Hit Me With Your Best Shot

I'm not normally a fan of infused spirits, nor the current trend of flavored spirits. 

I am a purest and I prefer my spirits to be unadulterated, pristine, and with the 

essences that they were created with. Don’t get me wrong, I do love cocktails, 

but I also love craft spirits neat – letting the raw aromas come through and 

having the ability to taste the nuances of the distillation and aging process. 

Having said that I was surprised I enjoyed the Hornitos Lime Shot as much as I did. 

It's cool, clean, minty, and yes, limey, and way too easy to drink. 

It's certainly drinkable on its own (though it becomes potent after a while) 

but the Hornitos Lime Shot really succeeds as a mixer. 

Using blue agave, lime and salt (as if this is an all encompassing lime shooter), 

it’s effective because, in spite of being a prefigured beverage, 

it actually tastes balanced! Have it on its own or have it handy for the 

holidays to mix your cocktails, either way it will bring a little 

uniqueness to your palate. HORNITOS

ORIGIN: Mexico

PRICE: $18 / 750 ML 

ALCOHOL: 35%

BOOZEHOUNDZ SCORE:  89 POINTS

Distilling the Truth: Vodka gets the Vote

I like vodka. But vodka has been mercilessly maligned; it's a tasteless odorless spirit, right? It’s just a backwoods cousin to other spirits and only decent when paired with chemical-laden additives like Red Bull, or orange juice or whatever other crap you may have lying around. Uh, wrong! (And for you college kids out there, pull up your pants, get serious about vodka, and quit whining about your future). Vodka can be alluring, smooth, and packed with flavor elements better suited to other spirits. So when the book Vodka Distilled came out by master cocktail guy Tony Abou-Ganim I thought, finally, someone else loves vodka like I do. Tony writes: “For reasons that largely escape me it has become vogue in some bartending corners to bash vodka. Despite the widely held view to the contrary, all vodkas are not the same. Think about tasting and comparing one vodka to another, not as comparing apples and oranges, but akin to comparing apples to apples…apples of the same variety grown in different orchards…” And here I slightly disagree, yes the banality of mass produced vodka is terrorizing to the palate, but I have discovered a world of subtle nuances and tastes with artisanal vodka. Tony's book celebrates vodka in all its diversity; corn, wheat, and potato iterations. You'll find a wealth of information and recipes about creating the best vodka-based cocktails and what to look for so you don’t waste your time and money. There’s even a round up of 58 vodkas (including Boyd & Blair – one of my personal favorites) in the back with thorough tasting notes. This is a terrific book by a guy who knows his spirits and I’m thrilled to recommend it.

Vodka Distilled: The Modern Mixologist on Vodka and Vodka Cocktails – published by Agate Publishing, $22.95 hardback. 208 pages, color photos.

Beer-Tails

Since beer has been on planet Earth for thousands of years, it comes as a weird surprise there isn’t much in the way of cocktails actually made with beer – like it’s some sort of anomaly (yeah, like wine coolers were a good idea). Until now. Howard and Ashley Stelzer’s new book, Beer Cocktails, gets you on the creative path to changing up your drinking routines. There are 50 recipes here, many happy color photos, from the times of old, classics and tried-and-true concoctions. And there are new creations that the Stelzer’s have crafted (you can also check out their blog called Beyond the Shadow of a Stout). The cool thing about this book is that it doesn’t shy away from telling you which brand of beer works best with which cocktail. For example they strongly suggest a Pabst Blue Ribbon with one, and not Heineken for another. The book is organized from lighter beers into cocktails made with porters and stouts. Many of the recipes use bourbon and whiskey elements and I like that, and they suggest Belgian brews like Kwak, and Delirium Tremens. Plus, with this as a guide you won’t be able to help yourself as you dash to your kitchen to create your own beer-tail. But that’s half the fun and frankly, this book has been a long time coming. Now, drink up.

$12.95/Harvard Common Press (hardback).
Harvard Common Press

BOOZEHOUNDZ RATING

4 Bonz – Good Dog!