The Cocktail Hour - Scarlet O'Hara

Here's a new one for us, a southern classic.

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Ingredients:

1 oz. whiskey
1 oz. Grand Marnier
juice of one small lime
top off with cranberry cocktail

Mix all ingredients into a highball glass filled with ice.

Cheers!

Darryl

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Hillbilly Lemonade

Summer's at it's hottest so we need some drinks to take the edge off of the heat.

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Here's my version of this out back, sit-by-some-grilling meat, refreshing crowd pleaser.  At only 150 calories, it also fits in with our goal of drinks that won't go straight to your gut...but still are full-service cocktails!

INGREDIENTS (one drink)

1.5 oz. bourbon (whisky or scotch can also be used)
Juice of 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lime
1 oz. simple syrup (2 tbls. of sugar can be substituted)
1-2 oz. water (optional if needed to fill the glass)

To do it right, you should have a majon jar.  If not, use a cocktail shaker.  Fill your jar or shaker about half full of ice.  Put all ingredients in and shake...put just enough water in to make sure you have a full glass.  Strain into a tumbler completely filled with ice.  Garnish with a wedge of lemon, lime, or orange.

Cheers!

-Darryl

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Whiskey, Women, and Song

Well, two out of three isn't bad. You can find the song over at our sister blog, "Musick's Music." The whiskey is below.

Tim and I have had requests to do a whiskey tasting for the Cocktail Hour. This week, we come through.

We're tasting four reasonably priced spirits plus a very popular guest star.

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We start with Rebel Yell, a straight Kentucky bourbon from Louisville. It's smooth and tasty. We'll use that as our base to compare the other three. Rebel Yell is available from Trader Joe's in the$11-12 range.

Our first comparison is White Rabbit from the good people of Lynchburg, Tennessee at the Jack Daniel's distillery.  It's also very tasty and smooth. Smoother that the classic Jack Daniels, if I'm remembering right.

Next, it's Red and Blackie...Johnnie Walker Red and Black labels. Although the Black is aged 12 years, we didn't enjoy either as much as the first two.

As for the special guest? You'll have to watch the video above for that one.

Cheers!

Darryl

The Cocktail Hour: Beale Street Pub Crawl

(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) It's time The World on Wheels hit the bluesiest street on earth, Beale Street, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Three blocks of wall-to-wall bars and nightclubs with only the occasional souvenir store to break it up.

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On this crawl, we hit three of them, starting with the Beale Street Taproom. Upon entering, it becomes immediately obvious that smoking is still allowed in Tennessee bars. As we're just in the beginning stages of a cold, the smoky air grabs at our throats and makes breathing a bit labored.

The taproom boasts 60 taps on the wall and we take advantage of them to try a Schafly Kolsch. Schafly is a St. Louis brewery working in the shadow of the giant Anheiser Busch there.  They are making some inroads, though, as the owner told me in an e-mail that they're available on tap in Busch Stadium there.

It tastes like a good light beer but is still better than the King of Beers that in competes against.

The Beale Street Taproom is also remembered as the place that Letty started her love affair with Fireball Whiskey, a Canadian cinnamon flavored version.

Next was Alfred's on Beale where a nice, rock duo serenaded us as we tried the Ghost River Ale, which turned out to have a bit of a sour taste that Letty really liked.  We also tried the Yazoo Dos Beeros which had a hint of sweetness. Yes, that's right, sweet 'n sour at Alfreds.

Yuengling is also on tap all over Memphis so we tried America's oldest beer here, too. Pretty good.

Last was Rum Boogie where Darren Jay and the Delta Souls pumped out some great blues while we tried Sam Adams...a decent lager we've had many times before...and Batch 19, a pre-prohibition style lager made by Coors that is actually pretty darn decent, better than the Sam Adams that we're drinking against it.

Watch the video for the complete story and come along to one of the most musical places you'll ever see.

Cheers!

Darryl