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Showing posts from September, 2021

Glenmorangie- unused potential

Scotch can be very divers. It can be smokey and decisive, it can be floral and almost fruity - it can be delicate and really heavy and oily. Long time ago, I have been on a whisky-convention and in a workshop, they guys at Glenmorangie gave us Glenmorangie "spirit" to try - totally unaged Glenmorangie. I expected to be harsh and undrinkable - but it was beautiful - extremely fruity (think Poire William) - if they would have sold it, I would have purchased it. In the same event, they have introduced the experimental release of Glenmorangie Artisan Cask (I purchased later the bottle). For a very young whisky it hasn't been cheap, but it was truly incredible. A testament, that Single Malt Whisky doesn't need a lot of cask influences (at least some delicate distillates like Glenmorangie). Glenmorangie has shown for sure a lot of innovation. They also populated barrel-finishing - which is used now from most of the industry, to introduce interesting variants. As LVMH purcha

Essentials oils and natural aromas - viable in the bar?

I have been pretty dogmatic in the bar in the last 15 or so years.  Other than most bar people (who would consider themselves dogmatic), I haven't been just against new stuff. I have never tried to stop progress.  However I almost entirely moved away from flavored syrups. Or "cheap" liqueurs. Or even a lot of flavored spirits. Why? Because I don't believe, that "my bar" should be based on food additives (...).  Most others were less concerned. There are spirits use for sure natural (but isolated) aromas. Think about one of the darling-gins of many bartenders: Ripple. If you have a bit of a clue, what the food industry is doing, this gin shouts out: complex extracted aromas. But Ripple is not the only example (even though, it is in a "premium space" where most other similar products cannot be found). I am pretty sure, that the cucumber and rose extracts of Hendricks are also not house-crafted. And would it make a big difference, if the guys at Willi

The Myth of the coldest Martini Cocktail and overall gimmicks.

  Oh my... I feel, that I should convert into "Cocktail-Mythbusters". Apparently there is a "competition out there" for the coldest Martini cocktail. This is... dumb. There are bars, which are using super-chilled water, to dilute a mixture of freezer Martini premix or just gin or vodka. This is counterproductive (because of... science). Water doesn't become much colder than 0ºC. And super chilled it is max -5ºC - but doesn't really store the thermal capacity (because water has a freezing point and the "naturally coldest" temperature of 0ºC). All what you do is increasing the temperature of the drink. Oh - there are also different ways . Point is, that these are gimmicks. If you really need to, put a bottle of premixed martini (super-super dry, vermouth has less alcohol, means, it increases the freezing point of the water-ethanol solution) into a specialty freezer, which goes below -20ºC. But as Dave Arnold have pointed it out - a too cold cocktail

What makes Tequila great?

My previous post , told you about my finding of the "new" extraction / conversion of sugars in the agave. If you are a tequila nut, you might have understand, what I meant. But for all others, please let me point out, which Tequila you should look for - which Tequila is a marketing rip off and so on. First of all the obvious:   ►   100% Agave Tequila vs Mixto First: what is a mixto? Tequila can made only in the state of Jalisco (and in few other towns) - and it always has to be made from Blue Agave (Tequilana Weber Azul). However the fermentable sugars of the agave (>51%) can be mixed with other sugars (usually sugar cane). We can pretty much say, that under Mixtos you will never find a great tequila - doesn't matter what. These tequilas are always inexpensive. Are they drinkable? Yeah... but I guess also a lot of people have their "tequila reaction" (no more) because of too much mixto. ►   Highland versus Lowland Tequila There is a difference between highla

If you know, you know... Tequila

What keeps me passionated in the market of beverages is, that there is still something new to explore. I thought I got a good overview of Tequila. Sure I am no more a bartender and neither a beverage manager - and cannot keep track of all latest "lit-brands".  On the other side, I thought that I am pretty solid with the production of Tequila and what makes good and what doesn't mak e good tequila. Boy was I wrong. For anyone who knows reasonably well about spirits and tequila, the point, that 100% agave tequila is better than mixtos (which are a mixture between >51% sugars fermented from agave and >49% other sugars (normally sugar cane) was really clear to me.   However I stumbled upon the method of  Acid-Thermal Hydrolysis on Tequilamatchmaker.com .  As I haven't heard about it, I googled it and found on  longislandloutequila.com this  very passionate comment  about  the process: DIFFUSER - This next procedure is one that  people need to learn about, and then

Don't mess with "classics" and great drinks - unless...

There are great drinks, there are also good drinks and then there are drinks, which are ok - and yes - there are drinks which are pretty awful. I am usually don't care for awful drinks. These are drinks, which have a screwed up concept - which have in the core an unredeemable quality (or better - lack of quality).  Ok drinks - are pretty good to fix. You first of all try to exchange all parts with quality ingredients. A bit more TLC around technique and presentation, and you end up at least with a good drink - maybe it could be even a great drink. Good drinks - are difficult to "improve upon". But often these drinks "on the street" are made with mediocre products, which can be replaced by better products.  The most difficult part is to try to improve a great drink. What can be better than great? Greater? But sometimes you got an epiphany.  The Gin Basil Smash is a pretty awesome cocktail. Jörg Meyer from Le Lion in Hamburg did an incredible job, in creating a mo