opinionated alchemist

  Folks - I was surprised that I could not directly find a Ginger Beer recipe on my site. I also added there far too much citric acid and far too less sugar. With time comes wisdom I guess. I was inspired by Liz the Chef  - I have checked the traffic sources of my blog - and just found out, a lot of traffic came from her website. Thank you. Anyways - she posted a Meyer Lemon Dark and Stormy (and yes, the post is several years old). But what did I needed to see? Store-bought Ginger Beer. This isn't great! The problem with store-bought ginger beer is, that it is a) pasteurized and b) it is made with ginger extract (which I guess comes from dried ginger). Hygiene-wise it makes perfectly sense. Ginger has a lot of microorganisms (a lot of good ones)... yeast and lactobacteria. The best way to get 100% rid of it (because you don't want to have a commercial ginger beer bottles, which are exploding due to rogue fermentation) is to use dehydrated ginger. No water - no (live) microorga...

The year 2021 is still quite young... and 2020 wasn't really fruitful. However even though the title says, 2020 and 2021, this drink took me by surprise and it is easily one of the best drink I have had in a far longer time. Look - to rating drinks (and compare them with classics like a good Old Fashioned) are problematic to say the least, but this drink is surprisingly simple and incredible good. Introducing: the Bourbon Horseneck.  I know, you expected more. And let's face it, we are not talking about a normal Horseneck here! First, we are looking at Knob Creek - one of my favorite "every day bourbons". It is very rich, has some caramel, maple syrup and nutty notes.  But what really makes a difference is the ginger ale... my new recipe just remarkable rich and indulgent and there is just no ginger ale on the market which can come remotely close to it.  So- if you want to experience the drink, I am talking about, there is only one way: some hands-on approach. Black S...

I have never really made a secret out of it: I think that complicated cocktails, with loads of ingredients are simply unnecessary... even foolish at times. I do believe in classic (and new classic) drinks - made on the highest level possible. A lot of bartenders though don't really understand fully the concept - there is a lot of perception and much less real knowledge (and taste) in the bartending world. Take for example the humble horseneck. If you would ask a group of bartender to make a premium version of it, most would use a great bourbon, Angostura bitters & a commercial ginger ale and call it a day. There I do agree with those who say, that using premium spirits is a waste in mixed drinks. There are others which would use the premium spirit, would though use a premium mixer, Angostura (or fancier bitters), and also feel confident to have done good work. But here is the thing: often "premium" mixers are more or less the same as commercial mixers. Yes...

As mentioned, I am not a big fan of complicating drinks. We are at a point, where most pre-prohibition cocktails are recovered, where most variations are explored... and the "logic", but not necessary best step into the future is, to make drinks more complicated. Maybe I am too conservative to follow this trend - but I think we didn't explored to create great but simple drinks. For example, the West didn't yet really discovered the  Chūhai. As Japanese are masters of copying but then also internalize it and make it their own, the c hūhai started as simple highball (the hai  stand s for "high"). As Japan worships its own spirit, which is  Shōchū the highball is based on it - with the addition of lemon and soda - and nowadays there are many different flavors.  This is what I remembered, when I ate a very ripe piece of melon, but didn't finished it, because of its almost oxidized flavor. What to do with it? Well - I had some leftover lemon inf...