July 22, 2010
Ah, a little rest and relaxation in Atlanta – I mean, St. John,Virgin Islands. We are breaking our rules for Week 30 of our 52 weeks of Drinks because we can. We headed down to St. John for a nice long weekend with our friends Erika and Jules and enjoyed far too many cocktails in the sun and rain (there was actually a tropical depression that hung out with us for some of our trip.) But, a little rain, wind, thunder and lightning can’t screw up a trip to paradise.
Mostly, we hung out and made our own concoctions -one we have named The Glen because a gentleman by the name of Glen made us “his drink” last time we were there. It consists of Cruzan Coconut Rum, (and it really should be Cruzan Rum,) a little Sprite, and fresh lime juice. ( I seriously squeeze about a half of a lime in one drink – but this varies depending on how much lime you like.)
But, we will rate drinks from places we went while there. Our first night out we headed to Morgan’s Mango and all got very tasty drinks (notice the colorful drinks in the photo above.) Our favorite was something Jules ordered - our second frozen drink in our tastings. It was called the Candela and tasted like a mojito on crack. It consisted of vodka (not rum), fresh passion fruit, and mint all blended together.
Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives. One Olive = waste of my blogging time; 5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm
Presentation: 4 olives - None of us had never seen a frozen drink bright green before and it had a nice mint leaf sticking out of it.
Creativity: 4 olives - For the creativity alone - and Jules would never had ordered it had the bartender not just been so enthusiastic about the taste.
Taste: 4 olives - Delicious and refreshing and we all enjoyed it.
Overall: “Solid 4 olives - damn good drink,” says Jules.
Another evening, we headed to the Waterfront Bistro where we met M.J., the extremely cute bartender. She created some fabulous drinks (one being a twist on a vodka dirty martini but with baby pickles and pickle juice instead of olives. Wow.)
We will rate mine though because I want to. It was a gorgeous drink called the Strawberry Basil - not very unique name I must admit - that consisted of Kettle One Citroen vodka, served up with fresh strawberry puree - and crushed right in front of us-basil for the simple syrup. (Pictured in the middle) Oh my. Alas, my heart stopped a beat as I sipped it in the open air bar staring at the gorgeous mango trees (I may be making up the kind of tree here) and the ocean just a few steps in front of us. Heaven on Earth.
Presentation: 3.5 olives - nothing too special - flecks of basil and nice strawberry hue.
Creativity: 4 olives - Loved the Citroen vodka with strawberry puree and basil. Who knew?
Taste: 4.5 olives. Deliciousness in my tastebuds.
Overall: 4 olives. Yum yum
Alas, St. John, we will be back and maybe we will actually rate a rum drink next time…
Technorati Tags: Week 30 of our 52 weeks of Drinks
Posted in 52 Weeks of Drinks by ashley 
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July 14, 2010
We need some help, people. We need for you to think of some places we should visit for our 52 Weeks of Drinks. Anywhere in the METRO Atlanta area is fine by us. So, send us some feedback, comment below, whatever. We want to know where to go for drinks this second half of 2010! If you need to know where we have been, click on the link 52 Weeks of Drinks to the side of this post and scroll down our list.
Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Ashley and Alison
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Posted in 52 Weeks of Drinks, Bars by ashley 8 Comments »
July 14, 2010
The Vortex is known for its wide-ranging beer list, but these days Michael Benoit wants to make sure that there are some fun and different cocktails at the Vortex for liquor lovers. Well, he (and his staff) have done some serious testing to come up with a drink list worthy of the Vortex’s eclectic clientele (where else do lawyers, bikers, and college kids mix and mingle daily?)
The featured drink is of-course skull-themed and potent. It is the new SKULL CRUSHER. (This word must be in serious capital letters as I picture myself saying it with a deep movie voice.) The list is summer-y and fun and on the fruity and sweet side of the spectrum. No lavender, ginger, or London Dry Gin featured on this puppy. That crap is for boring old people.
Alison and I met Michael and Kristen for some tasting this past week at the Vortex Midtown. We sat down and observed that many people around us were already enjoying the fun cocktails (in various colors of pink, orange, lime green…) Michael had already ordered the Tangy Tini - a mixture of Three Olives Rang Tang vodka with orange and lime juice. It tasted exactly like Tang - gross - unless you like Tang, of course - which it seems many people do.
