Wednesday.  Hump Day.  That day of the week (other than Monday) where you begin to look forward to the weekend. It's also the day where I sit down, and pour myself a tip and sip.  This week, I have a Pierced Fuzzy Navel.  Although my navel is neither fuzzy... or pierced. But that's irrelevant. This is a super simple cocktail to make.  Just take an ounce of peach schnapps, an ounce of vodka, and three ounces of orange juice.  You can also add a splash of grenadine for colour if you wished. I didn't. Take all the ingredients and shake them together in an ice filled shaker, and strain into your glass. Tip... and sip. It's just that easy. The chill from the ice cubes does make this a refreshing drink.  The peach schnapps, vodka, and orange juice combined to make an interesting flavor.  I'm not going to lie- since I'm not a huge fan of peaches, I would probably recommend only using a half ounce of peach schnapps, as the schnapps flavor can be pr...

  Since winter is a time when many people wish to take their vacation and escape to warmer climes, it's only fitting that I let my taste buds escape by tipping and sipping this week's cocktail... The Captain's Vacation... This is a nice and simple drink to make.  Pineapple juice, spiced rum, and Sprite or 7-Up.  Instead of your standard spiced rum, I used The Kraken's Black Roast rum.  This rum has a nice roasted coffee smell to it, and a great coffee taste as well.  It is, however a bit thicker than most rums- almost like a syrup. I found that the coffee flavored rum gave this drink a nice roasted under taste that smoothed out and balanced the rather sweet taste of the pineapple juice.  Which is a good thing since I'm not a fan of sweet drinks.  It also went well with the gentle lemon/lime flavor of the Sprite as well. I liked that none of the three ingredients was dominant.  Rather they kinda took turns with each sip.  Sometimes the rum was...

  Wednesday has come again- and with it a new cocktail.  This week, we settle into our bar stool to tip and sip a classic and simple to make whiskey sour. All you need to make this drink is 1 ounce of grenadine, 2 ounces of lemon juice, and 5 ounces of whiskey shaken together in a cocktail shaker. Oh and three maraschino cherries for a garnish. Because just one cherry lacks class. For this one I used Canadian Club whiskey... because patriotism, eh?  The grenadine, lemon juice, and whiskey mix together to give it a nice ruby pink colour that brings to mind pink grapefruit juice.  In fact, the sweetness of the grenadine, the sourness of the lemon juice, and the smoothness of the whiskey come together to create a drink where you could almost swear you ARE drinking pink grapefruit juice. If you're not a fan of sour, citrusy juices or drinks, then a whiskey sour is probably not for you.  As a fan of citrus fruits, I found it to be both interesting and enjoyable....

  My name is S... Mike S... One of the film franchises I grew up watching was " James Bond ".  As a fan, I always wanted to try a, "martini- shaken, not stirred..."  Well, recently, I took the plunge and gave it a try. It's a fairly easy drink to make: pour gin and vermouth into a shaker filled with ice.  Shake.  Pour.  Add the iconic martini olive.  Drink. The first thing I noticed was the swirly "oil and water" sort of appearance to the martini.  It was... interesting, but didn't actually do a lot to appeal to me.  The second thing I noticed was that it was actually kinda bitter from the gin.  There were hints of something else- which I assume was the vermouth.  Each sip was different due to the inconsistent way the two mixed, which made the experience a bit more intriguing to me. Personally, I'm not fond of a plain martini.  Having said that, I do believe it is a great starting point for a bit of exploration.  Instead o...

  It's time again to belly up to The Basement's bar for this week's #CocktailHour.  This week's special is a Moscow Mule. This is another very simple drink to make: 1/2 a lime's worth of juice, vodka, and ginger beer.  To make this one, I used Russian Standard Vodka (because "Moscow", duh!), and Crabbie's Original Ginger Beer. For a drink that involves two fairly tart ingredients, the Moscow Mule is actually pretty mellow.  This is the sort of drink you might enjoy at a nice little restaurant while digging into a gorgeous steak.  I know this from sipping and tipping this while grilling a steak at midnight on my balcony. But that's beside the point. It's not a "fancy" drink- but it's comfortable, and enjoyable.  It's not a sipping drink, but is mellow enough that you can have a few before feeling it.  It has a tart, but refreshing taste to it that perks you up- and is a wonderful accent to lively dinner conversation. For someth...

  Welcome back to #CocktailHour!  This week, I check out an easy and tasty drink called a "Peppermint Pattie" This is- like the previous two drinks I've discussed, a really easy drink to make.  All you need is ice, peppermint schnapps, Kahlua, and club soda.  For this particular one, I used McGuinness schnapps- though I must confess that I prefer Dr. McGillicuddy's.  In addition, you can also replace the club soda with Sprite as well to give it a bit of a citrus taste. As with the other two I'd talked about, a Peppermint Pattie is a sipping drink- though you're likely to down them a bit faster.  They're a nice little pub drink, though you may find that two or three are enough before the sweetness becomes a bit too much to handle. The peppermint taste of the schnapps is balanced nicely with the coffee taste of the Kahlua.  The sweetness of the two are cut and diffused a bit by the club soda.  The combination of three give the drink a solid mint cho...

Wednesday has come upon us again, and it's time to play bartender again.  This week, we give you another simple, but classic drink- a Gin and Tonic. It's very much like last week's Rum and Coke... except with gin.  And tonic water.  My gin of choice is " Doctor's Orders " by Legend Distilling.  If you want to make a feminist statement, or just want to look schmancy at a party, you could use " Evolve " by Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery.  It starts out in the bottle blue... but when you add the tonic water it turns... PINK! Since I tend to prefer not being lectured by my booze, I'l stick to " Doctor's Orders ".  Mostly because I can be punny,, and say it's for "medicinal purposes". I should be ashamed of myself for that joke... but I'm not.  Accept it and live with it. This is one of two drinks I enjoyed having with friends at the pub in "the days before the Rona."  It's a nice sipping drink that...

It's another October weekend... which means it's another October themed beer.  This week, I'll be sipping Fernie Brewing Co's Ghostrider Pumpkin Brown Ale... This is a very sleek, and cleanly done label.  The colours are layered artistically, and very professionally.  I love the font used- and the dark colour used for it.  It contrasts nicely with the lighter orange colours, without being too blatant. It really appeals to the minimalist in me in terms of art styles.  It's smooth, and crisp, while still giving a sense of autumn and the pumpkin flavor involved. I would have to say that this is probably one of my favorite beer labels I've come across in my years of enjoying craft beers. Fernie Brewing Co's Ghostrider Pumpkin Brown Ale has a nice rich, dark colour that echos the shadows that a real ghost rider would emerge from.  The head of foam is pretty decent as well- not too thick, and not too thin.  I'm partial to darker beers, so the ...

Every year at this time, people start going crazy for pumpkin spice lattes.  Me?  I get the urge to investigate the idea of what it would be like to combine the autumn flavor of pumpkins with the boozy goodness of beer. And thus, I found " Pumpkineater Imperial Pumpkin Ale " by Howe Sound Brewing. I enjoy seeing the various labels that craft beers have on them.  Some of them are really creative and artistic, while others are really polished and profession, while other still are just messy and idiotic. The label for Pumpkineater is a nice, simple label that is quite appealing to me.  I like the use of the overlapping trees in the background creating a nice texture for the focus of the label- the pumpkin.  Presumably the pumpkin you're "eating" in this ale.  I love how the pumpkin is done in a woodcut style: raw and imperfect, while still  having a great atmospheric feel to it.  A great label. The bottle is pretty large (1 litre)- ho...