Wild Wednesdays - Stock the Bar - Part 1

The latest version of bar hopping is traveling from the kitchen table to the wine rack on the other side of the fridge, and deciding what you want from a menu is staring at your supplies and deciphering what ingredients you have to make something and the exasperation and exhilaration of yelling above the din of strangers and music to a bartender who you contemplate slipping your number to at the end of the night has now been exchanged to barking an order at your roommate or partner for a Gin + Tonic, heavy on the gin because the Zoom calls today…

The rise of the at-home bartender is at an all time high. Covid has taken away ease of accessibility of our favorite bars and restaurants (but if they’re still open, go order something from them right now). Maybe it’s instilled a sense of curiosity or given you the courage to tackle the seemingly tall task of conquering a cocktail. I get messages from friends or followers who are at the store and staring at the never ending aisles wondering what to buy, so I decided to give this very ambiguous overview for a starting point.

First of all, let that intimidation fall away. There are so. Many. Options. It’s ok if you didn’t buy the same top shelf bourbon as your friend or you can’t tell the differences between gins yet. You’ll get there and by experimenting will develop your palate and begin to notice those subtle differences. And trust me, friends will be delighted that you asked them over to make them anything and spend time with you, so don’t worry if it’s the very best, masterful drink they’ve ever had, the company makes it perfect. 

Cocktail wise? I suggest learning 1-3 drinks. Enough to give you a little range and once you have those under your belt and feel like you really own them, go forth and play. Experiment, mess up, play with variations, give yourself permission to annihilate ingredients! I’ve made some of my best cocktails when I let curiosity guide me and also knowing that you can adjust levels of ingredients doesn’t mean it was bad, improvements take time. 

Liquor. Recommending at least one clear and one dark liquor will give you at least two different profiles to educate on and that means you can also satisfy drinks for friends on either side. Some people will drink anything that tastes like kerosene and up, others won’t touch it if it isn’t vodka. If you have an offer of both you have a chance of catching both sides (and if you have a friend who hates everything, suggest they pick a bottle of wine or you can make them the H20 Cocktail with an extra lime wedge). 

Kitty’s Picks:

• Bourbon

• Gin

• Tequila

BOURBON/WHISKEY

• Old Fashioned

• Whiskey sour

• Neat

• Manhattan

• Hot Toddy

GIN

• Gin + Tonic

• Dirty Martini

• Gin Fizz

• French 75

• Bijou

VODKA

• Moscow Mule

• Marinti 

• Vodka Tonic/Soda

• Bloody Mary

TEQUILA

• Makes me crazy (not a drink, just fact) 

• Margarita

• Paloma

• Tequila Soda

• St - Rita

MEZCAL

• Mezcal Negroni

• Neat

• French Intervention

• Mezcal Margarita

RUM

• Daiquiri

• Cuba Libre

• Mai Tai

• Dark & Stormy

Liquers/Digestifs/Apertifs. When I started filming the short little intro I began to realize I had SO much more to say about literally everything, so maybe at one point I’ll do some fun facts about each liquor and its sisters or derivatives? 

It got me really going on the Digestifs and Apertifs part, there are so very many to choose from, different levels of alcohols, flavors, etc, so, just gonna say. Try them. And don’t be afraid of starting with a pick from the bottom shelf *gasp* I know, but this way if you start with Triple Sec and find out you like the cocktails you’ve made with it, then you can graduate into using Cointreau or Grand Marnier or Dry Curacao and up your game even more. Amaros are a game all of their own with the Rabarbaros, Melettis, Braulios, Avernas, then the Fernets, Chartreuses, Aperols, the list goes on. Tasting profiles range from a cola-esque profile to pine and mint, so, once again, if you don’t like one, move onto the next because there is a flavor for everyone.

Kitty’s Picks:

• Dry Curacao

• Aperol

• Campari

• Meletti

• Averna

Bitters. Something you don’t know why you need it but the Old Fashioned Recipe calls for it and you bought it and the same bottle has been sitting on the shelf for four years. Ironically, bitters and amaros are very similar, they are sort of the same thing in different concentrations. Both are botanicals and herbs mixed with clear liquor at highly concentrated alcohol contents, the different is that bitters have a 35-45% alcohol level and you only use a few drops at a time, which is technically why are they are considered non alcoholic. 

Adding a few drops is meant to enhance the flavors of the liquor in your cocktail, not to overpower them, which is why you only use a small amount. There are many kinds of bitters, but starting off I recommend the Angostura Aromatic Bitters and Orange Bitters. With those two you will be able to start making more variety of drinks and can expand from there into chocolate bitter, rhubarb, mint, etc.

