19th August, 2010 | Tags: , , | 2 Comments
 

That was inspired by Cheri Loughlin’s article about Drambuie. Some cocktails mentioned there imprinted themselves in my mind. One of them, The Forty-Five, was earlier on my blog, adapted and tried with various whiskies.

Created by Jamie Stephenson, Drambuie global ambassador, Renaissance is another cocktail with Drambuie I like very much. And for me, it was another target to adaptation and changing.

The Transfiguration Day

My experiments with Renaissance were very productive so eventually  the recipe has been heavily changed, and I decided to rename it to The Transfiguration Day because…

Because the taste of the new drink reminded me of  our patrimonial tradition to celebrate together old Russian Orthodox  feast called Yablochny Spas, or The Transfiguration Day.

Maybe it was too conceitedly but my remembrances were too lively. I could’n resist that temptation.

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16th June, 2010 | Tags: , | 6 Comments
 

There are a lot of alcohol combinations which now became classic. These combinations are so good that you’re always reverting to it and think that you do need any others.

Whiskey (and whisky too) with sweet vermouth create such combination, a wonderful duet, an exceptional base for further experiments. Well-known Manhattan (with bourbon or rye) or Rob Roy and Bobby Burns Cocktail (with scotch), it all are just three great cocktails among dozens of other good ones in which whiskey mixes with sweet vermouth.

The Forty-Five

The Forty-Five recipe has been found at Drambuie American promo-website. Another place where the cocktail was mentioned is The Intoxicologist blog. The article about cocktails based on Drambuie liqueur is awesome as well as most of other posts there.

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3rd June, 2010 | Tags: , | 14 Comments
 

For some time bourbons became my favourite strong alcohol I’m used to utilize in cocktails.

I think the perfect companion for bourbon is fresh orange juice possibly with lime juice or syrups to bring sweetness and sourness to the balance. I’ve knew it from my own experience but later I’ve got that this combination is well-known so I’ve ended my attempts to find a perfect recipe and started to search for the known mixologists’ cocktails.

Soon I’ve found three wonderful cocktails – Bourbon Cooler and Eastern Whiskey Sour in «Thinking Bartender» book by George Sinclair and St. Nicky Sour at Cocktail Chronicles website.

St. Nicky Sour, as Paul Clark said in his post, is the creature of Jeff «Beachbum» Berry, a specialist in tiki drinks culture. And George Sinclair calls Trader Vic (Victor Bergeron) an author of  Eastern Whiskey Sour.

Bourbon Sours

Two my bourbons comparison was another object I pursued. It was Basil Hayden’s, a wonderful whiskey of Jim Beam premuim bourbons line, and Old Virginia Straight Bourbon, little known but definitely not bad whiskey.

I didn’t compare these bourbons neat but explored how they work in cocktails like that I mentioned above.

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12th May, 2010 | Tags: , | 9 Comments
 

For a long time I was going to tell about a couple of premium bourbons I love very much. But it turned out otherwise, and now I write about one little known bourbon which is always within easy reach of my hand. It’s called Old Virginia Kentucky Straight Bourbon, and I’m used to choosing it when I make cocktails with bourbon.

Old Virginia Kentucky Straight Bourbon

I can’t find enough information concerning this whiskey. It’s known that Old Virginia brand is owned by French company Le Martiniquaise which also owns several little known whisky, vodka and gin brands. It seems like these ones as well as Old Virginia Bourbon are distributed mainly in France.

In Russia these brands are available through French retailer Auchan. And Auchan hypermarket was the place where I’ve bought a bottle of Old Virginia Kentucky Straight Bourbon aged for six years.

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18th March, 2010 | Tags: , , | 20 Comments
 

Here in Russia where winter lasts from November to April at the best, words “Jamaican rum” usually mean sunny weather, sea breeze and siesta with decent ice-cold drink. And what do we think about when speaking about Jamaican rum? My very first thoughts are always about Appleton rums.

I’m not mad about rum. That’s not the spirit I prefer to use in my favourite drinks. But one day I saw a bottle of Appleton Estate V/X standing on the shelf in supermarket, and something drove me to buy it immediately. I think it was my hate towards cold weather because this winter was abnormally cold.

Sources in the Internet said that Appleton Estate V/X is the blend of fifteen rum aged between five and ten years. All spirits are distilled in copper still pots. Rums are aged in Jack Daniel’s Tennesee whisky casks made of American oak and then charred. After blending rums are marriaged in casks for months before bottling.

I was very interested in this rum so I spent my time to examine it neat and in cocktails.

Appleton Estate V/X Rum

Well, there is Appleton Estate V/X, 40% ABV rum with deep copper color.

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