April 24 2013 — Culinary Arts & Letters, Chapel Hill, NC
Special cocktail event with The Crunkleton and Fearrington Inn. Details coming soon.

April 27 2013 02:00 PM — Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
Flower Confidential

And now, I’ve got just a couple more drink/plant recommendations for you. Plants you probably aren’t growing but totally should.

Black Currant, the magic ingredient in cassis.

Why don’t we grow black currants in this country? Because it was banned in the 1920s for its role in spreading white pine blister rust. By 1966, the USDA realized that the ban was unnecessary and lifted it. Spores of the disease can only travel a thousand feet from black currant bush to pine tree, so keeping them out of pine forests is really pretty easy. Besides, many new varieties are disease-resistant. The ban remains in place in ten states on the east coast, but agricultural scientists at Cornell are working with those states to educate them about black currant and persuade them to lift the ban.

So you can certainly grow them. Read more about that here, and remember that the fine people at Clear Creek Distillery make an excellent American version of cassis if you don’t want to bother growing your own.

Sloes! Are you growing sloes? Also known as the blackthorn bush or by its Latin name, Prunus spinosa, this large European hedgerow plant produces the small, tart fruit used to make sloe gin. It’s hard to find in these parts, but try Forest Farm nursery in Oregon or Lincoln Oakes nursery in North Dakota. Last I heard, Forest Farm was growing a grand total of 20 of these per year, demand was so light. I am determined to change that! Let’s freak them out and all order sloes! Read about sloes, and about sloe gin, here as well.

Okay! Thus concludes news from the road and garden-y cocktails. For now. First, I’m going away for a nice long rest….

So here are some tour dates, and the complete list, if you’d like to see it, is here. As always, check details with the venue before heading out.

April 17 2013 07:00 PM — Changing Hands Books, Tempe, AZ
Join us for a talk about The Drunken Botanist–and a fabulous cocktail made with Dripping Springs Vodka.

April 18 2013 06:00 PM — Arizona Science Center, Phoenix, AZ
This is a private event for Director’s Circle Members only.

April 19 2013 07:00 PM — ArtBar with Bookworks, Albuquerque, NM
This event will be at ArtBar, 119 Gold Ave SW. Albuquerque, where we will drink some fabulous cocktails. Bookworks is sponsoring the event.

April 22 2013 06:30 PM — Science of Distillation, Boston, MA
A special Museum of Science event held at Grand Ten Distilling.  Talk, tour, and tasting included in ticket price, and fabulous food available for purchase from The Dining Car food truck.  Advance ticket purchase required.

April 23 2013 08:00 PM — 92nd Street Y, New York City, NY
The Drunken Botanist at Warburg Lounge. Ticket purchase required.

April 24 2013 — Culinary Arts & Letters, Chapel Hill, NC
Special cocktail event with The Crunkleton and Fearrington Inn.

April 27 2013 02:00 PM — Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
Flower Confidential

And I have one last plant collection for you. I think I’ve saved the best for last, because really, what spirit goes best with just about any herb, fruit, or vegetable than gin? So this is the Old Tom Gin Garden, named after a sweeter style of gin that was popular in the 19th century. But to be honest, we just liked the name.

It was incredibly easy to come up with plants to pair with gin. If anything, we had a hard time figuring out what not to include. But in the end, we settled on two kinds of cucumber, borage, basil, and lemon thyme.

I want to tell you about one of these cucumbers. It’s not actually a cucumber at all. ‘Mexican Sour Gherkin’ is a close relative, Melothria scabra, native to Central America and Mexico, with a bright, tart flavor a bit bolder than a cucumber—but the flavor isn’t the only reason to grow this one. The fruits themselves are only the size of a grape, but they resemble miniature watermelons, with a mottled green and white skin. They’re the perfect size for a drink garnish, and the plants are surprisingly prolific. Well worth growing. (get them here)

Anyway, those are the plants, all available from Territorial and also through West Coast garden centers supplied by Log House Plants. And your cocktail for the week? How about this?

