Drink of the Month Archive

This section of the blog archives past Drink of the Month entries:

6/14/06
Growing up in southern New England, cranberries are inescapable. They are blended with every conceivable drink from beer to apple juice. The bogs are everywhere, and the distinct, somewhat putrid smell of cranberry bogs is fixed permanently in my memory. My elementary school even went on field trips to the Ocean Spray plant and museum. Perhaps out of this indoctrination, or perhaps on its own merits, cranberry juice is one of my preferred beverages. It turns out, however, that this obsession is healthy. Cranberries are one of the most potent natural sources of antioxidants, those wonderful biochemical compounds that can help alleviate things like heart disease, cancer, and aging. Cranberry juice is a traditional folk remedy for urinary tract infections, and scientific research has recently confirmed that consumption of cranberry juice inhibits the adhesion of pathogenic bacteria to the lining of the urinary tract (World J Urol. 2006 Feb;24(1):21-7). In addition, cranberry components and juice reduce “bad” cholesterol (Life Sci 2005 Aug 26;77(15):1892-901, Metabolism 2005 Jul;54(7):856-61). Cranberry juice also suppresses H. pylori infection, a major factor in ulcer development (Helicobacter 2005 Apr;10(2):139-45). Both cranberry extracts and cranberry juice promote dental health by disrupting bacterial coaggregation and biofilm formation (J Am Dental Assoc 1998 Dec;129(12):1719-23, Oral Microbiol Immunol 2004 Jun;19(3):150-4). In addition, compounds in cranberry juice kill a wide range of cancer cell lines (J Agric Food Chem 2004 May 5;52(9):2512-7). Though scientific studies have not yet demonstrated that cranberry juice itself protects against cancer or aging, many of the other benefits have been demonstrated in well-controlled clinical trials.

What does all of this mean? Well to me, it says “Drink more cranberry juice!” It is important to realize however, that the “cranberry juice cocktail” or the cranberry juice blends found at the grocery store are usually mostly apple or grape juice, and contain very little actual cranberry juice. The reason for this is that the taste of straight, unsweetened cranberry juice is a potent as its antioxidants. To get the health benefits and avoid the excess sugar, head to the organic section and pick up any of several (at least in Massachusetts) available 100% unsweetened cranberry juices. I might as well warn you, the taste will take your head off. It is impossibly tart – chomping on raw rhubarb (which I am known to do) pales by comparison. Try it straight up once just for the experience – I doubt you’ll want to do it twice. To make it palatable, I mix 1 part cranberry with 2 parts orange juice (or 1 to 1 if I’m feeling adventurous). At this strength, cranberry still completely dominates the flavor but I think it is quite tasty. One final note of caution: I learned from rather disturbing experience that if you drink a lot of 100% cranberry juice in a short time (a quart in 24 hours is enough) two things could happen 1.) Your stomach may not react so well – cranberry juice is tart, acidic, and loaded with tannins 2.) Your feces will turn green. Really. It is apparently due to the metabolic byproducts of the red pigments in the juice. Go figure.

5/2/06

Drink of the Month highlights Long Trail brewery this month. New England breweries tend to focus on British and German styles, as opposed to the new American styles highlighted by Northwestern breweries - and none do it better than Long Trail. Like Boston Brewing Company (Sam Adams), their flagship beer is an adaptation of alt, a German style of ale that predates lager brewing ('alt' means old). With pronounced maltiness and use of German hops, I find this beer to be more satisfying than the typical American ale. Long trail also makes a very nice British IPA, which is unusual since most American breweries tend to go the Northwest IPA route. Long Trail's best beer, though, and one of my favorite beers in general, is Double Bag. This delcious heavyweight is a stickebier (secret beer) - a heavy alt. Presenting with 7.2% abv, this is definitely not a session beer, unless your session is in front of the fire on a cold New England night. Mighty tasty, though. I seldom find myself out of the mood for a double helping of Double Bag.

