Jessie on the Rocks

Month 2 - Hill Billy Bourbon Can you believe it is almost March?  I'm sliding in my February drink just in the nick of time.  I celebrated a birthday a few weeks ago and was given Hill Billy bourbon as a gift.  What better way to celebrate getting older than drinking?!?  My February bourbon is Hill Billy bourbon and my drink of choice is the Hot Toddy. I tried this bourbon straight and found it to be pretty harsh.  I'm still working my way up to bourbon so I'm going to chalk this up to "I'm still new at this".  However, I also decided to try this bourbon in the form of a Hot Toddy.  I've always been a fan of tea, so this was a natural fit for me - or so I thought.  I made two drinks.  One for me and one for my father.  He's been supportive of my drink making adventures and voluntarily taste tests for me.  I don't know if my recipe was off or this just isn't my taste, but I actually gagged while taking my first sip.  Oh the shame!  It was

Month 1 - Bulleit Bourbon Happy 2019 Everyone!  I know we have solidly been into the new year for several weeks now, but I'm finally getting my act together on my new drink project for 2019.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my 2018 margarita adventure, but I think that project ran it's course, so  I feel like I have to move outside my comfort zone again to grow as a drink maker.  I have given this quite a bit of thought, and have decided to focus on bourbon for 2019!  Why bourbon?  Well, I don't know anything about it...like couldn't pick it out of a crowd, maybe tasted it twice in my life, do not know anything about it:)  So I present you my 2019 adventure:  not throwing up drinking Bourbon! I admit that making one drink a week (like I did in 2018) got to be too much for me, especially with my work schedule.  Because of this, I have modified my plan for this year.  For 2019, I plan to select one bourbon each month.  I will taste the bourbon by itself and in a mixed drin

Week 52 - The Classic Margarita I made it!  Week 52 is upon us and I can't believe it's been a whole year since I started my Margarita adventure. On one hand it seems like I just started.  On the other hand, it feels like I've lived a lifetime since last January.  This year has been filled with exciting achievements, travel to great places, drink making adventures and also some of the greatest heartache I have ever experienced.  Life is an interesting journey and this year has taught me that you have to stop and smell the roses more.   It's important to make that drink and have time to sit down and enjoy it.  If you don't, you will blink and life will have passed right on by you.  I have a tendency to think more about tomorrow than I do today.  While this is sometimes helpful, I sometimes miss what's happening right in front of me.  This is something I've decided to work on in my life.  I'm going to start today, with my week 52 drink - The Classic

Week 51 - The Coconut Margarita  I'm almost done with my Margarita journey!  I've hit the home stretch and I'm feeling pretty good about my week 51 drink - The Coconut Margarita. I love all things coconut, so I was pretty confident I was going to like this drink.  However, I prefer drinks that shaken over ice, not blended, so I wasn't sure the frozen coconut drink was going to be one of my favorites. I was in for a surprise when it turned out that this was one of my favorite drinks all year! In addition to tequila, this  drink calls for coconut rum, coconut milk and sweetened coconut cream (Coco Lopez).  Throw these ingredients in the blender with ice and viola!  I found that I really liked this drink.  However, you have to be all in on coconut or this will not be for you.  It's a perfect summer drink, though I used it over the holidays and that worked too! Lesson learned - Sometimes drinks are exactly what you think they will be.  That was the case this w