opinionated alchemist

Did you know, that Campari Bitter mainly taste like Grand Wormwood (Artimisia Absinthium)? While re-opening the Italian restaurant in my workplace, I intended to recreate Campari Bitter without alcohol - Fauxpari Bitter if you like. As I am not into artificial coloring, but as "bug-juice"  is also not really available here, I used hibiscus to color the drink in a deep red. And then I infused all type of herbs and spices into water (used my immersion circulator to steep the mixture for 3 hours at 65C). The spices I used: Dried orange peel Coriander Thyme (dry) Rosemary (dry) Oregano (dry) Black pepper Szechuan pepper Sage (fresh) Cinnamon Allspice Juniper Bay leaf Toasted cassia bark Caraway Vanilla Fenugreek Celery seeds Fennel seeds Star anise Anise seeds Green cardamom Well I made two batches - one, with less ingredients (and less hibiscus) and one with all ingredients and more. When I did the first batch, I didn't used water for the...

No - this post is not the another "the perfect XYZ". Lets say, it is a preamble post about it. I have to say, that tomato juice [the canned one] is kinda guilty pleasure of mine. However I somewhat dislike Bloody Mary's. It is strange - but there is so much wrong with it: The texture - yeah - I am a declared hater of purees and thick cocktails. And a Bloody Mary with canned juice is exactly that. The texture - no - this is not a typo. It is not only the thick texture - it is also the watery [and grainy] texture, when the drink dilutes. The drink culture. The Bloody Mary is a hangover remedy. It. Is. Consumed. Over. The. Day. Not in the evening [when it is usually ordered]. The spirit. Funny is, when you start to experiment, it is surprising, how well the mixture goes with any spirit - but vodka! Even rum has an almost addictive character to it. Gin is awesome [call it Red Snapper], Tequila is also great [Bloody Maria]. Vodka just taste... almost bitter. I think ...

R ussell S anchez MONIN UAE MONIN Rocks @ HARD ROCK CAFE Dubai  — with   Rhiandro Gardiner  and Louie Aquias  at  Hard Rock Cafe . I have seen this on my Facebook timeline. And well... I wanted to write about Monin since quite a long time, but haven't. However this message was a catalyst, to speak up. It is already a couple of months ago, that I routinely checked the ingredient list of a Monin bottle. ...and was shocked.... Point is, that I have always defended Monin against my US colleagues as decent brand. At least with the products they offered here in the Middle East and in Europe; they came from their factory in France. Most of the ingredients [except lets say in Blue Curacao syrup] were natural. Long time ago, somebody from Monin explained, that this is due to the quite strict regulations in France for syrup - there it is a family culture to drink syrup sweetened water/seltzer. And off course ...

Folks - I have to show you this video of the Small Screen Network . This is how I feel very often, when "celebrity bartenders" are explaining what they are doing [but they mean it seriously]. Enjoy: My favorite part is the potato sugar: stir it every 12 minutes for several days… rofl.

There is an interesting article   [follow the link] I found in the New York Times. An top-class panel of bar-personalities discussed, bad historic drinks. So far, so good. I never believed, that all heirloom drinks are great. However what let me dig deeper, was the choices the panelist did. Dale deGroff chose to doubt the Aviation - he thought, that it taste like soap - even if it is including violet liqueur, it even taste more like soap. Now - I made quite a lot of Aviations; it is a finicky cocktail. But prepared appropriately it is a very interesting drink. However it has to be cold enough - hence you have to shake it really well. Mr Frizell further talked down the Brooklyn. And well - I am more or less on the same wagon- it combines straight rye whiskey with amaro [amer picon to be precise], dry vermouth and maraschino. It seems to me, that it was a substitute for an occasion, when a bartender ran out of sweet vermouth [for a Manhattan]. While there is no need to m...