I've written about American Rye as the quintessentially American whisky. I'm particularly fond of Rittenhouse Rye, and have a distinct fondness for Old Overholt. The other day, we tried Jim Beam's "Yellow Label" Rye. It's a bit more expensive than Old Overholt, which in turn is a bit more than Rittenhouse Rye.

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Ohhh the Long Island Iced Tea. While a tasty beverage, it apparently has quite the reputation considering everytime I order one, I get a look from everyone around me. You know, that look like "wow, bad day, huh?" Or "Yikes, drink much?" I find it pretty amusing since to me, alcohol is alcohol and you can still enjoy a drink like this one, without turning into a raging alcoholic. It helps as well, that most of the bars I've ordered a Long Island Iced Tea in, have a serving limit. Pretty smart idea considering the ingredients.

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Vodka is special. I love vodka in most of its incarnations. Cocktails made with the perfect infused vodkas offer flaver and verve. Best of all are icy little shots of pure vodka consumed with the spicy little Russian dumplings from the place down the street, or lovingly crafted vodka martinis in perfectly chilled glasses, with an extra olive for accent. The Russians have known that vodka was special for centuries, and icy little shots of vodka tossed back with vigor have served to ward off melancholy, and warm those long winter nights.

Prized for its purity, and the ease of infusing the spirits with various flavors, vodka has been traditionally flavored and aromatized with rowan, mint, fruit, nuts, acorns, sage, peppercorns, and nearly any other pleasing or interesting flavor you can imagine. (Including bacon, but that's another post.)

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Everyone knows weddings are supposed to be toasted with gallons of bubbly Champagne. But let’s face it, it’s not the cheapest of drinks. Especially when you are footing the bill. What if you don’t like Champagne, or if you don’t drink? Instead of serving up glasses of bubbly, why not try cocktails? The great thing about cocktails is there is a mix for every season and every mood, and they do not even need to be alcoholic. Plus they are a lot cheaper than traditional Champagne- What could be better?

Hot Weddings

These cocktails are light and refreshing. Perfect served over ice for sunny, warm weddings to cool you down.

Lemon Pie

This lemon flavored cocktail is the perfect treat for a zesty, citrus boost.

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Glenfiddich distillery is releasing fifty very special bottles of 50-year old single malt. scotch regionsThat's right, I said fifty year old single malt. The whisky in question has been stored in two oak casks in Glenfiddich's distillery warehouse in Banffshire, Scotland since its original production. Glenfiddich will release just fifty bottles of the scotch each year for the next ten years. The scotch is contained in a numbered hand-made blown glass bottle, decorated with Scottish silver. The bottle arrives in a hand-stiched leather case and is accompanied by a leather-bound book about the history of the scotch, with room for the lucky owner's own comments.

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There's a quotation from the (in)famous Samuel Johnson:

Claret is the liquor for boys; port, for men; but he who aspires to be a hero [smiling] must drink brandy.

It's a very English quotation; Claret (pronounced "klar-it") is a peculiarly English name for a Bourdeux style wine. Port, particularly in Johnson's era, was an English masculine dinner ritual, followed, a hundred years later, by the gentlemen smoking cigars with their Port.

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I don't know if it's related to the recession or not—results appear muddled regarding liquor sales and the economy—but conglomerate distillery Beam Global Spirits and Wine makers of not only Jim Beam but also the very popular bourbon Knob Creek, a 100 proof small batch bourbon that's aged in barrel at least nine years, took out an ad in the June 29th Wall Street Journal announcing that they have run out of Knob Creek. Yep; that's right—what's on the store shelves right now, is all there will be for some months. The current year's bourbon was put into barrels in 2000, and Jim Beam underestimated demand, rather drastically.

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Rittenhouse Straight Rye Whiskey from Heaven Hill Distilleries comes in two versions; the regular Rittenhouse Rye, and the "Bond" version, Rittenhouse Straight Rye Whiskey Bottled in Bond (100 proof). Rittenhouse Rye won the 2006 North American Whiskey of the Year competition in San Francisco, where it was unanimously awarded the gold medal by all judges in a blind tasting. It was also named "Whiskey of the Year" for 2005 by Wine & Spirits Magazine.

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A few weeks ago I wrote about Full Sail Brewery's Session lager. I quite liked it, and was a little curious about the name, but since Full Sail didn't seem to have a particular rationale for naming their lager Session, I associated it with "session," in the context of traditional "session" music, when musicians at a pub take turns, over several hours, to perform.

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Fifteen years or so ago, we saw first pepper vodka, and then citron vodka, and now, cherry, orange, vanilla, pomegranate, watermelon, chocolate—pretty much any flavor you can think of, Smirnoff or Absolut makes it. Premium Vodka distillers Three Olives and Ketel One are producing flavored vodkas, and people are buying and drinking them enthusiastically. Even Trader Joe's makes Trader Joe's Infused Vodkas. 375 ml. $19.99 in lemon and lychee, mocha (chocolate and espresso flavors) and Tahitian vanilla. Seattle distiller Black Rock Spirits even offers Bakon Vodka, with, yes, you guessed it, Bacon flavoring. I'm told it makes a great Bloody Mary.

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