The Herbarium
1.5 oz Hendrick’s Gin

.5 oz St-Germain elderflower liqueur

3-4 chunks lemon cucumber

2-3 sprigs basil

¼ lemon

Club soda

Borage blossom or basil leaf for garnish

Squeeze lemon into cocktail shaker and combine all ingredients except the club soda. Muddle cucumber and basil, then add ice, shake, and strain into a tall, skinny Collins glass filled with ice. Top with club soda and add garnish.

Well, if you’re interested, all the tour dates are here, and as always, check with the venue to confirm event details before heading out.

April 10 2013 07:00 PM — Boswell Books at Great Lakes Distillery, Milwaukee, WI
Join me and the folks from Boswell Books at Great Lakes Distillery for a free tasting and talk!  Co-sponsored by Boerner Botanical Gardens.

April 11 2013 07:30 PM — Magers & Quinn, Minneapolis, MN
Drunken Botanist book tour

April 12 2013 08:00 PM — Books & Books, Coral Gables, FL
Drunken Botanist book tour

April 13 2013 07:00 PM — Books & Books, Grand Cayman
The Drunken Botanist

April 16 2013 07:00 PM — Book People, Austin, TX
Come sample a botanical cocktail from Tito’s Handmade Vodka, mixed with Liber & Co tonic, and learn about cocktail-friendly plants with the folks from Great Outdoors Nursery.

April 17 2013 07:00 PM — Changing Hands Books, Tempe, AZ
Join us for a talk about The Drunken Botanist–and a fabulous cocktail made with Dripping Springs Vodka.

And now–whiskey!

The Southern Belle Whiskey Garden collection was a tricky one to put together. When I think about the plants that go best with whiskey, I think about peaches, cherries, and oranges–none of which fit in a jumbo six-pack at a garden center. And since it was my job to come up with recipes that used the ingredients in each collection, quite a bit of experimentation took place.

We came up with another mint variety–’Kentucky Colonel’ this time–which is widely regarded as the best mint julep mint. So that’s a no-brainer. Thyme and tarragon also made a lot of sense–the bold, woodsy flavors stand up well to peaches and other stone fruit that often gets mixed in whiskey drinks. And chamomile? Well, I found a chamomile hot toddy recipe that seemed downright medicinal in nature. Restorative, anyway. So we included that.

So here, then, is your recipe. Get more ideas here, and as always, remember that you can find these plants at Territorial or in garden centers on the West Coast supplied by wholesale nursery Log House Plants.

Tarragon Mint Julep

2 oz bourbon (I like Maker’s Mark)

3-4 tablespoons superfine sugar (see note)

Generous handful of fresh spearmint or tarragon, or a mixture of both

Crushed ice

Into a silver julep cup, mason jar, or highball glass, press 2 tablespoons of sugar with a small amount of water to create a paste. Add a layer of fresh mint leaves and crush gently. Top it with a layer of crushed ice. Sprinkle sugar and another layer of mint leaves, then top with another layer of crushed ice. Continue until the glass is full, then pour in bourbon.

Note: Superfine sugar dissolves quickly, but regular sugar is fine too. Don’t use powdered sugar—it contains cornstarch and can gum up a drink.

April 06 2013 05:00 PM — Eureka Theater Book Launch Party, Eureka, CA
5 PM:  Lecture & slide show in the theater.  6-9 PM:  Drinks served, book signing.   The event is free; drink sales benefit the restoration of the historic Eureka Theater.  A partnership with Eureka Books.

April 08 2013 07:00 PM — The Bookstall, Winnetka, IL
Drunken Botanist book tour

April 09 2013 11:30 AM — The Standard Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL
A Lunch & Learn member event in partnership with The Book Stall. 11:30 reception, noon luncheon & discussion.

April 09 2013 07:00 PM — Anderson’s Bookshop, Naperville, IL
A Drunken Botanist party with an assortment of cocktail-friendly plants from  The Growing Place garden center and a tasting of Koval Distillery‘s floral liqueurs and botanical spirits.

