27 November

National Craft Jerky Day

Spicy Smoky Margarita

So we are drinking a...

Spicy Smoky Margarita

We have another national day from our American friends today and this one celebrates craft jerky.

Alex Naticchioni and Richie Beckman of the Long Beach Jerky Co. founded National Craft Jerky Day to celebrate jerky makers. They were inspired by old, traditional jerky recipes, specifically those of Naticchioni's grandfather, who was known to gift his homemade jerky at Christmas time.

Jerky is thinly sliced, salted meat that has been dried. There are various meat options, from the more typical beef to crocodile and kangaroo. Multiple flavour options are also available. Traditional flavours are generally smoky or BBQ; however, there are spicy, sweet and more unusual flavours out there, and if you're making your own then you could experiment with any flavour you fancy.

Jerky supposedly originates in the Andes mountains of Peru in the 1550s, and the term jerky comes from the Quechua word ch'arki which means 'dried, salted meat'.

Whether you fancy having a go at making your own or would rather buy some in the shops, we think jerky makes an excellent bar snack that will pair perfectly with a Spicy Smokey Margarita.

A drinking song deity died this day

A prolific author of drinking songs – and more delicate poems, too – the Roman poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus, the man who brought us carpe diem (seize the day), died on this day in 8 BC.

Horace also crafted dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (it is a sweet and honourable thing to die for one's country), and, most importantly for us, nunc est bibendum (now is the time for drinking). Much of his work is devoted to the pleasures of wine, women and song.

A lover of the finer things in life, from food to gardens, and a connoisseur of the finest Roman wines, he rose quite phenomenally through Roman society, associating with emperors, generals and politicians despite being the son of a freed slave.

Although Horace died before spirits were first produced, as a maker of toasts, we are sure he would have appreciated this particular concoction: Toasted Old-fashioned Godfather. Whiskey and amaretto are a match made in heaven if not Olympus.

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