opinionated alchemist

I have seen Thomas Henry sodas on the mixology.eu blog before. The company from Berlin is advertising, that it was co-created by experienced bartenders. And now it is available here in the UAE. Visual: The small 200 ml bottles look good. Its modern, but also classy. Well done. The ginger ale, is quite dark, if compared with Schweppes. The ginger beer [called Spicy Ginger] is off white medium-opaque. The bitter lemon has the same half-translucency however with a hint of green. The soda, elderflower tonic and tonic water are clear [it seems, that the tonic has a hint of blue - but I could be wrong]. Nose: The ginger ale smells quite gingery. Nice. The tonic has a quite sherbet nose [you know- the bubbly fizzy powder, you had as a kid]. Hints of citrus… pleasant. TH Bitter Lemon has a very pronounced citrus zest smell - maybe a bit on the oxidized citrus side - but overall good and much better than Schweppes. The TH Spicy Ginger surprises with a dried ginger nose - almos...

To understand a drink, you first of all have to understand the drink... so first of all lets discuss what makes a Mojito a mojito: Lime juice Addition of sugar Light rum Fizz Fresh mint Additionally to these features, what is important to experience the Mojito Freshness Medium alcohol contend Fizz Light rum aromas Its not offensive - rather pleasant and "complimentary" Cracked ice Ok - there were some repetitions in the last points - those even have more emphasis on the drink. Finally the points, which are not associated with a mojito [or should not be associated] Syrupy, thick or sickly sweet Other herbs as mint Other spirits as rum Muddling anything in a mojito [!] Any bold flavors [like fruit, spice, liquor, etc.] What we have to understand here: Like a Martini cocktail, a Mojito is not  a drink category. Even if you vary the recipe, you should still close down pretty much on the original mojito experience. All these strawberry, bas...

It is a challenge and I've only mastered this question after a long time: How to prepare mint. If you make it properly, you will have fresh and healthy looking sprigs for several days - or even a week! Really lucky bartenders are having a garden with lots of mint shrubs - however even they might have problems in the winter... And we are not yet in a position, that we can tell guests, that they cannot have Mojitos, Juleps and other minty drinks, because mint is out of season! Here in the Middle East, it is even more difficult to get healthy mint;  in culinary [especially MESA cuisine] a lot of mint is used, but almost everything is processed (at least shredded) so you can [fortunately] not even imagine, how the mint looked before! Long story short - here I am with a step by step explanation to get fantastic looking mint for at least a week!!! 1. This is the mint we get from the cold kitchen. I have to be honest, that this mint looks quite healthy, if you c...

Yeah - another old post. We carbonated today the first time at the Yas Viceroy hotel Abu Dhabi some grapefruit soda as well as peach soda; means we didn't only used carbonated club water, but used an iSi container with a CO2 cartridge. Due to the increased CO2, the sodas became a bit more sour. Overall they were more than fantastic - really tasty. And housemade sodas become one part of my beverage strategy for the hotel. Following the old post: Let me tell you a secret: I am addicted to sugar and addicted to sweet sodas; first of all Coca Cola. Unfortunately Coca Cola is really inexpensive [and mineral water quite expensive] in Dubai, so it is very hard to break through this bad habit! Though there are very few sweet sodas, which taste great - good Tonic is great [especially if it has a good companion like gin], or Ginger Beer is great [but not so much as protagonist - ginger beer is another drink, which greatly benefits of a companion, which is now dar...