Blogging Seredipity And A New Herbed Cocktail

*** Reminder: The Boboli Grilled Pizza Recipe Challenge still running. Check out the challenge and entry information.

Yesterday as I was reading through blog postings I saw a New England trip wrap up from Jessica at The Messie Kitchen. I've been following her trip as a means to discover new things in my own backyard. At the end of it she mentions being home and laid up for a bit and not being able to cook to provide fodder for her blog. I shot off a note with an a mention of a blog I had ready on cold summer soups. Well, my guest post on two soups inspired be fellow Foodbuzzers is up at The Messie Kitchen. A big thank you to Jessica for helping another blogger grow their network. Make sure you check our the posts on her trip to New England and all of her other adventures.

So Margot sends me a note yesterday to ask if the mojito from Kate's guest post will be ready when she gets home. Unfortunately I had no fresh mint on hand and we didn't want to make another grocery store trip this week, so we postponed recreating the mojitos. Of course I had to come up with something. I went back to the current issue of Imbibe magazine to look at what other herbs they had used in the "Cocktails From The Garden" article. Thyme! I have lots of that growing out back.

The drink the the article "Artemis Flower" contained muddled thyme, bourbon and sambuca. I decided to create a new version of the classic Yellow Bird cocktail. I heard of these in Jamaica and can say they are an excellent drink, but strong and with flavors from the Galliano (that's what is in the glass above) that you may need to let grow on you. The flavor profiles with this drink and the one in the article will be different but not that much. Because of the color of the Galliano, bright yellow, I am going to name this drink the "Big Bird".

Big Bird
2 parts bourbon
1/2 part lime juice
1/2 Galliano
1 part simple syrup
1 lemon wedge
several sprigs of fresh thyme

Muddle the lemon and thyme at the bottom of a shaker. Add the bourbon, juice, Galliano and syrup. Stir gently. Strain into an ice filled glass. This drink is as strong as its parent and spicy from the thyme. It is refreshing from the explosion of flavors and fresh herbs.

I didn't get a picture of the drink, but the yellow in name of the drink is clear from the glass of Galliano at the head of the post.

We made a variation of this with ginger infused syrup. It was spicier and tasted sweeter.

Summer cocktails from herbs picked fresh from out back has turned into an unexpected pleasure. It has helped me immensely in creative combinations and visualizing flavors ahead of time. Try it. I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Cheers!

--Jason