The scorching temperatures this week have made outside activities downright unpleasant, minimizing my bird time in the afternoons. Therefore, I will forgo writing about any birds this week, instead featuring one of our favorite restaurants, the Whiskey Kitchen in Raleigh. While we usually frequent the outside covered tables, today we enjoyed the ambience of the cool indoor dining room with an impressively long bar extending one side of the restaurant, highlighting an extensive whiskey selection along with carefully selected additional spirits. Their staff is friendly and knowledgeable, providing recommendations based on your preferences. I have completed three of their tasting flights so far and have not been disappointed. Both the bartenders and chefs are highly talented and change up their house cocktail list and menu periodically. Their classics such as the Old Fashioned and Sazerac are phenominal. The lamb burger and pork chops are frequent favorite entrees, and these cracklin’ pork fried biscuits shown below are an appetizer to die for.
This weekend Raleigh hosted GalaxyCon, a festival celebrating comics, pop culture, Sci-Fi/fantasy, anime, and gaming. While I have never attended a Comic Con style event, from the website they claimed to have something for everyone, with celebrity guests to please Marvel vs DC fans, Trekkies vs Star Wars fans, and even the Pro wrestling aficionados. Panels, photo-ops and autograph sessions were provided despite the SAG strikes causing some celebrities to cancel or limit their promotions of upcoming projects.
The wizards at Whiskey Kitchen crafted three special cocktails to go along with GalaxyCon. We tried the Finger Guns (Pew Pew) which was garnished with an amazing smoked lime salt, and the Montreal Screwjob, which was wonderfully balanced with only a subtle sweetness that complimented my efforts of reducing my sugar intake this week. My goal today was to try to recreate a similar drink with ingredients I have at home. The Montreal Screwjob refers to a pay-per-view professional wrestling event held on November 9, 1997, at the Molson Centre in Montreal, Quebec, resulting in the double crossing of WWF Champion Bret Hart by Vince McMahon, the owner of the World Wrestling Federation. A secret change of the match’s pre-determined finish (known as a “screwjob” in professional wrestling parlance) was devised by and implemented by McMahon.
Gather your ingredients: Canadian Rye (you could substitute any lower tier whiskey here, but I love this Whistle Pig 10 yr 100 proof rye made in Canada), Gin (I went with my Aviation from last week), Compari (my sub for Aperol), lemon, simple sugar, Angostura bitters, and sparkling water. Lemon squeezer, shaker half filled with ice, highball glass +/-with ice, straw, and mint for garnish complete the layout.
Whiskey Kitchen's Montreal Screw Job
1 oz Whistle Pig Rye 10 yr
0.5 oz Aviation Gin
0.5 oz Compari
0.75oz lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1 teaspoon Simple Syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Club soda or sparkling water
Place whiskey, gin, compari, lemon juice, simple syrup, and bitters into shaker with ice. Shake for 30-40 seconds. Strain into a highball glass with or without ice. Add sparkling water to fill. Stir gently. Garnish with mint sprig.
This was a pretty good representation of the Kitchen’s drink, though theirs was served neat in a thinner glass without mint. For our book of the week: Louise Penny writes a crime series starring Montreal detective Armand Gamache, and this is the first book in the series. A murder in a small town brings Gamache to investigate the close-knit community full of secrets. On page 15 of “Still Life”, she even references a Compari awning, as the Italian aperitif company apparently also makes quite a profit selling branded umbrellas. Enjoy and please drink responsibly 🙂
Birds, Books and Bourbon 