Bloody Queen City

04
Oct
2016

Twelve Whiskey Barbecue

Last October we headed to Arizona for the Phoenix Taco Fest, and this year we decided to go down to Pittsburgh for their first Taco Fest at Hop Farm Brewing Company. Because who doesn’t like tacos? (Admittedly, I did not like tacos or Mexican food until the last 10 years. But you can forgive a child for not being an adventurous eater, right? Now, I’d say it’s probably my favorite style of food.)

I contacted a friend in Pittsburgh to let her know that we’d be in town, and she sent me a photo of a wonderful looking, massive bloody mary, and plans were made to meet at Twelve Whiskey Barbecue for brunch.

Jesus. Christ.

Look. At. That.

A different view of the magnificence.

Presenting the Big Azz Bloody. Where do I even start with this thing? Well let’s start with the price. $15. $15!!! For all of that!!! That seems totally completely reasonable! Considering I didn’t need to order any food to go along with it (well I ordered 2 fried eggs because it was breakfast and all), it was a cheaper brunch than usual all things considered.

Served in a larger than normal mason jar, this thing was loaded with goodies. For the big stuff, there was a full grilled cheese cut into 4 triangles (as it should be!), a chicken finger, a slider, and waffle fries. For the little stuff, there were 2 slices of sausage, a pickle, olives, jalapeno slices, a celery stalk and cocktail onions.

A close up look.

I was really so overwhelmed by the garnishes, that I don’t have a lot to say about the drink itself. My immediate reaction to the first sip was that it was very tomato-y. There was a bit of spice to it, and it was definitely drinkable. (They also offer an ordinary bloody mary that I would imagine contains the same mix.) As expected, putting hot garnishes on a cold drink, they did not stay warm, but that’s ok, they were all good.

I am almost sad that the drink was such a meal, because I’d have liked to try some of the dishes on their brunch menu, but I just knew I would not need to be eating anything else with this massive cocktail. And as it turned out, by the time Taco Fest rolled around later that afternoon, I was still not hungry, so add that to the rain (because, of course), and long lines at the event, the fest wasn’t that exciting. :/ I managed to stuff some tacos into my face, and they were decent, but by then it really started to pour so we just couldn’t enjoy it. There is potential there, as every Taco Fest has potential, but it just didn’t do it for me this time around.

23
Sep
2016

Lake Placid take 3

categories: Lake Placid

The 2nd part of our vacation brought us back to the Adirondacks, and this time we stayed in Saranac Lake. It’s still near Lake Placid and the High Peaks, but I had not stayed there before. We wanted to hike another High Peak, but I was nervous about my stamina (rightfully!) and we decided to do our first of the Saranac 6 peaks instead – Ampersand. Not a High Peak, but it was more difficult than the one we did last time, Cascade Mountain, and boy am I sore, still, 4 days later. It probably didn’t help my legs that we also did a 7+ mile rail bike ride the next day, which was super cool.

The peak of Ampersand Mountain

I was not expecting to have any bloody marys on this leg of the trip either, even if my favorite Bloody Bar is in Lake Placid, but I was wrong.

On our last trip, we thought there was a definite lack of places to sit outside and have some drinks with a nice lake view. The main street in Lake Placid goes right along Mirror Lake, with plenty of restaurants lining both sides, but while many/most of them have large windows to look at the lake, few seemed to have patios. Well that has changed now, with the Top of the Park, exactly what we were looking for.

Look at that view!

Or look at that view!

Top of the Park had a great cocktail menu, a nice bourbon list (according to J) and a good mix of small plates. A few drinks options had captured my interest before seeing the bloody mary, and having to go for that (well at least, go for that one first!)

How pretty is that drink??

