So - I have just completed my first test batch of my “New West Africa Gin”. The botanicals are quite unique - instead of other gins, which are “balanced” or have a rather citrussy and floral note, this is packed with spices... As I used a ton of botanicals (but did cut of a small amount of heads and a generous amount of tails) the spirit came clear into the my distilling container - however then when I watered it down (to ca. 47% ABV) it just punished me with a solid louche. I researched in the internet, and most website suggested, that you have to cut of more heads and more tails or chill filter it. All of these things will result into a clearer spirit, but also with far less botanicals. I tasted the first 10ml of foreshots, and they were not “funky” at all - very solid - actually very good (despite of a really high alcohol content). I made a “high essential oil” gin before (basically it was a dating gin - this is a story for another time...) and the gin was also clou...
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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...
This topic is rather for the pro's for us. It is pretty controversial - and it is rather important when you teach. I believe though, that drinks categories are also important, when it comes to understand drinks and drinks culture - and to memorize many drinks - what you categorize you will remember... Let me be frank. Through more than 2 decades I found that below categories make sense. It is not the answer to anything - and I don't claim that. At the end it is a theorem, which depends on your views (but also off priorities and cocktail history). First shocker: cocktails are short drinks! Always. We are not discussing here what average Joe (and Jane) are calling cocktails. This is about people who have an insight into drinks. No Piña Coladas and Mojitos are no cocktails. Neither are frozen drinks. The Cocktail Evolutionary Tree We can further consider categories as an evolutionary tree. There are "living fossils" being still created (and going strong) ...
Do you know, that it is pretty expensive to get Inca Kola in Dubai (or probably anywhere in the world except of Peru)? There is little which is more expensive than alcohol - but Inka Cola is one of those things. How expensive you ask? Amazon has prices of U$ 70.00 for a pack of 12 - we haven't spoken about shipment - or even the soda tax of 50%, which you have to excise in Dubai... I can be crazy - but I am (usually???) not that crazy! I know, that Inca Kola is quite a commercial product, which isn't shying away to use commercial flavorings, preservatives and so on. Why is it so expensive? That is a good question. Is it worth it? Probably not... I quite liked the Almdudler which I bought a couple of months ago. Also not cheap (but by no means that crazy). But it doesn't necessarily fit perfectly into Noir . Noir is about South American food with an Asian influence (think Peru). Something really South American (except of Inca Kola) is y erba mate . However it is pr...
A lot of classic craft bars don't have a high power blender (or sometimes, they don't have any blender). And it makes perfectly sense. An electrical blender takes a lot of bar real estate (if it is "silenced" even more). It costs a lot. And if you have got one, people are insisting into frozen drinks all the time. And it is really noisy! But they are also useful. Fresh (but pressed before the shift) juices can be "whipped up" and guests appreciating the "freshness" (small trick out of my toolbox). Or you have got some foams, purees and so on to do - which need to be thoroughly blended. So for years I have been consistently struggling between the justifications for and against a blender - until a friend whined for a Piña Colada at home and I agreed one and used my inversion blender in my kitchen. This has been a Eureka moment - because it has been working really good. Not even longer than a week after, I have been buying an inversion blen...
We have had a talk with the guys of muddle-me and they asked Darcy, what kind of title he would like to choose: bartender, mixologist, "cocktail-whisperer. Always very down to earth, Darcy replied that he likes to see himself just as bartender. That bartenders should be accessible to everyone - and that nobody should think, that they are something special, or "above" of the rest. I really like this approach - and absolutely believe as well, that everybody has the same value. However I just have the feeling, that causality of one, does not imply correlation to the other. I can be absolutely approachable and down to earth, if people call me mixologist. If you look at the "grand masters" in Bushido, you will find, that most of these exceptional individuals are extremely understated and "normal". It even seems, the "higher" these masters rank, the lesser ego they have. Now you could argue, that they are awarded as masters and g...