KN Magazine: Articles
Killer Cocktails: The Secret Affair
This month’s exclusive Killer Nashville Killer Cocktail: The Secret Affair
The Secret Affair
A Killer Nashville Signature Cocktail
Ingredients:
Smucker's PlateScapers
Forbidden Secret Cream - Dark Mocha
Caribbean's Finest Rum
Cream of your choice (optional)
Directions:
Add ice to your shaker.
Add 1 ounce of Forbidden Secret to your shaker.
Add 1 ounce of Caribbean's Finest Rum to your shaker.
Add 1/2 ounce of half & half or your choice of creamer to the shaker (optional).
Shake the contents until it is frothy.
Drizzle PlateScapers onto your glass.
Empty the shaker's contents into your glass.
Top with PlateScapers in a pattern of your choice.
Enjoy
Cheers!
Send us pictures and comments of you and the Killer Nashville’s The Secret Affair. We’ll share them here along with a link back to you.
About Spaz:
Spaz started in the restaurant/bar business back in 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when he was a student at Louisiana State University. Instead of becoming a chemical engineer, he became a social legend instead, he says jokingly. He later transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee, and received a Bachelor’s in marketing from the University of Tennessee in 1989. He has worked in biker bars to 4-fork-setting restaurants. An avid traveler, he has lived in 13 states and visited 40, so far. He enjoys reading sci-fi and sci-fantasy books. He currently holds court at Red Dog Wine and Spirits in Franklin, Tennessee. Check out the store: www.reddogwineandspirits.com.
Killer Cocktails: The Conundrum
This month’s exclusive Killer Nashville Killer Cocktail: The Conundrum
The great mystery writer Agatha Christie lived a bit of a conundrum. It turns out she was not a fan of her own character, Hercule Poirot. In fact, Christie hated Poirot so much—she said he was prim and fussy—that she wrote his death story, which was published before her own death in 1975. Much to her chagrin, Poroit’s death made the front page of the New York Times.
Mark “Spaz” Morris thought the story about Christie’s loathing of Poirot so compelling, he developed the perfect cocktail to ease any conundrum. We like to think Christie would approve.
The Conundrum
A Killer Nashville Signature Cocktail
Ingredients:
2-ounces Marquis de Montesquiou Armagnac VSOP
1-ounce Merlet Crème de Fraise
Orange slices
Sphere of ice
Directions:
This cocktail works best with a large ice cube or sphere. Molds for larger than normal cubes can be purchased at your local liquor store or wherever you might find kitchen gadgets.
To prepare The Killer Nashville Conundrum, place one sphere of ice into a shaker. Pour the Armagnac and add the crème de Fraise.
Do not shake, but swirl the shaker. With tongs, put another sphere in a martini glass, add a slice of orange, and pour the shaker contents.
Cheers!
Send us pictures and comments of you and the Killer Nashville’s Conundrum. We’ll share them here along with a link back to you.
About Spaz:
Spaz started in the restaurant/bar business back in 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when he was a student at Louisiana State University. Instead of becoming a chemical engineer, he became a social legend instead, he says jokingly. He later transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee, and received a Bachelor’s in marketing from the University of Tennessee in 1989. He has worked in biker bars to 4-fork-setting restaurants. An avid traveler, he has lived in 13 states and visited 40, so far. He enjoys reading sci-fi and sci-fantasy books. He currently holds court at Red Dog Wine and Spirits in Franklin, Tennessee. Check out the store: www.reddogwineandspirits.com.
Killer Cocktails: The Last Ticket
This month’s exclusive Killer Nashville Killer Cocktail: The Last Ticket
Mark “Spaz” Morris takes us to 1941 and the upscale Casablanca nightclub of Rick’s Café’ Américain for this month’s concoction.
Spaz loves the idea that everyone is hiding in plain sight. Everyone knows who is involved, but like a game of chess, players must determine whom they can trust. There are two tickets to freedom, and we know who’s going to get them.
