Коктейль «Diva Quaranta»

17th January, 2012 | Tags: | 7 Comments
 

Хочу вернуться к чему-то простому, привычному, но в то же время не обыденному. Нужен коктейль с простой формулой и общедоступными компонентами. Но свою изюминку он иметь обязан, чтобы не стать коктейлем одного вечера.
Изюминкой станет гранатовый сок. Мы уже несколько месяцев регулярно пьём свежевыжатый гранатовый сок, так что я получил некоторый опыт в этой области – специфический для Москвы, конечно же. С гранатовым соком современные миксологи работают неохотно, поэтому выбор вариантов широтой не блистал. Я порылся в своих записях и вспомнил о Diva Quaranta, коктейле неизвестного мне автора, рецепт которого я обнаружил в книге «Mr. Boston Official Bartenders’ Guide».
Diva Quaranta Cocktail

Когда-то (точнее, именно тогда, когда я его впервые увидел) я уже делал этот коктейль и даже писал о нём в микроблоге.
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17th January, 2012 | 7 Comments »
Categories: Campari, London dry gin, Pomergranate juice, Simple syrup
 

S.I.P.#6: Cosmopolitan

23rd December, 2011 | Tags: , , | 14 Comments
 

S.I.P.#6: Cosmopolitan logoОпять зима и очередной S.I.P. Развитие идёт, и, надеюсь, не по кругу. Год назад здесь был консервативный Sidecar. А теперь мы пьём Cosmopolitan – другой век, другие люди, другой коктейль.

Нарушу в этот раз правила и не буду пересказывать версии создания этого коктейля. Это было недавно, и поэтому лично мне такие истории совсем неинтересны, как неинтересна и гламурная слава Космополитена.

По сути, это «барный» коктейль – простой, недорогой и броский. Волей судеб он стал знаковым для коктейльной сцены прошлого десятилетия, и при этом я убеждён, что слава его имеет стопроцентный «вирусный» характер.S.I.P.#6: Cosmopolitan

Космополитен мне кажется неким даунгрейдом Маргариты, который удачно маскирует своё родство фиговым листочком броским колером клюквы. Водка значительно дешевле и доступней текилы. Мало того, нейтральный вкус неароматизированной водки или же невнятный вкус ароматизированной снижает требования к остальным компонентам и исключает риск получить мерзкий вкус носков при удешевлении применяемого в Маргарите базового алкоголя. Дешёвая текила убивает Маргариту, дешёвая водка лишь огрубляет вкус Космополитена. Такой экономически выгодный коктейль не мог не быть придуман.

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23rd December, 2011 | 14 Comments »
Categories: Cointreau, Cranberry juice, Lime juice, Mandarine Napoléon, Orange bitters (Angostura), Simple syrup, Vodka (black currant infused), Vodka (citrus flavored), Vodka (citrus infused), Vodka (mandarin infused), Vodka (unflavoured)
 

Alizé Daiquiri

13th October, 2011 | Tags: | 6 Comments
 

Do you love classic Daiquiri? If you ask me, I’ll answer that I didn’t understand it until I’ve got used to mix there aged Cuban rums only. Cocktails with lime and white rum make me sick, to be honest. Too acid and plain for my taste. A few years later Moscow stores offered too little rum and there were mainly cheap white rums: Cuban pair Varadero and Havana Club and Puerto Rican Bacardi, of course. Later the situation has improved a lot but since those times I dislike «ron blanco».

So now I’m used to take medium-bodied aged Cuban rums when I need to mix Daiquiri. Maybe that’s wrong but the cocktail benefits from strong and distinct rum flavour. Also I’m choosing aged rums when I want to make some fruit twists on classic Daiquiri. And this time I’ve used it in my passion fruit inspired cocktail.

Alizé Daiquiri

Here I’ve used Alizé Gold Passion, a modern liqueur based on Cognac and passion fruit. With Cuban rum, it creates wonderful tropical aroma – fruity, spicy and exotic.

