opinionated alchemist

The pink wave is approaching us and probably will overrun us all... at least this is my current feeling, when I see, what kind of new products are approaching and which products are hitting the trend-lists. First there was the Cosmopolitan - then after a long hiatus of pink highly popular beverages, rosé wine started its incredible victory run. The frozé has been a wine based drink, which really pushed pink further. And now we are at pink gin. This is an obvious combination of "pink" and another current hyper trend: gin. Gordon's, one of the biggest volume producer of gin (but in my eyes, maybe not one of the outstanding ones),  didn't wanted to stay behind - and also developed a pinkish gin. How is it? It is sweet, it is pink, it smells like strawberries and taste like a berry-fruit bouquet. There are for sure some juniper and other spice notes, which are coming through. Yet the beverage is not very complex. Which might be ok, for the target clientele?! M...

Some vintage Old Tom Gins These days I have thought a lot about gin. There are a lot of gins coming on the market and some people are already calling it the “new vodka”. While I do understand this notion, it is (out of my humble perspective) not at all comparable. Yes - gin has been really exploited in marketing (like vodka) - but it is really like any mainstream trend. Vodka has been always a bit different: while a lot of gins have significant differences (especially due to their different botanicals) - quality  vodkas lack the big differences and their subtle differences are subdued within the different moods people are in - or what they have eaten for breakfast or lunch, or if they had one drink before or simply with the mixers, the vodka is consumed with. Anyway - one big topic I have contemplated about is Old Tom Gin. In my eyes, this style has been largely misrepresented and misunderstood. The otherwise informative article in Imbibe shows exactly the issue ...

Yeah - I know - not the best or wittiest headliner. Well - but here we are - talking about  those 3 gins, all of them coming in blue bottles: Bombay Sapphire, Star of Bombay and Citadelle. However this won’t be a review - or an objective side by side comparison... just my impressions. Bombay Sapphire: I have got to admit, since Bombay Sapphire has been introduced, I actually liked it pretty much - and I can honestly say, that it has been one of my favorite gins. Probably you could even say, that Bombay Sapphire was the first gin, I’ve genuinely appreciated (and in those days, not a lot of people drank gin - nor where there a lot of options out there). My appreciation took though a slight dip, when Bacardi took over the reigns and reduced “their” gin in most markets from 47% to 40% abv. In Dubai though, the 47% abv version is still used, which is fantastic. In this impression, I would say, that Bombay Sapphire is definitely in the top group of gins - it might be not as...

Lately I am visiting more bars again. This definitely has something to do, that nobody waits anymore at home for me [respectively comes at the same time home]. In a bar, cocktails can be great. However it depends on the recipes of the bar and even on the bartender. Unfortunately in Dubai, there is a rather big chance, that you won't get a great cocktail. Another point is, that it takes time. And if you know the bartender, you don't want to be a dick, to order a cocktail, while he is busy. Whiskey and respectively whisky is also great. But usually it works much better in a real cozy bar, where you are sitting down and maybe have a cigar, than a bar, where you are socialising and walking around [at least, it is the case for me]. Rum falls into the same category. Longdrinks and highballs are usually boring [when done the "popular" way] - or cannot be found [made the artisan way, with house-crafted ingredients etc]. And vodka? C'mon - you should know me bette...

People who know me, also know, that I am horrible in naming drinks. I hate "fantasy names" but the deriving names sound all a bit stupid. Like this here. A couple of months ago [when I was still working at the Yas Viceroy, duh], I was filmed by Perrier. I think, it went quite well... The only thing, which I would do different today is, to use the Soda Plus instead of the cream whipper. Please check out the post on their site  and off course the video... Enjoy!

The rant is going on! This time: Gin. There are definitely quite a lot of great gins on the market. And if you ask me, these are mostly the ones, which are carried by more than 45% alcohol. As gin is literally in all mouths, the spirit industry continues to push more new gins out. But I am questioning the reason. Yes - a very specialized bar could taste every single gin cocktail with different gins and decide, which gin to use. However lets be honest, with business on one hand in mind and marketing on the other hand, most bar owners, managers and bartenders will settle either way on their pouring gin or on a gin, which finds quite some recognition under the customers. So the question remains - how many gins do you really need in a bar. If you see it pragmatic here the result: Standard [London Dry] gin - usually around 40%. This is your Gordon's, yes your "normal" 40% abv Bombay Sapphire, your Beefeater and maybe also your Plymouth. Yes I know, Plymouth is n...

The Martini cocktail is one of the most disputed drink of all times - and one of the drink, which dramatically changed through the times - I would say, not to its disadvantage. I shied from this topic a long time. It is just a mammoth of a topic with a lot of controversy. But what has to be done, has to be done! Lets first of all understand, about what we are talking about: We talking about the original Martini cocktail - which is gin based! We are also touching the topic of Vodka Martinis - and maybe throw some understanding of the Vesper Martini in it. We are not  talking about things , which have only the glass in common to this substantial cocktail: French martini Diverse fruit martinis [melon, strawberry, apple, raspberry or any other audacity] Espresso martini Breakfast martini Chocolate martini Cosmopolitan [sometimes impudently called Cosmo martini] Marteanis [or however you like to call it. Any other B*S* martini, showing up on some cocktail men...

Guys and gals - I know, I know - I haven't posted for a long time. My job is just taking for the moment a lot of attention - it is busy in the operations. But I haven't forgotten you - and I haven't forgotten about the opinionated-alchemist.com! First of all, the goody, an amazing video of the reserve channel of youtube: It amazes me, how good youtube videos in the last couple of month have become [even, if they are not uploaded tv shows]. You cannot really complain about anything said or done in this video [maybe except of the short shaking times and the use of egg white as flavor softener]. But it strikes me, that the overall idea of alcohol in history is deeply flawed. Why? Let me explain: In the video, there were two spirits discussed, which were quite in controversy in their times: gin and absinthe. But obviously there are many more instances, you could apply this theory on. The flaw is, that most bartenders and drink historians are perceiving the history...

This will be a spirited post. We discussed already about quality of juices . Again I have to repeat my quote: One drink will be as good as its worst ingredient. Identifying the quality of a distillate though might be more difficult as it seems. This is why spirit companies are spending millions and millions of dollars [much more as they are spending in R&D] into marketing. They want that customers connecting their product with a quality, which is sometimes not given... Lets just begin. Vodka:  It still dazzles me, why people are so into vodka. It just doesn't make good drinks! And just the advantage, that you doesn't smell a lot like alcohol, is [at least in my world] not a perfect excuse to consume it... Anyway - sometimes you need vodka and at least in this post I won't judge. What you have to know about vodka is, that [other than the well orchestrated marketing messages] it is not hard to produce vodka. In fact it is really cheap to produce any  vo...

When I came here to Abu Dhabi, I have seen it before... Thyme water [and the same company also offers camomile water - though I have a lifelong aversion against later]. Today I bought it - and I wanted to do some soda with it. It is pretty straight forward; make a syrup: you need liquid [for the moment the thyme water itself, but you need some additional water as well], sweetener [I used fructose], acid [citric acid]. And then dilute it with club soda [or dilute it with normal water and then carbonize it]. Amazing stuff... I will use the next time some honey as well - thyme and honey happen to be a happy couple... Also I would next time use some lemon zest, to lift up the heavy herbal flavor. Overall it is a winner. I added some ice to my soda and a good shot of Tanqueray Rangpur  [actually I run out of other gins - except of genever - actually I ration my Rangpur as it is not available in the ME]. Who said, that you need tonic water for a proper gin highball?