Definitely the prettiest bloody mary I’ve had in a long time, just looking at it made me excited to try it. Clearly it was made with care, garnished with a dilly bean, sun dried tomato, lemon, olive, and a bacon straw (that you can’t see). The garnishes were nicely placed and not just plopped into the drink, plus they were creative! Bacon and beans aren’t entirely unusual, but make the bacon into a crispy straw, and it’s a nice touch. The mix had a lot of visible pepper, and had a nice tomato flavor. It was pretty mild, but I didn’t ask for it spicy, and I wonder what they would have added if I had. It might have wrecked it, if it was a vinegary hot sauce. It was a good drink in a fantastic location. We proceeded to try a number of cocktails off their menu, and a few plates, and would definitely return there again in the future.

I thought that night in Lake Placid would be our only time in town, but we wanted to buy a few sweatshirts, so we drove back the next day. Enter my favorite Bloody Bar, The Breakfast Club. I’ve reviewed them twice before, so I didn’t think I needed to go back, but alas we needed breakfast, and there they were, drawing me in with their menu of bloodies…The struggle is real.

The Asian Mary

This time I went with the Asian Mary. I couldn’t remember if I had tried it on our very first trip there, I think I may have, but nothing wrong with revisiting it! Made with their house mix, the drink is made “Asian” with the addition of soy sauce, sriracha, and wasabi. Garnished with lemon, lime, celery, olive and pickled ginger with a salt rim, look how pretty this one was too! Again, the drink wasn’t just some booze and tomato juice poured into a glass with some citrus. It was very spicy and a tad sweet, with a hint of nose burn and from the wasabi. Delicious. Another great offering from The Breakfast Club.

Lake Placid, the reigning Queen of vacation bloodys!

21
Sep
2016

Boston!

categories: Boston

Vacation time again, and this time for real. We didn’t have ideas for anything super huge and exciting to do, but we figured we’d go to Boston to visit J’s sister, and then make our way to the Adirondacks since we had to cancel our trip there in June. So that was the plan of attack, but it turns out his sister was going to be in Berlin. Jealous! I want to be in Berlin! We stayed at her place anyway, took care of her cats (one giant, one tiny), and played tourist for a few days.

Our first day, we bought tickets for a whale watch and a visit to the New England Aquarium. The day was a little chilly for a speedy boat ride, and we were warned that the seas were pretty choppy. We got about a half hour into the ride, out of Boston Harbor, and the captain decided it was too rough and they were going to have to cancel the trip. *sadface* So we turned around and headed back to shore, refunds for all, no whales for anyone. The Aquarium was nice though, with a big penguin exhibit in the center, and lots of tanks of crazy ocean life.

One of my favorite South Park moments: Cartman singing Poker Face in Whale Whores episode

We had no real plans for the evening, and after dinner we headed out to a Buffalo Bills Bar to watch the home opener. Now, I really don’t care at all about football but it was something to do. That specific bar was PACKED though, so we went around the corner to find a place, and stumbled upon The Fours (apparently America’s best sports bar). I wasn’t planning on having a bloody mary, but it presented itself in front of me, as a drink called the Flea Flicker, so I guess I had to!

The Flea Flicker

The Flea Flicker – Kettle One Vodka, Housemade Bloody Mary Mix, Guinness Floater, Spicy Salt Rim – $11. The drink had an olive garnish with a lemon and lime plopped in the drink. There was no real spice to it and the tomato flavor was not super evident, somehow. There was a smoky hint to it, and a little sweetness from the Guinness. It wasn’t bad, definitely drinkable, but it wasn’t great.

In prepping for the trip, of course I googled the best bloody marys in Boston, but nothing really jumped out as a “must have” drink. I was fine with not trying any during our visit, but in the end I did want to get brunch before leaving for Saranac Lake on Saturday, so I re-googled the list and settled on trying Russell House Tavern in Cambridge, near Harvard. It wasn’t far from where we were staying, easy to get to on the subway so we could get back to the car and hit the road, and had one of the more interesting ones on the list.

