"southern comfort" news and stories

Whether your Thanksgiving celebration errs on the Puritanical side, with extended family and tykes on the loose, or functions as more of a boozy bacchanal, this "Southern Comfort Barn Burner" cocktail should provide ample comfort to imbibers of all sorts.

If our Thanksgiving wine pairings didn't quite satisfy your thirst, Ezra Pound Cake's simple Southern Comfort and cider concoction will certainly fit the bill. In what she dubs "the official drink of Thanksgiving 2009," Ezra spikes some classic apple cider with some Southern Comfort, seasons it with cinnamon and brightens it with fresh lemon. She summarized the elegant drink best in her blog: "The combination works because the flavors in Southern Comfort -- especially the peach, orange and cinnamon -- dance with the apple in the cider, giving you a drink that's sweet and fruity, with an undercurrent of trouble. Just like Thanksgiving." We'll drink to that!

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No. that isn't a typo in the title. Yesterday was March 14th, which, in abbreviated form, is 3.14 (feel free to add the 1592653589793238... if you so desire), better known to us non-mathematicians simply as Pi.

As is usually the tradition here at Slashfood, we are willing to turn just about any circumstance into something to celebrate, so why should Pi Day be any exception? Fortunately for us, the blogosphere was full of others who jumped on this bandwagon as well. In fact, Kitchen Parade collected submissions all week, resulting in dozens of mouth-watering pie recipes all linked up on one page.

So without further ado, following are my top eight favorites, which I will be putting on my "need to make" list. (Corresponding photos can be found in the gallery at the bottom of the page after the jump.)

Easter doesn't seem like one of the bigger drinking holidays. Christmas? Sure. Valentine's Day? Sure, especially if you're not with anyone. But Easter? Well, I guess any situation where you have to deal with your family is a situation where you might want to drink.

About.com has a variety of Easter-oriented cocktails, and, of course, they're a little sweeter than many cocktails, in keeping with the holiday. But they aren't for kids!

I have a confession to make (let it out Bob, confession is good for the soul). Two, actually. Not only have I never made my own eggnog for Christmas, I usually just buy the store bought stuff. Yeah, I know.

It's not that the store stuff is terrible. I wouldn't drink it every year if I didn't like it. It's an OK substitute for people like me who are lazy intimidated by eggnog recipes. I mean, making a drink with sugar and eggs that you have to separate? I've never wanted to do it (though if I did, this one sounds good).

While surfing around I found this recipe for an eggnog called a White Christmas. It sounds like a nice twist on the classic.

Though you might associate the peach based bourbon called Southern Comfort with Tennessee, the liquor was actually created in New Orleans, giving us the perfect reason to break out that half bottle we have left in the cabinet for Mardi Gras.

In 1874, M.W. Heron developed Southern Comfort at his New Orleans bar on Bourbon Street. It was 15 years later that Heron moved to Memphis, Tennessee, seeking his fortune by selling his whiskey on Beale Street. Southern Comfort (SoCo is you're a native) went on to win a gold medal for quality and taste at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.

One of the most famous drinks made with SoCo is called the Scarlett O'Hara, created in 1939 as a tribute to the movie Gone With the Wind. It is simply 1.5 oz. SoCo topped off with cranberry juice and garnished with a twist of lime. 

Other popular drinks made with SoCo are the Alabama Slammer, Red Death (about as toxic as a Long Island Iced Tea), and something that a friend introduced me to, the Southern Sunrise (like a tequila sunrise). To make something a little snazzy for Mardi Gras, epicurious has a Southern Comfort Champagne Cocktail.

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