KINGSLAYER Game Of Thrones Tiki Cocktail

"They called him the Lion of Lannister to his face and whispered "Kingslayer" behind his back."

  Poor, beleaguered Jaime Lannister. Sent away by his son, the King, enmeshed in a seige he wanted no part of and still fighting despite his loss of limb.    Poor, sexy, incestuous Jaime (that King? Jaime's son with sister Cersei), king slayer, Stark crippler, brother of our much beloved dwarf, Tyrion, the Imp. What is it about this conflicted bad guy that we just love so much? Poor guy needs a break, a vacay and a cocktail so let's give him one.   Because you may not be able to fight as well one handed, but you can always drink well one handed.  

    The KINGSLAYER A Game of Thrones Tiki Cocktail   INGREDIENTS: 3 Oz. Diplomatico Rum 1/2 Oz. Amontillado Sherry 2-1/2 Oz. Pineapple Juice 1 Oz. Lime Juice 1/2 Oz. Small Hands Organic Orgeat Syrup 1 Oz. Bordeaux Maraschino Cherry Syrup 2 Dashes Angostura Orange Bitters Cracked Ice   Garnish: Bordeaux Maraschino Cherry, Edible Orchid, Cocktail Umbrella   Glass: Collins   Tools: Cocktail Shaker   DIRECTIONS: Pour all the ingredients except the Maraschino cherry juice in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until chilled.  Add the cracked ice to the glass. Strain drink over the ice, garnish and just as you serve add in the Maraschino juice.       P.S.  Who else wants to see Jamie hook up with Brienne?    "People have been swinging at me for years and they always seem to miss." ~ Jaime Lannister  

  ALL MY GAME OF THRONES COCKTAILS   Updated 7-2018 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY  

HOMEMADE GIN RECIPE

First, let me say that when you are making homemade gin, you are most likely making a compound gin not a distilled gin. You can read more about the difference between the two here at Serious Eats. I like to be honest and call mine "gin flavored vodka" because that's exactly what it is.  In point of fact, all gin is basically flavored vodka, but you can read more about that from Jeffrey Morgenthaler.

Second, let me say that this whole experiment started with some left over rosemary infused vodka made for my Rosemary Lemon Drop Martini. After I had made my martini I had a considerable amount of the rosemary infused vodka leftover and, when I went to put it in the refrigerator, my eyes fell on some of the spices I keep in magnetic metal tins on the fridge door. One of these was filled with juniper berries, another with cardamom, both of which are often aromatics used in flavouring gins.
It wasn't much of a leap from there to the idea of homemade gin, though, truthfully, I was just thinking of adding some more flavors to the rosemary infused vodka for another cocktail recipe. At some point while adding the juniper berries, cardamom, some lemon peel and orange peel, I realized I had the makings of a gin flavored vodka.
Et voila, homemade gin!
The Martini Diva's Basic GIN RECIPE:
INGREDIENTS: 1 Cup 100 Proof Vodka 1 Cup 80 Proof Vodka 1 Tablespoon Juniper Berries 1/2 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds 4 Cardamom Pods 1 Teaspoon Dried Lemon Peel 1 Small Sprig Rosemary 1/4 Teaspoon Dried Lavender
TOOLS: Infusion jar or bottle, cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer
DIRECTIONS: Add the vodka and juniper berries together in a sealable infusion bottle. Allow this to infuse for a full week. Next day add the coriander, lemon peel and lavender and give this another day to infuse.  The next day add the cardamom and rosemary and let this get happy for 12 hours. Strain out the flavoring ingredients and bottle up.  If you want a clearer gin, run it through a Brita water filter a few times. Note: I do not crush my pods as I want a more subtle infusion from these ingredients. Any seeds or pods that you want more flavor from, feel free to hit them up with a little mortar and pestle action. Your homemade gin should last for up to a year, but I seriously doubt if you will have it around that long.
Of course, you can always just buy a gin kit:

