Whiskeys

I'm dog-sitting my mother's dog, who had a mild stroke this morning. She's recovering pretty well except for incontinence. If I rush her out the door as soon as I see her struggling to her feet from a nap, I'm usually safe, but I've been too slow too many times. I'm going to have to bring up the Hoover shampooer once she goes home or wherever she ends up going.

At any rate, I needed a good stiff drink or two today. The first called for blended whiskey (I used Seagram's), grapefruit juice, and dry vermouth. I like all 3 of those separately, but they didn't go together too well. Maybe more grapefruit juice and less whiskey? Or more whiskey and less juice? Dunno, but the flavors just didn't seem to work together.

The second was a drink from January that called for ginger liqueur. Supposedly Bols makes one, but I haven't been able to find it. So I decided to brew up my own: I put some brandy, sliced ginger, and a little honey (from Flying Bee Ranch in Salem, Oregon, which has the best honey in the world, especially their pumpkin honey) in a small pan and simmered it for a few minutes. The alcohol may have evaporated out, but it was sure spicy!

The recipe is simple: 2 oz single malt to 1 oz ginger liqueur. Not too bad: a real ginger liqueur would probably make it better, not to mention a better single malt than the mid-to-low-end one I'm drinking, but this would make a swell after-dinner drink, especially in January.