Skip to main content

Barrel Aged Mai Tai - Batch II

So we tried to do the barrel aged Mai Tai in an 1l barrel - and the taste was really good. The only problem was, that the leftovers, of "diverse angel shares" were... not worth the effort. What angel share you ask? Well, first the barrel was leaking out of the spigot. It was leaking slow and sticky - but anyway.
Another serious reason for the angel share was the tasting [sorry!]. 
This cocktail really has to be seriously tasted. This is ok for a large barrel, but for one liter barrel, it is a real problem...

Anyway - batch no.2 is on its way. I did some amendments:
I was always curious, why "Trader Vic" called for a dollop of French garnier orgeat in his original Mai Tai recipe. Almond syrup and dollop doesn't really properly align in my sense. But then it stroke me: what is orgeat: a syrup made from almonds, sugar and often a hydrosol [usually orange flower water]and water... guess which ingredient has all ingredients except of the water? Yes - marzipan. And yes, I can for sure imagine a dollop of marzipan. Even if Vic didn't used marzipan - or something very similar, we can use it - different than almond syrup, you can find marzipan in different qualities - inclusive whole natural [even organic] qualities.

In my original batch, I used also Cointreau. While this brand is great [and it is aged anyway, which leads "magically" to the required orange curacao], I still had a couple of bottles of Marie Brizard orange curacao laying around. And why not using it?

And instead of preparing rock candy syrup, I will go the easy route and use directly caster sugar [and half dissolve it with the liquors.

That is all about. 

The rest what we do is: waiting! It will be a 5 liter barrel - so it will definitely need longer than the 6 weeks of the 1l barrel. We will see...

I will post some pictures and more information later.

Any comments?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to use citric acid - and why you might not want to use it anyway!

To be honest, I shied away of this topic, because I think, people can misinterpret this - big time. I don't want to be part of the problem - I want to be part of the solution!  But when Chris, over at A Bar Above  discussed this subject- I literally could not resist to join into "the discussion". Here is the video: I - however take a bit slower approach than Chris. What is citric acid? Chemical Compound Citric acid is a weak organic acid with the formula C6H8O7. It is a natural preservative/conservative and is also used to add an acidic or sour taste to foods and drinks. Wikipedia Formula: C6H8O7 Molar Mass: 192.124 g/mol Melting Point: 153C Density: 1.66 g/cm3 Boiling point: 175C Soluble in: Water Why is it controversial? In my "mixology world" it is controversial, as citric acid is the stuff, which makes the nightmarish sour mix [ preferably in powder form ] sour. Yeah - citric acid is the main ingredient in one of the most

Fentiman's - part deux

You might already know [otherwise just read my last post ], that Fentiman's Botanical Tonic Water taste great. And I mentioned, that I am not totally convinced of the other flavours... Let me now and here explain why. First to the great ones: Rose Lemonade is really nice... however I have to come across one rose drink, which doesn't taste really good. A couple of years I have reviewed [and tried] Sence - also a drink which is based on Bulgarian roses - and it was lovely. Fentiman's Rose Lemonade is not different - maybe slightly too acidic. Anyway - it is just great [however also very simple to replicate - citric acid, sugar syrup, carbonated water and rose water is all what you need...]. The Curiousity Cola is also nice - it is a bit more standalone and unique as other cola sodas- but hit the right spots. Only problem still is: the original just taste better and - well like the original. Cherrybark Cola - is another good soda. While I've expected it to taste

What is the best cranberry juice in the bar?

A good friend of me "whatsapp'ed" me today and asked for my expertise: "What is the best cranberry juice?" I would loved to just let him know the brand - however it is not that easy. What do we understand of cranberry juice? One of the biggest [maybe the  biggest producer] of cranberry products is Ocean Spray. And: it is well regarded. Problem is: it is not a juice! Wait - what? Ocean Spray doesn't produce a juice - they produce a juice cocktail - which translates into a lot of water, a lot of sugar, some taste-balancers as citric acid [nothing against this really] and a minuscule portion of juice - usually around 3%. Yes they have something which is called 100% juice. Which is on one hand true, on the other the biggest deception ever. Because you don't get 100% cranberry - you get a mixture of juices of concentrate - most of the time apple and white grape and a bit of cranberry. There are also some other brands around, which might feature a h