4-30-06

And like Spring in the Northeast, April's Drink of the Month was a little late in arriving. Here it is:

The Drink of the Month today is Ipswich Brewing Copmany's Oatmeal Stout. This Stout lives up to it's name, with a riot of dark malts, toasted oats. Brewed in the American style, this jet-black beer has liberal amounts of Northwestern hops to compete with the aggressive use of dark malts in an all-out assult on the senses. The beer has a fabulous chewy, grainy texture that took me three tries to approximate in my homebrewery (and won first-place medals once I did). Large amounts of home-toasted steel-cut oats turned out to be the key! Ipswich Oatmeal Stout is not a beer for the delicate palate, but if you like dark beer in general, and American-style stouts in particular, there is none better. Drink this beer by itself (it will overwhelm any food it is paired with) and as cold as possible - it is particularly suited to chasing the sun away on warm summer nights. Ipswich was bought by Mercury Brewing Company not long ago, a move I feared would alter the character of this signature stout. Fortunately, Mercury seems not to have messed with the recipe. Distribution took a dive for a while, but they seem to have ironed that out as well.

3-17-06

For those of you who think of rum as something to put in Coke, here are some great ways to broaden your horizons - good rum has every bit the complexity and satisfaction of good scotch, at a fraction of the price. I'll do a review of some of our favorites soon (friends don't let friends drink bad rum!).

1.) Straight up – the best way to savor really good rum.

2.) Rum the way the locals drink it: In the Carribean, rum is often cut with water, sweetened with sugar, and enjoyed over ice. Balance the rum and water to taste but I find equal parts and a teaspoon of sugar in a tumbler is about right. The reason this drink came into being was apparently that Carribean locals tend to drink overproof, unblended rums – the closest commercial stuff would be something like 151 or Jack Iron. The reference to see for more info is Rums of the Eastern Carribean, by Edward Hamilton. This book is currently out of print but can probably be located by your favorite used and rare booksource. Check out his website www.ministryofrum.com for lots of rum info and reviews.

For a different twist on this drink, cut back on the water and add lime. This will give you a Caipirinha, a drink typically made with the Brazilian cane liquor cahaça. For the most authentic version, use either cahaça proper or sugar cane (not molasses) rum – also called Rhum agricole or sugar cane brandy, depending on the source.

3.) Bittersweet (Charlie’s rum drink): The inspiration for this drink hit me one night while staring aimlessly into the liquor cabinet. Equal parts vanilla seltzer and rum. Campari to taste (my taste would be another equal part, but I like Campari ;) Serve on rocks.

4.) the Painkiller: This drink is ubiquitious in the British Virgin Islands and almost unheard of elsewhere, which is a real shame. On the other hand, every time I make one I’m transported to the deck of a sailboat in Cane Garden Bay, which isn’t a bad thing either. Here’s our version: mix 2 parts pineapple juice, 1 part coco lopez (cream of coconut), and 2 parts rum, shake to chill, strain into a glass full of ice (I often use plastic cup, this is a beach drink after all). Add a liberal splash of triple sec and garnish with freshly ground nutmeg. The fresh nutmeg is particularly important. Grocery stores sell little nutmeg grinders just the right size to fit over the mouth of a glass, so it’s not as hard as it sounds.

For those times when ease of preparation is key, use the “poor man’s painkiller” – equal parts pineapple/orange juice (usually available as a frozen juice mix) and coconut rum, shake and serve over ice, and of course, garnish with freshly ground nutmeg. This isn’t quite as good as the real thing, but it’s quick and easy and is really handy on a boat.

5.) the South Beach: equal parts banana, pineapple, orange, and vanilla flavored rums, splash of cranberry juice for color. Straight up in a martini glass. I prefer Cruzan rums, but any flavored rum will do.

just a reminder: If you drink, do so legally and responsibly. Be safe and have fun.