opinionated alchemist

After I have reviewed the ultimative Darbo elderflower, I was really looking forward to taste the other syrups as well. And after my days off, I found in our F&B office a bag with four more syrups. Let's get directly to the point: Darbo Blueberry & Cassis Syrup It is a very dark syrup - undiluted it is almost black. In the glass with some water it changes in a beautiful dark crimson. Already when you open the bottle, the room fills with wild blueberry aromas. It intensifies if you pour it into the glass. The black currents are almost not showing up in the nose. On the tongue there is a hit of blueberry aromas, but directly followed by black current notes = cassis. It plays back and forth - but the afterthought is definitely cassis. I cannot remember, to have tasted a better berry syrup. Ever. Well - a home-macerated wood strawberry syrup might be a worthy contender... but apparently it is always much easier to open a bottle [and if you think about wild wood str...

In Mixology, one thing is important to remember: the drink is as good as the worst ingredient. While we will come back on liquors [wines and alike] on another occasion, one often neglected component is juice. In this post, we only want to focus on the sheer quality of the juice - not much on the respective characteristics. Lets begin - shall we? Lemon & Lime Juice:  We are starting directly in the "danger zone".  Lemon and lime juice are essential for mixology. The idea is to utilize the acidity - the taste is secondary. Unfortunately lemons & limes are extremely sensitive as soon as they are extracted out of the fruit.  Processed lemon or lime juice [out of concentrate or squeezed directly but UHT treated] is unacceptable. They taste really bad - they are bitter, metallic and you can easily ruin any beverage with it. Commercial fresh squeezed lemon or lime juices are unfortunately not much better. These juices are so sensitive that after...