Variations on a theme: Gin Sour

Fitzgerald

I just love how a simple cocktail can look totally different with minor changing!

Take for example a Gin Sour,

• 2oz Gin
• 1oz  lemon juice
• ¾oz Simple Syurp(2:1)
• 2ds Angostura
• egg whites

Dry shake, shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with aromatics (bitters os citrus oils)

Now, if you don’t have eggs, don’t get bothered!
When I started making cocktails for my friends some years ago, my favorite cocktail was a Daiquiri, but one day I tried making a Gin Sour without egg whites and bitters.

That was a thought bite!
The egg whites really help softening the this here, but so does the bitters!

Bitters can work together with citrus and make them more alive, so do watch your balance after putting the bitters in.

Fitzgerald

• 2oz Gin
• 1oz  lemon juice
• ¾oz Simple Syurp(2:1)
• 2ds Angostura

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with lemon oils.

This is really smooth, Angostura is a good host, you can meet all the guest but you know that Ango is right there bringing them together.

That’s a really refreshing sip, with lots of spices coming through.

You can also make your twist here, maybe introducing more vegetal notes with some rosemary syrup.

Want something more refreshing and challenging? Try this

Pegu Club, from Burma to the world!

Pegu Club

• 2oz Gin
• ½oz lime juice
• ½oz Cointreau
• 3ds Angostura

Shake & strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lime wedge.

Easy substitutions that lends a dry and bold sip!
Make adjustments to your taste here, maybe a barspoon of sugar syrup or a little egg white can make it more approachable.

Some recipes call for Curaçao insted of Triple Sec, I can’t tell which one is better.
Some might also say to replace one dash of Angostura for one dash of Orange Bitters.

I think this make for a drier cocktail, but a drop of Orange Bitters can take you to a next level, gotta try and reach YOUR favorite recipe!

On the theme you can also have a White Lady!

Keep it simple and delicious!

Saúde!

Casino cocktail & Av(ar)iations

I’ve been a bad blogger, nor writing anything for a long period and missing MxMo. Let’s get it back to the trails!
I’ve stumbled upon the Casino.
Having found two recipes I tried both, of course.

Casino Cocktail

• 2oz Gin
• 1/8oz lemon juice
• 1/8oz Maraschino Liqueur
• 2ds Orange Bitters

Stir, strain up, garnish with a cherry.

Casino #1

• 1½oz Gin
• ¾oz Maraschino Liqueur
• ½oz lemon juice
• 2ds Orange Bitters

Stir, strain up, garnish with a cherry.

The first one is from Savoy cocktail book, the other seems like a Simon Difford’s adaptation.
Also the first was made with Old Tom, which I don’t have and Robert Hess makes his with London Dry.

That being said, the Savoy’s recipe is very strong, maybe a gentler gin (old tom or a low-proof lond dry) would take the edges off, but was a great drink, not too tart and very floral, herbaceous.

The Casino#1 was also  great cocktail, more on the sweet side and very maraschino forward though.
As I said on the last post I don’t like when the maraschino is very dominant, maybe you should cut it down with some simple syrup.

Also note that the more recent recipe is an Aviation with some bitters, while the other is more like a cocktail.

Talking about Aviation variations, I present you the

Beachcomber Cocktail

• 2oz Bacardi Superior
• ¼oz Maraschino Liqueur
• ¼oz Triple Sec
• ¼oz Simple Syrup
• ¾oz lime juice

Shake hard and long, strain up.

This is a very good one, mixing Daiquiri,Aviation and Sidecar. The addition of simple syrup is mine.
You get all those flavors together and they work wonders, absolutely refreshing!

Saúde!

Maraschino Liqueur: Aviation & Crusta

I’m starting to get all those fancy liqueurs now!

I’ve acquired a Luxardo maraschino bottle!
Around here it is really hard to find some and they are expensive, so I’m really proud of myself!

In my last trip to Rio, which I’ll talk about in the next post, I found the maraschino liqueur for a reasonable price, also found the DeKuyper one, but decided for the “real stuff”.
You can see Simon Difford’s review of some brands here.

 

Let’s start with MY tasting notes (as you can see I’m really poor on this description):
Very oily aroma with some floral hints, nothing that my bad nose can describe more than this.
Refreshing and a little sweet at first, oily and nutty. Candy and nutty aftertaste with a little floral, but still oily.

I thought it was be more dry and floral, maybe even a little bitter, the product on itself is not a sipper but has a richness and texture that calls for some “dilution”.

Let’s get some cocktails then.

I’m taking an aeroplane…

AVIATION

• 2oz Gin
• ½oz Maraschino liquer
• ½oz lemon juice

Shake, strain, express lemon oils.

 

This is really refreshing, the liqueur goes a long way here and really shines.

I gave it a longer shake, since only 10sec wasn’t enought to calm down the gin.

If you are really lucky,  cut the maraschino to 10mL and add 5mL of creme de violette.

