Bellini

BELLINI

sorry about the foam part, I have an excuse explanation for that

A little while back I had my opened bottle of Prosecco at my disposal. In addition, I've always wanted to make a Bellini cocktail. An Italian classic, one might say. Rather simple (according to the recipe) to make, but practice was something...different.

• 5 cl peach pyrée
• sparkling wine (traditionally, Prosecco is used)

First put the pyrée in the glass and then gently pour in the wine. I had difficulties with the massive amount of foaming that occurred. Given, the sugar makes sparkling wine foam but this went totally berserk. I had difficulties (or lack of skill) getting a gentle pour and without my gentle pour that Bellini went cray-zayh! But after struggling I finally got it...somewhat right.

I finally gave this drink a gentle stir and set it aside for this picture. I must say though, this cocktail is not as good as I thought it would be. Somehow it tasted...stuffy. The berry cocktail before was totally more refreshing than this one.

Berries and bubbles

BERRIES AND BUBBLES

A summery greeting to you all! Albeit we're already going on August, it doesn't matter, the sun is shining, it's ridiculously warm outside so why not grab a perfect summery cocktail? Called the Berries and bubbles, I picked this up from a website (Smallscreen Network) and thanks to my wife who picked up some fresh raspberries I had the ingredients to pull one off. Note that any seasonal berry will do just fine. If you like strawberries or blueberries, go straight ahead! This cocktail is not specifically made for raspberries!

• depending on size, 8-10 large or 15-25 smaller raspberries
• 4.5 cl quality vodka
• 2 cl fresh lemon juice
• 2 cl simple syrup
• a good sparkling wine/champagne
• raspberries for decoration

In a mixing glass, add in the raspberries, vodka, lemon juice and simple syrup. Add plenty of ice, shake and (double)strain (for a clearer cocktail) into either a coupe or a flute. Top it off with your choice of sparkling wine and add a few raspberries (you can freeze a few if you wish) for the garnish.

Wouzaa! A sweet drink with a strong taste and aroma of raspberries. Especially towards the end it got even stronger; as you can see the sparkling wine (I used Prosecco) floated on top of the rest of the ingredients but nonetheless, a super refreshing and summery cocktail!

I could easily imagined this being done with blueberries, that would probably make one helluva cocktail as well...or any berry, for that matter!

Since I opened the bottle of Prosecco...I think it's time for the long waited Bellini...

The Perfect Day To Get Drunk

THE PERFECT DAY TO GET DRUNK

without the cola...

...and with it

Today I'm completing a friend challenge! A co-worker of mine challenged me (after I introduced her to my blog). This is what she wrote and quote:

"Alrighty then! So I want a cocktail called "The Perfect Day To Get Drunk. It has to have coca-cola in it (unless I have a killer idea that doesn't involve it) and this cocktail is drunk from a wine glass. Not many other requirements, although as a guideline, I like caipiroskas, strawberry margaritas etc. I don't prefer whisky, beer, cognac etc. Oh and it needs to be fresh! Oh and bring me the recipe in Finnish at work, because I'm too lazy to read English :D"

Too bad, I don't work anymore and this is ALL in English! So my brain started working. I definitely wanted to have some sort of fruit in it, muddled. Then it struck me...peaches! Almonds! Lime! Cola! And they all work together just dandy! So I came up with the following (first edition) recipe:

• 3/4 of a peach, skin peeled and fruit chopped
• 4 cl amaretto
• 2 cl peach schnapps
• 1 cl vodka
• the juice of one lime wedge
• (a dash of cola)

First, peel the peach and cut three quarters of it into semi-small chunks and put it in the mixing glass. You can muddle them at this point, if you please. Add the amaretto, peach schnapps and vodka (for that little kick) and squeeze the juice from the lime wedge. Add ice (or muddle the fruit pieces now, if you haven't already) and shake vigorously.

Now take you chilled wine glass (I used a white wine glass, a bit smaller in size) and without straining pour the mixture in the glass. The result as seen in the first picture. Alternatively, you can top the drink with cola and finally, add a lime wedge for decoration and a couple of straws. Enjoy!

Now to the review. So I used some peach schnapps to compliment the flavor of peaches, the vodka to actually put some strength into this drink and as my main ingredient amaretto. After tasting this I've come to the following conclusion, tweaking the recipe as follows:

• 3/4 of a peach
• 3 cl Amaretto
• 3 cl peach schnapps
• 1 cl vodka
• 2 cl fresh lime juice
• (dash of cola)

The original cocktail tasted good, but the amaretto was a bit too overpowering. After some of the ice has melted the peach flavors come in. With the tweaked recipe, it has less almondy flavor, a bit more peachiness and also more sourness that balances the sweetness from the amaretto/peaches. It is truly a perfect day to get drunk!

Tiki cocktail

TIKI COCKTAIL

Hola! Wow did I excel myself today! Not only did I sent a job application to a store close-by, I celebrated this by finally making a Tiki Cocktail. I figured out this cocktail was a mixture of a Mai Tai and a Zombie Cocktail and a Planter's Punch. One of the craziest things I've done regarding cocktails. A lot of work, a lot of sweat but the result...Hoo-rah!

First things first. You need a pineapple. I used a large pineapple that could hold more than a pint of liquid inside. I used this as a guideline since I didn't have a pineapple corer. Then, in a mixing glass I had:

• 4 cl white rum
• 4 cl aged dark rum
• 2 cl cointreau
• 2 cl cognac
• 3 tablespoons of pineapple pulp
• juice of ½ a lime

Added crushed ice and shook it. Before straining the content in my now hollow pineapple, I added some crushed ice inside it. Strained my mixture into the pineapple, then added

• 8 cl orange juice (quality)
• 8 cl pineapple juice (quality)
• 3 dashes of angostura bitters on top
• a pineapple leaf (yeah I know the top looked kinda bad)
• a cocktail cherry

Stirred the whole thing a bit, added straws and enjoyed.

