Dear listeners,
Happy Thanksgiving! In the spirit of the holiday gatherings, Megan brought her husband to visit with us this week. Peter Suderman — features editor at Reason magazine and author of the Cocktails With Suderman newsletter — joins us to discuss holiday cocktails. We also talk about an overly sympathetic New York Times feature about an illegal immigrant who stole a man’s identity so he could work, the controversy over the “illegal orders” video from Democratic members of Congress (with reference to a useful op-ed by David French), and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s campaign to get air travelers to behave themselves:
At the end of the show, we get around to talking about holiday cocktails. For your reference, Peter recently published a roundup of Thanksgiving-themed cocktails he has published, including a cranberry-maple sidecar, a pecan pie old fashioned, and a perhaps ill-advised effort to evoke green bean casserole in martini form.
I asked Peter for help developing a Christmas-y mai tai for my upcoming Christmas party — I wanted a drink that has some holiday spice notes in addition to the lime and almond flavors that define a classic mai tai — and here’s what we developed. Peter steered me away from spiced rum, and instead directed me to some darker rum than would appear in a typical mai tai, plus allspice liqueur and fragrant garnish. I think the result is quite delicious:
Christmas Mai Tai
1 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice (as Ina says, it has to be freshly squeezed)
Whole nutmeg
Cinnamon stick
Rosemary sprig
Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a rocks glass over ice. Grate a sprinkling of fresh nutmeg over the top of the cocktail, then garnish with the cinnamon stick and rosemary sprig. Serve.
We hope you enjoy the episode, and the holiday.
Josh
