fresh concord grape juice.

who am i?

i nevvverrrrr ever liked grape juice and/or grape flavored items of any sort.  however, i love grapes.

what?  

we bought these concord grapes at our local produce stand recently, not really knowing what we were buying.  when i got home and smelled and tasted them, i was like GASP this tastes like artificial grape!  i then had a real epiphany that "artificial grape flavored" things actually are accurately flavored after a type of grape......i had always thought it was a big made up sham flavor, like the way that watermelon things don't reeally taste like watermelon, ya digg??

anyhoo.  i forgot all about

those adorable welch's grape juice commercials

from back in the day that clearly state that their grape juice is made from 100% concord grapes.  durrrrrrr, quinn.  i guess i didn't care to pay attention to them because i never thought i liked grape juice.

oh, what a treat! they conveniently play the entire little rascals movie after

this video

 on youtube.  spanky is sooo dang cute in this commercial and he makes me extra excited about my grape juice.

sidenote, i'd be prettyyyyy dang confident entering a little rascals movie trivia competition and/or line-reciting contest.  this might be the movie i watched the absolute most growing up.   none of that old tymey little rascals stuff, just the 1994 version with all the cute kids.

i still say,

"thank you, my good man"

to pretty much everybody.

ooh ooh, watch

this video too

if you give a hoot at all about these rascals.  makes me feel old as the hills.

these grapes parade around looking a lot like big fat blueberries.

 we decided to put them through the juicer and see what happened.

good things happened.

we ran the grapes through the juicer maybe 3 or 4 times until it seemed like most of the juice came out.

 and we were left with a delicious and beautiful fresh glass of frothy 100% grape juice!

it was perfectly sweetened.  we didn't add anything except a little bit of cold water.

we've been keeping it in a jar in the fridge and i go take a big swig every now and then.  its just so flavorful and juicy! 

the frothy stuff settles on the top after being refrigerated for a while, so you could scrape that off if you don't want the foam.  there's just pure grape juice down below.

100% juice for 100% kids, like meeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

qp

autumn montana mules.

october ruuuules.

pete got me these glorious hammered moscow mule mugs for christmas last year.  i love them.  they are beautiful and keep your beverage so so so icy cold!

i do love me a good moscow mule, but i discovered that whiskey mules are maybe more tasty to me!  i'm not a crazy big whiskey drinker, but i quite enjoy this whiskey + ginger beer.

i originally had a montana mule at

rachel's ginger beer

in pike place market in seattle.  this is when i realized that i enjoy this version a bit more than the vodka variety.  RGB is amazing by the way.......i really really love ginger, so this place is mah jam.  the blood orange ginger beer is soo fab.

i've seen whiskey mules called "montana mules" or "kentucky mules."  i'm not sure what the official mixology title of this beverage should be, but i would assume you could name it after any place where the peoples consume oodles of whiskey... [???]

i think it sounds best with the m + m alliteration. oh yeahhh. alliterations always.

ps. don't be hatin on the dirt cheap trader joe's rebel yell whiskey... i hadn't realized that we already had a whole bottle of whiskey in the freezer before i spotted this bottle at tj's.

oh wells!! whiskey drinks all fall and winter in this haus!

REEDS

!!! is so yummy.  i think reed's is the go-to ginger beer and ginger ale in town.

ah fooey.  i just realized that i shot this with the ginger ale bottle, but i had a reed's ginger beer here, too!

my favorite ginger beer that i've discovered out in the wild is probably

crabbie's

.  and...it has alcohol...in it!!! ginger beers are usually non-alcoholic.  mmm.  it's so good.  i had a bangarang moscow mule (or 2) at

fadó irish pub

downtown seattle and encountered this delectable crabbie's brew.

these here whiskey mules were concocted for fall times.  i just felt like having a refreshing whiskey + ginger drink, added the standard lime wedges, threw in some apple slices for fall flare and a bundle o' fresh mint from the garden. 

and because mint makes food pictures look much mo' betta.

these beverages were crisp, cold, zingy, slightly boozy, and full of flavor. 

and with bonus-super-cold-whiskey/ginger-soaked apple slices to chomp on, too.

pack that mug with ice! the colder, the better. 

add a couple of ounces of whiskey, about a cup of your ginger beer of choice, fresh lime wedges, thin crisp apple slices, and a bunch of fresh mint.

and you're set to enjoy this super chill cocktail.

better drink some now, before its butt-ass cold outside.

oh boy. i'm thirsty.

Autumn Montana Mules

Recipe makes 1 drink // Easily multiplied

Ingredients:

• 1-2 ounces whiskey
• 8 oz. ginger beer
• 2-3 lime wedges
• 2-3 thin apple slices (fuji or honeycrisp, etc.)
• fresh mint

Instructions-

Add the whiskey and ginger beer to a copper mug.  Give it a stir, pack with ice.  Gently stir until super cold.  If you have crushed ice, use that!!! [I freaking love crushed ice.  It makes every cold beverage better, I say.]  Squeeze lime and leave wedges in the mug.  Garnish with thin apple slices and mint, for extra excitement.

Enjoy!

qp