April 10 2013 07:00 PM — Boswell Books at Great Lakes Distillery, Milwaukee, WI
Join me and the folks from Boswell Books at Great Lakes Distillery for a free tasting and talk!  Co-sponsored by Boerner Botanical Gardens.

April 11 2013 07:30 PM — Magers & Quinn, Minneapolis, MN

And now–tequila? Did someone say tequila?

I share with you another of the plant collections I put together with Log House Plants and Territorial Seed Company. Territorial sells the plants and seeds online, and Log House, a wholesale grower, ships them to garden centers on the West Coast.

This was an easy one to put together–the Heart of Agave Tequila Garden. We included sage, pepper, watermelon, rosemary, and mint–and this time we chose a mint called ‘Margarita.’ But wait–margaritas don’t have mint in them! Don’t let that stop you. It’s a very pretty, lemony mint that is not as aggressive as most mints (your mileage may vary) and worth growing.

Read about the whole collection here, but meanwhile, here’s a tequila cocktail to get you through the week.

Agave Piña

1.5 oz 100% agave tequila

2 oz pineapple juice (fresh if possible)

.5 oz agave nectar or simple syrup

2-3 fresh jalapeño slices

2-3 sage leaves

½ small lime

Optional: Club soda or lemon-lime soda

Squeeze lime into cocktail shaker and add other ingredients. Muddle sage leaves and peppers to release the flavors. Shake well over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Optional variation: Pour into a tall, skinny Collins glass over ice and top with soda to taste.

March 27 2013 07:30 PM — Powell’s (Burnside location), Portland, OR
With a special appearance by House Spirits Distillery‘s Christian Krogstad, who will talk about the botanical nature of his delightful Aviation Gin, and a selection of cocktail-friendly plants from Cornell Farm.

March 28 2013 07:00 PM — Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, Seattle, WA
A talk about The Drunken Botanist, plus cocktail-friendly plants from Molbak’s Garden & Home.

March 29 2013 07:00 PM — Village Books, Bellingham, WA
A talk about The Drunken Botanist accompanied by cocktail-friendly plants from Christianson’s Nursery.

April 06 2013 05:00 PM — Eureka Theater Book Launch Party, Eureka, CA
5 PM:  Lecture & slide show in the theater.  6-9 PM:  Drinks served, book signing.   The event is free; drink sales benefit the restoration of the historic Eureka Theater.  A partnership with Eureka Books.

As always, check with the venue before heading out to confirm dates/times.

And now! This week in cocktail gardening–rum! Funny story–when the nice people at Log House Plants and I were trying to figure out what to call a collection of plants that mix well with rum, the first idea that came to my mind was to call it the Old Havana Rum Garden. Every word sounded so perfect–Havana. Rum. Old. Garden. Yeeeeesssssssss.

But there was one problem! One of the plants in the collection was going to be lemongrass, and a few people thought lemongrass didn’t sound very Cuban and the name should be rejected on that basis.

Well, you know I’m always up for a fact-checking challenge. So I dove into newspaper archives and came up with interviews with actual Cuban farmers in which they named lemongrass as one of the crops they grew.

Done! On that basis, the name stayed. So in addition to lemongrass, the other plants are strawberry, ‘Mojito’ mint, and lemon verbena.

You’re probably thinking, “What about citrus? Where’s the lime?” Good question! One of the tricky bits about putting these collections together is that we were assembling jumbo six-packs, not gallon pots. So everything had to (a) work with a particular spirit, and (b) grow well in a six-pack. So yeah, no citrus.

There’s an interesting story about the mint, as told by the wonderful plant nursery Richters here. This is the actual strain of spearmint grown in Cuba for mojitos, and the only reason it’s available now in the nursery trade is that intrepid Canadian tourists pulled the sprigs out of their mojitos and stuck them in their pockets. Now you, too, can grow actual Havana mint. (Territorial’s got it here, and it’s in garden centers).

