Two Drink Minimum; The After 5 Cocktail Blog

Everyone remembers Cheers. The place every body knew your name…an iconic bar scene made of Dark mahogany table tops, the lone pool table with the one light above it covered in the standard hunter green lamp shade. And of course, the bar signs…. I say bar signs are under rated I mean they are the whole reason you even know it’s a bar in the first place and not just some random long counter. So below I pay homage to the bar sign.

This personalized home bar sign defiantly has personality. It states- Come early , Stay late at the bottom and Bring All You Can Drink and Drink All You Bring on either side of the toasting beer glasses. Not many of our bar signs state these rule more eloquently. On top of that we personalize the home bar sign with your name up to 15 characters. Our personalized wood bar signs are based upon late 19th century designs when use of text oriented pub and trade signs were at their height. While the signs are brand new, they conform in shape and lettering style to that of old time signs. To complete the look, all of the personalized signs are given a hand rubbed stain to “age” the sign appropriately. Our Personalized sign have silk-screened artwork on durable wood, with a hole in back for wall-hanging.

Ever since Sam Malone opened his place in Boston, you’ve dreamed of owning your own martini bar. Where everybody knows your name. And they’re always glad you… well, served free drinks and cleaned up after everyone. Still, the dream’s alive, and it’s very attainable with our personalized neighborhood pub sign. Simply give us your name - and bang, you’re open for business. Meticulous detail goes into each of our personalized pub signs.

Good Times- Good Friends- Cold Beer- this tavern sign says it all. Meticulous detail goes into each of our personalized bar signs. Silk-screened artwork on durable wood, with a hole in back for wall-hanging. Sign measures 16″ x 11″. Simply give us your name - and bang, you’re open for business.

Personalized Irish Pub Sign Ever since Sam Malone opened his place in Boston, you’ve dreamed of owning your own bar. Where everybody knows your name. And they’re always glad you… well, served free drinks and cleaned up after everyone. Still, the dream’s alive, and it’s very attainable with our custom-made Old Irish Pub Sign. Simply give us your name - and bang, you’re Irish Pub is open for business.

You’ve always wanted to have your own lounge and now’s your chance. Where the glasses are clean, and the martinis are dirty! Oh, and getting naked is always an option. Your own bar sign personalized with your name on it letting everyone know what the rules are. Simply give us your name -we personalize it - and bang, you’re open for busines

In Celebration of the upcoming holiday!!

Tasting Irish Whiskey
with Colum Egan Master Distiller of Bushmills Irish Whiskey

“To taste whiskey you will need your senses of sight, smell and taste. Plus a little guidance and an open mind. Taste is a personal experience so there is no right or wrong.” - Colum Egan

Step 1: Prepare for the Tasting
The tasting room should be free of extraneous smells and should have good lighting. The right size and shape of the glass is vital and makes a huge difference in the ability to nose effectively. Do not use traditional whiskey tumblers. Instead use a snifter, which allows you to swirl the spirit and gather the aromas around the rim.

Step 2: Note Appearance
Pour about an ounce of whiskey. Hold the glass to the light, or against a white napkin, and take note of its color, depth and clarity. The whiskey’s appearance should be a guide to how it has been matured and how long it has been aged.

Step 3: Add Water
Almost all whiskeys benefit from the addition of water, which will open up the spirit in most cases. It’s always best to add water a little at a time. Older whiskeys (more than 20 years) or whiskeys aged in sherry can be damaged by the addition of too much water; the aromas break up and the flavor becomes flat. The water used to dilute the strength of your dram should be still and not too high in minerals. At professional tastings, distilled water is normally used.

Step 4: Nose the Whiskey
The aroma of a whiskey is called the “nose.” To determine the nose, tilt the glass, swirl the whiskey and inhale slowly. Do not sniff too intensely or too often because the alcohol can inhibit your sense of smell. The aromas are often complex and multi-layered. With a little practice, you will learn to break smells down and identify what they are.

Step 5: Taste the Whiskey
Take a sip large enough to fill your mouth, then roll it over your tongue. It is important when tasting, to hold the liquid in the mouth and to make sure it coats the tongue thoroughly to help determine mouth-feel. First register the texture and smoothness of the whiskey. Then try to identify the primary tastes — the immediate flavors your tongue collects. The finish, or aftertaste, refers to the sensation experienced after swallowing, as well as the flavors that linger in your mouth.

