Category Archives: Gin

Recipes from a galaxy far, far away: Part II

24 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by in Cocktails, Gin, Spirits, Tequila

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You may have heard that J.J. Abrams has a new movie out and we’ve been celebrating its arrival all week. We collaborated with mixologist Beautiful Booze to create cocktails that are out-of this world and today we’re sharing our final two.

If you missed our first set of cocktails, head over to Part I to get the recipes for Paradise on a Desert Planet and the Cantina Cooler.

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Rebel in Red

After vanquishing the galactic forces of darkness, it’s important to celebrate accordingly with your fellow rebels and favorite droids. Here’s a delightfully sweet take on the Tequila Sunrise:

1 ½ oz. of Senor Rio Tequila

4-6 oz. of orange juice depending on serving glass

½ oz. of cherry syrup

Cherries, for garnish

In a serving glass, add ice then orange juice and tequila. Stir cocktail and add cherry syrup.

Yield: 1 serving

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Shots for Smugglers

We’ve developed a recipe perfect for those who spend their days evading space gangsters and transporting off-the-books cargo to the outer reaches of space.

¾ cup Esme Gin

½ cup cranberry juice

1 cup tonic water

2 envelopes Knox Gelatin

Black sprinkles, for garnish

In a saucepan, add cranberry juice and tonic water. Turn heat on low and sprinkle in two envelopes of gelatin. Stir mixture until the gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in gin. Pour mixture into shot glasses. Put in refrigerator and let shot glasses chill overnight.

Yield: 10-15 jello shots (depending on size of shot glasses)

Here’s to a very happy Friendsgiving

13 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by in Cider, Cocktails, Gin, Thanksgiving, Whiskey

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View from above friends toasting wine glasses

The good news: Thanksgiving now comes twice a year. The bad news: Your favorite pants only have so much elasticity. Although the main event may still be 12 days away, this Thursday you can mark a new tradition—Friendsgiving. This faux holiday is an occasion for close friends to get together and mark the start of the holiday season before departing for their respective family homes. Like Thanksgiving, it involves two of Total Wine & More’s very favorite things—food and drink. To get you into the Friendsgiving sprit, we share some go-to punch recipes that are perfect for parties of all sizes.

It doesn’t get more seasonal than cider. Thanks to its sweet and refreshing apple flavor, cider is a nice complement to just about anything your friends cook up. Chilled Cider Punch, courtesy of Saveur, is a great idea for pre-dinner drinks and like the very best recipes, it’s easy to make.

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Photo credit: Saveur Magazine

Chilled Cider Punch (Serves 15-20)

  • 8 cups apple cider
  • 1 750-ml bottle dry hard cider
  • 3 12-oz. bottles ginger beer
  • 1½ cups Irish whiskey
  • Juice of one lemon
  • Several dashes orange bitters
  • Sliced oranges, for garnish
  • Cinnamon sticks, for garnish

Combine the ciders, ginger beer, whiskey, lemon juice and bitters in a punch bowl. Stir. Top with orange slices and cinnamon sticks. Serve over ice and enjoy!

Gin may be a polarizing spirit, but could you think of a better time to enjoy a spirit that’s known for its “piney” profile than the start of the holiday season? Food & Wine’s Mother’s Ruin, which is aptly titled given the obstacles matriarchs face this month – from cooking a 20-pound turkey to keeping the familial peace – will convert even gin’s biggest critics.

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Photo credit: Food and Wine

Mother’s Ruin Punch (Serves 8)

  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup chilled club soda
  • 1½ cups gin
  • 1½ cups fresh grapefruit juice
  • ¾ cup fresh lemon juice
  • ¾ cup sweet vermouth
  • 2¼  cups chilled Champagne or sparkling wine
  • 3 sliced grapefruit wheels, for garnish

Add sugar and club soda to a large pitcher and stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in gin, grapefruit and lemon juices and sweet vermouth and refrigerate until chilled, approximately 1 hour.

Pour punch into a large bowl. Slowly stir in Champagne and add grapefruit wheels on top of the punch. Toast to your mother’s formidable spirit and enjoy.

When it comes to food and drink, there are few as passionate as author, TV host and foodie extraordinaire Alton Brown. That’s why we follow his lead when it comes to whipping up one of our favorite winter drinks, the beloved Hot Toddy.

Hot Toddy (Serves 13)

  • 1 lemon, sliced
  • ½ cup natural brown sugar
  • 4 cups water
  • 2½ cups Scotch whisky
  • Nutmeg, freshly grated

Combine the lemon, sugar and water in a 2- to 3-quart slow cooker set on high. Cover and heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves completely, for 20 to 30 minutes.

