29th November, 2010 | Tags: | 4 Comments
 

S.I.P.2 logoС радостью и гордостью хочу сказать, что второе мероприятие в рамках S.I.P. прошло успешно, и что особенно радует, налицо тенденция к развитию нашей инициативы (стучу по дереву).

Надеюсь,  что мы и дальше будем также с энтузиазмом выбирать себе тему, а потом также увлеченно смешивать, пробовать, искать, писать и комментировать. Ведь это чертовски приятно – заниматься любимым делом, делиться этим и получать в ответ в три-четыре-пять-шесть-семь раз больше позитива от единомышленников, занятых тем же.

Темой текущего мероприятия был легендарный европейский коктейль (не буду приписывать его ни Англии, ни Франции) Sidecar. Тема грандиозна, как и сам коктейль. Но одним из лейтмотивов мероприятия стала, как ни странно, революционная (или наивная) мысль о том, что великий коктейль на основе коньяка должен быть со вкусом коньяка. Поэтому классические пропорции 1:1:1 и 2:1:1, конечно же, рассматривались, но не превалировали.

Continue reading »

 
26th November, 2010 | Tags: , , | 17 Comments
 

S.I.P.2 logo

We’re continuing our Russian online cocktail party. The 26th of November  is the date of the second event, and Sidecar is the theme for it.

Sidecar, a cocktail legend. Its roots are in the beginning of last century. I have no intention to seek for stories about the men who invented Sidecar. I’m going to learn how vintage recipe will work now and find my own perfect recipe.

I have had my first Sidecar experience when I was newbie in cocktail culture (I mean “more newbie than now”). I’ve red a nice article about Sidecar then took equal parts of awful Russian brandy, Cointreau and lemon juice and eventually got teeth-damaging acid liquid  impossible for drinking.

Continue reading »

 
21st November, 2010 | Tags: , | 10 Comments
 

Mixology Monday logo

Forgotten Cocktails, that’s the topic for November 2010 Mixology Monday event hosted by Dennis at his Rock & Rye blog.

The topic is not easy as it seems at first time. Here in Russia cocktails are not forgotten, they’re unknown.

I’ve remembered one cocktail  I saw earlier at «Approved Cocktails, authorized by UK bartenders guild» by Harry Craddock. Cameo Kirby, it looks like another Martini-like cocktail, and then I’ve tried it but can’t find anything about it in Internet except one more Google-book  «Gourmet’s Guide to New Orleans» by Natalie Vivian Scott and Caroline Merrick Jones.

The title Cameo Kirby is known thanks to old movie released in 1923. Who knows, maybe the cocktail was named after that criminal drama.

Continue reading »

 
17th November, 2010 | Tags: , | 3 Comments
 

Recently  I’ve remembered about one nice cocktail I had found at Esquire drinks database when  searching for classic cocktails with bourbon. It’s called Commodore, and I can’t resist to its promising combination of crème de cacao and bourbon.

Commodore

Craddock wrote about another Commodore version with rye whiskey, lime, sugar and orange bitter. Version I made is more sweeter. David Wondrich’s story refers it to Waldorf-Astoria bar book.

Continue reading »

 
11th November, 2010 | Tags: , | 13 Comments
 

For me, Tennessee whiskey looks like bourbon’s wild neighbour. Its smell and taste differs from bourbon whiskey so much, its character’s so robust.

I think the point is the Lincoln County Process according to which the whiskey is filtered through a huge layer of sugar maple charcoal. Definitely that makes a difference in the Jack Daniel’s aroma.

Jack Daniel's Single Barrel

One day I got a chance to taste interesting Jack Daniel’s product – Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Whiskey. That’s nice idea: every barrel brings whiskey with unique flavor. So you can’t say that you tasted  Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel because you tasted whiskey just from one barrel.

Continue reading »

 
8th November, 2010 | Tags: | 3 Comments
 

I have to admit that I count grapefruit juice as a perfect mixer. Despite it’s not as popular as lime juice, grapefruit juice brings richer flavour, fresher fragrance and unique bitter and tart aftertaste.

I prefer pink grapefruits because I think they give more constant taste than white ones.  Pink grapefruit juice combines perfectly with gin, vodka and tequila. But does it work with scotch?

Woodward

Recently I’ve found simple cocktail recipe at CocktailDB in which blended scotch mixes with grapefruit juice and dry vermouth. It’s called Woodward, and I was going to learn how it works.

Continue reading »