Ursa Major with Bärenjäger Honey & Bourbon

Winter seems to have finally caught up with us here in Boston, and it's time to break out the hot toddies. The only thing cozier than a steaming mug of tea is a steaming mug of tea and whiskey. Or whatever your spirit of choice might be. If you're on the fence, I've got the perfect suggestion: Bärenjäger Honey & Bourbon.

Bärenjäger (which translates to "bear hunter") has been making a delicious Honey Liqueur for over a hundred years. It was supposedly formulated by bear hunters to lure bears out of their dens, and is sometimes called Bärenfang ("bear trap").

Recently, Bärenjäger got the genius idea to mix their honey liqueur with bourbon, and Bärenjäger Honey & Bourbon was born. One taste of this stuff and you won't want to pick up a bottle of Jack Daniels ever again. The flavor in Bärenjäger is pure, natural honey. It's definitely on the sweet side, but if that's your thing you're going to love sipping on it. Otherwise it's a fantastic addition to cocktails.

The honey flavor and the cold weather got me thinking of how I would drink black tea with honey when I was sick as a kid. Honey and tea are a natural match, so a hot toddy seemed like the perfect drink for Bärenjäger. With a little Allspice Dram, lemon, and cinnamon syrup, you're going to want to curl up with one of these all winter long. And I'm thinking an iced version is going to have to happen this summer. Maybe with some ginger liqueur instead of the Allspice Dram? The possibilities are endless.

Ursa Major

1 1/2 oz. Bärenjäger Honey & Bourbon
1/2 oz. Allspice Dram
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/4 oz. cinnamon syrup*
1 oz. hot water
3 oz. brewed hot black tea

Combine all ingredients in a mug and stir gently. Garnish with star anise.

*For cinnamon syrup, bring 1/2 cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Add 1 cup sugar and stir until dissolved. Add 2 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces, and let simmer for a minute or so. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit for at least four hours and up to 12 hours. Fine-strain before using.

This post was sponsored by Bärenjäger. All opinions are my own.

Mocktail: Tea Thyme

If you were looking for an excuse to drink this past weekend, I doubt you had to try too hard - between Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby, the margaritas and mint juleps seemed to be flowing. We didn't really participate in either celebration this year (are we already boring parents?!) but we did have our own news to celebrate - our ultrasound on Thursday revealed that we're having a boy! He was moving around like crazy during the scan, and has continued to be pretty active in there. It's fun feeling little kicks, especially now that we've seen his little feet.

After scrolling past photo after photo of frosty mint juleps on Twitter and Instagram, I decided to try and make a mocktail version of a julep for me and the little guy. In its purest form, the mint julep is not really a cocktail that lends itself to mocktailification (that's a word, right?) - it's mostly bourbon. Ok, it's basically all bourbon. But the general template of a julep, a sweet and herbal beverage served over crushed ice, definitely leaves some room for experimentation. I liked the idea of using peaches and sweet tea, both of which have a very southern feel, and I threw in some fresh thyme as well. The result is a refreshing mocktail that I think holds up pretty darn well against a mint julep or margarita. Cheers!

Booze it up: Bourbon. Lots of bourbon. :-)

Tea Thyme

2 1/2 oz. cold black tea
3/4 oz. lemon juice
1/4 oz. honey
3 slices peach
1 sprig fresh thyme

Place peach slices, thyme, and honey in the bottom of a julep cup and muddle well.* Add lemon juice and black tea and stir. Fill the cup with crushed ice. Garnish with a slice of peach and a sprig of thyme and serve with a straw.

*I personally like the pieces of peach pulp at the bottom of the drink, which get sucked up into the straw as you sip, but if you'd prefer not to have them then prepare the drink in a shaker or mixing glass and strain it into the julep cup.

Boston Tea Party

The roundup post for Mixology Monday 100 is up! This month's theme was a tribute to Paul Clarke of The Cocktail Chronicles, centered around simplicity, elegance, and timelessness. As a result, it's a fantastic list of recipes, and best of all, they're very accessible - I've got the ingredients to make most of them already. Check it out!

My own Mixology Monday submission was the Old Cuban, an existing recipe that I really like. But today I do have an original cocktail that I think is pretty darn good. The idea for it came from one served at Miel in Boston's Intercontinental hotel. It's a really lovely French restaurant right on the Fort Point Channel, but for some reason it seems to be perpetually empty. This was good news for us a couple of years ago when we were trying to make a reservation for a large group during graduation season in Boston - good luck finding a table in May and June. But Miel turned out to be positively lovely, and they served one cocktail using tea-infused vodka that I really liked and wanted to replicate at home. Thus the Boston Tea Party was born.

As I've said before, I'm not big into vodka because I find it pretty tasteless, but that exactly quality makes it a great spirit to use for infusions. I haven't tried very many yet, but this tea-infused vodka is easy and really good. Just leave a teabag in some vodka for a while. How long depends on how much vodka and how strong you want the flavor. I infused about a cup of vodka yesterday, and left the teabag in for roughly six hours. I've done it overnight as well. I always use decaf tea since I'll probably want to be drinking this in the evening.

With tea-infused vodka, honey simple syrup, lemon juice, and a splash of ginger ale or ginger beer, this cocktail tastes exactly like sweet tea. Drinking it reminded me of the big batches of the stuff my grandmother used to make and store in jars in the fridge. It's crazy how dead-on the flavor is. It's an incredibly refreshing cocktail, perfect for the end of summer.

Boston Tea Party

2 oz. tea-infused vodka*
3/4 oz. lemon juice
3/4 oz. honey simple syrup**
1 oz. ginger ale or ginger beer

Combine infused vodka, lemon juice, and honey simple syrup in a shaker. Add ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice and top with ginger ale or ginger beer (lemon-lime soda works nicely too). Garnish with a lemon wheel.

*For tea-infused vodka: pour desired amount of vodka into a cup measure or glass. Add a teabag. Let sit until dark brown in color, four hours to overnight.

**For honey simple syrup: combine equal parts honey and water in a saucepan. Bring to a low simmer and stir until honey is dissolved. Let cool before using.