The key here is subtlety just like Killer Nashville’s pear-infused gin martini. As you sip, in the distance you will hear “As Time Goes By”.
The Last Ticket
A Killer Nashville Signature Martini
Ingredients:
2-ounces Hanna Gin
½-ounce St. George Spiced Pear Liqueur
Lemon twist
Ice
Directions:
Pour liquor into martini glass and swirl it around to coat the glass. Pour the rest of the liqueur into a shaker tin with ice.
Add gin to the shaker, and shake.
Strain into the coated martini glass.
Rim the glass with the lemon twist and drop in the glass.
Enjoy!
Send us pictures and comments of you and Killer Nashville’s “The Last Ticket”. We’ll share them here along with a link back to you.
About Spaz:
Spaz started in the restaurant/bar business back in 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when he was a student at Louisiana State University. Instead of becoming a chemical engineer, he became a social legend instead, he says jokingly. He later transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee, and received a Bachelor’s in marketing from the University of Tennessee in 1989. He has worked in biker bars to 4-fork-setting restaurants. An avid traveler, he has lived in 13 states and visited 40, so far. He enjoys reading sci-fi and sci-fantasy books. He currently holds court at Red Dog Wine and Spirits in Franklin, Tennessee. Check out the store: www.reddogwineandspirits.com.
The Last Ticket™ and © 2015 Killer Nashville. Killer Nashville is a ® Federally Registered Trademark. All rights reserved.
Killer Cocktails: T'Killer Mockingbird
This month’s exclusive Killer Nashville Killer Cocktail: T'Killer Mockingbird
We couldn’t pass up this opportunity to pay homage to Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, especially since her long awaited sequel Go Set A Watchman is now available.
Barnes & Noble Bookstores celebrated the new release recently with a nationwide reading of To Kill a Mockingbird aloud, in all stores, from start to finish. The local, all-day read-a-thon featured a variety of special guest readers, including our very own, Killer Nashville Founder and Publisher Clay Stafford.
In our quest to create literary-themed cocktails, Mark “Spaz” Morris didn’t want to go the traditional route. So he created this new, original cocktail that colors the palette with rich strawberry flavor and balances it with soothing, aged tequila.
T'Killer Mockingbird
Ingredients:
1 & 3/4 ounces of Tequila El Mayor Anejo
3/4-ounces of Merlet Creme de Fraise Liquer
2 ounces Le Village Sparkling Pink Lemonade
Ice cubes
Strawberry to garnish
Directions:
1. Pour 1 & 3/4 ounces of Tequila El Mayor Anejo into a shaker
2. Pour 3/4-ounces of Merlet Creme de Fraise Liqueur in to the shaker
3. Add Le Village Sparkling Pink Lemonade - depending the size of the glass - about 2 ounces.
4. This drink doesn't have to be shaken. Just stir it up. Fill glass with ice and pour mixture on top.
5. Garnish with a strawberry. Enjoy!
Send us pictures and comments of you and Killer Nashville’s T'Killer Mockingbird. We’ll share them here along with a link back to you.
About Spaz:
Spaz started in the restaurant/bar business back in 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when he was a student at Louisiana State University. Instead of becoming a chemical engineer, he became a social legend instead, he says jokingly. He later transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee, and received a Bachelor’s in marketing from the University of Tennessee in 1989. He has worked in biker bars to 4-fork-setting restaurants. An avid traveler, he has lived in 13 states and visited 40, so far. He enjoys reading sci-fi and sci-fantasy books. He currently holds court at Red Dog Wine and Spirits in Franklin, Tennessee. Check out the store: www.reddogwineandspirits.com.
T'Killer Mockingbird™ and © 2015 Killer Nashville. Killer Nashville is a ® Federally Registered Trademark. All rights reserved.
