Guinness. Whiskey. Cars. Motorcycles. Football. My five favorite things in this world, in order of most favorite to least. And this past weekend, I got to experience four of the five, Toronto Auto Show style. Not quite as large a production as the show in Detroit, which I had traipsed off to a few weeks prior, it was much more pleasing to the eye and soul than any Buffalo Auto Show could ever be. After about 6 hours of ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over every hot piece of metal I encountered, my cohort and I decided to hit up the bars… bar, after bar, after bar. Many a shot of Irish Whiskey was consumed alongside my Guinness, and once night became morning, I knew I was done for.

This brings me to my drink recipe du jour. No, it’s not some strange brew concocted up the night before, but rather the morning after. I found myself inside (yet another) Irish Pub once morning rolled around, this time for brunch… if I could get any brunch down, that is. I opened the menu and zeroed in on the Black Velvet, a mix I had not yet tried. I had always heard that the best cure for a hangover was to drink more, so I decided to give it a go. My Black Velvet was a ridiculous head of froth (expectedly so) but went down just as I had hoped, giving me the ability to thoroughly enjoy every bite of my raisin walnut cinnamon french toast. Want to try a Black Velvet at home? Here’s the recipe:

Black Velvet

½ pint of Guinness
Sparkling wine to taste

Start with your Guinness in a pint glass and slowly add the sparkling wine, being careful not to let the foamy head jump out of the glass and all over your table.

I’m not usually one to mix anything with my Guinness – I like it that much alone – but the bits of bubbles definitely helped to calm my stomach a bit, and the Guinness actually made the sparkling wine tolerable to the taste.

One thing I tasted at this breakfast that I don’t suggest trying? Black Pudding. Actually, it didn’t taste horrible, but upon finding out that it was actually just a mixture of oatmeal and pig’s blood, set in a mini jello-mold shape, I really wished I hadn’t asked… oh well, you can’t win ‘em all.

TAGS [ GUINNESS | WHISKEY | BLACK VELVET | AUTO SHOW | IRISH PUB | TORONTO | DRINK RECIPE ]