The thing about making your own gin is you can try different flavoring elements, as well as using different infusion times for those elements to subtly adjust the flavor of your homemade gin. Different types of gin work with different types of cocktails, so I hope to try using some other floral elements, like chamomile, or maybe even some cucumber peels and maybe dried orange peel instead of lemon and adjusting the amount of the spices. I might also add an herb or two like basil or cilantro.
Now, try out your new Homemade Gin in some of my GIN COCKTAILS
World Gin Day is June 11th. National Gin Day is November 7th

Updated 6-2018
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BOURBON CHERRY PIE SMASH COCKTAIL

Ever since I made my Crepes Suzette Cocktail with the Orange Butter Simple Syrup, I have been wanting to put butter in another cocktail. There was something about the creaminess and that little bit of salt in the butter that just rocked that cocktail. Yesterday, after a particularly teeth gnashing day of working on my newest coloring book, I decided it was time to take a break and make myself a cocktail.
I went to the kitchen and there sat my dish of butter. So I went for butter simple syrup cocktail number two. I didn't have any plan, no special occasion was on the horizon so I hadn't been shopping for any specific ingredients. I just grazed the bar and fridge for what looked good to me in the moment.
I love it when no plan comes together.

BOURBON CHERRY PIE SMASH with A Cinnamon Maraschino Butter Syrup
INGREDIENTS: 2 Oz. Blanton's Bourbon 1/2 Cup Fresh (or frozen) Dark Cherries 1 Fresh Egg White (or 2 Tablespoons Pasteurized Egg White) 1/2 Oz. Lemon Juice 2 Tablespoons Cinnamon Maraschino Butter Simple Syrup (Recipe below) Large Ice Cube Ice
Garnish: 1 Sugared Pie, Pre-baked Pie Crust Square, 2 Luxardo Maraschino Cherries, 2 Dashes Woodford Reserve Spiced Cherry Bitters
Tools: Blender, Cocktail shaker
Glass: Old Fashioned
DIRECTIONS: Prepare the Cinnamon Maraschino Butter Simple Syrup and set aside to cool. Chill your glass in the freezer. Add all the ingredients except the ice to a blender and blend on high for one full minute. (This is my cheater's approach to dry shaking.) Add this mixture to a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake until chilled. Pour, do not strain, over the large ice cube in the old-fashioned glass. Tap on the cherry bitters, garnish with the pie crust square, a few Luxardo Maraschino Cherries and serve.
CINNAMON MARASCHINO BUTTER SIMPLE SYRUP
1/2 Stick Salted Butter 1 Stick of Cinnamon Juice & Zest of 1 Large Lemon 2 Tablespoons Demerrara Sugar 1 Tablespoon Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
Melt the butter in a small sauté pan. Grate the lemon zest over the butter then squeeze in the juice of the lemon. Add the sugar and the cinnamon then cook over medium high heat just until the syrup thickens, about a minute. Watch carefully,  this can burn quickly. Stir in the Luxardo. Set aside for your cocktail and allow to cool a bit.
Cherry Pie Day is February 20th AND ... Twin Peaks Day is February 24th!

Updated 2-2025 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

WILDLING WASSAIL for Game of Thrones

"Free folk don't follow names, or little cloth animals sewn on a tunic ... They won't dance for coins, they don't care how your style yourself or what that chain of office means or who your grandsire was. They follow strength. They follow the man." ~ George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)
Descended from the First Men, the Free Folk are the inhabitants of the North who were unlucky enough to be living north of The Wall when it was constructed eight thousand years ago. They are feared and viewed as savages and barbarians by the Seven Kingdoms who derisively call them Wildlings.
Doomed to endure the ice and cold of the North the Free Folk were shut off from "polite society" by The Wall for eight thousand years, kept at bay by the Night's Watch. Like everyone else, the Watchers had forgotten the wall was originally constructed to keep out White Walkers (now viewed as myths) and not Wildlings. Then Jon Snow came along and things got wild from there.
I see them as the Druids of The Lands of Ice and Fire, sort of the ancient Celts to the Medieval feudal folk of The Seven Kingdoms. The Celts loved their ales so I figure the Free Folk were wild enough to have discovered fermentation themselves and probably liked it a little spicy.

