I joined Keith on his yearly pilgrimage to bourbon country, aka Kentucky, this year. Bourbon country sure is gorgeous. Keith tried to explain how pretty Buffalo Trace was last year, but I didn't really believe him. I guess I owe him an apology because it might be the most scenic of all the distilleries we've visited.

Simple Bourbon Chai

4 oz. chai tea concentrate (You can find Tazo concentrate at Whole Foods and Target.)
4 oz. milk (almond or milk works)
1 oz. bourbon (I went with my good friend, Maker's Mark.)

In a microwave safe mug, combine the concentrate and milk. Stir and heat until warm in the microwave. Carefully, remove from the microwave. The mug may be warm to the touch. Add the bourbon and stir. Sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon or nutmeg before serving.

Cheers!

Remember Pop-Ice as a kid? I loved those things. However, my mom wasn't the biggest fan of them and wouldn't buy them regularly. Something about all the sugar.

When I came across these silicone molds at my favorite store, Hill's Kitchen, I was just full of ideas. (If you don't have a Hill's Kitchen, you can find the molds at Target and Amazon.)  And don't you know, those ideas included bourbon. Let's up the ante on a childhood favorite. I tried to balance the bourbon with fresh nectarines.  Combine all this with the heat wave DC is experiencing at the moment, and you have a wonderful idea.

Bourbon Nectarine Ice Pops

1/2 c. simple syrup
3 nectarines
3 T. bourbon

1. Make the simple syrup by combining 1/4 cup sugar with a 1/4 cup water. Heat the combination until the sugar dissolves and remove from heat. Allow this to cool to room temperature.

2. Pit and slice the nectarines. You can peal the nectarines if you want a smoother pop. I didn't peel, partly for the texture and partly because I'm lazy.

3. Place the nectarines, simple syrup and bourbon in a food processor. Pulse about 12 times until relatively smooth.

4. Transfer the mixture to a large measuring cup. This makes it easier to pour the nectarine/bourbon mixture into the molds.

5. Freeze for at least one hour. Don't forget the bourbon will keep it from freezing solid.

6. Enjoy!

As Keith and I were sitting on the back porch last week, we talked about memories and how certain items can trigger them. For Keith, it's usually a song that can take him back in time. For me, it's food.

With Memorial Day and the official start of summer here, I was taken back to grandma and grandpa's patio. I'm there with my cousins, brother and sister. Dixie, grandpa's basset hound, is there just as excited, hoping we'll spill something just for her. We're waiting for grandma to bring out the banana ice cream base for the freezer. For the first five minutes or so, my cousins are anxious to take their turn churning the cream and sugar. Soon it's just my sister, Dixie and me. We could never wait for it firm up in the freezer. Everyone eager with their bowl and spoon. That was life.

Call me sentimental, but as I've gotten older. I often find myself back wanting to bring back those memories. And how else was I to achieve that than to make some ice cream. Grandma would probably frown on the addition of bourbon, but I'm sure grandpa would just grin and wait to pour a bit in once grandma went back inside.

And with the first bite of of the cool, creamy banana I was taken back to my childhood and the long days of summer.

Banana Bourbon Ice Cream

2 ripe bananas, the more brown spots the better
3/4 c. sugar
1 c. whole milk
2 c. heavy cream
1 t. vanilla
3 T. bourbon

1. Mash the bananas until you have a rather smooth paste. Set aside.

2. Create and ice bath in a large mixing bowl. Place a smaller bowl in the bath. Whisk together the sugar and milk until the sugar has dissolved in the bowl over the ice bath. Add the cream, vanilla and bananas until well combined.

3. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions, adding the bourbon during the last five minutes of freezing.

4. Transfer the ice cream to a freezer safe storage dish with a lid to harden in freezer for several hours. Note: it will not become completely solid, as the bourbon will prevent that.

5. Enjoy!

P.S. You might also want to try my recipe for Bourbon Peach Ice Cream.

Some nights you come from home a day and all you want is  a comforting drink. For some may that may equal opening a bottle of wine and enjoying a glass or two. For Keith, it's find a glass and pour the bourbon of the night. For me, it's always been bourbon and ginger.

A few years ago, Keith and I threw a cocktail party. When researching various cocktail recipes we could print out for guests so they could make the their own drinks, I learned bourbon and ginger is known as a highball. Kind of like a rum and Coke is a cuba libre. I wonder if our favorite bartender would know what a highball is if I ordered one at our local bar.

Hello, Friday! Thankfully, this week has been rather kind to me. Work has been busy, but just the busy where the time moves quickly and I still get to slip out around 5:30 pm. The social calendar is quiet leaving me time to read and just spend a little quiet time with my awesome husband.  So let's toast a good week and welcome in the weekend, shall we?