Stir in the Scotch. Set the slow cooker to low, serve with lemon slice and nutmeg and return for seconds.

While we may be fresh out of nutmeg, Total Wine & More has all the spirits and mixers you need to help make these recipes a reality – and make you a Friendsgiving legend. Stop by our stores to stock up for our favorite new holiday or shop online.

Classic Cocktails for the Academy Awards

22 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by in Cocktails, Gin, Spirits, Whiskey

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This Sunday the Academy Awards will be broadcast live to honor all of favorite actors, actresses, film makers, and more from the past year. Whether you plan on entertaining a few friends or having a relaxing night in watching The Oscars, watch it in style. Mix up one of these classic cocktails that have graced the big screen so you can enjoy during the award ceremony.

 The Manhattan

Marilyn Monroe certainly had a bright idea when her and co-stars found a bottle of bourbon and some vermouth in Some Like it Hot in 1959. While the characters in the movie went the bourbon route based on what was available to them, we prefer to use Rye Whiskey and a few other ingredients. Make no mistake, any version of this cocktail would still get “the party started” in Upper 7.

Planning on making a Manhattan for Sunday? Check out the video below and grab the ingredients here.

Dirty Martini

Shaken, not stirred. James Bond’s classic martini might be the Vesper, but there are many variations of his go-to drink. We prefer a Dirty Martini which makes for a relaxing cocktail that will appeal to any gin or vodka fan. Also, the olive. Yum.

Make sure this version is stirred, not shaken. Grab the ingredients here.

The Muddled Old Fashioned

Whether you’re thinking of Ryan Gosling’s character from Crazy, Stupid, Love. or Don Draper from Mad Men, this cocktail has made it’s rounds in movies and on TV. Draper may not have graced the big screen, but he did win an Emmy. Also, let’s be honest. That guy knows his cocktails.

Watch the video below to learn how to make the Muddled Old Fashioned. Get the ingredients to make this cocktail here.

Drink in Moderation: A Lesson Not Taught By Ernest Hemingway

12 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by in Gin, Rum, Spirits

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Ernest Hemingway Partying

Ernest Hemingway Partyi

Ernest Hemingway famously said, “Write drunk; edit sober.” And who are we to argue with a legendary author known almost as much for drinking alcohol? To say Hemingway loved his cocktails would be a massive understatement. Being known for binge drinking is only the tip of things, too. Hemingway immortalized many cocktails in his books, spent time creating his own versions of several classics, and got behind many of his friends’ creations over his lifetime. But what exactly was Hemingway drinking to get to that state of mind? Author Philip Greene has made a substantial effort to compile all drink references from Hemingway’s books and written his own about the subject. To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion talks about the cocktails in Hemingway’s life. Let’s explore a few interesting ones.

As a regular at the El Floridita bar in Havana, Cuba in the early 1920s, Hemingway was rewarded for his patronage with a drink named after him. Bartender Constantino Ribalaigua created an upscale version of the Daiquiri known as the Hemingway Daiquiri (also known as the Papa Doble). This version included a recipe of white rum, maraschino liqueur, grapefruit juice and lime juice. Simple syrup is usually added though Hemingway was known to forgo the sweetness. He was also known to put more than a few away in a single visit!

Hemingway pours himself a drink

Hemingway pours himself a drink

Hemingway also created a handful of cocktail recipes of his own.  Take the classic Tom Collins, replace the soda with coconut water, and you have the drink the way Hemingway liked it. And again, he always skipped the sugar part of the drink. As a fan of anise-flavored spirits, Hemingway created Death in the Afternoon, named after one of his books. The cocktail recipe was published in 1935 with the following instructions: ”Pour one jigger absinthe into a Champagne glass. Add iced Champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly.”

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Hemingway, his fourth wife Mary, and Spencer Tracy partying in Havana, circa 1955

As noted, Hemingway was well known for making references to drinks he enjoyed in his books. The Jack Rose cocktail is an example made famous in his book The Sun Also Rises. Other favorite cocktails had connections to his friends — the Josie Russell, named after one of Hemingway’s friends from his Key West days. Josie was able to supply Hemingway with rum from Cuba during Prohibition and afterward opened one of his favorite hangouts called Sloppy Joe’s. While living in France, Hemingway’s friend named Gerald Murphy created the Bailey, which became a staple while living there. Hemingway enjoyed variations on the Cuba Libre and added Angostura bitters to the classic Gin and Tonic to liven it up. There are dozens of other cocktails consumed and written about: we found a great recap of many in this article.

Do yourself a favor and try some of these Hemingway classics … in moderation.