WILDLING WASSAIL A Spiced Apple Ale Punch (Serves up to 8)
INGREDIENTS: Roasted Red Apples (Recipe below.) 3 Bottles of Redd's Apple Ale 1 Cup Madeira Wine 1 Slice Fresh Ginger 1/2 Teaspoon Grated Nutmeg 1/4 Teaspoon Powdered Allspice 1 Cinnamon Stick 1 Cup Brown Sugar
Garnish: Fresh Apple Slices, Cinnamon Stick
Tools: Baking dish, Crock pot, Ladle
Glass: Old Fashioned
DIRECTIONS: Roast the apples. Add ingredients to the crock pot and simmer on low for 2 hours. Add the roasted apples. Allow to cool. Ladle wassail into the punch cups , garnish with a slice of apple and a cinnamon stick and serve.
Yes, you can serve this hot.
ROASTED APPLES Chop 4 red apples into an 8"x8" baking dish. Toss with brown sugar, add a half a cup of water to the baking dish and bake at 350 until the apples are tender.
"If we die we'll die, but first we'll live." ~ Ygritte

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MOONSHINE MADNESS

MOONSHINE: White Lightning, Mountain Dew, Hooch, White Whiskey, White Dog, Pop Skull, Bush Whiskey, Donkey Punch, Kickapoo and a host of other nicknames.

WHAT IS MOONSHINE?
  Illicitly and illegally distilled and distributed corn liquor found chiefly in the areas of the southern U.S. Yes, ILLEGAL, though the term has crept into legal, federally monitored distilled brands in the last few years. Generally made from a corn mash, real moonshine - the kind made ILLEGALLY by Popcorn Sutton (more information below*) and his Appalachian brethren - is a high proof, clear whiskey. The word "moonshine" is believed to have come from a term for early English Smugglers combined with the fact that most moonshine was produced at night to avoid the notice of the revenuers.
Believe it or not, NASCAR is closely associated with moonshine. The earliest NASCAR drivers, like Junior Johnson, were originally drivers for the illegal whiskey trade who souped up their cars in order to avoid capture. Don't believe me? Just ask NASCAR.
Below are some of my recipes for homemade liquors and liqueurs. I've done tons more (I've even infused booze into whipped cream), I think I've think infused nearly every fruit and herb, and quite a few veggies, candies and spice, into some type of alcohol. I just didn't post all the recipes.
Technically these recipes are not really moonshine because I have not distilled anything, I have simply infused flavors into existing distilled booze. However, if you are like me, it's doubtful you have a copper still laying around your house either. But flavoring your own booze is almost as fun, and it's not illegal.
BACON VODKA  BASIL INFUSED GIN
BLACKBERRY LIQUEUR
BLUEBERRY LIQUEUR & VODKA
BLUEBERRY MINT BOURBON
CANDIED PECAN LIQUEUR
CANDY CORN VODKA
CANDY CORN MOONSHINE
CARAMEL APPLE VODKA
CARAMEL INFUSED LIQUEURS
CHOCOLATE CANDY CANE VODKA
CHOCOLATE CAKE LIQUEUR
CHOCOLATE VODKA & LIQUEURS
CHRISTMAS CANDY LIQUEUR
CRANBERRY LIQUEUR
ESPRESSO VODKA
GARLIC VODKA
GINGERBREAD LIQUEUR
GOOD & PLENTY LIQUEUR
HEIRLOOM TOMATO VODKA
INDIAN CANDY CORN VODKA
KAHLUA RECIPE
LEMONCELLO
ORANGECELLO
PUMPKIN LIQUEUR
QUICK PUMPKIN LIQUEUR
ROASTED HATCH CHILE & CILANTRO TEQUILA
SKITTLES VODKA (If you must)
TOASTED WALNUT MAPLE BOURBON
VANILLA BEAN LIQUEUR
*Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton  (B. October 5, 1946 - D. March 16, 2009) Famous Appalachian moonshiner from Cocke County, Tennessee.

Either the 1st Thursday in June or June 5th is National Moonshine Day. I say Go With BOTH!
"Jesus turned water into wine. I turned it into likker." ~ Popcorn Sutton
Updated 6-5-2018 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

DRIVING MISS DAIQUIRI Watermelon Mint Daiquiri Cocktail

  (Cocktails inspired by the movies, Oscar nominees and winners.)   

