For Game Of Thrones fans, there’s an answer to the question of what Joffrey Baratheon might have drunk as he sat on the Iron Throne—or at the dinner table.

Brewery Ommegang and HBO, producer of the hit series, are partnering on a series of beers inspired by the drama. After much collaboration, they launched the first Iron Throne beer, a blonde ale, in tandem with the third season.

While Joffrey is a teen, everyone, including young children, drank beer until modern times. Before reliable municipal water supplies, water from available sources—wells, lakes and rivers—harbored disease-causing microbes. Because the water is boiled during brewing, the microbes were destroyed, making beer the safe choice.

We haven’t been able track down a bottle of Game Of Thrones beer: The store locator on the website only tells you what retailers carry any beers from Brewery Ommegang. Your best bet may be to email or call the brewery: info@ommegang.com, 800.544.1809.

Brush up on the different types of beers in our Beer Glossary.
 
 
*The line is not distributed in Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota,West Virginia and Wyoming.

Thinking ahead to Cinco de Mayo? Bring something hot to the party—a bottle of Stoli Hot vodka, with jalapeño flavor and a hint of chipotle smoke. You can also make your own (recipe below).

Introduced last year as a new flavor, Stoli Hot is a reformulated version of the 1962 flavor, Pepper (Pertsovka). Another 1962 flavor, Honey and Herb (Okhotnichya), is now called Stoli Sticki. They were the brand’s first flavored vodkas, and the freshening up of the concepts was a 50th-anniversary celebration.

Stoli Hot mixes well with lime juice, mango nectar, orange juice, and pineapple juice. We loved it in a frozen mango Margarita, the flavors echoing our favorite flavor of paleta (Mexican ice pop), mango chili lime.

The distiller has developed Stoli Hot cocktail recipes, including, among others:

 
There are plenty of ways to have a hot time on Cinco de Mayo!

You can infuse your own vodka with jalapeños, and can also play around with a touch of chipotle or liquid smoke flavor. Home-infused vodka will have a different flavor from Stolichnaya’s since commercial vodkas are flavored with extracts instead of infused with fresh fruit.

Just because you’ll be infusing jalapeños doesn’t mean you can buy the cheapest vodka on the shelf: The impurities will still be apparent. Of course, you don’t have to infuse the most expensive vodka, either, unless you want to.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. REMOVE stems from jalapeños and cut into quarters lengthwise. Add to the vodka bottle.

2. STEEP in a cool, dark place for one week; then taste. If you’d like a hotter flavor, continue steeping and check weekly.

3. REMOVE the jalapeños. You can keep them in the bottle for a picturesque touch, and they will continue to add flavor for a few months until their flavors are thoroughly incorporated.

TIP: It’s not easy to remove the fruit from the bottle. Instead, keep an empty vodka bottle around for making infused vodka. Transfer the vodka you’re infusing into that bottle and add the fruit. Then, when your infusion is complete, decant the flavored vodka into the original bottle.
 
 
> Find more of our favorite spirits and cocktails using the pull-down menu in the right column.
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

It’s easy to make your own barbecue sauce. Photo by Eddie Berman | IST.

If you want a balsamic vinaigrette, mix two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar with three tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt. It’s that simple: You don’t have to spend $5.00 on a bottle of salad dressing.

If you want barbecue chicken, mix up ketchup, chili powder, garlic powder, mustard, onion powder, paprika, salt, sugar and any other favorite spices (allspice, chipotle, cinnamon, thyme, mace). It’s that simple; you don’t have to spend $5.00 on a bottle of barbecue sauce.

Here’s the easy recipe from LearntoCook.com, a website dedicated to teaching families the basics of cooking.

When you make your own barbecue sauce, you avoid ingredients like added high fructose corn syrup and extra salt. To avoid all HFCS, buy an organic ketchup or a natural ketchup like Muir Glen; the big brands tend to be loaded with HFCS. See our review of the best ketchup brands.

BARBECUE CHICKEN RECIPE

Ingredients For 2 Servings

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F.

2. RINSE chicken parts and trim any excess fat. Pat dry with a paper towel.

3. COAT each piece with the BBQ seasoning mix and reserve.

4. HEAT the olive oil in a skillet or sauté pan until a medium to high heat is reached. Sear chicken on all sides for even browning. Reserve in a baking pan.

5. Sweat the onions and garlic, using a little of the oil in the sauté pan.

6. ADD the ketchup, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne to the sauté pan. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

7. LADLE the liquid mixture over the chicken, making sure to coat each piece.

Serve with potato salad, fresh carrots and celery sticks.

BARBECUE SEASONING MIX RECIPE

Preparation

1. COMINE all ingredients thoroughly.

2. STORE in jar with tight fitting lid.

[2] Pink garlic, originally from France and now grown elsewhere, is sweeter and milder than white garlic, and also keeps much longer (photo © South African Garlic Growers Association).