The Maria Basilico

Russell House Tavern featured 4 different drinks on the menu, your standard house bloody, one made with mezcal, one with aquavit, and the one I chose: The Maria Basilico with Basil-Infused Vodka, Meletti Amaro, Cucumber, House Bloody Mary Mix for $11. At first taste the drink was super thick and pulpy, the mix had a lot of visible debris, and was almost chewable, but it became more tolerable after a good stir. It was very spicy, with hints of basil flavor and citrus, with maybe a tad of horseradish. Garnished with cucumbers, which I ignored, it was a decent drink, but it wasn’t as super out of the ordinary as I was expecting.

As a whole, from the internet lists of “best of Boston” and the 2 drinks I had, the city can surely step up their game. I was expecting all kinds of crazy offerings featuring lobster, or other seafood, for garnishes. J’s sister had another recommendation for a place, with a “menu” of vodkas, mixes, and garnishes to choose from that perhaps would have been a better choice but it was just too far away for our purposes this time. Guess we’ll have to visit again!

07
Sep
2016

Bloody Mary Infused Vodka

categories: Recipes

If you’ve gone into any liquor store in the last few years, you’d notice an explosion of flavored vodka. From the “standards” like citrus and orange, to crazy things like fruit loops, birthday cake, sriracha and Swedish Fish (sorry, renamed red licorice). Some are good (Swedish fish), some I personally didn’t like (blueberry) and some can’t possibly be good (cucumber watermelon – aka what they will serve me in hell). For bloody mary purposes I have bottle of sriracha vodka, a few different brands of hot pepper vodka, and some chipotle vodka as well. I’ve had some bloodies made with bacon vodka and I’ve seen tomato vodkas at the store which might be tasty as well.

But it’s more fun to make your own.

Enter the internet. It’s super easy to infuse your own vodka in whatever flavor combinations you might want. Some bars, like the 2 Russian bars we visited in NYC, even infuse and serve their own, although apparently this practice is illegal in California according to The Home Distiller’s Hand Book, or at least was when the book was published. But it’s totally cool to do it on your own at home, as long as you’re using already created spirits.

With my bounty of garden produce, I thought I would attempt a Bloody Mary Infused vodka from a “recipe” I found on pinterest. I filled up a small-ish jar with 1 jalapeno, 1 Portugal hot pepper, 1 tomato, 1 clove of garlic, and some peppercorns, and then filled it to the top with vodka (no celery for me!). I didn’t want to go overboard and make a giant amount in case it was terrible. I let it sit in the fridge for 2+ weeks, shaking it every once in a while.

Bloody Mary Infused Vodka!

To be honest I was sort of scared to try it. The recipe page suggested drinking it on the rocks, so that’s what I’m doing right now! And it’s pretty good! It definitely has a fresh garden smell and flavor to it, like a bloody mary lite. It turns out my jalapenos, though the biggest I’ve ever seen, are not very hot so I’m glad I threw in a Portugal pepper as well. The infusion ended up with a nice spice kick to it, though not overwhelming. I’m not one to drink liquor straight, so I probably would not consume it this way again, but it’ll definitely be good in a regular bloody mary. I don’t know how long it’ll keep, with the veggies still in it…I suppose a brave soul could eat them, but not I!

Try it, add celery if you like, the choice is yours! Cheers!

03
Sep
2016

William Ks

categories: Buffalo

I don’t feel that I have that much going on in life, but somehow I found myself too busy to be able to write up this bloody mary review from last week at William K’s in the Erie Basin Marina. Perhaps it’s the need to pick and do something with the bushels and bushels of peppers and tomatoes I’ve got growing in the garden. I’m drowning!

Last weekend was the Buffalo Maritime Festival at Canalside and the adjacent Naval Park, which was visited by the World’s Largest Rubber Duck! While it created a perfect storm of traffic in the area, I thought it was a good time to multi task and see the duck, and get some brunch and a bloody (and J could play pokemon).

The World’s Largest Rubber Duck in Buffalo NY!