Killer Cocktails: The Rye Catcher
This month’s exclusive Killer Nashville Killer Cocktail: The Rye Catcher
The thing about coming of age, or bildungsroman books, is that they may actually be lost on those that are coming of age!
Take The Catcher in the Rye. It is without a doubt one of those coming-of-age books that packs an adolescent wallop. At 16 or 17, when English teachers oblige students to read J.D. Salinger’s classic, it may not be wholly understandable what in fact is going on.
Cynical and jaded, is Holden Caulfield just screwing around? After all, he’s failing out of his fourth school, and he’s running around Manhattan buying booze and having questionable encounters.
Perhaps it is time and age that helps in asking the real questions like, why does Holden keep asking about the Central Park ducks, and why is he so sad and angry? Why is he having a hard time growing up?
These are the questions Mark “Spaz” Morris believes you might ponder with his literary-themed drink, “The Rye Catcher”. A lighter version of an Old Fashioned, this drink will take you into the summer with much to think about.
The Rye Catcher
Ingredients:
½ ounce Eli Mason Old Fashion Cocktail Mix
2 ounces Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey
1 ounce Club Soda
A couple of dashes of Scrappy’s Bitters Orange
Orange slices
Cherries
Handful of ice cubes
Directions:
In a cocktail glass, throw in a slice of orange and a cherry, squirting a couple of dashes of bitters on top of the fruit.
Using a muddler mash the fruit until you see pieces of fruit and juices fill the bottom of the glass. (Spaz says it’s okay to take out your angst with the muddler.)
Add ice cubes and the Eli Mason Old Fashion Cocktail Mix.
Add the Rye whiskey.
Top it off with Club Soda.
Spaz recommends tumbling the mixture from the glass to a shaker. Don’t shake, just pour gently back and forth to get a good mix.
Garnish with more fruit.
Cheers!
Send us pictures and comments of you and Killer Nashville’s The Rye Catcher. We’ll share them here along with a link back to you.
About Spaz:
Spaz started in the restaurant/bar business back in 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when he was a student at Louisiana State University. Instead of becoming a chemical engineer, he became a social legend instead, he says jokingly. He later transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee, and received a Bachelor’s in marketing from the University of Tennessee in 1989. He has worked in biker bars to 4-fork-setting restaurants. An avid traveler, he has lived in 13 states and visited 40, so far. He enjoys reading sci-fi and sci-fantasy books. He currently holds court at Red Dog Wine and Spirits in Franklin, Tennessee. Check out the store: www.reddogwineandspirits.com.
The Rye Catcher™ and © 2015 Killer Nashville. Killer Nashville is a ® Federally Registered Trademark. All rights reserved.
Killer Cocktails: Passion's Blush
This month’s exclusive Killer Nashville Killer Cocktail: Passion's Blush
Crimes of passion are as old as time. Look to the Bible and you will find the twisted tale of King David and his love for Bathsheba. He sent her husband to war to face certain death to be with her. How about the Greeks? They offered many cautionary tales, including the story of Clytemnestra who took an ax to Agamemnon for sacrificing their daughter and later bringing home the lovely Cassandra. Even Shakespeare gave a nod to deadly love when Othello smothers Desdemona because he believes she cheated on him.
Passion is a beautiful thing until it turns ugly, and countless novels have borrowed from this ancient theme.
Mark “Spaz” Morris, professional drink slinger, parlayed this literary-themed drink around artisanal Haitian liqueur and soaked hibiscus flowers. The flavors are as sumptuous as a passionate kiss with a hint of mystery. A “Passion’s Blush” is that moment before the crime is committed.
Sip this lovely creation while reading a good book.
Passion's Blush
Ingredients:
1 Wild Hibiscus flower soaked in syrup
1 ounce Sorel, Haitian Hibiscus Liqueur
Top off with your favorite Sparkling Wine
Directions:
1. In a champagne flute or glass, drop a single hibiscus flower in the bottom of the glass.
2. Gently pour Sorel liqueur on top of the flower.
3. Top it all off with a sparkling wine, or champagne. Spaz used an inexpensive cava, Jaume Serra Cristalino. Proseco and champagne will also do the trick.