Okay! Your rum cocktail is:

Lemongrass Mojito

1.5 oz white rum

.5 oz lemongrass simple syrup

¼ lime

3-4 sprigs ‘Mojito’ mint or another spearmint

1 stick lemongrass

4-6 oz club soda

Crushed ice

Reserve one sprig of mint for garnish. Make simple syrup by heating equal parts sugar and water until the sugar melts, then add the lemongrass allow to cool and steep for one hour.

Combine rum, simple syrup, mint, and lemongrass in a cocktail shaker, then squeeze lime juice into shaker and drop the lime in. Using a muddler or a wooden spoon, gently crush all ingredients to release the flavors. Add ice and shake thoroughly, then strain into a glass of crushed ice. Top with club soda and garnish with mint.

Yeah, well. I’m still hanging out on the West Coast, so if you’re in the neighborhood, I hope you’ll drop by. Complete list of tour dates can be found here, and please do check with the venue before heading out in case of last-minute changes.

March 21 2013 07:30 PM — Capitola Book Cafe, Capitola, CA

March 22 2013 07:00 PM — Rakestraw Books, Danville, CA

March 23 2013 10:45 AM — San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, San Mateo, CA

March 24 2013 05:30 PM — Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA

March 25 2013 07:00 PM — Vroman’s, Pasadena, CA

March 27 2013 07:30 PM — Powell’s (Burnside location), Portland, OR
With a special appearance by House Spirits Distillery‘s Christian Krogstad, who will talk about the botanical nature of his delightful Aviation Gin, and a selection of cocktail-friendly plants from Cornell Farm.

And now — vodka week! So, to continue with what I suppose is becoming a multi-part series on this Drunken Botanist Plant Collection thing I’ve got going with Territorial and Log House Plants, (Territorial selling the plants online and Log House shipping them to garden centers and grocery stores on the West Coast), I present to you our Farmers Market Vodka Garden.

Coming up with names for these collections was one challenge. Some were immediately obvious (as you’ll see in coming weeks) and some were a bit more tricky. There’s something about the word “vodka” that just doesn’t go with gardens. But as I was thinking about it, I realized that vodka is really the farmer’s best friend. You can make vodka out of anything–not just potatoes, but also corn, wheat, barley, grapes, apples–basically, anything that contains starch or sugar. It’s a pretty efficient way to use up the surplus crop.

And–what mixes with vodka? Everything! If you can buy it at the farmer’s market, you can mix it with vodka and have a pretty nice drink.

The collection includes tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, and celery. Go here to read all about it. I just want to say a word about the celery–It would never have occurred to me to plant celery in my garden. I just don’t use it that much. But once I tried it, I found out that I’d been crazy not grow it before. I used it in everything: soups, salads, all kinds of dishes that could be improved by celery if only I had some on hand. I rarely bother to go buy one of those jumbo bundles of enormous green celery at the grocery store (because I know I won’t use it all), but having a little on hand that I could snip whenever I wanted it? Amazing. And of course, I used it in drinks.

The celery I have fallen in love with is ‘Redventure,’ a cross between an heirloom strain called ‘Giant Red’ and a popular commercial variety called ‘Ventura.’ Crossing those two resulted in a celery with slender red stems about the diameter of a pencil—perfect for swizzle sticks. And it’s got a rich, strong celery flavor that’s bold enough for cocktails. I love the color, I love the flavor, and I love that it’s a total year-round crop here in California. They do bolt after a year or so, so you have to cut down the flowering central stalk and eventually replant them, but it’s totally worth it.

Okay! So here’s a drink.

The Farmers Market

1.5 oz vodka (Try Glacier Potato Vodka from Idaho)

2-3 ‘Mexican Sour Gherkin’ cucumbers

1-2 stalks ‘Red Venture’ celery

2-3 sprigs cilantro

2-3 slices small spicy or mild peppers

6 cherry tomatoes or 1-2 slices large tomato

Dash of Worcestershire sauce (try Annie’s for a vegetarian version)

3-4 oz Q or Fever Tree tonic water

Reserve a celery stalk, cherry tomato, or cucumber for garnish. Combine all ingredients except the tonic water in a cocktail shaker and gently crush the vegetables and herbs, making sure to release the tomato juice. Shake with ice and strain into a tumbler filled with ice. Top with tonic water and add garnish.