William K’s seems to be a recent addition to the Buffalo restaurant scene, and I had seen a posting from a brunch there on instagram a few months ago. Located in the Erie Basin Marina, it’s a bit farther down the point than we usually go, so we didn’t exactly know where it was when we first heard of it. The restaurant is right on the water, past Templeton Landing, at the point where the river meets the lake, with a perfect view of the newly re-lit light house.

The view!

William K’s offered a house bloody and a spicy bloody, which was my choice. Served in a pint glass for $8, it definitely had a good deal of spice. You could detect the addition of Frank’s hot sauce, but I don’t believe it was the only thing contributing to the spiciness. It was fairly thick, with visible pepper in the mix. Garnished with a lemon, lime and olive it was a very drinkable offering, though not particularly unique.

William K’s bloody

J ordered his standard choice, of eggs, bacon and potato, while I went on a limb and tried the blueberry french toast (with ice cream on top!). If you were going for brunch at the harbor, looking at William K’s versus Templeton Landing, I’d definitely go with William K’s.

Your standard olive, lime and lemon garnish.

We’re going on vacation soon, spending a few days in Boston and a few in the Adirondacks. Hopefully I can find some good drinks to try!

25
Aug
2016

Barrel and Brine Mix Release Party

categories: Buffalo

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, Lockhouse Distillery was having a mix release party, and while I thought it was for a mix that they were creating, it turns out it was a party for Barrel and Brine‘s mix. If you recall, they were the ones making the mix for the Black Sheep which I reviewed a few months ago, but now they are bottling it for public sale. So while I was a little bit less excited, since I’ve had the mix before, I was still excited that there was any kind of Bloody Mary party to go to.

Lockhouse was offering 3 different Bloody Mary concoctions: The Pizza Lovers, the Barreled Bloody, and Mary’s Garden. I thought I was being smart by ordering all 3 at once, so I could taste test them all together, but I was wrong. Not only because they warmed up and the ice melted, but because I’m pretty sure my drinks were made by the bar back, and they were all made incorrectly. *sigh* Just my luck.

Top = Barreled Bloody, Left = Pizza Lovers, Right = Mary’s Garden

So let’s start with the Pizza Lovers. It was supposed to have mozzarella, pepperoni and basil, and feature Lockhouse vodka. As you can see in the photo (the drink on the left) it did have a skewer with cheese and pepperoni, but it lacks the basil that was stuck in everyone else’s drink. Ok, no big deal. This bloody was made with a different mix than the other two, which I’m assuming was still made by Barrel and Brine, but I’m not sure. It was poured out of an unlabeled wine bottle, and was a completely different texture and flavor. Honestly, it didn’t really taste like much, and of the 3, it was the least exciting. There was a lot of debris floating in it, even though it was still quite liquidy, with mild spice and pickle flavor. Beyond that, it didn’t taste like much.

Next, the Barreled Bloody. The drink was supposed to be made with barrel aged gin, molasses bacon rim, pepperocini, celery and chives, but as you can see in the photo (the top drink), all I got was a pepperocini, and I suspect it was made with vodka. Assuming that it was indeed made with vodka, this was pretty much your basic normal bloody, with the Barrel and Brine mix, poured out of one of the jars they were selling. Surprisingly, it had a very different flavor from the Bloody using their mix at Black Sheep (which is a good thing!). It was definitely not as overwhelmingly pickle flavored and salty, with a mild spice level, that was very good. It had a good strong tomato flavor, and was definitely drinkable. The lack of a bacon rim = highly disappointing.

Bloody triple feature!

Lastly, Mary’s Garden, which was being offered with Lockhouse vodka or gin, though he didn’t ask me what I wanted. I suspect it was gin, as it had a completely different flavor than the other 2, and I thought it might be a rosemary flavor but then…maybe not, since everything that was supposed to be in my drink was missing. It was supposed to be garnished with rosemary, cucumber, dilly bean, sweet pepper and pearl onion – hence the “garden” part of the drink. As you can see in the first photo (the drink on the right) all I ended up with was pearl onion and olives (not listed!). Made with the jars of mix again, as a whole, it was the best of the 3, either from the gin or rosemary flavor, which made it more interesting than your usual bloody mary. I just wish it had come as described because while I hate cucumber and didn’t miss it, I looooove dilly beans. I would definitely order this one again, just not from the bar back!

