DRINK OF THE WEEK: Wine Cask’s Bronx Beet

Bronx beet NIK BLASKOVICH/NEWS-PRESS
Bronx beet
NIK BLASKOVICH/NEWS-PRESS

DJs drop sweet beats around this time of year … and bartenders do, too! That is, if we’re actually talking about beets. You know, the vegetable. OK, that’s our admittedly lame attempt at tying this drink to the festivities about to drop in four days time, but give us a break here at Drink of the Week central!

Matt Pickett at Wine Cask made this for us on a recent sojourn to his fine establishment, and we’ve saved this drink for a special occasion. Which is now.

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DRINK OF THE WEEK: Wine Cask’s The Lit Fir

The Lit Fir
The Lit Fir

Have you gone out to find a Christmas tree yet? Even if you haven’t, you can probably smell the pine needles in the nose as you hunt for the perfect one for your front room. That fresh green aroma influenced this week’s cocktail, created by Matt Pickett over at the Wine Cask. Mr. Pickett has been making cocktails at the restaurant for three months, having spent time before at Olio Pizzeria, also in Santa Barbara, and other cities to the north. At Wine Cask, he’s been able to get his hands on a number of intriguing alcohols, which lead him to Oregon’s Clear Creek Distillery. They make an Eau de Vie of Douglas Fir, created by steeping fresh pine needles into a grappa-like alcohol. And according to Mr. Pickett, they do this in the forest to keep it all fresh. How crazy is that?

Add to this some of Clear Creek’s apple brandy and a mix of vanilla bean and cinnamon simple syrups, as well as orange, cranberry and lemon juices, and you have this wintry cocktail with a slight hint of forest and a full nose of vanilla. But don’t stop there: Garnish this with candied apple peel and your guests will think this came straight out of the woods.

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