Since returning from our weekend in Missouri, I've been planning to recreate the cocktail - the Sexy Thyme - I had at the Copper Run Distillery. It's well known that I like to mix a little bourbon with grapefruit juice, so it should come at no surprise that this one combined those two again with a little love from ginger infused simple syrup. This is the perfect cocktail to sip on the back porch as the warm weather starts to greet us.

I just got back from visiting Kentucky to pick some bourbon barrels for a group of like-minded bourbon aficionados. I had an amazing time and I wanted to share some pictures of the experience.

The Willett still house

Rick houses at Willett

Barrels lined up for tasting at Buffalo Trace

Bonded rick house at Buffalo Trace

Elmer T. Lee barrel at Buffalo Trace

The tasting assembly line at Buffalo Trace

The barrels lined up for tasting at Four Roses

Jim Rutledge, Four Roses Master Distiller thieving out the bourbon

Four Roses barrel prepared for tasting

Four Roses rick houses

Four Roses tasting place settings

Whiskey and BBQ...two of our favorite things. On Friday, we flew out to Kansas City and braced ourselves for a 4.5 hour drive to Branson, Missouri for a family wedding. Before we even considered starting the over four hour drive, we stopped at Arthur Bryant's for some authentic Kansas City BBQ.

Considering Keith grew up in Texas, there was some skepticism on his part as to whether Arthur Bryant's would deliver. But when I saw his tweet describing, "Arthur Bryant's was a revelation." I knew I wouldn't have to hear about the virtues of Texas for the drive ahead. We contemplated grabbing another sandwich for the flight home on Sunday, but instead decided to save the next visit for when we return in September.

I've taken a recent interest in learning the origins of cocktails...what makes them unique to a specific city, how the separate components came to be included and how they came to be known by a certain name. Today I bring you the Ward 8, a proper Boston cocktail. I won't bore you with the history. If you would like that I suggest you mosey over to Imbibe's article on that.

I selected this as the first cocktail of 2013 because it uses fresh citrus juices and it is citrus season. Bringing together the bursts of summer with the spiciness of a rye is a win. I agree with the Imbibe article in this is "light, lively and ridiculously easy to drink." I would have to say almost too easy to drink.

Keith really knows how to make me happy. For my birthday last month, he gave me the most amazing chocolate truffles that were made with bourbon. We're talking little bites of heaven. I tried to pace myself and make them last as long as possible, but well, you see where this is going. Don't worry he's ordered more, but those little bites of heaven inspired the gift giving for this year.

Even our bourbon is festive this time of year!

1. Line an 8 or 9 inch square pan with wax paper.

Remember how Keith and I had big plans to get all healthy? Well, I think it's more like we're maintaining. For example, after returning home from the gym last night, I was planning a dinner of baked salmon, brown rice, and steamed broccoli. Instead, Keith cooked, i.e. he ordered pizza. Granted, it was really good pizza. And after that, why not just enjoy a cocktail too, right?

I present to you a perfect chilled seasonal cocktail...the Fall Sipper.

Fall Sipper

2 parts bourbon (I used Maker's 46.)
2 parts apple cider
2 parts ginger ale

1. Fill your glass with ice.

2. Add bourbon, apple cider, and ginger ale.

3. Give it a quick stir.

4. Garnish with an apple slice.

5. Enjoy!

What I thought was fall allergies is in fact a nasty little cold. I have a cough that rattles my chest. My head is all congested and I should probably buy stock in Puffs. I've tried Dayquil and Nyquil without too much success. I'm pulling out the big guns, baby.

Let's hope tonight's pour has me feeling better in the morning. If not, I'll be looking for answers. I hope you'll have something to share.

We have been counting down until the return of the NLF since February 6, 2012. And long as last, the wait is over. Keith and I agree that Sundays during football season on meant to be spent lounging around the house eating junk food and watching every play. Keith also monitors his three fantasy teams, which I've finally made peace with. I'll spare you my fantasy football rant for another time.

Summer is about fresh produce and seafood, sticky heat, and cold cocktails. As summer winds down, Labor Day is  the last hurrah before bidding summer farewell. And last weekend, we made sure to throw some thick steaks on the grill and bid it a proper adieu. While sitting on the back porch supervising keeping Keith company as he did so, I sipped on a refreshing blend of vanilla infused bourbon with a hint of lime and a splash of soda. This is a crisp and cool beverage with a bit of a kick, if you're not careful. 

I have descended further into my bourbon obsession. I have decided to begin bunkering bourbon.  A lot of enthusiasts have bunkers, but to this point I've resisted starting one.  I resisted for a couple of reasons: First, We don't have a lot of space.  Second, bourbon is for drinking.  I've never seen much reason to have a bunk of bottles laying around that aren't being actively sipped on.

So what changed my mind?

