to benefit DARC (Dyslexia Awareness and Resource Center) and learned that people had been waiting nearly 3 hours already. I met up with my friend at the front of the line to purchase tickets and encountered others like my friend who had been waiting since early morning.  It was not long after 1pm that the ticketed 2000 people began their two hour march to get to the brews.  THAT is RIGHT.  The line for the people with the coveted presell tickets actually took 2 hours to get from the back of the line to the front  (From the time that they started letting people in at 1pm until the last of the presell tickets was admitted).  

Meanwhile, as the coveted ticket holders made their long slow march to the gate, the 100's of beer lovers without tickets were informed that the event organizers were not selling ANY tickets at the gate, which they had previously posted on their website that it would be possible to buy tickets the day of the event. The mass of people gathered with hopes of buying tickets to celebrate OctoberFest at the California Beer Festival, were disappointedly dispersed and Downtown Ventura area enjoyed an unprecedentedly busy Saturday afternoon.

I waited! No matter what the Official People said, I waited, I did not move from my spot.  After two hours of watching people with tickets wait patiently and move slowly to the gate like sheeple, I was informed that the DOOR was not even checking tickets and that I should just come in.  I made my way to the gate only to find it was true, I was FREE to Drink, .  WOW.  A little perseverance goes a long way.

I am in and so were the few that remained in the line to buy tickets, but no one actually had to pay for tickets.  WHAT A JOKE!

Once inside we found bountiful booths of beer.  There were beer makers from Karl Strauss, Blue Moon, Stone Brewing Company, Santa Barbara Brewing Company, Carpenteria Brewing Company, Boston Beer Company, New Belgium Brewing Company, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, as well as many others which were not as easy to find.   We also found only 7 bathrooms for the admitted 2000 beer lovers.  WHAT A JOKE.  The event organizer candidly mentioned that "he should have gotten more bathrooms."  Oh so easy to have such 20/20 hind site if you are a VIP with access to private bathrooms.  Oh how nice it is to be the privileged.
In the end, what do I have to say?

The event was OPTIMISTIC.  It had great intentions and a cool yet blurry vision. The organizers brought in great brewers that brought just barely enough beer, if that.  The organizer planned one of the best music lineups that I have seen (heard) at a beer festival in years and though they only invited local talent, they got the best in Orlando Napier, My Brother's Band, and Rey Fresco.  All of this in the name of Dyslexia Awareness, though little if any information was available.  The event was planned for a measly 4 hour slot from 1-5 pm this Saturday and got a slow start at the gate at that.  In fact, if you did not arrive early ( around 10am) then although the gates opened at 1pm, you did not see entrance until at least 2.30pm.  (I am talking about people with presell tickets)    ( If I had PAID, I would Have been pissed!)

THE BEERS, and MUSIC were awesome.

THE VENUE was SMALLER than the crowd called for, and the LOGISTICS were DISORGANIZED and LACKING.  THERE WERE A NEGLIGENT AMOUNT OF RESTROOMS and THE EVENT PLANNED TO HELP the DYSLEXIA AWARENESS and RESOURCE CENTER FELL SHORT by turning away as many as ONE THOUSAND eager BEER LOVERS.  By my calculations, THE CALIFORNIA BEER FESTIVAL missed out on nearly $40,000 revenue(1000 x $40/ ticket)  WHAT A SHAME!


Though I had a great time, I always feel bad when people who spend hard earned money and valuable time don't get what they pay for.  This event promised far more than it delivered and I would like to register my VOTE of LESS THAN IMPRESSED, yet smiling and drunk.


Here are a few links to learn about Dyslexia, it may affect you or someone you know.
* Facts
*Symptoms
*Information About Dyslexia
*Dyslexia Awareness Resource Center
* International Dyslexia Association


Here are some additional links about:
*Beer Knowledge
*Beer Festivals
*One Delicious Beer

BEIR BIRRA BIERE CERVEZA CERVEJA PIWO

Any way you say it, BEER is delicious and refreshing and always seems to bring friends together.  This weekend, the California Beer Festival will be in Ventura CA at Mission Park on Main Street.  I am really looking forward to this event as it has been a while since I have been to a beer festival and I have the entire day to drink and discuss beer.  With over 60 beers represented and breweries from all up and down the California coast and across the globe, there will be something for every beer lover .

  Look for a bit more discussion of beer coming next week; here is a little to get you started.  With the Beer Fest coming, here is a little info on how to taste a beer .

 If you have any questions or curiosities about beer, post them in the comments.

YUM

Allison's Country Cafe has got to be one of my favorite breakfast joints in all of Ventura. The people are always friendly and the restaurant is full of locals and familiar faces.  The menu has so many amazing choices but my favorite is the Chilaquiles which is a special, though it is always available.

I am a huge fan of Nachos so this breakfast dish is right up my alley.  They start with ranchero salsa drenched, fresh corn tortilla chips, and add potatoes, beans, cheese, sour cream and guacamole.  Then to top it all off, the plate is finished with two fried eggs.  YUM.  Basically we are dealing with a breakfast nachos by another name.  The fruit plate here is also a great addition to any meal as it is always full of fresh berries, bananas, kiwi, grapes and melon.  Allison's is also known for their homemade raspberry preserves that come with every side of toast and is available for sale if you just can't live without it until you return. 

 My last words; 
go to Allison's Country Kitchen and be happy. 

COCKTAILS anyone?

I have been spending a lot of my time working behind one of the most popular bars in downtown Ventura, CA and I would like to share a classic cocktail that most bartenders don't make often, and often don't make properly.

As a hard working bartender I get frustrated when I experience bad service at a bar or worse, a cocky yet unknowledgeable bartender.  I don't claim to know all about mixing myself, but I appreciate learning and am alway open to a healthy discussions about bar-tending and our love affair with alcohol.  That is why I chose to look into the history of the Manhattan and learn how to make it properly and share that here.

Robert Hess is a mixology specialist and loves the tradition and history of bar-tending.  In this video from The Cocktail Spirit on The Small Screen Network, Robert Hess discusses the nuances of a great Manhattan and how easy and simple it is to make the most traditional drinker happy.



Here is a perfectly recipe for the Classic Manhattan Cocktail.
Recipe

•       2oz American whiskey (rye or bourbon)
•       3/4  oz sweet vermouth
•       1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

The Classic Manhattan recipes call for  Rye Whiskey, or Bourbon. It can be tough to find a bar that has a rye or offers a selection of Rye Whiskey so I find that Basil Hayden is both a great bourbon selection as well as one that is readily available in most good bars .  Enjoy this recipe for a proper Manhattan made at home or come see me at my bar.