Tiramisu
Ingredients: (Serves 2)
- 1/4 cup espresso
- 4 oz Baileys Original Irish Cream
- 1/3 cup mascarpone
- 2 scoops vanilla, chocolate or coffee ice cream
- 2 to 4 ice cubes
- 2 soft ladyfinger cookies sliced lengthwise or shortbread wafers
- Chocolate-hazelnut spread
- Chocolate syrup

Blend together espresso, Irish Cream, ice cream, mascarpone, ice cream and ice until smooth. Drizzle chocolate syrup along inside edges of over-sized martini glasses. Pour mixture from blender into glasses. Spread a layer of chocolate-layzelnut spread in between the ladyfingers or sandwich between two shortbread cookies. Pass the cookies to dip in the cocktails. (Variation: Rim glass with chocolate syrup by dipping glass in a plate with chocolate syrup)

Dublin Dream
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz Irish Mist Liqueur
- 1 1/2 oz Carolan’s Irish Cream
- 1 1/2 oz SKYY Vodka
- 1 oz Chambord Liqueur
- 1 oz fresh cream
Garnish: mint sprig

Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled rocks glass or martini glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Irish Snakebite
Ingredients:
- equal part dark Irish beer
- equal part hard cider
- shot of blackcurrant syrup

Fill pint glass with equal amounts of dark Irish beer and hard cider, leaving about 1/3 inch space at top. Add a shot of blackcurrant syrup and stir gently to mix.

Blackcurrant syrup: In saucer, bring one cup sugar and two cups blackcurrant juice to boil. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes or until mixture appears thicker. Cool in ice bath and pour into final storage container, adding 1 oz vodka as preservative. (Cocktail created by: Gwen Kaiser Sutherland, Master Mixologist, Cocktail Times)

And Dont Forget to Check Out All the Cool Stuff We Have at WWW.AFTER5CATALOG.COM

In lieu of the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day holiday, I have decided to give you guys the skinny on whiskey. Whiskey seems to be one of those things in life that you either love or hate. Strong, bold and smooth, whiskey remains one of the top alcohols after all these years. So read on and check it out….

Whisky (Scottish Gaelic: uisge-beatha), or whiskey (Irish: uisce beatha or fuisce), refers to a broad category of alcoholic beverages that are distilled from fermented grain mash and aged in wooden casks (generally oak).

Different grains are used for different varieties, including: barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and maize (corn). Whisky derives from the Gaelic word for “water” (uisce or uisge), and is called in full uisge-beatha (in Scotland) or uisce beatha (Ireland), meaning “Water of Life”. It is related to the Latin aqua vitae, also meaning “water of life”. It is always Scotch whisky, and Irish whiskey.

The first written record of whisky comes from 1405 in Ireland, where it was distilled by monks.[1] It is also mentioned in Scotland in 1496. However it is thought that whisky had already been around for at least several hundred years prior. When or where whisky was first distilled is unknown and the local, undocumented beverage production during the period makes identification of the drink’s origin difficult. Additionally, it is possible that different groups discovered processes of distillation completely independently of one another.

Some scholars believe distilled spirits were first produced between the 8th century AD and 9th century AD in the Middle East with the art of distillation being brought to Ireland and Britain by Christian monks. A popular legend is that St. Patrick introduced distillation to Ireland and Britain; however it is likely he lived around the 5th century AD. It is also possible that the distillation process was discovered in Ireland and possibly Britain (either independently or in precursor to Arabian distillation) by farmers as a way of making use of excess grain after harvest.

~ Great Whiskey Cocktails ~

Godfather
Ingredients:
- 2 oz Scotch
- 1 oz Amaretto
Glassware : Old-Fashioned Glass

Black Jack
- 2 oz Scotch
- 1 oz Lemon Juice
- 1 1/2 oz Kahlua
- 1 oz Triple Sec
Glassware: Cocktail Glass
Shake all the ingredients in a shaker with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass.
Jack Frost Manhattan
Ingredients:
- 2 parts Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey
- 1 part Peppermint Schnapps
- 1/4 part sweet vermouth
Garnish: maraschino cherry
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with cherry.