 

Cachaça CRUSTA

• 2oz João Andante cachaça
  
• ½oz triple sec
• ½oz lemon juice
• ¼oz maraschino
• ¼oz sugar syrup
• 2ds Angostura

Shake and strain into a “crusta garnished glass”.
This one was very good too, the cachaça was really lengthened and softened, becoming even more delicious!

 

I’m really happy with my new addition, expect more Maraschino cocktails.

Saúde!

 

Spiced Rum

This post is from my friend João Morandi. 

Today I decided to star writing about mixology. For many months I’ve being thinking about it, friends of mine already have started but after researching the internet and reading blogs and web sites of very talented and renowned mixologists I still had different experiences to share and subjects to approach in my very own way.

Since here in Brasil our access too many liquors that already exists in the entire world (please, producers, bring your special products…we deserve to drink good stuff too), I decided to season my very own rum. It’s the second “my very own”, but it’s on purpose. It means that I created the flavor profile by using Mediterranean spices, which are one of my favorite cousines in the world. In order to reach best flavor I used Bacardi Black Rum for its full-bodied and a blend of tropical fruits. These pre-existent flavors harmonized well with the spices I decided to use. And here they are:

Jhonny’s Spiced Rum

• 3 tbsp Smoked Paprika (the good stuff)
• 3 tbsp Spicy Paprika
• 3 tbsp Zaatar
• 3 tbsp Cinnamon
• 5 Cloves
• 3 tbsp Sugar
• 3 tbsp Syrian pepper

As I started with only 300ml (something around 10oz.), I still have to adjust the amount spice to a full 1 Liter Bottle. But something around 3 tbl spoons of each one (except the cloves. You put 5 or 6 cloves per Liter only) will give you a nice spice and kick in your rum.

After 24h waiting and infusing you can filter twice in coffee filter previous boiled 2 sec in pure water (so it wont give a paper taste to your Rum).

Taí (And there you have it, in portuguese slang). Ready to be sipped with coke or ginger ale (for the laziest ones).
You can also create great cocktails with it.
Chin Chin.

 

BATW : KAOD

My cocktail for Bols Around the World 2013 is the one pictured above! It’s called the KAOD.

BATW this year is themed on “inspiration”, I was already thinking about doing some cocktails for the touristic points in my city, inspired by the Bollywood Cocktail of Kathy Casey.

My starting point was the Mercado Central

If you want to make some bitters go there, if you want fresh fruits, beer, tobacco, fish, you got it, right?

There’s typical dishes there, like fried liver with gilo or the KAOL (cachaça, arroz(rice), ovo(eggs) and linguiça sausage).

So cachaça and pineapple (here know as abacaxi) would be my K.A.
Since we love cheese I remembered the foodpairing: Pineapple, Bleu Cheese and White Wine.

Based on some classic recipes, such as the Algonquin and the Cosmopolitan, me and my baby tried some recipes and we landed on this final version:

KAOD

• 45mL      Cachaça (João Andante or any Amburana aged)
• 30mL      Pineapple juice (fresh and strained)
• 22,5mL Dry Vermuth
• 15mL      BOLS Triple Sec
• 2,5mL    Simple syrup (2:1)
• 2,5mL     fresh lime juice

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a skewered bleu cheese.

The recipe ended up with a long list of ingredients, but the simple syrup and the triple sec ware crucial to draw more pineapple flavor and also to add mouth feel, since I finded that more on the sweet side, I added some lime juice. Then it was delicious.

The Amburana cachaça compliments very well the aroma from the sip, at first you smell cheese and cachaça with some freshness of the pineapple. The sip goes with a dominant cheese aroma and some fruitness both from the wood and the fruit, when the glass go back you experience a very refreshing and tropical cocktail, with a clean finish on the palate.

CHEERS!

MxMo LXX: Inverted Caipirinha

A Mai Tai?

So it is MxMo again!

The so enthusiastic and kind people of PutneyFarm are hosting this month, and the theme is Inverted. Anyway you think it works.
HERE’S THE ROUNDUP!

I stoled you Michael!

Since november I don’t make something, this month I “cheated” and made a Caipirinha again.
But for this month I have a reason.

I hate those lime shells on the floor of my ocean.
They only look like thrash in the final product,

and don’t contribute anything aromatically.

So, I’m Inverting the limes!

 

I only have cachaça, limes and honey today…

No recipe, you don’t need recipe to make a caipirinha.
Just a few modifications, squeeze half a lime and keep the shell, muddle the other half to extract the oils, take them out, add ice, garnish with the beautiful and aromatic shell. I also like to give a little stir into my caipirinhas, since I’m putting hot booze in my glass.

The aroma really compliments the cocktail the way it should be.

Saúde!

Also, thanks to Fred and PutneyFarm!

Amaro reviews by Simon Difford

Here you will find:

Amaro Montenegro

Ramazzotti

Zucca Rabarbaro

Averna

Nardini (Amaro, Bitter, Rabarbaro)

Cynar

Amer Picon