Talking Holiday Cocktails with Will Vance - Cheers Y'all!

Heard It On The Shark

About Us: Business owners, Chamber directors, industry leaders, Main Street Directors, school and hospital leaders discuss what's happening in North MS with station owner, Melinda Marsalis. Interviews are recorded in Ripley, MS at Sun Bear Studio, broadcast every Tuesday at 11 am on The Shark 102.3 FM Radio and added here to help you stay informed. If you would like to be considered for an interview, you can call or email Melinda. The Shark 102.3 FM Radio Station and Sun Bear Studio, located in Ripley, MS, are owned by Chris and Melinda Marsalis. Chris and Melinda have a passion for community development and love all of the amazing things that are going on in North Mississippi.

This Week: Holiday gatherings are happening all through this month so Melinda sat down to talk cocktails with Will Vance, who with his wife, Dawn, owns Jefferson St. Tap Room on The Square in downtown Ripley. With a laid-back vibe, live music, good food, and great drinks, Jefferson St. Tap Room has a little something for everybody. In this episode, Will talks about the newest signature cocktail at JSTR, Rudolph's Night In, as well as three cocktails created just for Bourbon drinkers - Jingle Bell Smash, Christmas Kentucky Buck, and a Cinnamon Old-Fashioned. Below, find the recipes for each drink and the recipes for the three Simple Syrups used in the cocktails. All ingredient amounts are per drink.

Simple Syrup

1 cup water

1 cup white sugar

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow syrup to cool slightly.

Pour syrup into a sterilized glass jar and cool completely. Store simple syrup in the glass jar with a tight-fitting lid in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Rosemary Simple Syrup

1 cup water

1 cup white sugar

¼ cup rosemary leaves

Combine water, sugar, and rosemary leaves in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stir until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let syrup steep for at least 30 minutes.

Pour syrup into a sterilized glass jar through a mesh strainer to remove rosemary leaves; let cool.

Store simple syrup in the glass jar with a tight-fitting lid in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Cinnamon Simple Syrup

1 cup water

1 cup white sugar

4 Cinnamon Sticks

½ teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract (optional)

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stir until sugar dissolves completely.

Reduce the heat and add the cinnamon sticks. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let syrup steep for at least 1 hour and up to 6 hours depending on the level of cinnamon desired.

Remove cinnamon sticks and stir in vanilla extract. Pour syrup into a sterilized glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Rudolph’s Night In

4 oz. of Canada Dry Ginger Ale (or the Ginger Ale of your choice)

½ oz. Rosemary Simple Syrup

1 oz. Lemon Juice

2 oz. Pomegranate Juice

2 oz. Bacardi White Rum (or any white rum of your choice)

Stir all ingredients together and pour into a martini glass or other stemware.

To make drinks look a bit more festive, rim them and add a garnish!

For Rudolph’s Night In, crush peppermints into small pieces. Take a martini glass, wet the rim with lime juice, and dip it in the crushed peppermint. Hang a miniature candy cane from the rim or add it into the drink and prepare for oohs and aahs from your guests.

Jingle Bell Smash

2 oz. Elijah Craig Small Batch (or the Bourbon of your choice)

2 oz. Cranberry Juice

1 oz. Rosemary Simple Syrup

1 oz. Lemon Juice

Stir all ingredients together and pour into a tumbler. Garnish with a few fresh cranberries and/or a sprig of rosemary.

Christmas Kentucky Buck

2 oz. of Woodford Reserve or Maker’s Mark 46 Bourbon (or the bourbon of your choice)

1 oz. Lemon Juice

1 oz. Simple Syrup

2 oz. of Cranberry Juice

2 oz. Club Soda

Stir all ingredients together and pour into a tumbler. Garnish with a mint leaf sprig.

** For a more pronounced mint flavor, muddle a few mint leaves in the bottom of the glass before building the cocktail.

To Muddle means to mash or crush the leaves, herbs, spices, or fruit so that the aroma and essence of it adds to the drink. Do not pulverize the item.

Cinnamon Old-Fashioned

1 thin Orange Slice

2 oz. of Bourbon

1 oz. of Simple Syrup

Dash of Bitters

¼ cup of orange juice

1-2 oz. of Cinnamon Simple Syrup

Cinnamon Stick

Muddle the orange slice in the bottom of an Old-Fashioned glass. Mix in next 5 ingredients. Stir with the cinnamon stick and serve with the cinnamon stick as a flavorful garnish.

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Welcome to HEARD IT ON THE SHARK with your show host Melinda Marsalis and show sponsor, Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area. HEARD IT ON THE SHARK is a weekly interview show that airs every Tuesday at 11 am on the shark 102.3 FM radio station based in Ripley, MS and then is released as a podcast on all the major podcast platforms. You’ll hear interviews with the movers and shakers in north Mississippi who are making things happen. Melinda talks with entrepreneurs, leaders of business, medicine, education, and the people behind all the amazing things happening in north Mississippi. When people ask you how did you know about that, you’ll say, “I HEARD IT ON THE SHARK!” HEARD IT ON THE SHARK is brought to you by the Mississippi Hills National Heritage area. We want you to get out and discover the historic, cultural, natural, scenic and recreational treasures of the Mississippi Hills right in your backyard. And of course we want you to take the shark 102.3 FM along for the ride.

Bounded by I-55 to the west and Highway 14 to the south, the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area, created by the United States Congress in 2009 represents a distinctive cultural landscape shaped by the dynamic intersection of Appalachian and Delta cultures, an intersection which has produced a powerful concentration of national cultural icons from the King of Rock’n’Roll Elvis Presley, First Lady of Country Music Tammy Wynette, blues legend Howlin’ Wolf, Civil Rights icons Ida B. Wells-Barnett and James Meredith, America’s favorite playwright Tennessee Williams, and Nobel-Laureate William Faulkner. The stories of the Mississippi Hills are many and powerful, from music and literature, to Native American and African American heritage, to the Civil War. The Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area supports the local institutions that preserve and share North Mississippi’s rich history. Begin your discovery of the historic, cultural, natural, scenic, and recreational treasures of the Mississippi Hills by visiting the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area online at mississippihills.org.

Musical Credit to: Garry Burnside - Guitar; Buddy Grisham - Guitar; Mike King - Drums/Percussion

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