opinionated alchemist

My friend Felix, just sent me a link, with the very short note: "finally..." Here is the link . To be honest- I haven't tried any of these rums. While these products are definitely something to look forward to, I anticipated something different from Bacardi. And while the presentation of the rums is great, I think it would be nicer, to "premiumize" and/or update existing or historic bottle designs. Especially for the Neo - it seems to be more obvious to go for the original design of the "Carta Blanca" [only in a better quality]. Or to put it into the 8 anos bottle. And I would love to see the Facundo bottle coming back. I still have the original bottle [and it is almost full] - and it is just different... and beautiful! Another point - the line seems not really cohesive - especially when it comes to the design [well I didn't tried it, so I cannot say]. But most importantly are the prices. These products are plainly too e...

So we tried to do the barrel aged Mai Tai in an 1l barrel - and the taste was really good. The only problem was, that the leftovers, of "diverse angel shares" were... not worth the effort. What angel share you ask? Well, first the barrel was leaking out of the spigot. It was leaking slow and sticky - but anyway. Another serious reason for the angel share was the tasting [sorry!].  This cocktail really has to be seriously tasted. This is ok for a large barrel, but for one liter barrel, it is a real problem... Anyway - batch no.2 is on its way. I did some amendments: I was always curious, why "Trader Vic" called for a dollop of French g arnier o rgeat in his original Mai Tai recipe. Almond syrup and dollop doesn't really properly align in my sense. But then it stroke me: what is orgeat: a syrup made from almonds, sugar and often a hydrosol [usually orange flower water]and water... guess which ingredient has all ingredients except of the water? Yes - marz...

We talked about the current trends, which will be definitely see a widespread adaption in a lot of bars in the next months and years. But there is one "next thing" which will be definitely interesting, as it is unique. And this time, no Jeffrey Morgenthaler comes up with it before me. I am for the moment fascinated of fermentation. No - not necessary the alcoholic fermentation [via yeast]. But fermentations via more complex microbiological cultures. This is definitely nothing new. We are talking about sauerkraut, kimchi, fermented pickles - and we are talking about kombucha and kefir and well - the original ginger beer. Instead of relying on the mono-culture yeast [I know - there are thousand of different yeast varieties - but usually only one - or maximum very few are used in one brew], these ferments are relying on a symbiosis of yeast, probiotic bacterias [like lacto-bacterias], sometimes even fungus. And it is not a "accidental" process - but these microo...

So made the statement, that the ongoing creativity of the Bourbon industry could very much hurt themselves - especially their reputation for quality products. I still think this is true to the mark - however today it stroke me - what they could have done better and who is really threatened. As you can already see in the headliner, Canadian whisky might be even more threatened. Why? Well - because they are not as creative - but they also don't have such a highly respected product if compared to US straight whiskey. Canadian whisky was always the cheaper and lower quality option. Yes - there are Canadian whiskies, which are ok. But truly great are non. All starts in how, Canadian whisky is produced - bear with me... Canadian whisky contains also different grains - corn [as main grain], barley and rye. Different than in straight whiskey, Canadians are fermenting, distilling and aging their different grains separately [at least this is what liquor.com can add to the subject]....