4. Optional: Add the hibiscus flower's syrup to sweeten the taste. (We liked it dry - no syrup.)
Cheers!
Send us pictures and comments of you and Killer Nashville’s Passion’s Blush. We’ll share them here along with a link back to you!
About Spaz:
Spaz started in the restaurant/bar business back in 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when he was a student at Louisiana State University. Instead of becoming a chemical engineer, he became a social legend instead, he says jokingly. He later transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee, and received a Bachelor’s in marketing from the University of Tennessee in 1989. He has worked in biker bars to 4-fork-setting restaurants. An avid traveler, he has lived in 13 states and visited 40, so far. He enjoys reading sci-fi and sci-fantasy books. He currently holds court at Red Dog Wine and Spirits in Franklin, Tennessee. Check out the store: www.reddogwineandspirits.com.
Passion's Blush™ and © 2015 Killer Nashville. Killer Nashville is a ® Federally Registered Trademark. All rights reserved.
Killer Cocktails: Fahrenheit 151º
This month’s exclusive Killer Nashville Killer Cocktail: Fahrenheit 151º
The crazy thing about Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 is its continued eerie relevance.
Published in 1953, the dystopian novel about a future American society where books are banned and burned, feels creepy and unrealistic, until you realize that people today plug up their ears and stare at inanities on electronic screens much like the main character’s wife.
Perhaps there are no mass book burnings per se, but there is certainly a form of censorship that exists, and of course there is apathy.
When we approached Mark “Spaz” Morris, professional drink-slinger, about creating Killer Nashville’s own brand of cocktails developed around literary themes, Spaz’s mind went straight to Bradbury’s McCarthy era award-winner. Equal parts merry prankster and a lover of words, the book clearly made a long-lasting impact on him.
Spaz’s creation is considered a flaming shot and it is the first in a series of original cocktails we recommend along with a good book. This drink is a lot easier to make than it first appears. Don’t be scared. Have fun. And, if you haven’t read Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, it’s high time you did.
Fahrenheit 151
Ingredients:
1 ounce Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire
½-ounce Bacardi 151
1 bottle chilled hard cider
A pint glass
A skinny shot glass
A lighter or matches
Directions:
1. Prepare the shot by pouring the Tennessee Fire first, leaving enough room for Bacardi 151º.
2. Gently layer the Bacardi 151º on top of the Tennessee Fire and let it settle.
3. Pour the chilled hard cider into the pint glass about half-full.
4. Light the Bacardi 151º on fire. It will produce a lovely blue flame. (DO NOT touch the fire and DO NOT blow it out.)
5. Drop the flaming shot glass into the pint glass from where the shot glass touches the cider.
All products used in the making of Killer Nashville cocktails are readily available at your local liquor store.
Cheers! Send us pictures and comments of you and Killer Nashville’s Fahrenheit 151. We’ll share them here along with a link back to you!
About Spaz:
Spaz started in the restaurant/bar business back in 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when he was a student at Louisiana State University. Instead of becoming a chemical engineer, he became a social legend instead, he says jokingly. He later transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee, and received a Bachelor’s in marketing from the University of Tennessee in 1989. He has worked the gamut in the bar and restaurant industry from biker bars to 4-fork setting restaurants and has had a passion for the craft ever since. An avid traveler, he has lived in 13 states and visited 40, so far. He enjoys reading sci-fi and sci-fantasy books. He currently holds court at Red Dog Wine and Spirits in Franklin, Tenn. Check out the store: www.reddogwineandspirits.com.
Fahrenheit 151º ™ and © 2015 Killer Nashville. Killer Nashville is a ® Federally Registered Trademark. All rights reserved.
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