Lifestyle
These Drinks Will Always Make The Highlight Reel
Is your bracket busted? If so don’t worry about it. I am guessing everyone is feeling your pain. I am right there with you. With all the crazy upsets that happened your interest in the tournament might not fully be there. We are still going to sit down this weekend and watch all the games.
While you are watching the games might I suggest these three cocktails below that will make the games a bit more enjoyable? These whisky-based cocktails are perfect to sip on as you sit back and watch all your picks fight for a spot in the championship game. As always please enjoy these cocktails responsibly.
The Buzzer Beater
1.5 oz. Captain Morgan Cannon Blast
0.5 oz. Cranberry Juice
Shake with ice and strain into a shot glass.
The Three Pointer
1.5 oz. Crown Royal Deluxe
.5 oz. Lemon juice
.75 oz. Simple syrup
Garnish with lemon wedge.
The Alley-oop
1.3 oz. George Dickel Rye Whisky
0.5 oz. lemon juice
0.25 oz. ginger syrup
1 tsp. simple syrup
0.75 oz. sparkling water
Raspberries
Mint leaves
Muddle, shake, and double-strain into a punch glassor coupe.
Mar 24th
Spring Is In The Air With These Cocktails
Ah….do you feel that warm breeze? The temperature outside is perfect. Now all you need to do is take out the patio furniture from the garage and enjoy a nice beverage. Jack Daniel’s – the world’s best-selling family of whiskeys – has some really creative and unique cocktail recipes that celebrate the weather beginning to warm up.
Here are some cocktails that you can enjoy responsibly during the Spring months.
Grilled Tennessee Sour
Grilled lemons give this classic sour some edge
1.5 oz. Jack Daniels Single Barrel select
1 oz. Grilled Lemon Juice
1 oz. Raw sugar syrup
2 dashes Orange Bitters
1 oz. Soda water
1 mint sprig
Directions: Add first 4 ingredients to shaker filled with ice. Shake and double strain over ice filled Collins glass. Top with soda and garnish with grilled lemon wheel, mint, and a straw. Grill lemons at home: Cut lemons in half and dip in lightly in white sugar place face down on a 400 degree grill. Remove when grill marks begin to appear.
The Spring Fling
2 oz. Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select
3 lemon wedges
3 sprigs fresh thyme
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 oz. honey syrup
1 oz. ginger beer
Directions: Add two lemon wedges, 2 sprigs of rosemary and thyme to a shaker. Muddle to release oils from herbs and juice from lemons. Add honey syrup, Single Barrel Select, and fill with ice. Shake vigorously to combine, strain over an ice filled copper mug, and top with ginger beer. Garnish with lemon, rosemary, and thyme.
The Upper East Side of Lynchburg
2 oz. Gentleman Jack Tennessee Whiskey
1 oz. Dolin Blanc Vermouth
.5 oz. Chamomile tea syrup
2 dash lemon bitters
1 lemon wheel
Directions: Shake Tennessee Fire with citrus mix. Stain over ice and top with ginger beer. Garnish with a cherry. Make chamomile tea syrup at home: dissolve 1 cup of sugar in 2 cups of boiling water Steep 3 Chamomile tea bags for 4 minutes, cool and will store for 2 weeks.
Gentleman’s Tea Thyme
1 750 Gentleman Jack Tennessee Whiskey
1 qt chamomile tea chilled
1 cup honey syrup
1 pint fresh lemonade
2 lemons sliced into think rounds
1 bunch fresh thyme
Directions: Add all ingredients to the punch bowl stir well with a block of ice. Add thyme and lemons and serve.
Forbidden Fruit
1.5 oz. Gentleman Jack Tennessee Whiskey
1 oz. apple brandy
.5 oz. maple syrup
.5 oz. orange juice
.5 oz. lemon juice
1 oz. Korbel Brut California champagne
2 dashes citrus bitters
1-3 thin red apple slices soaked in lemon juice
Directions: Add first 5 ingredients to shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain over ice filled Collins glass, top with Korbel Brut. Garnish with apple slices, dash of citrus bitters, and a straw.
Mar 23rd
Review: Char-Broil Digital Electric Smoker with SmartChef Technology
Smoking meat is a cooking technique that predates the modern era. It plays to our best primitive instincts. Early men (and women) were carnivores in need of cooked meat that would keep longer. And if this could be done with the added bonus of extra wood flavor, all the better. This need persists in the 21st Century. So when Char-Broil offered to set us up with a digital electric smoker to review, we were stoked. It’s not often we get to review cutting edge meat technology. Test out a smoker that communicates with your smartphone over a wi-fi network? The answer was easy.
