The Big Smoke

Big Smoke cocktail

 

After a few months hiatus, Mixology Monday has resurfaced. I am much pleased as this monthly challenge usually gets me thinking in a new way and August’s theme of Brown, Bitter and Stirred hosted by Lindsey Johnson was no different. 

Brown, Bitter and Stirred immediately suggested a Manhattan and as I’d already been wondering how to use some tobacco-infused whisky I’d been planning to make,  the two naturally seemed to come together. Having previously and successfully dabbled with tobacco in drinks (a cigar-infused bourbon - a smooth, quite sweet experience) I felt it was time to up the ante and get some hardcore smokiness into the bottle.

Grapefruit Moon

A Grapefruit Moon cocktail

This month’s Mixology Monday is hosted by Caskstrength and has the rather brilliant and evocative theme of Tom Waits.

Waits’ music and alcohol is one of life’s classic combinations. Listening to one without the other is like Starsky without Hutch, Cameron without Clegg, or a gin martini without an olive.

Mixology Monday: Punch

This is my first time participating in Mixology Monday and to be honest, I was a little dismayed that the theme this month is punch (as hosted by Hobson’s Choice).

Coming from a background that’s not entirely sophisticated, my experiences of punch consist of heinous, fruit laden mixtures served at student parties out of a plastic bucket. No one ever knew the exact ingredients and judging from the taste that was a blessing. My best guess would be cheap red wine, orange juice, lemonade and paint stripper.