Well, this post on the Top Ten Whiskey of the Fall on the Whiskey Advocate blog started it.  If you notice, the list contains only one whiskey under $100.  And that whiskey is a bourbon.  It is my opinion that bourbon is the best deal in whiskey, but I'm not sure it will stay that way forever.  In fact, I think we're already seeing bourbon prices begin to rise--it is not unusual to see Pappy 15 in the $150 range and Pappy 23 in the $300 range.  More and more distilleries are releasing "Limited" or "Special" editions that come with a hefty price tag.  Luckily, we all can find great bourbon for under $30, but it might not last forever.

So I've decided to select a few whiskies that I especially enjoy and hold on to them for a little while.  If prices keep rising I can break into the bunker or try to find a trading partner to get a bottle I can't find. If prices go way, way up, then I'll think about putting a bottle up for auction.

My first two bunker selections are the 2011 Parker's Heritage Collection and E.H. Taylor Tornado Surviving bourbon.  I have open bottles of both on my shelf and they are a couple of my favorites.  Based on the limited release of these bottles, I suspect these will become very hard to find over the next couple of years.

I don't know about you, but I never thought today was going to arrive. This week has been nonstop at the office and for every item I've crossed something off the to-do list, another one is there to quickly take its place.

Having never ending task lists at the office leave me all the more appreciative of the weekend. I'm hoping to spend some quality time with the latest book I've started and a little bourbon in hand. Perhaps, there will be another one of these guys in order.

While in Charlottesville last weekend, we had dinner at the Whiskey Jar. Occasionally, I'll enjoy my bourbon on the rocks. However, that's usually a sign of a really bad day. For the most part, I prefer it in a well made cocktail. And the Whiskey Jar had a Bourbon Sour that fit the bill. It was quite simple and like food when you have quality ingredients simple is the way to proceed.

This is inspired by their bourbon sour, although it doesn't quite compare to theirs.

When I found myself with a pint of blueberries and no desire to make muffins, I started thinking about alternatives. Even more importantly, those options needed to be simple. That's when I started wondering would I could infuse with blueberries. I considered vodka, but then I started to think about bourbon. And figured what the heck...blueberries good, bourbon good, so blueberries and bourbon great.

Let me tell you this plan was genius. It's not something I enjoy on it's own, but when I started playing with cocktail ideas I hit the jackpot. Meet the Blue Door.  There's a side story as to the name, which I'll get to  a bit later.

Blue Door Recipe

2 oz blueberry infused bourbon
2 dashes orange bitters
ginger ale

1. Pour the bourbon, bitters, and ginger ale in a glass over ice.

2. Garnish with orange peel.

3. Enjoy!

Blueberry Infused Bourbon

1.5 c. smashed blueberries (about a pint)
1.5 c. bourbon

1. Combine the blueberries and bourbon in a nonreactive container.

2. Shake everyday for five days.

3. On the fifth day, taste to see if it has enough blueberriness for you. I went with only five days.

4. Strain into storage bottle.  Out of direct sunlight, it should last about six months.

5. Enjoy!


Am I bit crazy for missing the door? Have you ever grown a bit attached to something about your home?

As part of his efforts to woo me, Keith took me to Hermosa Beach in California for our first Valentine's Day together. While out there we visited one of his college buddies, who told us how he and his wife received an ice cream maker for a wedding gift. They envisioned making ice cream with their family and building all these wonderful memories, when in fact they've made ice cream once and stashed the ice cream maker away in the back cupboard. 

A few months ago I contributed to my first (and likely only) kickstarter project.  The project is a film titled, "Chasing Pappy." I'm really excited about the project for a couple of reasons.

First, if you've ever had the good fortune to taste Pappy van Winkle bourbon, you understand why the bourbon is so sought after.  It is, in my opinion, the best bourbon (and probably whiskey) in the world.  It tastes amazing; it really is incomparable.

Second, because it is so freaking good, people go to extremes to find bottles available for purchase.  For years, they were relatively easy to find, but over the past five or seven years, bourbon has become very popular.  As more people got interested in bourbon, the harder it became to find Pappy van Winkle.

At this point, Pappy is going for hundreds of dollars on e-bay. (But don't worry, it's labeled as a "collectible.")  The shortage and popularity of Pappy has led people to do crazy things to find a bottle of Pappy.  And that's what this movie is about.

Compared to a lot of folks, I'm relatively new to bourbon connoisseur-ism. I've only been drinking bourbon for 3 years, and until 18 months ago, I'd never heard of Pappy van Winkle.  But then I had my first taste.  Since then, I decided I needed a source.  People have different strategies--some try to make friends with distributors, others search dozens or even hundreds of liquor stores.

But that's what this film is about. I think you'll like it.  Nicole and I are working with the director to develop strategies to get this film out there.  For now, you can follow us on Twitter at @chasingpappy.  We'll be tweeting out information as we know more about the release schedule.

And if you've had the pleasure of tasting Pappy, we'd love to hear about your experience.