Retailing at $399 (for the larger model), the Char-Broil Digital Electric Smoker with SmartChef™ Technology is both simple and complex. It’s simple in that it’s designed for cooks who prefer the set-it-and-forget-it approach to meat smoking. This helps make the device a nice entry point for novice smokers of meat (like myself). The Digital Electric Smoker is also complex as it it requires the use of Char-Broil app that basically runs everything, from pre-heating and meat settings to monitoring temperature and alerting you when your meat is cooked. If this makes it sound like it’s a cooking device from the future, that’s because it kinda is.
To be fair, initial setup can be a bit of a challenge, but luckily for you, dear reader, your humble reviewer has already gone through the steps to troubleshoot some of the setup issues you may encounter when using the Digital Electric Smoker for the first time.
For starters, if you have a home wireless setup that has both a 5G and 2.4 network, you need to make sure that the smoker and your cell phone are both using the 2.4 network. The smoker won’t connect to 5G. Because it’s an outdoor device that is likely to be positioned far way from your home router, the smoker is designed to connect to the more distance-friendly 2.4 network. The manual also recommends that you point the smoker in the direction that your signal is coming from, which does seem to make a difference.
Okay with that out of the way, the first thing you need to do is download the Char-Broil app. The app is a bit buggy, but it gets the job done. After you download and install, the app prompts you to create a DADO account and it’s through this account that your phone communicates with the smoker. Pairing is pretty simple once you get everything all set up.
Before you use the smoker, you need to run an initial seasoning setting that removes any residual materials that remain from the manufacturing process. It’s just a one time thing, but don’t forget to do it. Once you’re ready to smoke, that’s when the real fun begins.
The first rule of meat smoking is that you need to preheat your wood chips. With the Digital Electric Smoker, you don’t have to soak your chips ahead of time. You can even skip using the water pan. But you do need to give your chips time to preheat so they’re ready to rock when you put the meat into the device. Deeper wood chip flavors like hickory, mesquite or oak are best paired with darker, heavier meats. Lighter meats are best paired with lighter wood flavors like apple, cherry or maple. But you know, you can also mix and match. Have fun with it, you budding meat smoking artist, you.
Once you get your choice of chips all preheated, the app will send an alert letting you know that it’s time to toss in your meat. Now this next step is very important. The meat probe is the key to everything. Place it in a silly part of whatever you’re cooking, and you could get a false reading that can result in a bad cook. Put that thing in a unobstructed center area of the meat that’s nice and plumb without being to fatty, and you’re good to go.
Poor probe placement can lead to meat being undercooked. This happened to me and some chickens I was smoking. It was late, the patio was dark and I used the light of a cell phone to direct my meat probe placement. This was a very rookie move on my part, and as a result, I received an alert on my phone that my chickens were done long before they were actually finished. This is because my meat probe was lodged in a silly spot. Be firm and decisive with the placement of the meat probe. Get that thing in there properly so you don’t run into any issues.
Pork shoulder is another great meat to smoke. Probably a way better option than trying to smoke whole chickens. Get some bone-in pork shoulder, wipe it down with maple syrup, apply a rub, let it sit overnight and then pair that thing with some cherry or apple or cherry apple chips, pair with some light flavored wood chips, get that meat probe in there properly and bam, you get a pretty tasty chunk of meat that’s ready to be pulled and mixed with some light, vinegar-based BBQ sauce (like Salt Lick Original). Grab some of those ready made oven biscuits and boom, you’re now the mayor of flavor town.
The Char-Broil Digital Electric Smoker features three cooking modes:
Guided Cook mode walks you through a program after you enter the type of meat your smoking, the weight of the meat cut and how it’s prepared. The app provides you with instructions and estimated cook times. You just add in all the details and push the button to get things rolling.
Manual Cook mode let’s you set up the parameters of the cook yourself. You can enter a target cook time, temperature for the for meat probe or temperature of the chamber itself. You can monitor these things from your phone as the cook runs.
Preset Cook mode let’s you operate the device without the use of the app. This lower tech approach let’s you skip the whole wi-fi connection situation, but it does have its limitations. The three options available as presets are Pulled Pork, Beef Brisket and Smoked Fish. When you use any of the presets, the preheat cycle runs automatically, but you got to monitor the light ring to see when your meat is ready to be added or when the cook is complete.
The Char-Broil Digital Electric Smoker gives you a balance of simple, slow cooking goodness with the added element of high tech control from the palm of your hand. Rookie meat smokers (like myself) will enjoy the fact that you can walk away from this thing while it works its flavor smoking magic. Experienced meat smokers will enjoy tinkering with different recipes and settings to achieve the perfect cook. Although it’s not free of flaws (initial setup hurdles, limited preset options), this device leverages SmartChef technology to re-introduce you to the most primal, fundamental meat cooking technique known to man.