The four of us ordered the SKULL CRUSHER and the Frozen Bikini (our first frozen drink!) Quite frankly, we did not know what to expect. Michael has said that his intention was not to create serious drinks for serious drinkers, but fun drinks for fun drinkers. Indeed, they were both damn tasty and fun - even if you really should not have more than two sips of each.
Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives. One Olive = waste of my blogging time; 5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm
The SKULL CRUSHER consists (are you ready?) of premium tequila, vodka, rum, bourbon, various other cordials and is topped with a sparkling peach wine (to keep it classy) - NOTE: two drink maximum per visit….
Presentation : 1 Olive - This is just a big old glass of booze on ice with a fat straw. Nothing pretty about it. But it will soon come in a collectible skull glass so be sure to check that one out. But let’s face it - no one ordering this drink cares what it looks like.
Taste: 3 Olives -This tastes better than you could possibly expect a drink full of nothing but booze in it. It is the liquor equivalent of the “suicide” soda drink you made as a kid with all of the available flavors at the soda machine at the skating rink. Or was that just me? This really tastes dangerously good and smooth. But you should only order this if you goal is to get hammered. I felt this after 2 sips. I liked that it didn’t taste too boozy. Not one of the liquors stood out - they all hit you in tiny millisecond increments. Good thing they didn’t sell these is college at Waldo’s. (Notice Michael’s face as he sips this drink above.)
Creativity: 5 Olives- Don’t try this one at home. Trying to mix this many liquors in one drink that actually tastes decent - no small feat.
Overall: 3.5 Olives. Be careful. Be very very careful.
The Frozen Bikini is our first frozen drink made with Stoli vodka, Orange juice, lime juice, mango, and champagne.
Presentation: 4.5 Olives - lovely mango frozen joy with garnish!
Taste: 3.5 Olives - A fancy daiquiri - yummy and fit for these hot summer days. Smooth and not too sweet.
Creativity: 4 Olives - Try counting on one hand the number of bars selling frozen cocktails in Atlanta.
Overall: 4 Olives - We completely enjoyed this one but again, one was plenty!
Michael and his staff have brought a whole new level to the Vortex. Nothing goes better with that double burger with egg, cheese, bacon, mayonnaise and whatever else it may have on it - than the SKULL CRUSHER.
Technorati Tags: Michael Benoit, SKULL CRUSHER, Vortex Midtown
Posted in 52 Weeks of Drinks by ashley No Comments »
July 6, 2010
This week we celebrated the 4th of July with a glorious meal at Shaun’s in Inman Park. We were accompanied by Ashley’s Mom and two Mystery Guest Tasters who did not wish for their names, likenesses, or any vaguely identifying information to be published on the world wide web - you never know who will discover your unpatriotic distaste for Bourbon and put you on a Do Not Fly List! To protect these guests, we will refer to them only as Guest X and Guest Y.
As we pass the half-way mark of our year-long drinking adventure, we are refining our tastes, increasing our expectations, and realizing the inter-connectedness of Alanta’s mixology community. We first met the fabulous Master of Mixology at Shaun’s - Callie - in May when we surprised - or intruded - upon some friends during their anniversary dinner. We learned that the Mixologist at Abattoir, who we found so very attractive, formerly shook ice right here behind the bar at Shaun’s. We are not going to speculate about which direction the “inspiration” for lovely cocktail-making may run, but the cocktails we tasted at both of these locations are hands down our favorite of the entire first 28 weeks.
At Callie’s recommendation, I ordered the Black and Blue off of the seasonal cocktail menu. Ashely opted for The Thistle. Both of these drinks were superb, delightfully summer-y, and well-balanced.
The Thistle was a unique cocktail with cane rum, green chartreuse, allspice dram, lime, maple syrup served up with a lemon slice garnish. The chartreuse can be a dangerous ingredient, but like all great cocktails, this one used just enough to balance off the rum and create a refreshing summer sipper.
Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives. One Olive = waste of my blogging time; 5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm
Presentation: 4.5 olives - Nothing fancy, but the presentation perfectly matched the drink - a low cocktail glass with a nice thinly-sliced lemon floater.
Taste: 5 olives - Memorable and uniquely satisfying on a hot summer day. A nice blend of flavors that sipped smoothly.
