radsips

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RadSips Rebirth

RadSips Rebirth

Improvised on New Year’s Eve

2 oz gin

2 oz ginger beer

2 oz prosecco

1 oz Ancho Reyes

1 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 barspoon simple syrup

lots of ice cubes

Combine all but the prosecco in a lofty collins or roomy lowball and stir. Top with prosecco, give it another quick stir, and drink to a happy New Year.

RadSips is back! Miss me?

There’s even a tentative plan for 2016. Live events will be scaled back -- the new year brings a renewed focus on RadSips.com.

You can expect interviews with cool folks with good stories, info on interesting new launches, and a smattering of casual trend analysis. Of course, RadSips Recipes aren’t going anywhere.

Perhaps you’re wondering why the radio silence in 2015?

TB quite H, there was less than no ROI on conceptualizing, promoting, and hosting a secret cocktail party once a month. It wasn’t sustainable. When the opportunity to work with booze brands as a full-time job arose, I took it and spent many months developing/executing ad campaigns which targeted the hospitality and service industry.

It was pretty sweet - I worked with Smirnoff and launched the Moscow Mule Challenge, MillerCoors for an original Smith & Forge video (among a few other campaigns), Absolut to promote their NYCWFF Bloody Mary Competition, support for the distribution expansion of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire, and a handful of other small campaigns.

Now, I’m at a really fabulous design innovation agency, working on branding and product innovation.

Better yet, now I’ve got the time and desire to build RadSips to be a pastiche of recipes, trends, and people.

Cheers to a Happy New Year!

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Tonight, we're sold out for what will be a night of mischief and mysticism. With a focus on #herbal liquors, we're doing up cocktails that include #chartreuse, #benedictine, #becherovka, and more! We'll also be conducting #tarot readings by #candlelight. #magic #anoccultaffair #radsips

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#radsips next official event will be on August 29! #savethedate #whiteparty #allwhiteeverything #partydown #chicago

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#dotd: "Goodnight, Moon" Last night, I was pretty ready for a glass of wine before bed, but couldn't find my corkscrew. That's when I realized that I haven't opened a bottle of wine at home in probably 6 months! Champagne and cocktails, that's just my jam. Anyway, I've also been feeling the influence of #MediumGallery and have been enjoying lots of Malort lately, so I decided to make myself a nice nightcap as an alternative to that glass of cab I had intended to imbibe. As this was created on the eve of a #supermoon, it's named to honor that bright orb. "Goodnight, Moon" 1.5 oz #aperol 1 oz Noilly Pratt extra dry .5 oz Crème de Cassis .5 oz Malort .5 oz lime Dash of salt 3 shakes of #angostura bitters Shake together all ingredients except the bitters. Strain, dash with ango, and sip. #radsips #drinkoftheday

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#dotd: "The Hobnob" Tiki's been on fire lately. Seems like all major cities have got at least one solid #tiki joint these days (and #chicago is no exception, with Three Dots and a Dash) plus Time Out named it a top trend for the year, too. Personally, I love tiki. I also love Malort. Here's the #tasty fusion of those interests. "The Hobnob" 2 oz #brandy 2 oz #watermelon juice 1.5 oz Noilly Prat extra dry vermouth 1 oz #Malort 1 oz #falernum .5 oz #orgeat .5 oz lime juice Chipotle powder Combine all ingredients and shake for 30 seconds with a ton of ice. You need the dilution. Double strain and serve. #drinkoftheday

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#dotd: The Rad Road. This is my slightly modified version of the #classic #tiki Queen's Road #cocktail, which was created by Don The Beachcomber sometime before 1941, when it first appeared on the Hollywood Beachcomber’s menu. The Rad Road 1.5 oz #rum .5 oz lemon juice .5 oz mandarin orange juice .5 oz honey syrup .25 oz ginger syrup 3 dashes of both Angostura and orange bitters fresh mint leaves Mezcal/Absinthe rinse spritzed a glass with the mezcal/absinthe rinse. muddle mint with juice and syrups. add rum, bitters, and ice. shake with vigor for 15 seconds and pour into your prepared glass. #radsips #drinkoftheday

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#dotd: the classic #tiki Scorpion, one of my personal favs which was served at the #partiki last week. This is actually a recipe from the Luau restaurant, Beverly Hills, California, circa 1958. It is a riff on Trader Vic’s original #Scorpion, which was developed earlier in the '50s. The Scorpion 2 oz mandarin orange juice 2 oz Santa Teresa Anejo 2 oz gin 1 oz brandy (we used E&J XO) 1 oz simple syrup .75 oz orgeat .5 oz lime juice .5 oz lemon juice crushed ice, and lots of it. stir together all ingredients. add ice and stir some more. dump it into a tall tiki glass, garnish with something tropical. #radsip #drinkoftheday

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Select snaps from #radsips #partiki, the second RadSips event! Huge thanks to everyone who attended as well as @kylieharwan and Liam for helping out behind the scenes!! 🍹🌴☀️🌈 #tiki #underground #cocktail #club #chicago