First, the coming week’s tour dates. Get the whole schedule here, and please do check with the venue before heading out in case of last-minute changes.

March 17 2013 04:00 PM — Mrs. Dalloway’s, Berkeley, CA
A talk about The Drunken Botanist, with cocktails!  We’ll also be giving away plants from the Drunken Botanist Plant Collection, so don’t miss it.

March 20 2013 07:00 PM — Copperfield’s Books at h2hotel, Healdsburg, CA
A special Copperfield’s event at Spoonbar at h2hotel on 219 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg, CA.  The event is free and open to the public, but priority seating goes to those who purchase an advance ticket for $30 that includes a discounted copy of the book with one specialty cocktail. Tickets available at Copperfield’s Books in Healdsburg or online at www.copperfieldsbooks.com. Additional drink tickets sold at $10 each during the event. Non alcoholic options also available.

March 21 2013 07:30 PM — Capitola Book Cafe, Capitola, CA

March 22 2013 07:00 PM — Rakestraw Books, Danville, CA

March 23 2013 10:45 AM — San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, San Mateo, CA

March 24 2013 05:30 PM — Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA

And now for your drink! As you may know, the people at Territorial Seed Company and Log House Plants let me go through their inventory and pick out my favorite cocktail-friendly plants for a collection they put together called (naturally) The Drunken Botanist Plant Collection. Territorial is selling the plants (and seeds) online, and Log House, a wholesale grower, is shipping them to garden centers and a few gourmet grocery stores on the West Coast.

One of the collections we put together is called Mixologist’s Simple Syrups. It consists of agastache, lavender, scented geranium, orange mint, angelica, and Thai basil. Go here to read all about the collection and see what I’m doing with those plants. I’ve also listed some liqueurs, spirits, and bitters that contain those plants, so if you don’t feel like growing them, you can always just pick up a bottle.

So there’s a lot you can do with an herbal simple syrup. The recipe is simply equal parts sugar and water, heated until the sugar melts and then allowed to cool. As soon as you turn the heat off, throw in a handful of herbs and let them steep while the mixture cools. Then strain it into a bottle (removing the herbs) and keep it in the fridge. Use it up within a few weeks–if you want to keep it longer, add a splash of vodka as a preservative, but it still won’t keep forever. The flavors just aren’t stable enough, and sugar water does attract bacteria after a while. So do small quantities and use it quickly.

I actually prefer lavender in dry drinks–I don’t think it needs all the sweetness of sugar. I like this version of a gin and tonic using lavender-flavored Dry Soda, but if you don’t have that, use regular soda water and just muddle the gin with lavender buds before pouring. Or use lavender simple syrup for a sweeter drink. Adding a sprig of fresh lavender as a garnish really brings up the flavor, especially in a fizzy drink like this one.

1 – 1.5 oz Dry Fly Gin, Aviation Gin, or Hendricks’ Gin. (see note)

1 quarter fresh lemon

4 oz DRY Soda, lavender flavor

A dash of Scrappy’s Lavender Bitters or Bar Keep Lavender Spice bitters

Garnish options: Fresh lavender sprig, Johnny jump-up (viola), pansy, borage blossom, or lemon twist

Ice

In a tall, skinny Collins glass or a short tumbler filled with ice, pour gin over ice. Squeeze one lemon wedge over ice and drop into glass. Top with Dry Lavender Soda and a dash of Scrappy’s Lavender Bitters. Garnish.

Note: 1.5 oz is a serving of gin, but if you’d like to make this drink a little less boozy, it tastes fine with only 1 ounce.

$150, 8 x 10, oil on wood panel. Go to my DailyPaintworks gallery to order or to see more paintings.