Tales of the (Pickle) Cocktail

Cucumber Margarita from Alma, Brooklyn, NY

Tonight is the kickoff for this year’s Tales of the Cocktail conference and I’m joining up with a group of cocktail lovers using a brand new app called BarNotes which happens to be the creation of someone I work with and see just about everyday, so I’m extra proud and excited to introduce y’all to it to. Download this FREE iPhone app at the app store and get ready to document just how much of a boozehound you really are. Think of it as Instagram for your extremely photogenic alcohol problem.

The timing is perfect since NOLA is extra saturated with all the mixologists crawling our streets this week and I’m going to be especially curious to see if anyone out there is mixing AND drinking any pickle-centric cocktails! So download the app and snap and drink away and if you find any pickle, pepper or brine ingredients in your drink be sure and tweet with #TOTC & #picklefreak

 

Ok, freaks, let’s go out there and get pickled!

 

Twitt

>Dill Fresca at Dumont

>On the menu at Dumont in Williamsburg is the Dill Fresca:

Gin, St. Germain, fresh cucumber, fresh dill, lime and soda.

Refreshing, refined, sweet, crisp and as pretty as it is delicious…and the drink’s not half bad either!

Thank you, I’ll be here all week, try the steak.

Twitt

>Getting Pickled

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I’m no stranger to a pickle cocktail, in fact, if you call slurping pickle juice right out of the jar a “cocktail” then I’m having one right now!

But there are many ways to add a party to your pickle jar or just a pickle to your party.

Above is my standard, the classic Pickle Martini. I prefer McClure’s Spicy Pickle Juice to really dirty up my martini. Since it’s pretty common for me to have a jar on me, I just hand it over to my bartender and let them do the rest. This one was made by the lovely Rebecca at Teddy’s in Williamsburg, which is conveniently located near The Bedford Cheese Shop where I stock up on pickles.

Below is a new discovery-the Cucumber Margarita. Over brunch at Alma, the much adored Mexican restaurant on Columbia Street, the cocktail menu was too enticing to pass up. I went with the Pineapple Vanilla Margarita and Charles had the Cucumber Margarita. It was cool and refreshing just like you’d imagine (and exactly how it LOOKS) but also had a slightly spicy kick due to a dash of homemade habanero sauce.

Is there a full fledged pickle margarita out there somewhere? Perhaps I need to infuse a bottle of tequila with a few spicy McClures and get to it myself! Regardless, there are plenty of ways to make getting pickled more pickled.

Pickle juice is great in martinis and bloody marys and I’ve even been known to “add a dash” of pickle juice to my beer. I find the spicy brine compliments most of the alcohol I’m drinking! So whether its a cocktail (pickle martini, margarita), a shot (The Delta), an eye opener (Bloody Mary), a dash (Wickles juice in your beer!) or just a slurp from the jar, I’m gettin’ pickled one way or the other!

Twitt