Cheerhattan

CHEERHATTAN

My input for the international competition!

Hey! Here's a cocktail and actually my input for the international Heering classics, which made it to the 2nd round! Since I love proper Manhattans, I wanted to make (as the rules were) a delicious twist to it (a classic). I call it the Cheerhattan. My train of thought went like this:

- Cheer (cocktails are a cheerful thing)

- heer as per "Heering"

- hattan as per the end of Manhattan

Funny and well-thought, eh? I thought the same :D Anyhow, I've made this drink a few times now and everytime it surprises me with deliciousness! Here's how it's done:

• 3.5 cl quality bourbon (I used Old Virginia 6yo)
• 2 cl Heering cherry liqueur
• 1.5 cl sweet red vermouth
• 1 bs chocolate-syrup (coffee-syrup)
• 1-2 ds bitters
• (1 ds cocoa bitters)
• orange twist

Excluding the garnish, stir everything with ice and strain into a well-chilled coupe/cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

BOOM!

If you think of it, what could go wrong? We have good bourbon, cherries, chocolate, spices...it's all there! If all else fails and I won't make it further down the competition, at least I've had a good run with this cocktail.

Blood and Sand part deux

BLOOD AND SAND

REVISITED

"The bull is not the beast! Look at the crowd! That is the real beast!"

- Garabato, Blood and Sand (1922)

So here we are revisiting an old cocktail buddy of ours, which I made roughly 5½ years ago, the Blood and Sand - cocktail. As we can clearly see from back then, I made a piss-poor job with it. But I've come wiser ever since :D Now using proper ingredients and more know-how, let's see how a GOOD Blood and Sand is done!

• 2 cl scotch (I used JW 12yo black, for my upcoming video I will try the Balvenie 12yo)
• 2 cl heering cherry brandy
• 2 cl sweet vermouth
• 2 cl (blood)orange juice, fresh

Shake everything with ice, strain and garnish with an orange peel. So after five years now and using proper vermouth, proper scotch, proper orange juice and proper cherry brandy, what do you think of the results? A proper cocktail. Mild-ish, sweet with distinct cherry flavor to it. At least a thousand times better than back then :D The best part? Change the scotch to something else (non-smoky!) and let the twist make wonders to your drink.

Kurant Delight

KURANT DELIGHT

Evening everyone! This cocktail was inspired by a fellow comrade acquaintance, who approached me with a challenge! He insisted that I would use two of the ingredients, because those "fire him the most". 

1. Red currants 
2. Absolut Kurant

I gladly accepted his request since what do you know, I happened to have a red currant bush in my back yard! Absolut Kurant (a currant flavored vodka) I didn't, but I got a sample bottle of it for my disposal. Let's get to work, shall we?

One issue arose, though. What makes a great currant - based cocktail? After one failed draft I came up with a recipe that worked out quite nicely!

• 1 dl red currants
• 40 ml Absolut Kurant
• 20 ml cherry liqueur
• 20 ml cognac, VSOP
• a sprig of red currants as garnish

Muddle the currants in your shaker, add the rest and shake hard with ice. Double (!) strain into your chilled coupe and garnish. Serve.

Admiral Cocktail, the

THE ADMIRAL COCKTAIL

And right away another cocktail! Just like with the Jupiter One I created yesterday, I wanted to take use of my glass set I bought from a flea market some time ago. I introduce you to the Admiral Cocktail.

Interestingly enough, it seems that there are a few version that hold the same name but are completely different when it comes down to what's in them. I checked a few references and if you do the same, you will probably find one cocktail with rye in it and a bunch of what-not.

Anyways, this is one version of this cocktail (not to mention the fact if you have a cocktail named something very general, it bounds to create a situation where in different countries you have completely different cocktails under the same name and especially when you even take a sneak&peek in the world of internet it'll just dumbstruck you :D):

• 3 cl cherry liqueur
• 4.5 cl gin
• juice from ½ a lime
• a cherry for garnish

Shake with ice the ingredients (save the cherry) and strain into a coupe. Garnish and serve.