Luckily for me Barrel and Brine also had a garnish table set up, where they were letting you try their various pickled items in your drink, plus selling all their wares. I spoke to them a bit, asking about the mix, and why the Black Sheep’s drink might have been so salty and overwhelming (they said they didn’t know, but that they had heard that before. They did say they leave some things, like Worcestershire sauce, out of the jarred mix in case people want to keep it vegan.) I added some of their green beans, horseradish dill pickles, cajun pickles, pearl onion and this super delicious jalapeno hot sauce to my Mary’s Garden, which put it just over the top into an excellent drink. The hot sauce was very good, and not at all full of vinegar flavor like my arch nemesis Frank’s, so the drink got a nice added punch without altering the flavor profile (and I also bought a bottle for $4, score!)

Mary’s Garden, with various Barrel and Brine garnishes added in

All the drinks were $9, and mine were served in pint glasses, but that did not seem to be standard. Maybe it was the lack of clean glasses, maybe he messed mine up, but everyone seemed to be getting different styles of glass, from pint, to other beer glasses, to smaller rocks type glasses. If they keep a bloody on offering at Lockhouse, I’m not sure what you’ll end up getting for your $9 in the future. While I was disappointed by the way my drinks were made, especially since we know the bar manager, and their bar tenders are usually excellent when making all their crafty drinks, in the end I was impressed with Barrel and Brine’s mix offering. I would have picked a jar up to enjoy at home if I wasn’t drowning in at least 20 unopened bottles of various mixes I bought to review here. Someday!!

And the best part of all was that the $15 Lockhouse gift card I won at trivia night a few months ago turned out to be for $30!

19
Aug
2016

Belsito Buffalo

categories: Buffalo

Browsing through Facebook the other day, I saw mention of a wine bar in J’s neighborhood that we never noticed before – Belsito. After some investigation, it looked good, so I suggested we stop there between our tour of the SS Columbia and heading to the Erie County Fair for the rest of the night. We must have walked and driven by this restaurant 1000 times, and never noticed it was there, but I’m glad we finally found it.

I wasn’t expecting to have a bloody mary when we decided to go there, and J suggested a bottle of Proseco before I noticed the cocktail menu. It had been a while since I had a good bloody (no thanks to Templeton Landing!), so I gave it a shot.

Belsito Bloody

I forget how much the drink was, $8 or $9, the bloody comes with 3 mozzarella stuffed olives, and a few basil leaves. I loved the fancy ice, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen that kind of ice in a drink, and it’s fun! Their bloody featured local Lockhouse vodka, and a house made mix. It was quite liquidy, but it was nice, since it’s summer and I didn’t really want a heavy drink. It was really mild on the spice scale (once again I didn’t ask for it spicy, I wonder what they would have added), and it had a good tomato flavor. It was quite refreshing, which you can’t always say about bloody maries.

Mozzarella stuffed olives

I felt obligated to eat an olive, since it was a key part of the drink. Unfortunately I still don’t like olives.

It was a really nice day out, and the patio along the street was comfortable until our pizzas arrived, along with the bees and forced us indoors. Belsito is a nice spot, worth another visit for sure.

**
Speaking of Lockhouse Distillery, they are debuting their bloody mary mix with a party tomorrow. I’m excited! Review to come!

18
Jul
2016

Templeton Landing fails again

categories: Buffalo

In case you missed it, or live under a rock, last week this little game based on a very obscure Japanese cartoon called Pokemon came out. And the internet exploded. LOL

I know nothing about Pokemon, as I was a bit older than the intended audience at the time it hit big in the United States. But I couldn’t help but get sucked into the game. It’s such a great concept!! You’re getting people out and about, including people that might not normally be super active. It’s active, it’s social, it leads you to discover things about your city that you’ve never noticed before. I love it. It’s made me get out of bed and walk 7 miles the last 3 days, where normally I sit on my phone in bed playing random games for hours, before moving the lazy party to the couch for the rest of the afternoon until I have to go to work. So kudos to Pokemon Go.