Kitty’s picks:

• Angostura

• Orange

Simple Syrups. So easy to make it’s not even funny. Literally just a type of sugar and water, meant enhance and potentially change a flavor profile. These can be made using white sugar, honey or agave, and equal parts water. That is a basic simple, and from there you can add fruit, herbs, etc for your cocktails. 

Kitty’s Picks;

• Basic

• Pineapple

• Honey

I’ve always got limes and lemons on hand and the citrus is needed to cut through and give way to other flavors in drinks, but be careful that they don’t overpower. Also, drink water. Throw that citrus shiz in that glass with some ice and your body will be giving you pray hands emojis. 

Kitty’s Picks:

• Lemons

• Limes

• Orange 

Have fun, enjoy responsibly, and let me know what you’re making.

Giving Thanks - In Spirit

The holidays are going to be looking different this year, on so many accounts. Maybe this is the first time you’ve chosen not to go home due to Corona or keeping family safe, you have to work because we’re in a pandemic and money is tight, or things are just weird all around and staying home is the best option.

Here for you. Don’t forget to self-care, go outside and phone a friend or family member. Then make this cocktail and FT your bestie.

I’m lucky enough to have my parents visiting for a few days over Thanksgiving and while they arrive tomorrow I wanted to make sure my Thanksgiving cocktail was good to go, they’re great and awesome but you know, could think of better things I could be spending my time on than recipe testing cocktails ;)

So, cheers. Make this drink if you can or another if you must. Show me what you’re making on insta (@wildartifact). Dive deep into the thankfulness and maybe you didn’t get that trip to Spain you were planning, the wedding of your dreams got re-booked or ended up completely different and maybe now you’re shopping in a different jean size (who isn’t tho, amiright) so I encourage you to look to the small, mundane, ordinary, those stable parts of life that are constant and always there, in the most beautiful of ways.

For myself, a lot of cool, fun things didn’t happen, but instead of stressing out, I breathed out and let the space linger. I am thankful for my stunning, beautiful friends who show up all the damn time, the way the light filters through my bedroom curtains in the morning, the scent of the air that changes throughout the year. I am thankful for my cute little house (no matter the eye rolley things that happen to it), the beautiful but small gatherings I did get to do, the words and support whispered to me that enabled me to take the leap and start Wild Wednesdays and launch Wild Artifact into another direction. The work, the work, the work. Thankful for space to dive deeper than I ever have and start opening those rooms I’d welded shut, to heal and love and learn. Thankful for the summer nights I would be ridiculous and dress for dinner, dishes I would experiment with, then smoke a cigar and stay out and greet the stars as they appeared and get lost in silence and wonder. I got to play a lot this year, not vacation play or sports or the typical, but I got to experiment and have successes and then also not have things work out and that be ok. Thankful for the times I got to spend with my family, beautiful/stressful/full/loving/hard working times. Lying with my niece in the middle of a windy summer, Minnesota night, the stars so numerous our brains felt like exploding and our eyes hurting, trading secrets and talks and feeling more like adults than the boundary of elder. The friendships that have deepened with intentionality and authenticity. The books I’ve read and the three journals I’ve ferociously written in, the dreams that have come to me every night and the ones that have made it in the dream journals. Thankful for friends love stories unfolding before our eyes and those little bursts of humanity that stun and leave you shaken, in the best way. Those moments of courage and bravery where I felt like throwing up and stopping, because it all felt bigger than myself and what I could handle….and doing it anyway. The five little lemon trees that are thriving from those Gin + Tonics made on a sultry night in June.

And the thing is, I can keep going. But I’ll save that for what may inevitably be my fifth journal of 2020 and just say that I am also thankful for you. To anyone who reads this and has encouraged or supported me in any way. It can be hard to keep going when comparison and the world so daunting and full of people doing amazing things, but y’alls kind words give me life. So, thank you.

F I R E

The hush of dusk falling is interrupted with bouts of laughter and voices, the popping of firewood and whoosh of embers as more fuel is added to a growing fire. Faces flush as the heat reaches skin and bourbon warms the belly. The colors changing in the leaves signifying an end to another season and the hint of anticipation of a new one.  

An event inspired by the life and cooking style of Francis Mallmann, king of open fire cooking in his native land of Argentina. Bloomsbury Farm, 425 acres nestled in the rolling hills of Tennessee. A stunning vintage Lord & Burnham Greenhouse, complete with stone base, moved and rebuilt by hand by the owner’s father, to grow his prized orchids in. For the day, though, we are using it to gather and commune. When I design an event for Bloomsbury Farm or my own company, Wild Artifact, I go deep and look for meaning in everything, deep cuts for references and those small details you may never notice but mean everything. Taylor McFerran of The Hallway is the hype man every event, party and friend needs. He’s there to tell you that there’s enough time, split wood, run itinerary and do some impeccable marketing and will throw in enough “beautifuls” with a slight British lilt (he’s from Tennessee) to make you smile and breathe even though no, there is not enough time but it will all be perfect.  