Visually, well, heh, you can't really beat that. The cocktail wasn't as sweet, the opposite, a bit sour. The cognac's smoothness could be distinguished and overall it had gentle fruitiness. This is a strong cocktail, don't let it fool you. Or maybe my pineapple was just that large...go figure. :)

Team Ding Dong

TEAM DING DONG

Today I created a cocktail requested by a colleague of mine! Introducing the Team Ding Dong! (no, I did not make this name up :D) When I first looked at the ingredients list, I started wondering whether the cloud berry jam would work with whiskey. Surprisingly though, it did!

• 3 teaspoons cloud berry jam 
• 1 cl lemon juice (fresh)
• 1 cl orange juice (fresh)
• 1 cl simple syrup
• 4 cl Jameson Irish Whiskey

Add everything in a cocktail shaker, put in ice and shake vigorously. Double strain into a chilled champagne glass. (Editor's note: Preferably a coupe glass, the flute did not work). Garnish with an orange twist.

As mentioned in my previous chapter, before I discuss the taste of this cocktail, the champagne flute was a poor decision for this cocktail. I had trouble straining the cloud berry jam "pulp" into the narrow glass, causing a bit of a mess. A coupe would've done a much better job + the garnish would've looked better.

That said, the taste. Marvellous! Easily spotted the whiskey, which was at the same time sweet and sour. The jam gave this drink its well-deserved body and even with 3 tea spoons of it, it wasn't overpowering at all. It gave...and exciting side note to this cocktail. A good cocktail made better with the right choice of glass!

Tropical Captain

TROPICAL CAPTAIN

Hello once again! So I did a little cocktail experimenting of my own the other day (yesterday), inspired by the hotel bar I visited a few times during my honeymoon. Since the hotel was located next to the marina, I did a little brainstorming and came up with an idea I really wanted to try. I call it the Tropical Captain.

Since I only had the ingredients in mind, I actually did this cocktail twice, as shown below.

The left is the first version, the right the final version

With the first one I used the following ingredients and measures:

• 4 cl white rum
• 4 cl mango puré (was about three to four small tea spoons)
• 2 cl mango liquor
• lemon juice from two wedges
• lemonade
• a dash of midori (melon liquor)

Combined the four first ingredients in a cocktail shaker, shook them with ice, strained in a highball glass and topped off with lemonade. Added the dash of midori on top.

These measures were clearly too much. At the time I strained the mixture in the highball glass, it was almost full. I could only add so little lemonade to top it. Taste-wise it was very good, the combination of mango/lemon/rum worked fine. The midori I could barely taste.

After my first version I started tweaking the amounts of liquor I would use. So I came up with my next (and final) version, which ended up working like a charm:

• 2 cl white rum
• 2 cl mango puré (1½ tea spoons)
• 2 cl mango liquor
• lemon juice from one wedge
• lemonade

This time I left the midori out and roughly cut everything else in half. After straining this I still have enough space to top it with lemonade. Also, now the cocktail had a more fizzy feel to it, which was nice.

All in all, my experiment was a success. Not that the flavor combination is somewhat specially unique, but I sure had fun creating this cocktail! (+ it tasted excellent!)

The Iron Curtain

The Iron Curtain

Warning! An Iron Curtain has been detected!

  

- Real WWIII advisor

I finally got around doing the Iron Curtain, a "soviet" buddy for the Allies' Cronosphere. I actually made a little sketch of this drink before as shown here:

My initial idea was that I would use Stolichnaya vodka, crushed ice, either tonic, soda or such and pomegranate seeds to create a swindling/wavy effect. Of course the drink had to be red of some sort, so a red liquor was needed to achieve that.

The setup:

• 4 cl Stolichnaya
• 4 cl cranberry liquor
• Mineral water
• Pomegranate seeds (according to "taste") 
• crushed ice

First, I scraped the seeds off the fruit (which was a messy job) and put them on a small plate. In a high ball glass, add the stoli, crushed ice, top it off with the water then added the seeds on top. I finished the drink with the cranberry liquor, put a swizzle stick and gave it a good stir. Finally I included a largish straw.

The outcome:

Frankly, this drink didn't really cut it. In any aspect, really. Taste-wise very mild with only slight cranberry notes. As for the seeds, they weren't worth the time either. I had fun with the cocktail as a "concept" and brainstorm this cocktail on a sheet of paper but the end result was a disappointment. 

But I made it, nonetheless.

PS. It didn't turn me invulnerable.

Campari Orange Passion

CAMPARI ORANGE PASSION

Beauty in a glass! This is a variation of the basic Campari & OJ I found from their site. For my taste, Campari & oj is a bit too bitter, given it works as a nice aperatif. This recipe has a sweetness in it and I did like this so much more, although creating it takes more time. But it is worth it:

• 2 slices of orange (or wedges)
• 1 tsp of brown sugar
• 4 cl Campari
• 12 cl orange juice
• crushed ice
• a maraschino cherry to garnish

Take the orange slices and drop them in the high ball glass. Add the sugar and muddle gently. Then add the crushed ice, campari and orange juice and give it a gentle stir. Top it off with a bit more ice and top this cocktail with a cherry and a straw.

Now that summer is close(r) by, having one of these babies outside...wonderful.