The Kentucky Pirate

Couple days ago I just happened to Google the words "Kentucky" and "pirate", because the little voices in my head told me to and I always do what the little voices say. And as usual, they're right again: I stumbled upon a youtube video demonstrating the construction of a concoction called a Kentucky Pirate.

I'd never heard of the thing, but evidently it's popular in Las Vegas. It's master bartender Jerry Vargas' spin-off of the Imperial Fizz and is said to be a big tradition at this upscale Vegas bar called the Sidebar. To whit:

1 slice diced muddled cucumber
1 bar spoon sugar
1 oz. Jim Beam
1/2 oz. Sailor Jerry rum
1/4 oz. Domaine de Canton
1 splash soda
1 slice cucumber for garnish

I'm definitely intrigued by the recipe, and not just because Kentucky and pirates are two subjects near and dear to my ventricles. I haven't made this drink yet, but I plan to, and will likely replace the Sailor Jerry with Kraken, or perhaps forgo the spiced rum and go for the clean clear lucid sharpness of Ten Cane. Maybe even Cachaca to add a Brazilian element. And though Vargas suggests Jim Beam instead of a higher-end bourbon because it's gonna get lost in the mix anyway, I will still probably stubbornly use something a little higher up the trough than Beam. (What can I say, I'm a snob.) I don't keep the ginger liqueur Domaine de Canton around the house, but I do keep fresh ginger root for my daily smoothies made in the juicerator of the official JSH research kitchens.

I'm mentioning this drink here now rather than later, because I probably won't get around to making it until after the Fourth of July, and a little birdie (okay, it's a duck, actually) tells me that you ain't gonna have JSH to kick around anymore after July 4, so if you want that one last kick you'd better make it quick. More on that in the days to come.

Raspberry St.Germain Tea

Okay, it's such a non-recipe that I probably shouldn't even bother, but here goes. After finally plunking down 38 shekels for a bottle of St. Germain, I found that it's way too cloying and sweet to sip straight, leaving me with a potentially undrinkable white elephant - it tastes like white wine, and I hate white wine.

The natural solution that came to my Southern gentlemanly noggin was to cut it with tea and a dash o' soda. So, yeah:


1 part St. Germain
1 part Turkey Hill Raspberry tea
1 dash of club soda


I'm sure any other teas would do nicely - I'm especially looking forward to trying this with Turkey Hill's Mojito tea, and also with homemade green tea from scratch, with Matcha.

Five Months Later

In some ways, things haven't progressed a whole heck of a lot since I filed my December Status Report. There are a lot of cocktail blogs out there that just make stuff up and talk about recipes they've never actually mixed, and drinks they aren't really drinking. I may be slow to post here, but at least I'm keeping it real.

I've been such a busy bee this year that I haven't spent as much time tinkering with experimental beverages as I used to. And when I do, it's usually something that I've already blogged about here, like my old standby the Veranda Cocktail. More often than not, when lounging around the JSH Plantation, I'm actually just sipping straight Bourbon or Zwack.

I do try a lot of nice boozy treats out and about in the world, but for the most part this blog is supposed to be about recipes for drinks that we make ourselves. Drinks I get out in bars and saloons generally get covered in the Victorian Squares blog, formerly the Transylvania Gentlemen blog. Sooner or later, probably not this year, maybe next year, maybe in five years, there WILL be an official Transylvania Gentlemen bar and yours truly will be head bartender. Once that occurs, this blog will snap into action like a Culpeper Minuteman who was already awake and on his fifth cup of Dutch East Indian coffee.

(That is, if there are still such things as bars, blogs, me and you by then.)

The rollercoaster writing deal I spoke of in the December report turned out to be a false shot from a misfired cannon, by the way - but now I'm excited about my new gig with KyForward.com. I'll be traveling around and on the go more than ever because of this, I'm afraid, but will still try to get back to the noble alchemical arts of mixology when I can get the opportunity. Stay tuned.