Category Archives: Drinks

Cheerwine

April 13, 2018 robiulo Leave a comment

Cheerwine

Here I go again with another obscure brand of soda (4/3/18 Manhattan Special). Cheerwine is obscure only if you’re not from the South and particularly it’s home state, North Carolina where it’s very popular. It’s an excellent wild cherry soda that’s been around since 1917.

It’s tasty, sweet, bubbly and not alcoholic although it makes a great mixer. Every so often I have a case mailed to me. With shipping it comes to about $2.50 per bottle and worth every penny. It’s taste reminds me of the fountain cherry sodas you used to be able to get in candy stores and ice cream parlors. It’s perfect straight from the bottle or on ice but you can be creative and make some interesting cocktails with it.

Cheerwine Old Fashioned

Add Bourbon, Angostura and Cointreau to a rocks glass. Add Ice and stir. Top Cheerwine and garnish with an orange slice.

Cheerwine Collins

Combine rum and lime juice in a shaker. Add ice and shake. Pour into a Collins glass filled with fresh ice. Top with Cheerwine and garnish with lime.

Cheerwine Bourbon Cocktail

Fill a shaker with bourbon, vanilla extract and lime juice. Shake with ice, pour into a rocks glass and top off with Cheerwine. Garnish with lime slice.

Cheerwine Negroni

Pour Applejack, Campari and vermouth over ice in a Collins glass. Top with Cheerwine and garnish with orange peel.

You can get Cheerwine here –

Want a Cheerwine tee-shirt?

Click here for updated GALLERY II

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Drinks

Manhattan Special

April 3, 2018 robiulo 4 Comments

Manhattan Special

Most of you probably never heard of it but Manhattan Special is a espresso flavored soda. It’s not sold all over and is typically only available in Italian delis and grocery stores although lately it’s been turning up in some high end food stores. They’ve been in business for a long time (1896) and I remember drinking it when I was a kid in Manhattan’s Little Italy. It tastes like the best iced coffee you’ve ever had – only made from espresso and with a fizz. When we were kids we’d sometimes have it with a splash of milk, the way you would drink iced coffee.

A while back I found a vintage Manhattan Special bottle, empty of course. It didn’t hold much, just 6 ounces and it has their old Brooklyn telephone number on it with an “Evergreen” exchange. What I liked most about the old bottles is that instead of paper, the label is painted on. Spaces are left blank so that the man and woman are outlined in black (the color of the soda) and when the bottle was empty those spaces became transparent.

Manhattan Special Homepage and Facebook Page

From the New York Times

Drinks

Aperol Cocktails

March 30, 2018 robiulo 2 Comments

Aperol Cocktails

Although you can drink Aperol all year round, I think of it more as a spring or summer drink. Here are 2 Aperol cocktail recipes, one very simple and the other a little more complicated.

Aperol Spritz

Using a flute, pour in chilled Aperol followed by the chilled Prosecco. I was a bit extravagant with this one using Champagne. Nothing wrong with that. Garnish with an orange slice.

Amber Road

Combine all of the ingredients in a shaker. Shake and strain into a tall glass and top with club soda. Garnish with a lemon slice and a sprig of mint.

Click here for updated GALLERY II

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Drinks

Italian Wine Glasses

March 16, 2018 robiulo Leave a comment

Italian Wine Glasses

I suppose any wine glasses made in Italy can be called “Italian Wine Glasses.” But that’s not what I’m talking about. There are traditional stemless glasses that are used in some trattorias and other unpretentious Italian restaurants and those are Italian wine glasses. Sometimes called a bacaro, it holds 5 ounces which is about what you’d get in a typical stemmed glass.

It’s a casual way of serving and I think that’s what’s good about these glasses. Wine is an everyday part of a meal and not just for special occasions.

Shaped like a tumbler or highball glass but a lot smaller.

They hold just about the same amount as you’d pour into a stemmed glass.

A trattoria tradition.

They don’t have to be plain.

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Drinks

Icelandic Birch Cocktail

March 9, 2018 robiulo Leave a comment

Icelandic Birch Cocktail

My friend Bea sent me this cocktail recipe from the Sons of Norway Magazine about 6 weeks ago. My super market finally got blood oranges but I had no luck finding Birkir Snaps. The recipe said you could substitute Bourbon with a dash of pine syrup. The Bourbon was easy but I didn’t know where to start looking for pine syrup. I substituted a dash of Retsina, a Greek wine made with a bit of pine resin. I suppose people in Iceland don’t have it too easy getting blood oranges either.

Here’s looking at you, Bea. Thanks for the challenge. It was delicious.

Put the Bourbon, orange juice, Retsina and syrup into a shaker full of ice. Shake and strain into a rocks glass. A splash of club soda or San Pellegrino and a couple of dashes of Angostura – done.

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Drinks

Shaken or Stirred

January 3, 2018 robiulo Leave a comment

Shaken or Stirred

There’s a fairly simple rule about when to shake and when to stir a cocktail. If there’s any fruit juice (even that mere ½ ounce like in the Oh Gosh), cream or egg, you shake. If all of the ingredients are clear, you stir – like the Martinez below. I can’t imagine why James Bond would ask a bartender to shake his Martinis but what the hell – he’s 007.

