i enjoyed some old fashioned cocktails this evening! i would say it came from the combination of being on both a rye whiskey kick on top of a mad men kick!

for those interested, i went with bulleit rye and angostura bitters.

– ryan

old fashioned:

1 tsp sugar or 2 sugar cubes
2-4 dashes angostura bitters
2 oz rye whiskey
1 large ice cube or ice cubes
splash club soda
2 orange wheel
1 orange wheel rind
2 maraschino cherry

directions:
• rub an orange wheel rind around the rim of a highball glass
• muddle sugar, orange wheel, cherry and bitters in glass
• add a splash of club soda and swirl around
• remove orange rind and add ice
• pour in rye and stir
• garnish with a fresh maraschino cherry and an orange slice

– ryan

on our way back from melbourne, florida, we were able to swing through jacksonville and go on a brewery tour of intuition ale works! my old buddy willy, who i used to homebrew with, is the brewmaster there.

it was a very nice brewery! it was way bigger than i expected and although it was super hot, it was really fun to check out. they had various wood casks up front with special beers fermenting and then a ton of stainless steel kettles with their rotating beers being brewed. we also saw the canning process, which was cool, and their room of empty cans, which i don’t think i had ever seen before.

next to the brewery was a tap room featuring about 15 intuition beers on draft. they had a huge variety on tap, including: ipa, double ipa, saison, stout, black ale, pale ale, black lager, belgian tripel, farmhouse ale and even a strong ale aged in a tequila barrel with blood orange puree! i was very impressed to say the least! i think my favorite was the ra saison, although they were all very tasty. the tap room had a very cozy atmosphere and a bunch of board games to play while you drink. they also offered a mug club for the locals.

if you are ever in the jacksonville area, be sure to visit intuition ale works! the tap room is open tuesday through friday from 3pm to 11pm and on saturday from 1pm until 11pm. they also have brewery tours by appointment tuesday through friday at 3pm. it is highly recommended!

intuition also released a cookbook featuring over 80 recipes made from their beer. it’s a nice hardback with some cool ideas of things to make with beer. you can order one here.

– ryan

intuition ale works

720 king street
jacksonville, florida 32204
904.683.7720

tuesday to friday from 3:00pm to 11:00pm
saturday from 1:00pm to 11:00pm

we are enjoying mint juleps before the kentucky derby! we went with a recipe from the original bartender’s guide by trader vic from 1947 and used rittenhouse rye. they are quite tasty for sure!

rittenhouse is the latest rye whiskey i tried out. i had read a lot about them, including how they won the 2006 north american whiskey of the year award, but had yet to try out their rye. at only $18.99, it is definitely the most economical option for a solid tasting rye out there. the bottle design is nothing to write home about, however it packs a punch at 100 proof and is a great addition to one’s bar.

i would probably stick with mixing rittenhouse in cocktails like juleps, manhattans or an old-fashioned over just sipping the whiskey. it has a little more bite than bulleit or redemption, but for the price, it’s still tasty and great in mixed drinks.

rittenhouse is bottled in bond, which means it was the product of one distillation season by one distiller at one distillery, was aged in a federally bonded warehouse under us government supervision for at least four years and bottled at 100 proof. pretty strict standards for such an economical rye!

check our my previous posts on bulleit, 13th colony and redemption rye.

– ryan

georgia mint julep recipe:

ingredients:
1 tsp sugar syrup
4 springs fresh mint
2 oz. brandy (we substituted rye)
2 oz. apricot brandy (we substituted more rye)
shaved ice

directions:
– crush mint with sugar syrup in large class and fill with crushed ice
– add liquor and stir gently until glass frosts
– serve with straws and garnish with more mint

being a huge fan of soft pretzels, i’ve always been intrigued by the bake-at-home kits you see at grocery stores. with clementine way into all thing baking & cooking these days, it seemed like a good time to try one out. so on a recent saturday afternoon, clementine, her grandmother and i attempted an auntie anne’s at-home baking kit i bought at kroger.

the kit included all of the necessary ingredients, so measuring was not required. the instructions were pretty easy as well, although time consuming for sure. i started by pitching the yeast in a mixing bowl. i then added the flour and mixed the dough. next came the kneading, which clementine was super helpful with! once the dough was prepared it had to sit for 30 minutes in a warm spot to “rest.”

after resting, we flattened the dough and cut it into 1.5″ x 8″ strips. the strips were then stretched out and shaped for baking. we went with normal pretzel designs and some twists, but you can get creative and make letters or animal shapes or whatever you can think of!

once the pretzels were shaped, i prepared a bowl with warm water and baking soda. i dipped each pretzel into the liquid (like you do with bagels), added toppings (ie. salt, cinnamon & sugar, etc.) and baked for 5 minutes at 400. the pretzels were then rotated 180 degrees and baked for an additional 2-5 minutes. i brushed on some melted butter and voilà, home-baked soft pretzels!

in the end, the soft pretzels were amazing! the process took way longer than i expected, however the pretzels tasted restaurant quality and were totally worth the effort. plus clementine had a blast kneading the dough and helping out, so i would definitely make them again.

next time i’ll have to try the egg in a pretzel recipe!

