New Drinks for Rush III

Four more drinks, which I like to introduce to Rush:

Bellini Sgroppino
This drink is a fusion between a classic Bellini and a quite contemporary Sgroppino, which is a sparkling wine drink, featuring lemon sorbet. Here we substitute the lemon sorbet, with white peach sorbet, to create the bridge between sgroppino and bellini.

Basil Smash
There are only few drinks, which we keep as they are - the Basil Smash is one of them. Already recognised as modern classic- it was the brain child of Joerg Meyer, the owner of the fantastic bar Le Lion in Hamburg / Germany. It revives [as well as violates] the archaic category smashes with the changes of adding citrus juice and substitute mint with fresh basis. Not yet sure, if we will use Asian fragrant basil or the classic Italian rather sweet variety...

Ultimate Mojito
Now this drink was tricky. I wanted to depart the usual path, to vary the classic Mojito with any muddled fruit, fruit puree, syrup or liqueur. And I also wanted to stay clear of making it with any other spirit than rum - I just believe, that you can't do a Tequila or vodka or cachaça [...] Mojito - while it might be an interesting drink, it won't be a Mojito. What I have decided is, to make a special [and sorry: secret] blend of rums, which is beneficial for this classic. Basically it should have the pureness of white [preferable Cuban] rum, should have some of the smooth aromas of a medium aged añejo rum and should also feature an higher alcohol content, which is always great! Sorry I can't say more - you got to try this!

Pepper Pyrat
I have shown J.P. our principle bartender in Rush the way, how to make house made sodas and empowered him, to experiment with the method and come up with his own recipe [besides of making grapefruit and peach sodas, which are my way of doing it]. He came up with an unique pineapple black pepper soda. Initially I was quite skeptically, but it really works - just as soda, it is interesting, but mixing it with alcohol, makes it to a killer ingredient.
I tried the combination with Pyrat XO, the soda and some lime, and we had directly a killer cocktail. The pepper, like bitters, is enhancing the spice aromatic of the rum and also tames a little bit the typical orange peel'iness of Pyrat XO. It turned out a drink, which hardly could be improved!

Hornitos El Diablo
This again is a rather "off the shelf" concoction, which is unfortunately not very well known. But it is fantastic, which makes it to one of my personal favourites. It is just a simple built drink made from 100% agave tequila [we'll use Sauza Hornitos], little bit fresh lime, crème de cassis and filled up with ginger ale. In a later iteration, we will substitute the commercial ginger ale with a home made oak aged ginger ale version, featuring celery seeds and orange zest.

So here you have it, the third instalment of exciting drinks, which are bridging more comforting drink recipes, with contemporary craft bartending...

Links:

Rush Drinks I
Rush Drinks II
Rush Drinks III

Rush Drinks IV

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Who would knew, that I am reviewing a budget vodka here - on the opinionatedalchemist.com. But this isn't a normal review. I skip the marketing perception and use this product to cut directly to the case: Vodka is a "rather" neutral, colorless, "rather" flavorless and odorless distilled beverage from any agricultural source - and depending on the country, it has a minimum of 37.5% and 40% abv. As I said time and time again before: at times it is absolutely nonsense to talk about premium and luxury, when the original product doesn't really "hold this promise". Luxury water can have luxurious marketing, luxurious packaging, can be even rare and slightly more expensive "to produce". However really it is just water. Maybe it has some nuances to normal water - however those nuances (in a blind-test) are pretty small. Vodka is extremely similar - and the chain of evidence (despite a lot of people trying to proof otherwise) makes it re

opinionated alchemist

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