Mixology Monday

I’ll avoid all the obvious XL jokes in this post, because we’re one scant week away from June’s Mixology Monday, which — in case you couldn’t figure it out from the headline — takes place on Monday, June 15.

Hosting this round of MxMo is RumDood over at, yep, RumDood.com. And as you might expect from the blog’s name, for this round’s theme the Dood has chosen … okay, it’s not rum — we’ve already had one of those. So, instead he’s going with the next-best theme: Ginger.

Here’s how to play:

• Find or concoct a cocktail recipe that uses ginger in one of its many forms as an ingredient.  This can be muddled ginger, sliced ginger, ginger syrup, ginger beer (commercial or homemade), ginger liqueur, ginger candy, or pieces of a shredded photo of Ginger from Gilligan’s Island.
• Make this recipe, take a picture of it, and then post the recipe, your thoughts about the recipe, and your photo on your blog or at the eGullet Spirits and Cocktails forum.
• Post a link to your submission in the comments here, or send an email using the “Contact” form.

And that pretty much says it all. So, Monday, June 15, be here in Internet-land with some kind of gingery drink, and inform the host so he’ll know what you’ve been up to. See you then–

Okay, so that doesn’t actually rhyme the way I’d hoped, but hey –

Anyway, many thanks to Chuck Taggart for hosting May’s edition of Mixology Monday over at The Gumbo Pages. Chuck chose Amaro as the theme, and woke up Tuesday morning to find three dozen drinks in his inbox. Well, not really, but you get my point.

Here’s Chuck’s roundup, complete with pictures & everything. Thanks again, Chuck, and you’re off the hook for hosting again until … I dunno, what’s your autumn schedule look like?

We’re about a week and a half away from the next round of Mixology Monday, this time hosted by the inimitable Chuck Taggart at The Gumbo Pages on Monday, May 18. Chuck has chosen a theme that’s near and dear to many cocktail enthusiasts: Amaro. That’s right, it’s time to break out your bottles of Italian bitters and get mixing (and being the flexible types, Chuck doesn’t mind if you step away from Italy and reach for the Unicum, Amer Picon, Malort or other potable bitter).

Here’s what Chuck says about the event in his announcement post:

The topic for this month is Amaro, which refers to the bitter liqueurs usually drunk as an after-meal digestive, either alone (neat or on the rocks) or in some kind of mixed drink or cocktail. They tend to all share certain characteristics — drinking bitters are generally made of alcohol with any number of herbs, plus sugar and some kind of coloring. The word “amaro” means bitter in Italian, and although the more famous drinking bitters tend to come from Italy our amaro theme this month is most certainly not limited to that country. Amaro, amer, amargo, what have you. Italy, Spain, France, America, Serbia, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland … wherever somebody drinks a bitter liqueur, that’s a source for your drink this month.

[...]

You could use something gentle, like the lovely Amaro Montenegro, or something in-your-face, like the aforementioned Fernet. You could go insane, like a few intrepid Chicago bartenders have done, and actually make cocktails with Jeppson Malört, which is the most mind-bogglingly, unrelentingly bitter liqueur ever. Or you could find something relatively rare, like a pelinkovac from Serbia or Croatia. Just remember we’re talking about a bitter liqueur you drink from a glass, not an aromatic bitters you add by the dash. Oh, and one more thing … while technically Jägermeister is a digestive bitter liqueur and is perfectly legitimate for your post-prandial sipping, it’s been done to death by frat boys nationwide. Unless your Jäger cocktail is destined to be a modern classic, I’d recommend skipping that one (if for no other reason that someone will undoubtedly taunt you for it). Or you could say, “In your face, Taggart!” and do a brilliant Jägermeister cocktail that blows everyone away. The world of bitters is your canvas.

To participate, simply post your drink on or before Monday, May 18. Be sure to let Chuck know you’re participating by placing a link to your post in the comment section of his announcement post, or in the MxMo post he’ll put on his site on May 18. Be sure to link from your post back to Chuck’s site, and to the main Mixology Monday page — and work the MxMo logo into your post, so your readers will know what you’re talking about.

So bitter up, ladies and gents — May was made for amari. Let’s see what ya got…..

Many thanks to Tristan at A Wild Drink Blog for hosting April’s Mixology Monday, which focused on Superior Twists — alterations and augmentations of classic cocktails that helped take those drinks to another, (hopefully) better level. Check out all the participants on Tristan’s roundup post, and give some of the drinks a try.

We’re less than a week away from the next round of Mixology Monday. This round is hosted by Tristan at The Wild Drink Blog, and Tristan has chosen Superior Twists as the theme. What’s that, you say? Here, I’ll let Tristan explain it:

This month’s Mixology Monday is all about twists on classic cocktails, that for one reason or another do an even better job than the drinks upon which they are based.

This could be as simple as a classic Margarita with a dash with a special touch that completes it, or maybe as complicated as a deconstructed Hemingway Daiquiri with a homemade rum foam/caviar/jus/trifle. It might be taking a classic like a Manhattan and using Tequila instead of Bourbon?

Got it? Good –it’s actually quite simple; we all have embellishments and adaptations we’ve made to our favorite cocktails that work to both personalize the drink and push it, in our humble opinions, over the top of deliciousness. This MxMo, tell us what yours is.

To participate, simply blog about your drink by Monday, April 13 (don’t forget to link back to Tristan’s blog and the MxMo site, and please include the MxMo logo), and let host Tristan know about it by e-mailing tristan [at] tristanstephenson.com. Include your name, your blog, the URL of your post, and — by Tristan’s request — “your favorite song to dance the twist to.”

So let’s hear it folks — what’s your favorite twist on a classic?