Cocktails. In pie form.

Madison.

There's always good stuff at Star Liquor. Last night, after a quick stop for some essentials at the Willy Street Co-op, we picked up the following goodies:

• A bottle of Maker's Mark bourbon. I was down to the last little bit of Knob Creek, and needed to make sure I had some whiskey¹ around. I had a little of each last night, for comparison. The Maker's Mark has more of the caramel and vanilla-type flavors that I associate with barrel aging, and less of the distinct bourbony corn flavor than the Knob Creek. That said, I'd be quite happy drinking either.
  
  
• Dry vermouth. Since it gets used as a cooking wine regularly around here, I haven't been able to make a dry martini in quite some time. And this after John Neely emailed me about his discovery that pickled ginger - the pink kind that comes with sushi - makes for a fine martini garnish. John, I should note, is a man who knows how to appreciate a true gin martini.
  
  
• Godiva and Kahlua liqueurs. Sharon uses these, not just for White Russians and spiked hot chocolate², but also for flavoring cookies and other baked goods. Instead of using vanilla extract, she'll make cookies with a subtle coffee of enhanced chocolate flavor. The orange-flavored liqueurs also make for fantastic chocolate chip cookies.
  
  
• New Glarus's Unplugged Enigma beer. I haven't opened one yet, but it looks interesting. This is another in a series of one-off beers that Dan Carey's been brewing from time to time, indulging whatever unusual ideas pop into his head. This appears to be a mash-up between the previous Unplugged Sour Brown Ale and the regular Wisconsin Belgian Red.

The guys at Star also handed me a flyer for an upcoming whiskey tasting, which is very tempting. I don't know anything more than what's on the flyer, so I'll simply include the text right here:

Single Malt Scotch
& Bourbon Whiskey
Tasting

A benefit for Madison's Urban Open
Space Foundation (Central Park)

Thursday, Jan 25, 2007
6:30 - 9:30
Fyfe's Corner Bistro
$40 per ticket

available at
Star Liquor
Specialty appetizers will
accompany the tasting.

sponsored in part by Union Cab

Good thing they're upfront about the taxi connection. Perhaps that's a hint that I should plan to take the following day off of work.

Speaking of interesting booze-related stuff I've noticed recently, there was a fascinating recipe in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine for Dick Taeuber’s Cordial Pie. It is, in essence, a sliceable cocktail in a crust. The best part of this recipe, in my opinion, is that it's so flexible. You can flavor it as any sort of cocktail you like, though it seems that creamier drinks would fare better. (Irish coffee is a notable exception.) And as the Miette Cakes recipe notes, you can tweak the presentation as you please. Ice cream sandwiches? Sure! Why not a grown-up parfait, or a sophisticated replacement for ice cream alongside cake or pie?

But as Amanda Hesser puts it: "Calling it a cordial pie doesn’t quite capture its punch or proof. Booze pie would be more fitting. It’s not the kind of thing you want to serve for a children’s birthday party."

* * * * *

¹As opposed to whisky, with no 'e', which is the proper spelling for Scotch whisky, single-malt and otherwise. That, of course, is also a necessary standard in my liquor cabinet. The Scotch of the moment is a lovely small-batch, cask-strength, non-chill-filtered whisky called A'bunadh from the Aberlour distillery in Speyside.

²In college, my roommates and I liked to use peppermint schnapps in our hot chocolate. If for no other reason than we had a bottle and found that was one of the few ways it was actually pleasant.