Last week we published easy asparagus recipes, suggesting an aïoli dip (more formally, sauce aïoli, which is garlic mayonnaise).

Then we realized that we’d never published an aïoli recipe. Here, we remedy the situation.

First, the word is pronounced eye-OH-lee from the French word for garlic, ail (pronounced EYE).

Second, you can buy prepared aïoli, although it may be hard to find outside of specialty food markets. Our favorite brand is the Restaurant Lulu Aïoli, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week (our review).

This recipe uses the classic technique of mortar and pestle. If you want to cut corners, you can use a blender (see footnote*).

However, Julia Child advised against it. The metal blades create bitterness in the garlic, she notes, and the consistency isn’t as heavy and correct.
 
 
RECIPE FOR AÏOLI (GARLIC MAYONNAISE)

Ingredients For 2 Cups Of Sauce

1. BREAK the bread into pieces. Place in a mortar or small, heavy bowl and cover with vinegar; set aside for 5-10 minutes until bread is soft and pulpy. Twist the bread into a ball to extract liquid (you can squeeze it in a cloth or paper towel).

2. PLACE bread and garlic cloves into mortar and pound with a pestle for 5 minutes or longer, until you have a very smooth paste. Alternative blender instructions are in the footnote* below.

3. ADD the egg yolk and salt, and pound until the mixture is thick and sticky.

4. ADD the olive oil drop by drop, pounding and blending. When the sauce has thickened to the consistency of sour cream, you can trade the pestle for a wire whisk and add the oil more quickly. You have the right consistency when the sauce should be like thick sour cream and holds its shape with a spoon. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. (If the sauce is too thick for your taste, thin it with boiling water or fish stock.)

TIP: Should the sauce curdle, here’s the remedy: Warm a bowl in the microwave. Add 1 teaspoon of Dijon or other prepared mustard and 1 tablespoon of the aïoli. Whisk until blended and thickened. Add the remaining aïoli a couple of teaspoons at a time, blending thoroughly before adding more.
__________________________________

*Place all the ingredients except olive oil into the bowl of a food processor and purée into a paste. Then, with the processor running, slowly pour the oil through the feed tube and process until the sauce is the consistency of thick sour cream.

†For recipes that call for eggs that are raw or undercooked when the dish is served, use shell eggs that have been treated to destroy salmonella by pasteurization (or another approved method).

Aïoli can be varied with different flavors, from basil (pesto aïoli) and cilantro to red pepper, spicy, tomato and truffle. As an egg and oil-based sauce, aïoli can take on just about any flavor.

Check out our favorite flavored mayonnaise, from bacon and chipotle to wasabi, and look for the wonderfully flavored mayos from The Ojai Cook.
 
 
WAYS TO SERVE AÏOLI SAUCE

Aïoli can be used instead of mayonnaise anywhere, from canapés to sandwiches and potato salad. Here are the classic French uses:

 
For a delightful side, make:
 
 
RECIPE: FINGERLING POTATOES WITH AÏOLI

Ingredients

1. PLACE the potatoes in a large saucepan with 1 tablespoon of salt. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil.

2. SIMMER uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, until just tender. Drain in a colander and place a kitchen towel on top, allowing the potatoes to steam for 5 to 10 minutes.

3. SLICE the potatoes in half and place them on a serving plate. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chives. Serve the aïoli in a ramekin for spreading or dipping.
 
 
FIND MORE OF OUR FAVORITE VEGETABLE RECIPES.

Use the pull-down menu in the right column.
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

Magnum, our favorite premium ice cream bars, has leaped beyond chocolate-covered ice cream on a stick It has introduced MAGNUM Gold?!, vanilla ice cream with a sea salt-caramel swirl.

That punctuation—both a question mark and an exclamation mark—is part of the product name. Why, we haven’t a clue. We can only beseech manufacturers to keep things simple going forward. There’s no reason to confuse food writers and the consuming public.

But the punctuation doesn’t detract from the yumminess of the new bar.

Vanilla bean ice cream is swirled with sea salt caramel and dipped in coatings of Belgian milk chocolate and and golden-colored white chocolate. For those who want a smaller snack, MAGNUM Mini Gold?! provides petite treats.

Kudos to Magnum for producing the 1.85-ounce Magnum Mini bars, in Almond, Classic, Double Caramel and Magnum Gold?!. They’re a perfect size for guilt-free enjoyment.

Magnum with a sea salt caramel swirl. Photo courtesy Unilever.

The nationally available flavors include Double Caramel, Double Chocolate, Almond (our favorite!), White, Dark, Classic, Mint and Mochaccino.

The ice cream bars are available in 3-count multipacks for a suggested retail price of $3.99; 6-count multipacks have a suggested retail price of $5.49, and individual bars are available for the suggested retail price of $2.99. Learn more at MagnumIceCream.com.
 
FIND MORE OF THE BEST ICE CREAM IN OUR GOURMET ICE CREAM SECTION.