Turkeyball

1 oz.          Wild Turkey bourbon whiskey
3/4 oz.       Amaretto almond liqueur
1 splash      pineapple juice

Combine the Wild Turkey, the Amaretto, and a splash of pineapple juice with ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into a shot glass. Enjoy.

We have another Thanksgiving shot to share with you today. Like the previous recipe for the Hobble Gobble, this shooter also employs Wild Turkey bourbon whiskey. I already covered my tradition of Wild Turkey on Thanksgiving day with my brother and my cousin. So I won’t repeat it here.

This shot is different from the Hobble Gobble in that the HG was just a simple combination of Bacardi 151 and the Wild Turkey. Pure and simple.

This one is a little bit more creative going with a more “experimental” flavor with the Amaretto almond liqueur. This is actually the third recipe this month calling for Amaretto and the second post in a row. {Although yesterday’s recipe didn’t do this liqueur proper justice}. But let’s explore this popular libation just a bit more. Amaretto is a sweet, almond-flavored liqueur of Italian origin. It is made from a base of apricot or almond pits, or sometimes both. It is frequently used in cooking…particularly in fine desserts. And it’s almost redundant to call it Amaretto almond liqueur. Almost.

The most popular brand of Amaretto on the market is Disaronno Originale. It’s known for it’s distinctive bottle. They also trumpet the fact that even with its characteristic almond taste, the liqueur contains no almonds…and no nuts at all. {That’s why it’s not quite redundant to sometimes refer to it as Amaretto almond liqueur—someone may want a brand specifically containing natural almond flavoring}.

Another label that is over 150 years old is Lazzaroni Amaretto. You should definitely be able to find Disaronno at the liquor store you shop it. You may not be so lucky with the Lazzaroni. If they don’t at least have Disaronno, find yourself a better damn liquor store already.

Coincidentally, we didn’t care for either of the previous recipes containing Amaretto at ShareMyShot.com

I myself am not a huge fan of it all by itself. However, I have enjoyed it big-time in fancy desserts like fine (real) ice cream. And I’m always willing to give it a chance as an ingredient in a shot or mixed drink. Others in the ShareMyShot office enjoy it much more than I. Honestly, none of us believe that the Amaretto element was the weak link in the other shots. One of them contained milk for chrissakes. And the other had peach schnapps being combined with whiskey. Not good.

So perhaps the Amaretto hasn’t gotten a fair shake to this point. Thus, we sampled the Turkyball !  

ShareMyShot.com gives this tasty turkey-day treat a 4 on a scale of 5. The Wild Turkey actually blended very well with the Amaretto. It’s nice that there wasn’t any peach schnapps or milk to spoil things. There is the pineapple juice. We tried the shot with the pineapple juice and without it. And the consensus is that the shot tastes slightly better with the  pineapple juice. It makes the shot just that much sweeter whereas Amaretto has a bittersweet almond taste. The ingredients all work together to make a pleasurable shooter.

So have a ball on Thanksgiving this Thursday. Better yet, have a Turkeyball. Or three.

Cheers !!!