J couldn’t help but get sucked in as well, getting to level 12 in a little more than a day, so when I suggested brunch and a Pokemon date on Sunday, he was all for it. Plus, trying Templeton Landing again would take us to the Erie Basin Marina and Canalside, which is a Pokemon orgy.

Unlike last time, it was actually brunch at Templeton Landing this time, and we were able to order breakfast foods, with the advertised bottomless mimosa and colossal bloody mary.

I don’t even care how terrible this photo is, I was just so mad this was all I got.

Someone please tell me what is colossal about that drink? What happened to the drinks full of fantastic fun garnishes from last year?? That is what I want! THAT is “colossal”! Instead I got a $10 bloody in a pint glass, with a few olives and citrus garnish. Ugh. Basically it was the same drink I got the first time we were there, full of thick tomato juice and Frank’s hot sauce. As soon as our waitress put the drink in front of me, I was epically let down. Ugh. It really ruined my time for a while. I definitely never need to go back.

At least the koi pond in front of Templeton was a Pokestop we could hit up every 5 minutes.

30
Jun
2016

Mott’s Clamato Bottled Caesars

categories: Mix Reviews

I mentioned in my last post that I received a 4 pack of Mott’s Clamato Bottled Caesars as a thank you gift, and I was a little scared to try it.

Bottled Caesars!?!?

Even though I was scared, I really wanted to try it, and the past week or so I really wanted to have a Bloody. I was sick though, stupid summer colds, and not really able to smell or taste anything so I kept putting it off. Well it was my birthday on Tuesday, and after going out for dinner with my parents, and building a fire when J got out of work, it was time to try it.

The contents had settled to the bottom, and assuming it was not carbonated (omg how gross would that be?!) I shook it up real well and gave it a shot. My first thought was, wow, this is overwhelmingly sweet. It was the consistency of fruit juice, no thickness or tomato juice type texture at all, and no spice (they do have a spicy version, but this was not it.) It had a tomato taste, I guess, and it wasn’t clam-y or fishy at all. It was just so sweet. (I’ve only had one other Caesar ever, and I’ve never had Clamato on it’s own so perhaps I am not the best person to judge this beverage).

It was not great. I drank it but…I don’t particularly want to drink the remaining 3. Maybe I’ll mix it with one of the many, many other bottles of regular Bloody mixes I have so it doesn’t go to waste.

06
Jun
2016

Landing at the Black Sheep

categories: Buffalo

Vacation time again, and due to work issues coming up, it was another staycation. We managed to avoid the rain that usually plagues our vacations, and packed in a whole ton of events into 5 days off, including 2 brunches…well almost. It was fun but I am wiped out and I vowed not to leave the house today so I could have time to recover from having to be social for so many days in a row haha!

Saturday was the most event packed day, as tons of things were going on in Buffalo, and we were forced to narrow it down to just a few. But it was also the only weekend day that had some time in it for brunch, in between Art Alive at the Albright Knox Art Gallery, and the grand opening party for 12 Gates Brewery, so I made reservations at Templeton Landing.

They advertised Toasty Saturdays from 11am to 3pm on their facebook page, with bottomless mimosas, and brunch specials, plus this, from last year:

“Templeton Landing’s Colossal Blood Mary’s! As the cart rolled up, we chose between regular or spicy flavor and proceeded to add additional ingredients of our choosing. Being a Bloody Mary novice, I deferred to their best judgment and opted for the standard celery stick, a piece of shrimp, some peppers for color, a stick of savory bacon before finally topping it off with a slider. That’s right. There was a full-on hamburger in my drink and it was fantastic! Hands down of the best Bloody Mary’s we’ve ever had.”