After a botched set of chickens and a really tasty pork experience, I’m going to graduate myself to brisket, the king of of all smoked meats. I might even get weird with it and get some fruits and vegetables in the thing. Experimentation is encouraged, so have fun with this thing. If you prefer to follow some battle-tested recipes, check out the options available at the Char-Broil community site.
Mar 23rd
Some Say Allen Iverson Was Misunderstood
One of the most talked about players in the NBA in the past 20 years was Allen Iverson. Some loved him, while others loved to root against him. One thing that everyone could agree on was that Allen Iverson loved the game of basketball.
To this day, Iverson remains one of the most polarizing figures in sports history. Inundated with on-court accolades and off-court controversy, he elicited a true emotional reaction from every person he encountered – they either loved him, or hated him. There was no in-between.
The former, revered him for his heart and his hustle. It wasn’t hard to notice that Iverson left it all out on the court, putting up record numbers and enduring unrelenting punishment to his six-foot frame, only to get right back up for more. He played with an unrivaled fearlessness, prolific skill and an iconic style that earned the love of a city and the respect of fans across the country.
While Iverson’s character and talent captivated a slew of admirers, it procured just as many adversaries. He was condemned for his rocky past and distaste for authority. Drew criticism for unprofessional behavior and poor practice attendance. He was chided for his hairstyle, his tattoos and his tendency to say whatever was on his mind. At its worst, he was accused of playing “hero ball” before “hero ball” was even a thing.
But despite the assumptions of his critics, and perhaps even, the assumptions of his fans, Allen Iverson didn’t set out to make a statement with his style or cause controversy for the sake of it. Iverson just wanted to be himself…and win his game.
And while the stories and opinions will follow him, forever branding him as the game’s most controversial player, what he really was, was misunderstood.
The ‘Misunderstood’ takes inspiration from newspaper headlines and other notable quotes about Allen, both positive and negative, in a black and white colorway. The Question Misunderstood will be available on Friday, April 1 for $129.99 at Jimmy Jazz, Shoe Palace, Villa, and Reebok.com.
Mar 22nd
Reebok Classics Has A Major Announcement
Reebok’s 20th Anniversary of the Question Mid, one of Allen Iverson’s iconic on-court sneakers that debuted 20 years ago in 1996.
The newest release is in collaboration with Washington DC sneaker boutique MAJOR, and takes inspiration from AI’s college experience in that city and his flashy style of play during his era there. The MAJOR x Reebok Question will be available in limited quantities for $180 in-store at MAJOR on March 18 at 11am, followed by an online release on the 19th. To honor the latest release of the iconic AI shoe, DC boutique MAJOR took inspiration from AI’s college team in impeccable form. The bold colorway combines an all-reflective material for the upper—inspired by Iverson’s flashy style of play—with the recognizable kente cloth graphic print from the uniforms of Iverson’s era with the team.
Below the icy blue outsole, you’ll find a graphic of AI’s bulldog tattoo, his first of many more that decorated his frame over the years. Further special detailing includes insoles printed with the zip codes of the Georgetown area of D.C.
Mar 16th
Play Hoops With Lakers Star Julius Randle
Want to play hoops with Lakers star Julius Randle? You could if you live in the L.A. area. For #WhyNotWednesday, Verizon is partnering with the NBA to show how a better network makes for a better game. Verizon is releasing a new digital game called “Basket Blitz” that lets you play hoops on your phone or computer for the chance to win a flyaway to Los Angeles and an awesome Lakers experience! To enter, Verizon customers simply visit WhyNotWednesday.com.
Verizon will give also residents of Southern California the opportunity to play Basket Blitz against Lakers star Julius Randle in-person today (3/16) from 6-7 PM PT at the Glendale Galleria.
Verizon’s #WhyNotWednesday gives customers amazing access to cool experiences every week featuring the latest in music, sports, fashion, entertainment and technology. Follow @Verizon on Twitter for all the latest #WhyNotWednesday happenings.
Mar 16th
Kendrick Lamar Surprises Fans In The UK
Many people may not know that the Reebok Classic Leather was born in the UK and raised in London. The Classic Leather originally broke ground in 1983, and has withstood the test of time to become one of the most iconic sneaker styles. From Bolton, UK to Boston, USA (where Reebok is based) and its understated, timeless design has provided a blank canvas for generation after generation.
To show how Classic Leather has evolved as a style staple all across the world, Reebok Classic united with brand ambassador Kendrick Lamar and leading UK creative talent to celebrate the brand’s most influential sneaker. Kicking off in London, Reebok Classic presented a fashion show at the legendary Tate Modern museum, featuring the Classic Leather styled apparel from some of the UK’s top designers – Agi & Sam, Katie Eary, Ashish, Holly Fulton, Matthew Miller, Christopher Shannon, Kesh, Sadie Williams, Alex Mullins and Cottweiler. London based rapper Little Simz provided the soundtrack to the show with an intimate performance.