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13th October, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Categories: Alizé Gold Passion, Lime juice, Rum (aged), Simple syrup
 

Gin Daisy

30th September, 2011 | Tags: , , | 4 Comments
 

Here is the third report about what I was drinking this summer. The first and the second were about Gin Fix and Tom & John Collins respectively. Now the post about Gin Daisy completes a story about gin summer adventures.

Gin Daisy

In my post about Gin Fix I’ve explained in details my vision concerning differences between Gin Fix and Gin Daisy. It’s just an opinion based on some old cocktail books and posts of respected bloggers as well.

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30th September, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Categories: Blueberry liqueur, Chartreuse (yellow), Cherry brandy, Gin (raspberry infused), Ginger liqueur (homemade), Grenadine (homemade), Lemon juice, London dry gin, Melon liqueur, Passionfruit syrup, Raspberry liqueur, Simple syrup, Sloe gin liqueur, Soda water, Strawberry liqueur
 

MxMo LXI: Local Color – Russian Apple Sour

25th September, 2011 | Tags: , , , , | 6 Comments
 

Mixology Monday logo

Mixology Monday monthly online cocktail party is going on and the current event starts on Sunday thanks to Lindsay who hosts it at her Alcohol Alchemy blog.

This time MixMo is about local spirits and Lindsay wants to know what local craft spirits we have here and why we love it:

…pull out your favourite «local» craft spirit (for those of you not in US, what hidden gem from your neck of the woods do you want to give some cocktail press?)…

Well, in the Russian woods we have the only spirit and you are all know it as vodka. Actually samogon (and not vodka) is Russian craft spirit (follow the link and look for «Russia» section). Unfortunately home distilling as well as hand-craft distilleries were illegal in Russia for a long time so now we have only vodka industry alive and growing. I’m aware that cocktail enthusiasts do not love vodka so I opt for vodka infusion.

Various hand-crafted and commercial vodka and samogon infusions are widely spread in Russia.

MxMo LXI: Local Color - Russian Apple Sour

Making infusions in autumn, I’m used to taking Antonovka apples that are in season in late September. Antonovka apple tree is an ancient cultivar that came from Central Russia and probably it appeared as a crossbreed of unknown apple cultivar and wild apple tree. Antonovka apples are very sour at first and bring wonderful and strong nose so it’s used in homemade preserves and traditional culinary. Later the stored apples become a bit sweeter and suitable for eating – usually in December and later.

I’m sure that typical Russian apple flavour will underline local peculiarities of my Antonovka vodka infusion.

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25th September, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Categories: Cinnamon flavoured liqueur, Egg white, Lemon juice, Simple syrup, Vodka (apple infused)
 

S.I.P.#5: Tom Collins

2nd September, 2011 | Tags: , , | 15 Comments
 

S.I.P.#5: Tom Collins logo

The fifth S.I.P. event is coming, and the theme it brings in the spotlight is Tom Collins, an evergreen classic long drink.

Born John Collins, it was mentioned in Harry Johnson’s «New And Improved Bartenders’ Manual» in 1882. At that time Collins was based on Dutch gin also known as genever or jenever. When Old Tom gin has came to market, John Collins found a brother Tom Collins by name. In Tom Collins bartenders utilized English gin – Old Tom, Plymouth and London Dry, of course.

It was Tom Collins who has became popular long drink while his brother John remained little known because of genever’s limited availability.

In the second half of 20th century Americans have thought of John Collins. But for the newfound John they used bourbon whiskey and not genever. New thing is none other than forgotten old thing. Ironically, Americans pretend to be Tom Collins inventors and John Collins is a Britain-born long drink which was named after London Limmer’s Hotel bar waiter John Collins.

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2nd September, 2011 | 15 Comments »
Categories: Cucumber, Genever, Lemon juice, London dry gin, Simple syrup, Soda water
 

Gin Fix

27th July, 2011 | Tags: , , | 4 Comments
 

I have a secret: my favourite summer drinks are based on gin so it’s not Mojito or Paloma but Tom Collins, Gin Fizz, Gin Fix, Gin Daisy, Gin Smash etc. I found it a bit weird when I saw people going mad about Mojito or Cuba Libre. Sure, rum is exceptional in tiki but I can’t imagine summer without dry Gin & Tonic or Negroni.

