Stir the first three ingredients together with ice until well chilled. For a Canadian spin on the simple Old Fashioned, combine a shot of whisky, a few splashes of lemon juice, maple syrup and a maraschino cherry. For a milder drink, consider topping the drink with hard apple cider. The apple cider balances the strength of the whisky to turn this drink into a cocktail more suitable for Easter brunch, although that really depends on what your family is like. If you are using amber rum instead of whisky, use ginger ale to top up the drink rather than cider.

Depending on how much Easter chocolate you plan to scarf down, adjust the drink’s sweetness by using more or less maple syrup.

1 ½ parts whisky or amber rum

1 part lemon juice 

½ part maple syrup

Alcoholic apple cider or ginger ale

Throw the gin, lemon juice, and rosemary sprig in a cocktail shaker with a few ice cubes and shake vigorously to combine and chill. Pour over ice in a highball glass and top with the tonic water. Make sure there aren’t any little bits of rosemary floating around in there, or you’ll be picking more green bits out of your teeth than normal.

A more time-consuming method substitutes fresh rosemary with rosemary syrup, which makes the drink sweeter and adds a stronger rosemary flavour. To make the syrup, bring a half cup of water and a half cup of sugar to a boil, then add one or two sprigs of rosemary. Reduce the syrup until it is thickened but still runny, then let it cool before stirring one tablespoon into the drink. This cocktail is refreshing and summery, and looks impressive when garnished with a slice of lemon and a sprig of rosemary.

It’s the middle of January, and second semester is well underway. If you haven’t caught a cold yet, it’s only a matter of time until you do. After coming down with the sniffles last week, I owe my survival to the hot toddy, a delicious way to fight off a cold. To fix one up for yourself, all you’ll need is:

1 heaping tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons of whisky

Water

Spoon the honey into a large mug and add enough boiling water to dissolve it. If making the grown-up version, let the honey-water cool somewhat before adding in the whisky, because excessive heat may mess with its flavour. Stir in the lemon juice and top up with more warm water to reach the desired strength.   

A hot toddy can be a nice cold remedy because the honey and lemon will soothe your sore throat and the whisky will help you drift off to dreamland – or at least let you forget how sick you are. No matter what it says on the resumé I submitted to the Argosy, I’m not a doctor; if you’re really unwell, don’t use booze and, of course, check whatever medicine you might be taking in case it shouldn’t be combined with alcohol. I like to use whisky, but scotch, bourbon, rum, or brandy also goes well with honey and lemon. Try adding a tea bag of your choice for an extra aromatic appeal; my personal favourite is rooibos. This drink pairs perfectly with hot soup, a warm blanket and a snow flurry outside.

Headed by 14 students who are in Mount Allison’s entrepreneurship class, a commerce course instructed by Nauman Farooqi, the Bagtown Brewing Company is committed to start production and distribution in January. In order to get the brewery off the ground, the students have pitched in to raise the initial $5,000 needed for startup.

I sat down with Jane Rouse, Robbie Baxter and Cody Cummins, three of the students behind Bagtown Brewery, to learn more about their project and the products it will offer.

“Expect a launch party sometime in January,” Baxter said.  At the moment, the brewery is still getting started, but the members hope to expand the operation before its launch.

Project member Anthony Maddalena has previous brewing experience and will oversee the brewing process. Cummins also plans to contribute to the brewing, a process  that lasts around a week from start to completion.

The brewery will offer one kind beer for now, an English-style pale ale. Bagtown Brewery describes this yet-to-be-named EPA as a smooth, drinkable, unfiltered ale with distinctive body and golden-brown colouring.

“[The beer] will be named before it’s out in the bars,” Rouse said. The team plans to give the beers Sackville-related names. Baxter explained that one of the ideas behind the project is to “add a story behind each beer.” These stories will add to the feel that the products are from and for Sackville.

Tentative arrangements for sale on tap have been made with some of Sackville’s favourite bars, including Ducky’s and Joey’s. Soon after the beer makes its appearance in bars, expect growlers to be available from Bagtown Brewery’s brewing and distribution centre at the old police station on Main street.

Aside from Bagtown Brewery merchandise, the company plans to expand production to other products. “I’d like to try [brewing] a fruit beer,” Cummins said. Although disappointed I didn’t get to sample a pint (or keg), I have high expectations for the brewery’s upcoming launch.

Ingredients:

– 3 generous tbsp pure canned  pumpkin purée

– 2 tbsp cream

– 1 tbsp maple syrup or sweetener of your choice

– ¼ tsp each of cinnamon, allspice and cloves

– 40 mL whisky or bourbon

Combine ingredients plus 3 ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously until everything is smooth, without any lumps of pumpkin. If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, a coffee thermos works just as well. Pour the drink into a glass and enjoy while it is still frosty.

This recipe has a lot of room for variation. I used coffee cream, but other kinds of cream, or even just some extra milk, work just as well. Make it a pumpkin martini by using equal parts pumpkin, cream and vodka. Or, for a pumpkin caipirinha, use equal parts white rum and pumpkin and swap out the cream for 2 tbsp lime juice. For a fall punch, shake together equal parts bourbon, pumpkin, and lemon juice, then pour over ice and top with ginger beer.

Enjoy any of these drinks at a Halloween party or while watching a scary movie.  For a more authentic Starbucks experience, misspell your name in sharpie on the side of your cocktail glass.

40 mL spiced or amber rum    

1 tbsp honey   

1 lemon or lime wedge

2 tsp cinnamon sugar (plus extra for rim glass)

Freshly brewed coffee

Run the citrus wedge around the rim of a coffee mug and spread cinnamon sugar on a dish. Roll the dampened edge around in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Once the coffee is ready, pour into the mug while still very hot and immediately add 2 tsp of cinnamon sugar plus the honey. Stir to combine and let cool slightly before adding rum and garnishing with a cinnamon stick.

To improve the taste at the cost of a little extra work, use cinnamon simple syrup instead of cinnamon sugar and honey. Bring to a boil 1 cup of sugar dissolved in 1 cup of water and add 4 cinnamon sticks; once the combination has reduced to about 1 cup of syrup, discard the sticks and store the syrup in the fridge for up to one week.

Use a light- or medium-roast coffee to avoid overpowering the cinnamon and rum flavours. Try substituting the rum with an Irish Cream if you dislike black coffee. To make the drink more like a true Irish coffee, use whiskey rather than rum and top with whipped heavy cream and a sprinkle of ground nutmeg.

Best enjoyed with a pastry next to a fireplace (or a Jennings muffin next to a res-room radiator).