Start your Sunday with Scotch!

QuasiMofo wrote: It's okay Gary, it's not for everyone but everyone is welcome to join.

I think I'm in on this concept. I do love scotch, and I'm not persnickety about the brand ... Dewers and Famous Grouse are my usual go-to's. But I think I'd have to draw the line at drinking the dark beverage before noon. (However, I've been known to have a Beefeater martini or two before noon ... Sundays only).

volvoclearinghouse wrote: Mrs. VCH loves a good Dark and Stormy. We make our own variant with home-brewed ginger tea, honey, and seltzer water, with a good dark rum (currently on the shelf is The Kraken) and a bit of lime. But you can be simple and just use ginger beer or ginger ale, rum and lime.

I just discovered the dark and stormy this New Year's. Fever Tree ginger beer, Gosling's rum and a lime... one of the world's great cocktails.

aussiesmg wrote: When is round 2 and who is up to join us?

Been a tough day. Time for the really harsh stuff to take my mind off of it.

Ah, the Dark & Stormy, one of my all time favorites.
Named such because:
The Dark is because of the dark rum.
The Stormy is because ginger is a natural remedy for sea-sickness.
The lime so you don't get scurvy!

That's right, never skip the lime. You don't want scurvy.

Genuine Barritt's Ginger Beer imported from Bremuda, if you can get it. If not Gosling labels a Barritt's version which is near as good.

Of corse, Gosling Dark Rum.
And, a lime. Not lime juice; a real lime.

My Sunday story of Dark & Stromies...
We were in Annapolis racing J105s in The Hospice Regatta National Championships. The race format was Friday races, Saturday races and then the top 50% of the competitors after two days then raced finals on a half day Sunday morning. We missed the cut by one standing. That meant no racing for us on Sunday but our flights didn't leave Baltimore until 7pm....

We had discovered over the weekend that the best served (and cheapest, $5) D&S in all of Annapolis was at the Exclusive Annapolis Yacht Club. I'm not sure what time we got there but it was early though I clearly remember that we discovered that it was Mother's Day and in the other room they were holding Mother's Day Brunch while we were in the bar as a crew of 5 getting pretty load and pretty drunk.
The staff offered us some "free appetizers" (surely to sober us up) and "invited us" out to the balcony (so as to stifle our loudness). In all, they treated us graciously even if we were not returning the courtesy.
The humor of it all, we were not guests of a member nor did we have proper reciprocation, etc. We were just some drunken a hole sailors and they had seen our type regularly so they treated us as regulars.

As for the whisky, I was turned on to Laphroaig 10.
So peety and so smokey that I refer to it as a Whisky and a Cigar, with no need for a lighter (or a cigar)!

In reply to John Welsh :

Love the story.

We stumbled across an old rum cocktail book from the 60's when cleaning and moving a few years ago. Many good rum drinks in there. Ever try a Switchell? Basically, cranberry, lime, and rum, though there are other variants. I think the original used apple cider vinegar.

Speaking on cranberry, do yourself a favor and the next time you need it for a cocktail, skip the cranberry juice cocktail or any of the fruit-juice-sweetened varieties and go for the 100% cranberry juice. It's got a bite to it, but the flavor is great. I like Trader Joe's 100% cranberry- a 32 oz jar is a pretty reasonable $2.99.

The other night the wife and I wanted Dark and Stormy but it was cold out so we also wanted a warm beverage. So I invented the Hot, Dark, and Stormy. It's fairly similar to a Hot Toddy:

Boil a pot of water, pour about 6 oz into a coffee mug, stir in a generous Tablespoon of honey, a couple of tablespoons of ginger tea (shredded ginger root steeped in hot water), however much Rum you feel is appropriate, and the lime wedge (juice if no fresh limes are about).

It warms the insides.

aussiesmg wrote: When is round 2 and who is up to join us?

my place when i need to set the body on the challenge car chassis in a couple months. i don't drink, but i can handle the welder and plasma cutter

Does Butterscotch pudding count? If so... in and done!

I'm doing coffee and rum cream right now if that counts.

Sunday AM Coffee and Rye "joint lubricant"

Combining the Caffeine & Whiskey with my standard dose of Asprin and Tylenol allows me to forget the ravages I have committed to my body in the garage on the previous day.

Takes years off my ability to move (and my attitude)!

Sunday AM: black coffee and Anisette. Good, Italian Anisette, not that crap Decrupeyer stuff.

Apparently my grandmother, who rarely imbibed, loved the occasional coffee and Anisette, too.

Enjoying High West Campfire Whiskey. A blend of Rye, bourbon and blended single malts. Heresy I know but very nice. Hits all the good parts of each type of whiskey.

I love scotch, bourbon, rye. But lately, I've been on Japanese whisky. The Nikka Coffey is an amazing mix of texture and flavor. Almost like halfway between a highland scotch and an american bourbon. I also like the Yamakazi distillery a lot. Very scotch like. Sort of peaty, but with much lighter body than you would expect.