– ryan

we made some old fashioned banana pudding homemade ice cream on the 4th of july. somehow we found the time while also watching grey crawl for the first time!

we set up our wooden bucket ice cream maker on the front porch and used a recipe from nutmeg nanny, which turned out amazing! how can you go wrong with nilla wafers and fresh bananas in your ice cream?

you should definitely try this frozen summer treat at home!

– ryan & gub

old fashioned banana pudding homemade ice cream

recipe from nutmeg nanny.

ingredients:
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 milk
3 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 tbsp instant banana pudding mix
2 small bananas, sliced
1 cup nilla wafers, coarsely chopped

directions:
in the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the whipping cream, milk and eggs. slowly add the sugar, lemon juice and salt. finally, add the instant banana pudding mix and blend well.

using a wooden spoon, add the small banana slices and stir to incorporate.

pour into the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker. turn on and freeze according to the manufactures directions. during the final 10 minutes of freezing, add the coarsely chopped nilla wafers.

remove frozen ice cream. serve immediately or place in a freezer proof ice cream container and serve when ready.

happy thanksgiving! we decided to stay in atlanta and spend our first thanksgiving with just the four of us at home this year. this also meant we had to come up with a thanksgiving meal! to make things a little easier, we ordered an oven-roased turkey from the mercantile, which was amazing! mercantile is a local sandwich/prepared meal spot right down the road. our friends were super generous and made tasty sides for us (and delivered them). we made our own gravy and mashed potatoes, but other than that, we just enjoyed a fun day with grey and clem. we were definitely pampered!

we started the day with some coffee, our traditional breakfast casserole and the macys day parade! we thought it was pretty cool to see a maces commissioned kaws float in the parade! coincidentally, both of our families have been making the same breakfast casserole on holidays since we were kids. clementine was a big fan as well!

happy holidays!

– ryan & gub

the mercantile

1660 deKalb avenue northeast #150
atlanta, ga 30307
404-378-0096

breakfast casserole recipe:

ingredients:
6-8 slices bread
1 lb sausage (ground or link)
8 oz shredded cheese
6 eggs beaten
2 cups milk (or half ‘n half)

directions:
– preheat oven to 350 and grease 9″ x 13″ baking dish
– break up bread (remove crust if desired) and spread throughout baking dish
– brown sausage, drain well and spoon over bread slices
– spread shredded cheese over sausage & bread
– combine eggs & milk, mix well and pour over cheese
– cover and chill over night
– remove from fridge 15 minutes before baking
– bake uncovered @350 for 45 minutes or until golden brown
– serves eight

after talking about it for ages, i finally cooked some popcorn in bacon fat with our whirly pop stovetop popper. i have to say, it was quite amazing! it was not an overwhelming bacon flavor, but it was definitely there and added a lot.

just throw a little salt on top and serve with cold beer or cocktails, highly recommended! bring some to your next olympic party and you will be a big hit!

– ryan

– don’t forget to try bacon fried pumpkin seeds as well!

our friend mike made some tasty luther burgers for the super bowl! for those who never made it to mulligan’s when it was around, a luther burger is a bacon-cheeseburger on a grilled krispy kreme doughnut. it’s an amazing experience to say the least!

– ryan & gub

i tried out the recipe for country apple dumplings that i posted a few months ago. my results didn’t look nearly the same as the one i had at r&a orchards, but they were still super tasty!

– ryan

r&a orchards

5505 highway 52 east
ellijay, ga 30536
706-273-3821

country apple dumplings recipe:

ingredients:
2 large granny smith apples (peeled and cored)
2 x 10 oz cans crescent roll dough
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 x 12 oz can mountain dew

directions:
– preheat oven to 350 and grease 9″ x 13″ baking dish
– cut apples into 8 wedges each and cover with cinnamon & sugar, set aside
– separate crescent roll dough, and roll each apple wedge up in the dough
– pinch the edges to seal and place in dish
– melt butter in a saucepan and stir in the remaining sugar and cinnamon
– pour syrup mixture over apple dumplings and then pour mountain dew on top
– bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown
– serve with vanilla ice cream

i found myself with a pumpkin that needed to be put to rest and a pan of hot bacon grease and wondered, can you fry up pumpkin seeds? the answer is definitely yes and that they are quite tasty in fact. just fry them until golden brown and add salt.

highly recommended!

– ryan

-next up, i’m going to see if i can make stove-top popcorn with bacon fat!