Creativity: 5 olives - Sometimes unique ingredients can create a less than unique taste or a taste that is so odd you just have to stop sipping. Not here - perfect balance.
Overall: 5 olives - Ahh…
The hands-down crowd favorite of the table was the Black and Blue. Berry-anything makes us worried that a cocktail will be a big hot sweet mess. Boo-Berry Bliss = ick. But in good hands, a house-made blueberry soda is just what is needed to balance the Bourbon and give this drink a refreshing, not-too-sweet, twist appropriate for the Fourth of July. The ingrediants of the Black and Blue included Black Maple Hill Bourbon, apricot eau-de-vie, pernod, house made blueberry soda, and was served on the rocks.
This drink is exactly what we meant a few weeks back about a great Mixologist being able to make Bourbon taste good to non-Bourbon drinkers and cut the strong taste with seasonally-appropriate flavors. Everyone wanted a second sip of this one - even Tasters X & Y - “more please!” (Notice Taster X’s hand holding the drink. And that’s Ashley’s mom in the background. She loves getting her photo taken…)
Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives. One Olive = waste of my blogging time; 5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm
Presentation: 5 olives - Two tiny dark cherries on top - simple and yummy.
Taste: 5 olives - Not an unsatisfied palette at the table. Taster X HATES Bourbon (shh…don’t tell anyone), but could not get enough of this delightful concoction. Mmmm!
Creativity: 5 olives - We can longer support anything above a 4 for drinks that do not involve some sort of house-made mixer.
Overall: 5 olives - You want one.
We feel as though Shaun’s website might want to have Callie’s amazing cocktails as part of the menu on-line. They rock and are worth a trip to the bar.
Technorati Tags: Shaun’s in Inman Park, Master of Mixology at Shaun’s - Callie
Posted in 52 Weeks of Drinks by alison No Comments »
July 1, 2010
We were simply craving Kevin Rathbun’s cooking. We wanted the scallops, the second mortgage fillet, the lamb scaloppini, and of course the eggplant steak fries. Jennifer, Alley, Alison and I decided to do our 27th week of 52 Weeks of Drinks there as well. (Doesn’t Alley look so happy in this photo?) I met with Brent, the mixologist and bartender at the bar and we decided to choose 3 completely different cocktails for our evening.
We chose the Lychee Shinnecock (that’s what she said), the Rose Sangriatini, and the special of the evening, a cucumber martini. We are going to rate two of these - the Lychee drink and the cucumber drink. I will say that we all thought the Rose Sangriatini felt more like a drink at a tiki bar. It was nice and refreshing, but not worth a Rathbun’s rating.
We will start with the Lychee Shinnecock (that’s what she said) - (Okay, I am sure you know that “that’s what she said” is really not a part of the drink’s name, just my pitiful humor.) Anyway, it had many ingredients: Flor de Cana aged white rum with muddled rosemary, lychee puree, blood orange bitters, and agave nectar. It was served in a tall glass and rimmed with celery salt. Yes, indeed I could go there again, but shant.
Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives. One Olive = waste of my blogging time; 5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm
Presentation: 3 olives - We all liked the tall glass as many specialty drinks these days are served up. The salt on the rim was very nice and blended well with the rest of the ingredients. The rosemary twig was deliciously fresh and added a bonus to the drink.
Taste: 2.5 olives - I quite frankly did not like this drink, but everyone else did. I am not a fan of lychee but the group thought that it was not overpowering at all and that the agave nectar made a difference in the drink and calmed down those bitters.
Creativity: 3.5 olives - Very creative drink and works really well in the summer months. The ingredients (if you like them together of course) complemented each other. Alley liked this drink the best.
Overall: 3 olives - Get it if you like Lychee and bitters.
The cucumber martini was obviously served up and consisted of Hendricks Gin, muddled cucumbers, and simple syrup. Classic drink and made to perfection here.
Presentation: 3 olives - I’m not really sure what you are supposed to do with this drink since it does not involve many ingredients and has cucumbers in it, but the finely sliced three cucumbers that I promptly plopped in the glass to soak in the gin were fantastic.
Creativity: 2 olives - This is not a new drink, so can’t give props for it - but it is a classic drink and excellent.
Taste: 4 olives - Wonderful and well made. Perfect temperature and man, those cucumbers. Yum yum.
Overall: 3.5 olives - If Brent has cucumbers in the bar, ask for it. He also serves it with vodka, but I must confess I liked the gin version better.
