Thursday, April 8, 2010

Thirsty Thursdays: Challenge Edition

I'm excited to announce the first ever Thirsty Thursdays Challenge today! I mean, honestly, I've been doing all the bar tending work around here, its about time I let you in on the fun. I've been meaning to do this for ages now and this month, finally, its on!

Here's the scoop: each month the challenge will feature a specific spirit or ingredient and, to enter, you will be asked to create a cocktail using that spirit or ingredient. I will choose a winner and the winner will have the honor of choosing the next spirit or ingredient for the following month. At least that's the plan so far. Let's see how it goes, as the challenge may continue to evolve. And, hopefully, I'll find a sponsor for some prizes along the way.

The spirit for this month's challenge is: Gin.

Gin is a colorless, or white, spirit that is most often distilled from grains such as wheat or rye. Traditionally, gin is flavored with juniper and usually includes a variety of botanicals, such as anise, cinnamon, orange peel, coriander, lemon, lime, licorice, etc., depending on the brand. Gin pairs beautifully with almost any kind of fruit, and any kind of herb ... so think outside the box, or bottle, if you will.

Suggested pairings might include: pomegranate, apricots, blackberries, cucumbers, ginger, honey, sage, rosemary, basil, mint, cilantro, rose water, champagne or curry powder. It goes without saying that citrus fruits are particularly well suited to pairing with gin, but I've also had great success with strawberries and watermelon. (Click those links for recipes.)

The options are endless, so use your imagination!

The Rules:

1. Create a cocktail using gin as the base and write a blog entry about it. Post your entry sometime before midnight on Thursday, April 29th. Previous blog posts in which you've offered a recipe for a gin-based cocktail will be accepted.

2. Blog about your Thirsty Thursdays Challenge cocktail, including photos, and include a link back to Beach Eats: http://beacheats.blogspot.com

3. Send an email entitled "Thirsty Thursdays Challenge" to:

ttchallenge@gmail.com

The email must include the following information:
  • Your name
  • The name of your blog
  • The name of your cocktail
  • The link to your blog entry and a photograph of your drink
  • Entries must be received by midnight on Thursday, April 29th
You can still participate, even if you don't have a blog. Simply send an email with the above information, minus the blog stuff, and I will include you in the round-up.

The round-up for this month's challenge will be posted on Thursday, May 6th and a winner will be declared at that time. For this month, the winner will be lavished with praise and have the honor of choosing next month's spirit or ingredient. Prizes may appear in the future, stay tuned.

Entries will be judged on originality, creative use of ingredients, and Divaliciousness. Say what?! Divaliciousness = that certain je ne sais quoi that makes me want to make your drink.

So get out your martini shakers and mix-up something Divalicious ... I'm getting thirsty over here.

Cheers!

13 comments:

The Duo Dishes said...

Your suggested pairing of honey, pomegranate and gin sounds like that'd be a great cocktail right there!

Molly said...

hmmmm, gin. I think I might have to wait to submit when you do vodka week!

Have a great weekend!

: )

Ipmilat said...

Gin, tonic, ice and a slice of lemon. Call me stick-in-the-mud if you like.

*****

'Honey, Momma won't give you another Martini if you're only going to eat the olives.'

Jewels For Hope said...

ah! Even though I absolutely can't stand Gin I love this idea!

... Okay, you twisted my leg, I'll drink some Gin throughout the week and find a great drink that will make me actually LIKE Gin :)

The Diva on a Diet said...

Ok, so I knew I was taking a gamble picking gin, but the thing is, gin is far more interesting and more drinkable than people seem to think it is. It mixes beautifully with a wide variety of ingredients. The key is to use a high quality gin. Try it, you'll like it!

Duo - pretty please with sugar on top, mix that up and report back?! :)

Molly - anything you can make with vodka, you can make with gin. LOL

vilges suola - c'mon now, you can shake it up a little bit, I know you can ... say lime for instance! ;)

Jewels for Hope - that's the spirit! Be sure to report back. Cheers!

Astra Libris said...

Diva, I'm SO excited about this event! SO MUCH FUN!! :-) I've wanted to learn more about mixology for quite some time now, and I'm looking forward to learning along with your event each month as well as continuing to learn from your Thirsty Thursdays! :-)

Anonymous said...

How fun! I wish I knew more about how make cocktails. Perhaps I'll watch and learn for a few times and then join in later on :)

pixelgal said...

My choice of Gin is Tanqueray which to me has a lemony taste...and is pretty much the only mixed drink I do (besides the Diva husband's bloody marys) with tonic and lime. Booooring.

Tangled Noodle said...

Yay! What a great challenge and the one where Mr. Noodle can finally try out the spotlight. I told him about it and the first thing he said was, "We have to buy some more gin!" I can report that he has an idea brewing already - we're looking forward to participating. 8-)

Dinners and Dreams said...

Looks so refreshing and full of color. I love it!

Anonymous said...

This challenge looks very promising. I can think of a few drinks to prepare over my vacation from the office. Keep up the great work with your articles and please stop by my health blog sometime. The web address is http://healthy-nutrition-facts.blogspot.com/.

Fresh Local and Best said...

This sounds like a great challenge! I'll have to think hard about this, I'm not too experienced at the bar. :(

Lynne Daley said...

Duh! Just saw your challenge rules and dates, etc. Sounds great!