The Reebok Classic celebration then continued to Manchester with Kendrick Lamar descending on UK’s second city, spreading his message of inspiration and originality. Reebok Classic and Kendrick Lamar surprised a group of kids at Manchester’s local community center, Wonder Inn, delivering a strong message of individuality to the city’s burgeoning creative youth talent who received a unique opportunity to recite their own spoken word. Kendrick then traveled to Granada Studios, one of Manchester’s most historic spaces where he gave a powerful intimate performance for select guests.
Kendrick says, “With my music, I share and seek for understanding. Through a freedom of expression and originality. This is what Reebok is about- being original and authentic. My memories of Reebok go back to high school when I wore the Classic Leather. It’s a sneaker that identifies with culture and lets you express your own style, lets you stay true to yourself.”
Regarding the Classic Leather sneaker, “It means originality, self-expression, in the most sophisticated, classy way. It means longevity,” said Kendrick Lamar. “You can’t really go wrong with wearing Classic Reebok’s.”
The Classic Leather is currently available at Reebok.com and Finish Line and Journey’s. The Classic Leather style is available for the whole family with adult sizes retail for $75, Grade School for $55, Pre-School for $50 and Toddler for $38.
Mar 16th
Mtn Dew Pitch Black Is Back
Hey everyone in the words of Ron Burgundy. “I have an important announcement!” Mtn Dew Pitch Black is back! The popular drink is back from hibernation. People have been patiently waiting, petitioning and begging for Mtn Dew Pitch Black to come back. Now people are dancing in the streets when they found out that DEW opened their vault in December 2015 to offer the coveted flavor in limited quantities for a limited time via a sweepstakes.
The classic flavor is available as a fountain drink and, in some participating Speedway stores, as a Speedy Freeze through June 2016.
Mar 15th
Pizza Hut Looks To Help You Keep Your Pants Clean
March Madness is starting this week! One of the best times for anyone who loves sports. To show some more love Pizza Hut is only one restaurant can deliver 68 million wings with a “No Pants Required” WingStreet by Pizza Hut has a partnership with the largest dry cleaner in the country. WingStreet is offering FREE mobile dry cleaning to select fans across the country on Thursday, the first day of the tournament.
Interested? Here is how it works. On Thursday, March 17, select WingStreet deliveries will come with a custom laundry bag that can be used to redeem cleaning of one pair of pants, for free – shorts, jeans, sweats slacks, you name it.
Martinizing Delivers and its affiliated brands 1-800-DRYCLEAN and Pressed 4 Time will provide the cleaning service for winners across the country. From pickup to drop off, they’ll take care of it all.
Pretty cool right? Plus for a limited time only, WingStreet will also be featuring a Jim Beam® Devil’s Cut Spicy Bourbon BBQ sauce which won first place in creative BBQ at the National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, NY during product testing.
Boneless WingStreet wings are one of the most popular items on the pizza restaurant company’s new $5 Flavor Menu which also includes a medium one-topping pizza, the Ultimate HERSHEY’S Chocolate Chip Cookie, HERSHEY’S Triple Chocolate Brownie, Tuscani Pastas, a double order of breadsticks or flavor sticks and four 20-oz. Pepsi beverages for just $5 each when ordering two or more.
Mar 14th
Jim Beam Creates The Irish American
Jim Beam creating a new holiday cocktail called “The Irish American.” There are 39.6 million Irish Americans living in the U.S. today – seven times more than the entire population of Ireland. Jim Beam created this cocktail to help celebrate the melding of these two proud cultures.
“The Irish American” combines the classic American ingredients of bourbon and cola with Cider to produce a cocktail that captures the crisp, fruity flavors of a traditional Irish cider all while mimicking the look and slightly bitter taste of Ireland’s favorite dark stout.
So this St. Patrick’s Day, make history and forge your own holiday traditions by mixing up this new classic.
The Irish American
2 parts Jim Beam® Bourbon
1½ parts infused cola syrup
½ parts apple cider
¼ parts lemon juice
1 egg white
Cinnamon stick for garnishing
Making infused cola syrup: Combine everything in an appropriately sized stainless steel pot and turn on to medium heat. Reduce by half and strain out the coffee and cinnamon. Continue reducing until only 1½ cups remain. Cool. Refrigerate.
Infused cola syrup ingredients
5 cups cola
4 tablespoons coffee grounds
2 cinnamon sticks
Cocktail Instructions: Build cocktail in shaker. Dry shake until frothy. Add ice. Shake till cold. Strain into a rocks glass or coupe. Grate cinnamon into the top of cocktail as garnish/aromatic.
Mar 12th