The bar scene gets kicking here and obviously Rathbun’s is still the place to be. It’s nice to live 10 minutes from restaurants like this. Enjoy…
Technorati Tags: Kevin Rathbun’s cooking, 52 Weeks of Drinks
Posted in 52 Weeks of Drinks by ashley 1 Comment »
June 24, 2010
We love this place. We especially love it because our good friend and woman of amazing things, Alli, is the bartender and mixologist. And let me be clear, Alli has a following. She will “Facebook” that she is working on a certain night and the bar is packed full of people hoping to hang out with her. I’m not joking. She is super friendly, warm, and she makes you feel very welcome - even in one of the more upscale and nicest Italian restaurants in town.
We have written about La Tavola before, but we wanted to go back and try some of Alli’s summer drinks. Alison’s parents, Bob and Judy, were in town for Father’s Day so we headed for dinner there this past Friday night. (Sorry I am so late writing this…busy bee) We sat on the wonderful back porch area and ordered the Violetta Fiore and Ms. Grants Elixir Mixer. We all four decided to taste them even though Bob and Judy don’t drink the “hard liquor!”
Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives. One Olive = waste of my blogging time; 5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm
The Violetta Fiore consisted of Dry Fly Gin, lavender syrup, and a splash of soda.
Presentation: 2 olives - Clear and light, this drink is served over ice and quite frankly, there is not much that one could do to make it pop in looks. It had a nice slice of lemon with it.
Taste: 3.5 olives - Really nice summer drink. Very light and tasty and the lavender was just right. I am not a huge gin drinker and really enjoyed this one.
Creativity: 3 olives - Named after an obvious Italian flower (like a pansy) and found in Florence Italy (or so my research goes) this drink does not have too many ingredients, but it does not need many.
Overall: 3 olives - We enjoyed this very summery drink - and Bob and Judy liked it enough to take more than one sip each!
Our next drink was Ms. Grants Elixir Mixer. This drink, also served over ice, consisted of vodka, ginger syrup, a dash of bitters, a splash of ginger ale and finished off with a gorgeous and tasty candied piece of ginger. This was by far our favorite drink of the evening.
Presentation: 2 olives - The candied ginger was excellent and the color of the drink was a clear color full of flavor.
Taste: 3.5 olives - Like I said, a flavorful drink even though you would not think it by looking at it. We really liked it and the ginger was not too much (sometimes it can be overwhelming!)
Creativity: 4 olives - Good creative drink here - do vodka, ginger, and bitters normally go together so well?
Overall: 3.5 olives - Again, such a fantastic summer drink and one we shall get again!
If you have not been to La Tavola, you must go - more than their drinks rock - the food is spectacular and by far one of our favorite Fifth Group restaurants. The only thing we ask is that they bring back their amazing antipasto platter!!! And a Happy Father’s Day to Bob who enjoyed his Father’s Day weekend with us!
Technorati Tags: Fifth Group restaurants
Posted in 52 Weeks of Drinks by ashley 1 Comment »
June 16, 2010
So, call us slack. We just did not go out to one of the many fabulous remaining bars/restaurants for a drink this past week. We had a lot going on and wanted to hang out with our friends, Matt, Sarah, and their kid - who is quite frankly not old enough to go into a bar (and Alison and I always complain when there are babies in BARS.)
We had delicious meal with them at their home - they fancy themselves amateur chefs and I tend to agree with them. Matt can certainly grill a pork tenderloin and Sarah makes the best damn desserts ever. They sound just like a fabulous 1950’s couple…(but really, Sarah wears the pants.) I digress.
Matt told me he had made this tequila concoction and we were dying to taste it. I have named the drink “Mr. Baby“ in honor of their precious little boy whose name I just don’t feel like revealing because he is underage I guess. (Yet, he is obviously in my arms in this photo.) Mr. Baby consists of a nice tequila, fresh squeezed lime (usually one whole lime per drink,) Agave Nectar, and Lemon Thyme simple syrup. Matt and Sarah have a wonderful amount of this lemon thyme herb in their garden and it added great flavor to this drink. Oh, I forgot, that fresh blueberries can be smashed a bit and then placed in your glass for an extra pop. YUM.
Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives. One Olive = waste of my blogging time; 5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm
Presentation: 3.5 olives. I think in real life, you could order this either on the rocks or up. Ours was a combination…probably would like to see it less “rocky” in a martini glass next time, but I was not rude to say this to Matt’s face (just to the world here.) The added color of the blueberries was wonderful.
Taste: 3.5 olives. Again, before Abattoir, I would have given this a 4 olive rating. I will tell you though that the more lemon thyme simple syrup that goes in, the better it is - and again, the blueberries tasted fantastic after sitting in the tequila for a while…
Creativity: 4 olives. Easy yet nicely different.
Overall: 3.7 olives :) Both Alison and I really loved the drink. We certainly plan on making it at home and we will just have to borrow the lemon thyme from Matt and Sarah’s garden. Of course, they will be invited too!
Posted in 52 Weeks of Drinks by ashley 1 Comment »
June 14, 2010
I must confess that this possibly could be the best graffiti Krog Tunnel artists have offered us in years. Thanks to my friend, Erika, for taking this fabulous photo this morning. Priceless.
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Posted in Yadda Yadda, Who knows what catagory this may be by ashley 3 Comments »
June 9, 2010
We have been meaning to get back to Leon’s in Decatur. We went like the second week it was open and were not that impressed of the sister restaurant of the famous Brickstore. Alas, we decided to finally give it another shot and loved loved loved it - especially the cheese plate. Yummy. Actually, all our food was just perfection - and not terribly expensive. The pork chop was divine as well.
But on to the most important part of our meal - the cocktails of course. We sat at the bar this past Sunday afternoon at like 4:30pm. (We had not eaten since breakfast and were starving.) Chris and Juliet (pictured) greeted us and were both wonderful bartenders who shook cocktail shakers with such force, we thought their arms would fall off. Seriously. The specialty cocktails are concoctions of the famous Miles Macquarrie.
Chris told us to get the Bitter and Stoned and the Eagle and Wolf - great names. I ordered the Bitter and Stoned and Alison got the Eagle and Wolf. We both thought these drinks were good Fall drinks.
Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives. One Olive = waste of my blogging time; 5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm
The Bitter and Stoned consisted of beefeater gin, Leon’s apricot ginger liqueur, cynar, fresh lemon, and house grapefruit bitters. Cynar is a bitter Italian aperitif with 13 herbs and plants (including the artichoke!)
Presentation: 4 olives - The color was gorgeous - served up - with a beautiful perfect small apricot lined across the glass on a small wooden stick.
Taste: 3 olives - After last week’s amazing drinks, we are having to up the anty on this thing. I would have normally given this drink a 3.5 or 4 - but I just can’t now. I really liked this drink. At the end of a sip, the grapefruit bitters came out full force - but I eventually liked that more than I thought I would. It was a great tasting drink.
Creativity: 3.5 olives -I loved the apricot ginger liqueur and even though I could not taste artichoke in the Cynar, I liked the thought that my drink had 13 special herbs and plants including that artichoke.
Overall: 3.5 olives- Excellent drink that you should certainly try at Leon’s Full Service. Watching them shake it made it even more fun.
Like I said, Alison got the Eagle and Wolf which consisted of rittenhouse bonded rye whiskey, carpano antica formula (huh?), plymouth sloe gin, Regan’s orange bitters, and fernet branca (which was in a drink last week) Lots of stuff in this drink, I tell ya.
Presentation: 3 olives - Looked yummy
Creativity: 3.5 olives - Nice mix of ingredients. I was hoping this blend would cut the strong whiskey taste and lead to something more balanced…alas
Taste: 2.5 olives - yeah - not balanced enough. Our pal Frank can mix some excellent bourbon and whiskey cocktails that use ingredients to cut the taste and make them taste nice and smooth. This particular mixture was too heavy on the whiskey flavor for me. More of a fall/winter cocktail.
Overall: 3 olives - I feel bad, but after last week, this is the best I can do.
Regardless, we shall be back to try more cocktails at Leon’s!
Technorati Tags: Leon’s in Decatur., Brickstore., Miles Macquarrie
Posted in 52 Weeks of Drinks by ashley No Comments »
June 1, 2010
but I think we know what this really looks like. I mean, seriously? Who actually made this bumper sticker for Nikki the cheerleader and what in the hell were they thinking?
Posted in What the *^#@? by ashley 2 Comments »
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