In the nose, almost scentless with a small trace of cherry essence. An orange-like color with hues of red and the garnish cherry gives "depth"; a proper cherry even more. In the palate, a strong gin and later an even candy-like sweetness to it. Aftertaste a tad bitter. Presentation-wise, 3½/5 and the same goes to the taste, 3½/5.

American Belle

AMERICAN BELLE

2013

2018, using Heering as the cherry liqueur instead of DK

Let's continue with some shooters! When it comes to shooters, layered ones are always the most fun ones. Not only do you get a visually astonishing "drink", the true beauty is that when gulping down one, you actually get to taste every flavor in it (at least usually)! The American Belle is a minor exception to this:

• 1.25 cl (or 1.5 cl if your shot glass is large enough) cherry liqueur
• 1.25 (1.5) cl amaretto
• 1.25 (1.5) cl bourbon whiskey

Layer in the given order in a shot glass or alternative build over some ice in a small-ish tumbler. I made a shooter out of this one (very obvious, isn't it?).

Sweet cherry, hardly any almondy flavor and finally the bourbon. The combination is the whiskey (I used Jim Beam) and cherry is actually a very interesting one, sadly the flavors of amaretto were completely hidden.

Not a classic drink, not a five-star shooter either, but visually a good one and tastewise...well, was okay, I guess...

!EDIT 2018!

So I made this one again, now using Heering Cherry liqueur instead of a pink bright (cheaper) cherry version and the results were completely different. Much more balanced and distinctively better tasting as it was five years ago!

Blood and Sand

BLOOD AND SAND

This cocktail's history goes all the way back to the 1920's. It was named for Rudolph Valentino's 1922 bullfighter movie Blood and Sand (wiki'ed it, deal with it). I've heard some wild rumors of this cocktail and according to different sources the ingredients/measures vary a bit too. Maybe it's one of those "find the best proportions yourself" - kind of things, but this is how I rolled this cocktail:

• 3 cl Scotch
• 3 cl Blood orange juice
• 2 cl Sweet Red Vermouth
• 2 cl Cherry brandy (the original recipe calls for Cherry Heering, which I don't have, so I used De Kuyper Cherry brandy instead)
• a flamed orange zest

Add all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, fill it with ice and shake it! Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and flame up an orange zest, go around the glass's rims with it (having released the essential oils in the drink) and drop it in the drink. 

 This drink was...okay. Using scotch in a mixed drink wasn't really something I've used to do, and the cherry brandy's taste did overwhelm this cocktail a little bit. Also, the blood orange juice was well hidden. Overall, a slight disappointment as far as I am concerned. Next time I definitely have to use Cherry Heering or as some recipes mention, orange juice instead of blood orange juice. Go figure.

Singapore Sling

THE SINGAPORE SLING 

This is the Singapore Sling. One of the "legendary" cocktails, which according to history books, was invented  at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel in Singapore around 1915.

Personally, I had many expectations regarding this drink. Not only did this cocktail have many ingredients to work with but just figuring out how it would taste like...was totally worth it.

Ingredients as follows:

• 40ml (8 parts) Gin
• 20ml (4 parts) Heering Cherry Liqueur (cherry brandy)
• 5ml (1 part) Cointreau
• 5ml (1 part) DOM Bénédictine
• 10ml (2 parts) Grenadine
• 80ml (16 parts) Pineapple juice
• 30ml (6 parts) Fresh lemon juice
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

I slipped a few times. I used De Kuyper Cherry Liquer instead of Heering's. Also, I didn't have a hurricane glass at my disposal (I don't feel I need them for a long time; there are only a few drinks that employ it, otherwise they're just more (useless) glassware at home) so I used one of my bigger high ball glasses and I must admit it fit just perfectly. Thirdly, I didn't want to buy a whole pineapple so I decorated the drink with a good slice of lemon and of course the maraschino cherry.

Tastewise, it was amazing. Extremely fruity, a bit cherry candy-ish; I could hardly taste the alcohol in this one. Would I make this one again? Totally. Would I order this at a bar? No. Mainly because the price would be so horribly expensive in places they know how to actually make one of these.