The Oh Gosh Cocktail – shake

Add all the ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled coupette.

Martinez Cocktail – stir

Place all of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Stir with a bar spoon until thoroughly chilled. Strain into the chilled glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Drinks

Oatmeal Stout

December 1, 2017 robiulo 2 Comments

Oatmeal Stout

You can buy beer or you can brew it yourself. My sister Nicki gave me a Brooklyn Brew Shop brewing kit and I’ve been using it to make my own beer. The kit comes with all of the equipment you need except for pots and strainers. They also supply the grain, hops and yeast.

I made IPA a few times and it was as good as any I ever got on tap at a bar. I recently ordered the grain and hops to make Oatmeal Stout. The general procedure is similar to the IPA but with a few minor variations that are pointed out on the instructions.

The first step is the Mash – This is where you cook the grain in water for 60 minutes, stirring and keeping it within a proscribed temperature range.

After that is the Sparge – You strain the cooked grain and then pour more hot water through it until you have about 6 quarts of wort (that’s what will eventually become stout.)

Now for the Boil – You bring the wort to a low boil for 90 minutes, adding hops at set intervals. Oatmeal Stout hops

The last step for day one is Fermentation – Cool the wort and pour it through a strainer into a fermenter (that’s the the gallon jug that came with the kit) and add the yeast.

I then inserted a blow-off tube to let the CO₂ to escape. All of the preceding steps take place in one day over about five hours. After a few days, I removed the tube and inserted an air-lock in the mouth of the jug to let additional CO₂ escape and let it sit in the dark for 2 weeks.

Finally, the Bottling – I siphoned the stout from the fermenter into a pot, leaving the sediment behind. Then I mixed in some maple syrup to feed the yeast and I filled the bottles. Another 2 week wait and it’s ready for drinking.

Click here for updated GALLERY II

Writing Site and Yelp

Drinks

Café Cubano

November 8, 2017 robiulo Leave a comment

Café Cubano

For Cuban coffee the only ingredients you’ll need are espresso and sugar. For equipment, a moka pot is preferred but any other espresso maker will do. This recipe is for two cups.

Start by putting a two-cup espresso pot on the stove.

While the coffee is brewing start making the espuma –

Add two teaspoons of sugar to a small serving pot for each cup plus one more. More sugar makes more crema. As soon as it’s brewed, add two teaspoons of coffee to the sugar and stir vigorously for a few minutes until you have a creamy café au lait colored syrup. Pour the coffee over it and stir until the espuma rises to the top.

MokaBees.com

Espresso

Drinks

Some More Cocktails Made With American Whiskey

August 16, 2017 robiulo Leave a comment

Some More Cocktails Made With American Whiskey

There’s Scotch, Irish and Canadian whiskey and in America we have Rye and Bourbon. Here are three more cocktail ideas.

Derby

There are at least three different cocktails called the “Derby.” This is the one associated with the race held at Churchill Downs in Kentucky.

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon peel.

Whiskey Crusta

A New Orleans classic, invented in 1850.

Shake with ice, strain into a sugar rimmed cocktail glass and garnish with an orange peel. The glass should be prepared in advance so the sugar can harden.

Scofflaw

This rye whiskey drink was invented in Paris while America suffered through Prohibition.

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

It was invented in Paris so, of course they used French vermouth. Try it with Italian vermouth – much better.

Robert Iulo – Writing Site and Yelp

Drinks

Some Cocktails Made With American Whiskey

August 11, 2017 robiulo Leave a comment

Some Cocktails Made With American Whiskey

There’s Scotch, Irish and Canadian whiskey and in America we have Rye and Bourbon. Here are three classic cocktails made with American whiskey.

Vieux Carré

This one was invented at the Monteleone Hotel in New Orleans, and is named for the “The French Quarter” – le Vieux Carré (“Old Square”).

Mix all the ingredients in a rocks glass with ice.

Bourbon Smash

Not unlike a Mint Julep but with a bit of lemon added to offset the sweetness.

Muddle the lemon and 3 sprigs of mint in a shaker. Add the bourbon, simple syrup, ice and shake. Strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice and garnish with a mint sprig.

Sazerac

My wife Bridget and I went to four bars in the New Orleans’ French Quarter to try Sazeracs and take away the best recipe. This was our favorite but after four Sazeracs I could only remember the recipe and not the name of the bar where I got it – maybe the Hotel Monteleone? Put ½ shot of Anisette in a small rocks glass. Coat the sides of the glass with it and then add some ice. In another small rocks glass add: a few dashes of Peychauds Bitters and 1 tsp of simple syrup. Mix, add ice and stir. Add a shot of rye and stir. Empty ice and excess Anisette from 1st rocks glass and strain mix of Peychauds, syrup and rye into it. Float a few dashes of Angostura on top.

*Simple syrup – Heat one cup of sugar in one cup of water. Stir until it’s clear and liquid.

Click here for updated GALLERY II

Robert Iulo at Yelp

Cheerwine

Here I go again with another obscure brand of soda (4/3/18 Manhattan Special). Cheerwine is obscure only if you’re not from the South and particularly it’s home state, North Carolina where it’s very popular. It’s an excellent wild cherry soda that’s been around since 1917.

Cheerwine Old Fashioned

Cheerwine Collins

Cheerwine Bourbon Cocktail

Cheerwine Negroni

Click here for updated GALLERY II

Manhattan Special

From the New York Times

Aperol Cocktails

Although you can drink Aperol all year round, I think of it more as a spring or summer drink. Here are 2 Aperol cocktail recipes, one very simple and the other a little more complicated.

Aperol Spritz

Using a flute, pour in chilled Aperol followed by the chilled Prosecco. I was a bit extravagant with this one using Champagne. Nothing wrong with that. Garnish with an orange slice.

Amber Road

Combine all of the ingredients in a shaker. Shake and strain into a tall glass and top with club soda. Garnish with a lemon slice and a sprig of mint.

Click here for updated GALLERY II

Italian Wine Glasses

Click here for updated GALLERY II

Icelandic Birch Cocktail

Here’s looking at you, Bea. Thanks for the challenge. It was delicious.

Put the Bourbon, orange juice, Retsina and syrup into a shaker full of ice. Shake and strain into a rocks glass. A splash of club soda or San Pellegrino and a couple of dashes of Angostura – done.

Click here for updated GALLERY II

Shaken or Stirred

The Oh Gosh Cocktail – shake

Add all the ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled coupette.

Martinez Cocktail – stir

Place all of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Stir with a bar spoon until thoroughly chilled. Strain into the chilled glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Oatmeal Stout

You can buy beer or you can brew it yourself. My sister Nicki gave me a Brooklyn Brew Shop brewing kit and I’ve been using it to make my own beer. The kit comes with all of the equipment you need except for pots and strainers. They also supply the grain, hops and yeast.

I made IPA a few times and it was as good as any I ever got on tap at a bar. I recently ordered the grain and hops to make Oatmeal Stout. The general procedure is similar to the IPA but with a few minor variations that are pointed out on the instructions.

The first step is the Mash – This is where you cook the grain in water for 60 minutes, stirring and keeping it within a proscribed temperature range.

After that is the Sparge – You strain the cooked grain and then pour more hot water through it until you have about 6 quarts of wort (that’s what will eventually become stout.)

Now for the Boil – You bring the wort to a low boil for 90 minutes, adding hops at set intervals. Oatmeal Stout hops

The last step for day one is Fermentation – Cool the wort and pour it through a strainer into a fermenter (that’s the the gallon jug that came with the kit) and add the yeast.

I then inserted a blow-off tube to let the CO2 to escape. All of the preceding steps take place in one day over about five hours. After a few days, I removed the tube and inserted an air-lock in the mouth of the jug to let additional CO2 escape and let it sit in the dark for 2 weeks.

Finally, the Bottling – I siphoned the stout from the fermenter into a pot, leaving the sediment behind. Then I mixed in some maple syrup to feed the yeast and I filled the bottles. Another 2 week wait and it’s ready for drinking.

Café Cubano

For Cuban coffee the only ingredients you’ll need are espresso and sugar. For equipment, a moka pot is preferred but any other espresso maker will do. This recipe is for two cups.

Start by putting a two-cup espresso pot on the stove.

While the coffee is brewing start making the espuma –

Some More Cocktails Made With American Whiskey

There’s Scotch, Irish and Canadian whiskey and in America we have Rye and Bourbon. Here are three more cocktail ideas.

Derby

There are at least three different cocktails called the “Derby.” This is the one associated with the race held at Churchill Downs in Kentucky.

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon peel.

Whiskey Crusta

A New Orleans classic, invented in 1850.

Shake with ice, strain into a sugar rimmed cocktail glass and garnish with an orange peel. The glass should be prepared in advance so the sugar can harden.

Scofflaw

This rye whiskey drink was invented in Paris while America suffered through Prohibition.

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Some Cocktails Made With American Whiskey

There’s Scotch, Irish and Canadian whiskey and in America we have Rye and Bourbon. Here are three classic cocktails made with American whiskey.

Vieux Carré

This one was invented at the Monteleone Hotel in New Orleans, and is named for the “The French Quarter” – le Vieux Carré (“Old Square”).

Mix all the ingredients in a rocks glass with ice.

Bourbon Smash

Not unlike a Mint Julep but with a bit of lemon added to offset the sweetness.

Muddle the lemon and 3 sprigs of mint in a shaker. Add the bourbon, simple syrup, ice and shake. Strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice and garnish with a mint sprig.

Sazerac

Reveries and Recipes

I then inserted a blow-off tube to let the CO₂ to escape. All of the preceding steps take place in one day over about five hours. After a few days, I removed the tube and inserted an air-lock in the mouth of the jug to let additional CO₂ escape and let it sit in the dark for 2 weeks.