Gin Fix

So I’m going to talk about simple long drinks with gin, lemon juice and sugar. Honestly, I don’t know how far I’ll go but Gin Fix is the first drink I want to talk about.

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27th July, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Categories: Cointreau, Genever, Lemon juice, London dry gin, Maraschino liqueur, Orgeat syrup, Peachtree liqueur, Pineapple syrup, Simple syrup
 

Old Fashioned. The story continues

28th May, 2011 | Tags: , , | 10 Comments
 

For me, Old Fashioned cocktail is a pure inspiration. I love it made in traditional way with bourbon and also I love to tweak a bit the cocktail’s classic recipe.

My first post is dedicated to normal Old Fashioned. Current one is about all Old Fashioned variations I love so much.

In my work I applied two basic methods: a) to change a spirit and b) to replace (partially) syrup with a liqueur. Additionally I was trying to combine various bitters and extracts.

Old Fashioned cocktail

Another method  is to mix two or more brown spirits. In my opinion that’s a tricky way and today I feel I’m not ready to go in for these experiments. Now I just adopt another bloggers’ practices, and my latest effort was theSpeakista’s cocktail called Final Five. That’s not Old Fashioned but I dare suppose it a cocktail in Old Fashioned style. In any case, I’ve made two cocktail in similar manner and wrote about it below.

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28th May, 2011 | 10 Comments »
Categories: Amaro Nonino, Armagnac, Aromatic bitters (Angostura), Aromatic bitters (homemade), Benedictine, Bourbon whiskey, Canadian whisky, Chartreuse (green), Coffee bitters (homemade), Cognac, Demerara syrup, Maraschino liqueur, Meukow Vanilla, Orange bitters (Angostura), Pastis, Rhum agricole (aged), Rock candy syrup, Rum (aged), Rum (dark), Rye whiskey, Scotch blended whisky, Simple syrup, Vanilla extract
 

Bourbon & Peach Smash

20th July, 2010 | Tags: | 1 Comment
 

I’m too lazy to make cocktails with herbs or fruits. Yes, they are so tasty but depend heavily on the fruits or herbs I have at the moment. So making the same cocktails today, I can’t get the taste I had yesterday and the cocktail I’ll make tomorrow won’t be the same that I made today.

Maybe I’m just an amateur, and that situation is disappointing for me.

But this summer there are so many plants and berries in season… It’s hard to resist that temptation.

This time I used peaches, mint and ginger in  Bourbon & Peach Smash, the beautiful recipe by Alberta Straub.

Bourbon & Peach Smash

Despite its components are easy to find, I slightly adapted the recipe. Maybe that’s not right but I’m used to do so because I like to find something new experimenting with components and proportions.

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20th July, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Categories: Bourbon whiskey, Campari, Ginger, Ginger ale, Mint, Peach, Simple syrup, Vermouth (sweet)
 

Gin Basil Smash

15th July, 2010 | Tags: , | 4 Comments
 

We have an abnormal hot weather here in Moscow. No rains, dust, burning hot stone. Absolutely no intention to do anything. Cocktails I drink now are extremely simple.

But there was one exception when I have been told to use some basil we gathered at our garden. Gin Basil Smash, a cocktail I saw at  Gin, Not Vodka was so interesting, and I’ve summoned all my strength to do it.

Gin Basil Smash

By the way, Daniel Nadasi in his article about Gin Basil Smash mentioned that Jay Oh Gosh! Earlier wrote about it too. And Jay mentioned that Gin Basil Smash has been invented at Le Lion Bar in Hamburg, the place which Daniel Nadasi visited before writing that article (and the place that article was about).

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15th July, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Categories: Basil, Lemon, London dry gin, Simple syrup
 
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