Whiskey Sour

So for my birthday I went to this bar called the Charelston and got a few drinks with a few friends. This other girl kept on ordering Whiskey sours all night, and since I was sitting right in front of where JR (the bartender) was pouring and mixing he joked with me that I was at the front of the classroom. I really was, before my friends showed up he'd talk me through what he was making. This is what lead me to order a Whiskey Sour, and what inspired me to try to make it myself last night.

What he put in them are: 1 pt lemon juice, 1 pt lime juice, 2 pt well whiskey, 1 pt simple syrup, 1 egg white, bitters. What I did was omit the bitters, I forgot to look for them at the grocery store, and I put probably about 2-3 pt whiskey (Evan Williams). So my recipe ended up being, for two short glasses:
1 oz. Lemon Juice (used 1 lemon)
1 oz. Lime Juice (used 1 lime)
1 oz. Simple Syrup at room temperature (used 2oz. sugar to 2 oz. water, I just stored the extra)
2 Large Egg Whites (I saved the egg yolks for cooking with later)
6 ish oz. Whiskey
6 Ice Cubes

What you need to do is mix the lemon juice, lime juice, simple syrup, egg whites, and whiskey in a mixer (or just an old clean jar works). Mix till you feel the egg whites coagulate. Strain into a glass without ice cubes. So easy! And so much tastier then a pre mix!!! The egg whites really give the drink a unique creamy flavour and a different texture to it.

The only thing I didnt do was at the bar JR dropped bitters around the edge of the glass and then stood a straw upright in the glass (because of the egg whites).

Black Butte Porter

First let me say that I live in Vancouver, Canada which means that the cost of liquor here is far more expensive than in the States. So although I will include prices, if you live in the US, you can pretty much ignore them.

Yesterday we went to Firefly, our local(ish) and pretty decent (for Canada) liquor store. I grabbed a six-pack of Black Butte Porter, made by Deschutes Brewery in Oregon. It was 18 dollars, before HST. The girl working the counter recommended it as her favourite porter, and said it's pretty popular.

I had one beer last night, and am currently drinking another. It goes down smoothly, as a porter should. It's made with chocolate and crystal malts, but isn't overwhelmingly chocolate. Honestly, if I didn't know it was made with chocolate, I probably wouldn't have noticed. It has a great, classic taste that goes well with a meal, in this case beef stew.

It's 5.2% alcohol by volume.

Tilda Petulance, Red 06

Since I couldn't find a link about this particular wine on their webcite,
http://owenroe.com/winemaking.php instead I found the link below that not only give a bunch of good links to other Northwest wine related webcites, but also a cute little review of this one.
http://www.northwest-wine.com/Tilda-Petulance-Red.html#axzz1BKODaIVX"

I picked up this wine at the lovely West Lakeview Liquors (http://www.wlvliquors.com) for $18.49. Its a little pricey for the bottle, and for what I normally drink but it was well worth it. Even Chad liked it, and he usually doesn't like wine at all. I went in with a Chocolate Sachre Cake that I had just made in class and the guy helped me find a nice yet cheap-ish red that would go nicely with a chocolate cake. He was right.

When I poured the glass it had a nice burgendy, full red colour that didnt separate too much. It smelled of earthy tones, apples, and something that remided me of the seashore. Tasting it, you could taste the tannins (http://www.wineanorak.com/tannins.htm) quite strongly, but was paired with a nice taste of spices and cherries. Definitely good when paired with something sweet.

Vintage: 2006
Type of Wine: 93% Syrah and 7% Grenache
From: Owen Roe Winery, Columbia Valley, WA
Price: $15.00 - $18.00
Recommended: Yes