Happy Friday everyone, and welcome to St. Patrick’s Day weekend. This week, we’re taking some light beer, green food coloring, and throwing that shit in the trash where it belongs, right next to offensively named drinks such as the Irish Car Bomb, and (although delicious) Black and Tan.
We’re focusing on Irish whisky this week, because it’s timely, and is different than its American or Scottish cousins. From my experience, Irish whiskey tends to be a bit smoother and sweeter than bourbons, ryes, or scotches. It’s different, but in a good (and tasty) way.
Now, onto the drink, This is the Irish Cocktail:
2 ounces Irish whiskey
1/4 ounce absinthe
1/4 ounce Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
1 barspoon Luxardo maraschino
1 dash Angostura bitters
Lemon twist for garnish
Olive for garnish
Add Irish whiskey, absinthe, dry curaçao, maraschino, and Angostura bitters to a mixing glass. Fill with ice and stir until well chilled, about 20 seconds.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the lemon twist and olive, then serve.
For the whiskey I picked up a bottle of Proper No, Twelve. The nose is vanilla forward, then a touch of caramel with a slightly smoky finish. The whiskey itself is very smooth, with a little bit of alcohol burn at the end. Despite this being a bit of a novelty whiskey (Some Googling reveals Connor McGregor is behind it), it’s a decent base spirit for a cocktail. I also subbed Cointreau for the curacao, and the anise liqueur for the absinthe.
The smoothness of the base liquor doesn’t over power the other ingredients. The drink is sweet, citrus-y, and slightly smoky. The olive garnish brings little bit of brine and salt flavor to the mix. Normally I would have omitted the olive since they are vile things, but I figured I’d garnish it properly and I made the right decision. I did give Mrs. Sharkbait the olive. This will be nice to sip on while the corned beef finishes cooking.
Sláinte!
(Banner image found here)
Legitimate question: Who gets offended by the name Irish Car Bomb? And why?
Seems like an oversensitive snowflake thing.
I’m not sure. I’ve heard stories of people getting offended at both names.
It goes back to the days when the IRA was more militant. Many Irish were offended to be associated with terrorism and found the name insulting. The IRA did indeed use car bombs but the vast majority of Ireland didn’t support the IRA who resided primarily in Northern Ireland.
Yeah, but does LCSS give a shit?
I like that I’m the Irish expert round these parts.
I don’t personally take offense to it, and have used the name a lot in college, but since Roommate Commander is the daughter of an immigrant from the Emerald Isle, she does take issue when an informed person uses the term, which has led me to steer away from it.
It’s not much of an issue here, but if you say it in Ireland, prepare for a punchin’
Isn’t it an American drink? That’s probably about as Irish as I am.
Yes, but it’s well-known in Europe now. To an Irishman, joking about car bombs is kinda like joking to a New Yorker about 9/11. So it’s really just a “know your audience” thing.
/ crumples paper with the following recipe:
Fill two tall glasses halfway with Manhattans
Drop a shot of Everclear in each
Drink both, one after the other.
Too soon?
Not soon enough. I could have used a couple of stiff drinks that day.
Don’t you have to light them on fire first?
GET IN MAH BELLY
Here’s the Irish cocktail served at the Cornblower estate: shot of Jameson’s and a pint of Guinness. You want something fancier than that you can walk your Limey ass on out.
Just finished my morning walk.
So. Many. Butterflies!
I felt like I was crossing a river of butterflies.
It was pretty fucking cool.
Take a lesson kids…a tab of acid prior to a walk makes everything better!
That corned beef recipe looks a lot like what my table will look like on Sunday.
With a variation!
Btw, this is a good shopping list for the weekend (even though I’m taking off a few weeks from drinking):
https://thetakeout.com/4-best-irish-whiskey-recommendations-fancy-shopgirl-1833307591/amp
And if you can find/afford it, Yellow Spot is the answer.
Browns about to go 2 months without Khunt. Which really does show you that they’re in a marriage with Kareem.
Giving Mrs. Sharkbait the olive is an unfortunate euphemism
Man, adding an olive to that otherwise pleasant mix of ingredients is seriously off-putting.
I’d skip it going forward. Yeah it adds a bit of saltiness and brine, but I could live without it.
I think I will march around on Sunday drinking Irn-Bru from a bottle while singing Fields of Ulster.
I’m glad absinthe is making a comeback. It’s a hell of a drink in the Rick James sense.