Buffalo Dandy’s Templeton Landing bloody mary, off a create your own cart….

https://buffalodandy.com/2015/07/27/sunday-brunch-at-templeton-landing/

You can find a whole bunch of other photos of Templeton bloodys on google, plus a recent shout out about their Bloody from Step Out Buffalo, so needless to say, I’ve been excited to finally get one for myself (Templeton is seasonal, so this is really the first chance I’ve had to go).

Well we get there, and are seated on the patio. The restaurant is right on the waterfront, with a great view of the marina and it was the perfect day for being outside. But we get the menu, and it’s not brunch. It was not even 2pm yet, what happened to Toasty Saturday?? I ordered a bloody anyway, and J ordered a mimosa even though neither one was on their cocktail menu, and the mimosa was definitely not bottomless.

Not exactly what I was looking for

Served in a pint glass for $8.50, this wasn’t exactly what I was looking for when I picked Templeton Landing for brunch. It was basically pure tomato juice with some hot sauce in it. Boring old lemon, lime and olive garnish brought nothing special to the drink. No other visible additives, and very thick, it was also very salty, maybe from some kind of brine. It was an epic disappointment to say the least, but with that said, it also wasn’t the worst Bloody I’ve ever had. It wasn’t the thickest, and it wasn’t the least flavorful, it was just so plain, and so not what I wanted, it ruined the whole experience.

I ordered the turkey club, and it was fine but…not what I wanted!! I don’t know what the deal was with it not being brunch, and about the bloody being un-epic, but I’m willing to try again when I know FOR SURE that it’s brunch.

Sunday came around and we were supposed to get up and go to the Pride Parade, but we slept too late, which opened up a whole new possibility for brunch. Since Saturday’s was so disappointing I wanted to make sure I got to a good one, so I picked The Black Sheep.

The Black Sheep had recently been mentioned in another Step Out Buffalo article, about brunch cocktails, for their special off-menu Kimchi Bloody Mary so it was fresh in my mind. Luckily for me, they have since added it to their regular menu and I didn’t have to beg!

Kimchi Bloody Mary at The Black Sheep

Served in a fairly small glass for $10 the Kimchi bloody is made from mix created by Buffalo Barrel + Brine, a new local pickle maker. Garnished with lime and a pickle slice, with a spiced rim, the mix was definitely pickle-y, but not overwhelmingly so. There was a lot of floating debris of some type (kimchi?), but it wasn’t super spicy – just a tickle. It was very fresh tasting, and very good, and as it turned out, there was a full pickle spear hiding in the drink!

J ordered a beer which ended up coming in a gigantic bottle, so I had to order another drink for myself, and I went with their regular bloody mary, also made with mix from Barrel + Brine (no photo because basically it looked the same). The regular bloody mary was $9, garnished with lime, the pickle slice, and this time celery. There was a TON of visible debris in the drink (it was clogging up my little straw), and it was much, much spicier than the Kimchi Mary. However there was also way WAY more pickle flavor – too much so. It was like drinking the brine right out of a pickle jar.

Some advice to pickle companies making Bloody Mary mix – turn it down a notch. Some pickle flavor in a bloody is a welcome addition, but that shouldn’t be the only flavor.

Both drinks were good, but I’d go with the Kimchi Mary all day long, perhaps with a bit more spice added to it. I do wish they were a bit larger though, for the price.

I ordered the breakfast pierogies, which was delicious, so Sunday’s brunch redeemed Saturday’s, but be prepared, The Black Sheep is a bit expensive (our brunch bill was more expensive than our fancy tapas at Aro de Tapas the night before, and that’s without the Game of Scones we ordered because the waitress forgot it, which just seems wrong.) (Also, Aro de Tapas = really really delicious.)

****
I let a friend of a friend in Toronto use my address to have a package shipped more cheaply, and to thank me when they picked it up, they brought me a 4 pack of these:

Bottled Caesars!?!?

I’m a little scared, and a little intrigued.

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