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#dotd, take 2: Cointreau Ricky. Yumz // easy sipping. #cointreau #totc #totc2014

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#dotd: kickin it off with a #cafeaulait from Cafe Beignet as I plan my day of tasting rooms at Tales! #totc #totc2014 if you're here in Nola, let's grab a drink! (at Cafe Beignet on Royal Street)

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#dotd: #radsips is at #talesofthecocktail in #Nola this week (it's amazing) and this cute #lillet cocktail is uber fruity, sweet, and easy to drink. It's called the "Raspberry Beret" and has Lillet Blanc muddled with raspberries, topped with a Lillet Blanc whipped cream and extra #raspberry. Taken a bit of a detour from original #radsips to celebrate the deliciousness of #totc! #drinkoftheday #letthegoodtimesroll (at Hotel Monteleone)

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#Dotd: #radsips on the go - working a festival, drinking to stay calm. Vodka, Gatorade, freshly squeezed lemon, and dry ice. #drinkoftheday

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#dotd: The Bucktown Silver, the #RadSips version of the classic #Bronx Silver cocktail. For the full recipe and write-up, check out @chicagoist_com! http://chicagoist.com/2014/07/08/properly_sauced_forget_the_bronx_si.php

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Bloody Mary Brunchin’

Harry Craddock may have sworn by Corpse Reviver as the ultimate hangover helper, but I think Bloodies can awaken the body and mind like no other drinks.

Leave the bad Bloodies by the wayside - no one wants or needs those under-spiced, thin, practically insipid cocktails that find their way from the bar to your table, awfully underdressed with a lone wilted celery stick as garnish.

Forgettaboutit.

A good Bloody, now that’s a real page-turner. Thick but not soupy, piquant, and a marvel of fresh flavor to roll quench your parched mouth and make you forget and rejuvenate your body and mind from a night of too many whiskey sours.

Made with fresh ingredients and garnished to the 9’s, a good Bloody is a brunch marvel.

Let me share with you, for today’s #DOTD, a recipe found on instagram, posted on Greenpointers.com, and originally created by Marisa Cadena and Ken Ho, owners of Lucky Luna restaurant in NYC.

It’s one of the best Bloody mixes I’ve ever tasted - so fresh, so spicy, so delicious. In uncharacteristically AnnRad fashion, I tried to stick as close to the original recipe as possible, but had to substitute for what was available in Chicago.

Here’s a link to the original recipe, and below is the recipe with Chicago substitutions.

RadSips modified version of Lucky Luna’s Kimchee + Nori Bloody Mary

Ingredients for Bloody Mix (makes two quarts):

42 oz. Tomato juice

8 oz. Worcestershire sauce

8 oz. Sriracha hot sauce Rooster Brand Chili Garlic Sauce

8 oz. Salsa Valentina Hot Frontera Chipotle Salsa

2 Tbsp. Fresh ground black pepper

2 Tbsp. Sea salt

4 Tbsp. Horseradish

Garnishes:

Package of dried Nori (or Wasabi Nori for the extra kick)

Fresh Kimchee (found at your local Korean deli or market— way easier and less time-consuming than making it yourself)

Directions:

Take your pint or Collins glass, rub rim with a lime half and dip in salt

Pour 2 oz of Vodka and 1 oz of Lime juice into glass, fill with ice then fill to top with Bloody mix. Top off  with a healthy splash of Kimchee juice and stir. With the aid of a bar spoon, line glass with a few strips of the dried nori. Take a long cocktail pick and fill it with kimchee and lay across top of glass as garnish.

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So many great recipes and articles coming out soon! A guide to vermouth, plus my extensive look into Corpse Revivers will be out via The Chicagoist. Lots of #dotd and boozy experiments, too. For today, here's a peek into what my process looks like. #cheers #radsips #behindthescenes #craftcocktail

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#dotd: "The Raspberry Bouquet" For the past 8 weeks, I've been steeping freeze-dried raspberries in vodka, and this is the first cocktail in which I'm using the resultant infusion. It's quite delicate and delicious. "Raspberry Bouquet" 1.5 oz #raspberry-infused #vodka 1.5 oz #benedictine 1 oz plum wine .5 oz #elderflower syrup .25 oz #orange water Dash of Peychaud's Bitters Shake all ingredients with ice, double strain into a coupe. I garnished with sesame seeds; next time is garnish with a lemon slice.

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#dotd: after a week of minimal sleep, tons of writing, video making, and conference pitching, I've decided to #revitalize myself today with an elixir. Inspired by my lifeblood, coffee, as well as Eastern European herbal health tonics, I wanted to a coffee-based bevvy that could be described as "grassy." I also wanted to be slightly modern medicinal - think cough syrup - thus the Heering. Behold, today's #drinkoftheday, "AnnRad's AM Tonic" 4 oz French press coffee .5 oz Benedictine .5 oz Yellow Chartreuse .5 oz Cherry Heering Stir together with ice until cold. Double strain, serve up. This would probably be even better with espresso, but I made due with what was in my kitchen.