Scotch Cooler
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz Chivas Regal Scotch Whisky
- 1/2 oz vanilla liqueur
- 2 dashes bitters
Garnish: cherry
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass filled with ice and stir. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a cherry. (Created by Dale DeGroff, New York, NY)

Scotch Old-Fashioned
- 2 oz Scotch
- 1/2 oz Water
- 1/2 tsp Superfine Sugar
- 1 dash Bitters
- Garnish: Lime Wedge
Glassware: Old-Fashioned Glass
Dissolve superfine sugar in scotch. Combine bitters and water, superfine sugar and scotch in an old fashioned glass over crushed ice. Add 151 proof rum and garnish with lime wedge.

B55
Ingredients:
- 1 oz Sebor Absinth
- 1 oz Irish Cream
- 1 oz Kahlua
In a shot glass, carefully layer (in this order) Kahlua, Baileys and Sebor Absinth.

Everybody’s Irish
Ingredients:
- 2 oz Irish Whiskey
- 1 oz Creme de Menthe (green)
- 1 oz Chartreuse (green)
- Garnish: Cocktail Olive
Glassware : Cocktail Glass
Shake all the ingredients in a shaker with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an olive.

Rob Roy
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz Scotch whisky
- 1/4 oz sweet vermouth
- a dash of Angostura bitters
- Garnish: Cherry
Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with cherry.

History of Rob Roy:
Rob Roy was created by a bartender at The Waldorf Hotel in New York in 1894. It was first mixed for the opening night of an opera called “Rob Roy.” The recipe first appeared in The Savoy Book, published by The Savoy Hotel of London in 1930. Having Scotch whisky as a base spirit of the cocktail, the book carried a note indicating that the cocktail was already popular among Scots, “particularly for St. Andrew’s day to open the evening for the usual enormous annual gathering of the Clans at the Savoy.”.

We have all seen it, the cheesy Bacardi commercial (<<< if you havnt click here) where a dozen different women or so are shaking there rumps to some very questionable techno beat all in rhythm to the stud bar tender mashing up a Mojito. But what the hell is a Mojito anyways? I mean come on people at first glance any human with half a brain is going to ask why there are mashed leaves in there cocktail…lets face it this is not an everyday occurrence. So the following is for all those like me out there who took the time to step back and question the foliage in his cocktail. So I hope you enjoy and hey, you just might learn a little something while you are at it.

Mojito (pronounced /m??hi?to?/ (English) IPA: [mo?xito] ((Spanish)) is a traditional Cuban cocktail which became popular in the United States during the late 1980s, and has recently seen a resurgence in popularity.

A mojito is traditionally made of five ingredients: rum, sugar (traditionally sugar cane juice), lime, carbonated water and mint. Its combination of sweetness and refreshing citrus and mint flavors are intended to mask the potent kick of the rum, and have made this clear cocktail a popular summer drink. Many hotels in Havana also add Angostura bitters to cut the sweetness of the mojito; while a popular variation, it is not the original version created in La Bodeguita del Medio.

To make a Mojito, juice from a lime is added to sugar and mint leaves in a tall glass. The mixture is then gently mashed repeatedly with a muddler. Crushed ice is then added, followed by rum and topped off with club soda.

The word mojito is derived from the diminutive of the word mojo.

Mojito Recipies:
Italian Mojito
Ingredients:
- 2 oz of white light rum
- 2 oz Proseco
- 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp simple syrup
- 1 sprig fresh mint

In a high ball glass place mint leaves, brown sugar, simple syrup and fresh lime juice and muddle. Add ice cubes, pour light rum and top with Italian sparkling wine. Stir directly in the glass. Garnish with fresh mint leaves and fresh lime wheel. (Cocktail By Francensco at Mix, New York 212 583 0300)

Apple Mojito
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 parts Bacardi Big Apple Rum
- 12 fresh spearmint leaves
- 1/2 lime
- 7 parts club soda
- 2 tsp. simple syrup or 4 tsp. sugar
- mint sprigs for garnish

Crush mint leaves and lime in a tall glass. Cover with simple syrup and fill glass with ice. Add rum and club soda, stir well.

Blue Mojito
Ingredients:
- 1 oz. HPNOTIQ liqueur
- 2 oz. Light Rum
- 3 oz. Club Soda
- 6 fresh mint leaves

Shake HPNOTIQ liqueur, light rum and mint leaves with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a rocks glass and top with club soda.