A few people have been asking me about the drink we did for Wine & Swine Weekend, the three-day orgy of "pork and cork" events sponsored by the Hill Country Wine & Food Festival. I had the good pleasure of serving the Swine Flu Shot at the kickoff event at the fabulous courtyard at the ATT Executive Education & Conference Center, the awkwardly-named but beautiful home to Josh Watkins's Carillon restaurant on the UT campus.

Josh Watkins's pig. Some people, like my mother, would consider it in poor taste to display a cooked pig on the table where pork is being served. She also never liked the taxidermy displays in certain BBQ establishments. It makes some omnivores uncomfortable to be reminded that they are eating animals. I think it is the omnivore's responsibility to acknowledge as much; but maybe I've been drinking too much whiskey...

Festival Director Erika White emailed me suggesting that we do a Swine Flu shot for the event. At first I thought she was being cheeky, so I didn't give the idea much consideration. But when I realized she was serious, I jumped to action and came up with this little concoction, a portable and easy-to-inject variation on the Old Fashioned.

Swine Flu Shot
2 oz Maker's Mark
.5 oz Blueberry/Black Peppercorn Syrup (or experiment with your own flavored syrup)
Dash Angostura Bitters
Dash Fee Brothers Barrel-Aged Bitters
Expressed lemon peel
Stir to chill and strain into a shot glass; garnish with the expressed oil of a lemon peel, but do not drop the peel in the glass unless you intend to sip this shooter.

Maker's Mark has been a big supporter of the festival and sponsored the contest for Official Cocktail of HCWF 25 this year