The styling slightly Nordic, slightly barbaric enough to think that hunters had just trekked in a mere few hours ago with the meat procured and ready to be cooked. Woodpiles stacked for both function and fashion, sheepskins dotted the landscape and leather hides layered against weathered wood grain. 

This table holds stories, you can just make out the whispers of previous occupants, both sitting at the table and when it was the side of an original log cabin on the property, dating back to the Civil War. Bloomsbury Farm, located just outside of Nashville, is the keeper of such stories. Arrowheads and artifacts are routinely found while digging plots for fields and while walking through the forests and fields you rarely feel completely alone.

There is an energy here, a vibration not felt while walking down Broadway or sitting in one of the many new coffee shops that pop up in Nashville. It’s an old energy. The same one felt with hands that cupped the soil in 1756 and the same energy we feel when I walk across the yard or through the sunflower patch. The kind of energy felt when you are in tune with the earth, the moon, the sun. When your livelihood depends on Mother Nature’s kindness and in return you place the respect she deserves. 

Chefs Courtney McKay and Rahaf Amer brought their food artistry to the fold when designing the meal for the event. Featuring locally raised meat, organic vegetables from Bloomsbury and a whole mess of cast iron, they elevated everyone’s taste buds. I never knew I needed an 18” cast iron of Lionsmane and Blue Oyster mushrooms but I know acknowledge the mistake I’ve been making all of these years by not having it. They also made my dream come true of roasting chestnuts over an open fire so, checking that off the bucket list.  

Observing whole chickens cooking on the fire brought these primal reverberations coursing throughout the air, the gigantic mushrooms blackening over the open flames giving pause. Guests were mesmerized as they passed by and studied.

While farm-to-table dinners hit a trending rate a few years ago I believe in them so much. They take you outside of what you know, outside of the same concrete, air and people that surround you constantly. Whether it’s held outside in a rolling field, camped out in a barn or greenhouse, or being invited into the farmer’s house, it takes us one intention closer. An intention to sit at a table and wonder about someone new, to be curious about brand new person. One step closer to Earth and being invited to a look inside another’s life. That’s a special gift. 

Then head back to Garrett to grab another cocktail, a custom bourbon cocktail featuring a burning palo santo stick placed under the glass long enough to smoke it up and capture the essence of the wood. For dinner, of course, Malbec from Argentina. 

So, the next time you are at a dinner being held at a farm, step outside the circle of light for a few minutes. Appreciate how long and slow the meal was, the connections made, the conversation had. Feel your feet on the ground, open your hands, breathe deep. Close your eyes. Feel the magic. 

Venue: Bloomsbury Farm - Nashville, TN

Event Design: Kat Wolle - Wild Artifact / Bloomsbury Farm

Chefs: Courtney McKay and Rahaf Amer

Photography: Nicola Harger

Marketing/Production: Taylor McFerran/The Hallway

Cocktails: Garrett Carr

*Scroll through the gallery for more pictures.

Holiday Spirit

Holidays are obviously full of gift giving, food devouring, drink swilling and lots of family time, with some those ensuing more-so around family than usual.

If you’re friends with me then it’s fair to say at some point I’ll either make you a gift or food object at some point. I’ll be honest, sometimes it is me trying to save money but other times it’s because I tried something awesome and I want to share it with everyone. Literally.  

So, infusing gin. I love gin as a base for cocktails because you can do a lot with it and it’s easy to play around with. I got the idea to do an infusion when I wanted to add some flavor to fin but couldn’t find the right type of liqueur or bitters to do it and thought there had to be a way to infuse it into the gin. Turns out there is.

For my gin infusions I tried to think of my friends and what their personalities evoked when I thought of them/what flavors they like and what ones would work well with gin. My synopsis? Lemon, grapefruit, chamomile and ginger.

And it’s SUPER easy. Almost way too easy.

Pick your poison. Then pick your infusion.

Chamomile:

1 mason jar of gin

2 tea bags

=

Let steep for 1 day and take out tea bags. Keep in jar or transfer to resalable , airtight container. Store in a cool, dry place.

Lemon/Grapefruit/Ginger

1 mason jar of gin

Peel rind of one lemon

Juice lemon and pour into jar

=

Let sit for 1-2 days, then take out rind, strain gin with a fine mesh strainer (I used a fine cotton cloth) and transfer gin back to jar or reseal-able airtight container. Store in a cool, dry place.

 CHEERS.

Enjoy Responsibly.