Masters Food & Drink Is Wild

A great nap awaits after a Masterful cocktail

It’s Masters Weekend, the best weekend of the golf season and, possibly, the best napping weekend of the year.

I’ll share a cocktail and recipe for you to enjoy while watching the final round on Sunday or later Saturday if you’re super excited about them.

I’m heading out to play my first round of golf in a bit, which, by the way, a couple of buddies and I launched Michigan Golf Review this past week, so check that out if you enjoy the game.

Sustainable Hotel Gin

It’s not often a press release captivates me with just the concept. But this week, Austria’s Rosewood Schloss Fuschl sent over a really neat idea.

More than 80% of the hotel’s culinary ingredients are sourced within 100 kilometers. But it was an offshoot of that which clicked: bread gin.

The hotel partners with nearby bakery Obauer to take its unsold bread and distill it into a small-batch gin. The zero-waste commitment is really neat, and the bottles of gin are featured in the hotel’s minibars.

Masters Treats

One of my favorite parts of the Masters is the affordable concessions available at Augusta National Golf Club. Of course, it includes the famous Pimento Cheese Sandwich for $1.50, a Georgia Peach Ice Cream Sandwich for $3 and beer, import or domestic, for $6.

All 27 items could be purchased for $77.

If you’re not on-site and have to watch from home like the rest of us, at least the golf and the sights and sounds of the broadcast are incredibly soothing. (Next year, check out Goldbelly’s Taste of The Masters; you get the food sent to you!) The Masters is perfect for those like me who enjoy the deep tradition and manners of golf.

Masters Pimento Cheese, by International Hospitality

• Sharp Cheddar, Monterey Jack & Cream Cheese

• Mayonnaise (Duke’s preferred)

• Diced Pimentos

• Garlic Powder

• Paprika

• Salt & Pepper

• Bread (White bread)

Method: Mix all ingredients but pimentos in bowl and mix until smooth and creamy. Drain pimentos, add them into the mix and stir well. Spread 1/3 cup on white bread. Cut sandwich in two triangles.

Azalea Cocktail, by The Kitchn

• 1.5 oz vodka

• 4 oz lemonade

• 1 tsp grenadine

• Orange slices and Maraschino cherries

Method: Mix lemonade and vodka in a cocktail shaker with ice for 20 seconds. Fill old-fashioned glass with ice and pour in grenadine. Strain cocktail into glass and garnish with an orange slice and a cherry on a spear.

The last thing about the Masters… I just learned about the huge aftermarket demand for the silly Masters gnomes. Wild. The collectibles can go for over $10,000 on eBay, according to a recent story by the New York Times’ The Athletic.

Michigan Golf Review

Are you new to golf and intimidated by the game’s steep history, course rules and etiquette?

Do you wish there were a place to get more holistic course reviews? You know, like what animals you might see and what the 19th hole experience is like?

Do you like to learn from and about cool people in the Michigan golf scene?

You’re in luck! Check out Michigan Golf Review. (The podcast has an incredible theme song, Round Hole Rock, by Jordan Good, so at the very least, check that out!)

Plus, we have an adorable logo.

Literary Libations

This is Alyssa writing in with your book and cocktail pairing!

This was a fun read! You Didn't Hear This from Me by Kelsey McKinney explores gossip as a form of storytelling and bonding. Naturally given a negative connotation, McKinney dives into the history of gossiping and the murky gray area it often lives in. Is gossip really that “bad”? Or is it just a form of information sharing? Is it only considered gossip if it’s not true? And why is celebrity gossip so. freaking. engrossing?

McKinney is hilarious. I wasn’t familiar with her podcast Normal Gossip before reading this book, but have since made plans to check it out given how much I enjoyed You Didn’t Hear This From Me. I’m pairing this book with a crisp sauvy b because we have ALL shared some gossip with our girlfriends over a bottle of this. If you haven’t, highly recommend.

Tip: If you love Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc like I do, check out King Maui Sauvignon Blanc. It’s usually a few bucks cheaper and hits the same flavor profile.

Interesting reads

There’s a lot to be made about the drop in drinking… but part of that could be the massive surge in cocktail pricing. Inside Hook dove into whether or not the “middle-class cocktail” is dead. Somehow, we’ve gotten to a point, even in a city like Grand Rapids, where $15 is “reasonable.”

It’s stories like this one by Punch about a Mexican bartender El Chato, and his regionally important Chatazo cocktail, that made me love journalism and travel, and the culture around drinking.

“With El Chato, you’re going to encounter a special kind of Mexican cowboy,” Roberto Nuñez, Patrón’s national ambassador and a Jalisco native, told Punch. “At 87, he still has a lot of style. He serves with flair.”

If you watched, or are watching, White Lotus, this is a goofy story from Wall Street Journal about an interesting flavor for a coffee creamer from Coffee Mate.