Person Over Board

Last year, when I was at this little hotel beach bar in Hope Town, a picturesque little harbor town in The Abacos, I enjoyed a delightfully sinful cocktail with just three little ingredients. As I sipped two of them down (a little too quickly), I thought, “surely I can remember this recipe and make this when I get home.” My memory of that day goes into a fog beyond that notion so I remembered neither the name of the drink nor what was in it. Luckily, I found myself at the very same bar (at least I remembered where it was) and knew the drink as soon as I saw it on the painted drink menu board on the wall.

The P.O.B. (Person Over Board) is an aptly (and politically correct) named mixture of Southern Comfort, Myers's Rum and just enough pineapple juice to keep you from coughing up the first two ingredients. This time I only had one, but as it followed two cocktails at another beach bar 30 minutes earlier, this drink was promptly followed by a 3 hour nap as I could safely set myself down without fear of falling over-board myself. I don’t recommend this cocktail near water or work associates you don’t want to know better.

The Big Ginger

This one is dangerous. My friend Alex turned me on to this today
during happy hour at a local Irish mega pun called, ironically, The
Local. It is 2 oz of Jameson topped of with Ginger ale, lemon and
lime. Don't loose your pants.

Atrea "The Choir" Rhone Blend

This wine is beautiful and well balanced.I love white Rhone Valley wines.
This is from Mendocino California but, it's good!

Alois Lageder Pinot Grigio

	I don't remember who have this to me, but I enjoyed it. Light grapefruit and a little green on the nose and a smooth finish. Held up to bring resealed for a few days to boot.

When Sangria goes crazy

I recently had a little party celebrating my 33rd birthday - I called it "The Power of 3" as all my major events have stupid names. The vague reference to the TV show Charmed was lost on most folks.

The menu was Mexican themed (loosely) and was originally to feature three drinks - one of which was a Mexian version of Sangria called "Agua Loca". It goes down smooth - too smooth as many of my guests discovered as they stood up to walk home (most all of them lived in the neighborhood, so I was not enabling reckless activity.

It's a ballsy punch of rum, vodka, wine and enough fruits and juices to fool you into thinking you're drinking something healthy. Here's a link to the recipe.

Mark Bittman provides a Rosetta Stone to sours

I love Mark Bittman's "minimalist" approach to food and drink. Here he's providing some guidelines to making many of my favorites - definitely a reference resource I'll come back to often.

http://www.nytimes.com/export_html/common/new_article_post.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2008%2F06%2F25%2Fdining%2F25mini.html%3Fex%3D1372132800%26en%3D23a472e09a6f22a7%26ei%3D5124%26partner%3Dpermalink%26exprod%3Dpermalink&title=Add%20a%20Splash%20of%20Ad-Lib&summary=Master%20the%20pattern%20for%20sour%20drinks%20and%20you%20can%20mix%20hundreds%20of%20cocktails%20at%20home%20without%20a%20book%20or%20recipe.&section=The%20Minimalist&pubdate=June%2025%2C%202008&byline=By%20MARK%20BITTMAN

Chateau Gabaron bordeaux blanc

	Bought this because it was $11 and the name was similar to my middle name. Its tart, grassy and a bit sour. I won't be repeating but I will save the bottle.

The Veritable Caipiroska

Just got back from Mexico where I was doing some damage to the pool-side bar tab drinking Caipiroskas. I never see them on offer here in the states, but it's like a hard lime-ade made with vodka, muddled lime and sugar.

I made this one at home with Stoli Blueberi, lime, sugar and a splash of sprite. It's bascially a Caipirinha with with the vodka in place of Cachaça so it ends up being less complex but thoroughly refreshing.

14 Hands 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

14 Hands 2005 Cabernet from Washington state. Light fruit blackberry and smooth tannins. Very good.
-DM

Bite and Chew: Mango Batida - Cachaça your fruit, folks.

Bite and Chew: Mango Batida - Cachaça your fruit, folks.

J.J. Müller 2005 Liebfraumilch

I can't pronounce it, but I sure can slurp it. Label says it pairs well with spicy foods so I tried it last week with a Spicy Penne with Shrimp and Mint recipe. I usually take about 4 days to finish a bottle of wine. I put this one down in 2.

Flavors of Pear, Apple, a touch of citrus and round butterscotch notes. Off-dry.

Charles Shaw Nouveau Valdiguie

Another slurpable varietal of 3-Buck-Chuck that is positioned as a cheap and easy alternative to the Beaujolais Nouveau. I agree with the review at Box Wines on the flavor and found this to be good swill to swallow with dinner the last couple of days. Simple, fruit-forward and pleasant, but nothing ground-shattering. But what do you expect for $3 - it's better than most of the other Chucks I've choked down. Note to self to try a Gamay Noir as it's probably the same thing.