  DRIVING MISS DAISY, 1989  Nominated: Morgan Freeman - Best Actor in a Leading RoleDan Aykroyd - Best Actor in a Supporting RoleBest Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design Won, 1990:  Best Picture, Best Actress - Jessica Tandy, Best Writing (Screenplay), Best Makeup   Also won: Golden Globes: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress BAFTA: Best Actress   Daisy Werthan: What are you doing? Hoke Colburn: I'm tryin' to drive you to the store!   Who doesn't love this film about an elderly Southern lady's contentious but admiring relationship with her African American chauffeur?  

  I loved the story and the whole cast and that theme song is a favorite of mine. One of my other favorite things about the movie is how Miss Daisy's car ages right along with the characters. It's a classic in my movie line up, one I watch at least once a year. Any movie that makes reference to the Piggly Wiggly always gets my vote.   It was also a perfect way to pun another Daiquiri for my movie themed cocktail series. Think of this as a mini Mojito, if you make this in a Collins glass and add soda you have a Mojito, but you won't have the fun cocktail pun.  

The

DRIVING MISS DAIQUIRI Watermelon Mint Daiquiri Cocktail   INGREDIENTS: 2 Oz. Bacardi Light Rum 2 Oz. Fresh Watermelon Juice 1/2 Oz. Fresh Lime Juice 1/2 Oz. Mint Simple Syrup 4 Fresh Mint Leaves Ice
Garnish: Watermelon Wedge, Mint Leaves, Lime Quarter 
Tools: Muddler, Cocktail Shaker
Glass: Punch Cup
DIRECTIONS: Purée watermelon in a food processor, then strain into a small bowl. Muddle the mint leaves, fresh lime juice and simple syrup in the bottom of your cocktail shaker. Fill the cocktail shaker with ice, pour in the rum and watermelon juice then shake until well chilled. Strain into the punch cup, garnish and serve.   Daisy Werthan: Hoke? Hoke Colburn: Yes'm? Daisy Werthan: You're my best friend. Hoke Colburn: No, go on Miss Daisy. Daisy Werthan: No, really, you are... Daisy Werthan: You are. Hoke Colburn: Yes'm.
MORE MOVIE COCKTAILS   Updated 7-2018 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY  

FIRE & BLOODY MARY Game of Thrones Cocktail

"I will take what is mine with Fire and Blood." ~ Daenerys Targaryen

I had to do it. Tonight's episode is called Blood of My Blood. Besides it's Sunday and Bloody Marys are kind of my traditional Sunday drink.
Plus, I like a good cocktail pun. I also like history and historical references abound in Game of Thrones, including comparisons of Melisandre to Queen Mary I of England, aka Bloody Mary. 
Evidently we're in for some surprises with tonight's episode and surprises on Game of Thrones usually involve some blood so Bloody Marys are appropriate.

FIRE & BLOODY A Game of Thrones Bloody Mary
INGREDIENTS: 3 Oz. Chilled Crystal Head Vodka 6 Oz. Organic Tomato Juice 4 Dashes Soy Sauce Sriracha Hot Sauce, to taste 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice 1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder 1 Teaspoon Celery Salt 1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper Ice
Rim Ingredients: Black Lava Salt, Chili Powder and Celery Salt.
Garnish: Fresh Cilantro & Sriracha Cream Cheese Stuffed Olives (Recipe below.)
Tools: Cocktail Shaker
Glass: Pint or Highball
DIRECTIONS: Mix a few dashes of Sriracha, some cilantro and a few dashes of soy sauce in 1 tablespoon of softened cream cheese then stuff this in some green olives. Set aside to garnish the cocktail with later. Coat half the glass rim with some tomato juice then dip in the mixture of Black Lava Salt, chili powder and celery salt. Chill glass in the freezer. Combine ingredients with ice in your cocktail shaker and shake really well to mix the ingredients in with the tomato juice as you chill and dilute. Strain into your pint glass, garnish and serve.

Updated 7-2018 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY