Tom Firth
Tom Firth is a writer, wine consultant, judge and a member of the Wine Access National Tasting Panel. He loves to chat about all things wine and blogs for wineaccess.ca, tweets as @cowtownwine and is a general nuisance.
Cocktails for Mardi Gras
Fruity and festive, Southern-inspired cocktails
These cocktails are a perfect complement for your Mardi Gras meal. Or, if you can bear to wait until summer, they're perfect for the patio with barbeque.
Cocktails not really your speed? Take a look at our wine list for Mardi Gras.
Hurricane
Perhaps the most famous of drink recipes to come out of Louisiana, this one is definitely not for the teetotalers.
1 oz vodka
1/4 oz grenadine syrup
1 oz gin
1 oz light rum
1/2 oz Bacardi 151 rum
1 oz Amaretto
1 oz triple sec
Grapefruit juice
Pineapple juice
Pour all but the juices, in order listed, into a hurricane glass three-quarters filled with ice. Fill with equal parts of grapefruit and pineapple juice, and serve.
Red Snapper II
Straight from the French Quarter of New Orleans.
1 1/4 oz whiskey
1 oz Amaretto
1 oz cranberry juice
Place the whiskey, amaretto, and cranberry juice into a shaker with ice. Shake, then strain into shot glasses.
New Orleans (Ramos) Fizz
1 1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz lime juice
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 1/4 oz simple syrup
2 oz milk, half & half or cream
1 small egg white
2 dashes fleurs d'orange (orange flower water)
Club soda
Place all of the ingredients except the club soda into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes.
Shake vigorously (more than normal to ensure the egg and cream are well mixed).
Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Top with club soda.
Red Rooster
2 oz vodka
4 oz cranberry juice
1/2 oz orange juice
Fill a tall glass with ice. Pour in vodka. Fill glass to 3/4 full with cranberry juice. Top with orange juice. Stir.
Sazerac
1 sugar cube
1 1/2 oz rye or American whiskey
2 dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters
Dash of Angostura bitters
Dash of absinthe (can substitute Herbsaint, Pernod, or Ricard)
Twist of lemon peel
Fill an Old Fashioned glass with ice. Put the sugar cube in a second Old Fashioned glass with just enough water to moisten it; then crush the cube.
Add the rye, two bitters and a few cubes of ice and stir. Discard the ice from the first glass and pour in the absinthe.
Turn the glass to coat the sides with the absinthe; then pour out the excess. Strain the rye mixture into the absinthe-coated glass. Twist and squeeze a lemon peel over the glass. Rub the rim of the glass with the peel.
Lead photo: Alisa Cooper
New Orleans Fizz: David Carner
Sazerac: Caro Scuro
Ravenswood at the Calgary Stampede
Tom Firth was a guest at the Ravenswood client appreciation barbecue during the Calgary Stampede.
During the Calgary Stampede, beer is usually the beverage of choice, followed by rye, Jack Daniels and a few other spirits. Most of the beverage industry events in Cowtown during Stampede reflect these preferences, but I don’t go to all that many Jack Daniels events and I firmly believe that Budweiser isn’t beer. So the Stampede is a time for me to relax a little, aside from a few smaller events or social functions that I either host or attend.
