Jallu-Plörö

JALLU-PLÖRÖ

Part of the Finnish UNESCO World Heritage list 

Jallu-Plörö. It's more than just a name. It's a legacy. Part of the UNESCO World Heritage list and a truly Finnish cultural act! Coffee spiked with Jaloviina*. Here is how you can make your own delicacy:

• 4 cl Jaloviina*
• Coffee
• milk (separately)
• (cigarette)

Add the Jaloviina* to your coffee and go outside with your cup & smoke a cigarette (if you are a smoker). Enjoy.

Jallu-Plörö to Finns is what feng shui is to the Japanese. Cherish it.

Italian Latte

ITALIAN LATTE

Evening everyone! Here's one helluva treat for you all! A friend/colleague of mine dubbed it as an Italian Latte. Just wonderful in taste, this cocktail receives a special place in my heart. You'll soon find out why.

• 4 cl Molinari Caffe liqueur
• 4 cl cream
• 8 cl milk
• (grated vanilla as garnish)

Fair enough, I used 5-5-10cl, but a simple 1:1:2 ratio and you'll do good. Briefly shake everything with ice and pour the content into a tumbler, no straining needed. Especially if using larger amounts of liquids remember to have a larger glass (duh). You could garnish the drink with grated vanilla or say, coffee beans. Serve.

The flavor...magic. Molinari Caffe is such an exceptional product (sambuca based coffee liqueur with a reasonably high ABV at 38%), I will warn you and say that if you don't like sambuca, then you won't like this one either. But the Italian Latte's texture is full-bodied, smooth, strongly coffee-flavored with clear anise in the background and with the ~half-and-half dairy products it still isn't too hard to drink ie. it's not too heavy.

Moreover, this is super easy to make. Always a plus :D

Piña Colada

PIÑA COLADA

A Piña Colada (without the garnish)

Good morning everyone! Today I made a cocktail...well, it certainly has made its way to the mainstream but this is the second (!) time I've had one (the first time was back in 2006 in Cologne when I was an au pair)! (and immediately made two versions of it :D)

For us Finns at least (if someone knows better, do correct me!), the Piña Colada is a cocktail you've had abroad during happy hours and then expect to have the same drink "back home". Honestly speaking, sure, every now and then a person asks me at work "can I get a Piña Colada?" The problem arises when you look at the ingredients of this now-classic tiki cocktail. Let's take a look. The recipe was acquired from THE BONNEVILLE COLLECTION: TIKI COCKTAILS.

• 6 cl rum
• 6 cl pineapple juice
• 2 cl creamed coconut
• 2.5 cl half & half (a mixture of half cream, half milk)
• (tiki garnish)

Both the pineapple juice/coconut stuff is something that doesn't hold for many days. I believe the Piña Colada is one of those cocktails you can't really get from Finland...well perhaps in Helsinki during summer time from one specific/certain cocktail bar. Stocking the above mentioned products is not worth their price when you might have 1 request/week. So better just make these at home.

The Bonneville recipe used Appleton 12yo for their rum of choice. I made two version; in the first one I did as per recipe and the other one with Malibu (coconut flavored caribbean rum). The reason for this was a request by a person who isn't allowed to buy strong spirits yet and Malibu being 21% ABV, so perfect for this occasion.

Shake the ingredients with ice, strain into a proper glass (tiki/hurricane, large-ish wine goblet) and garnish. I didn't have any pineapple or proper tiki garnish for that matter, so I left those out.

I have got to say, when I made the two versions, the Malibu one tasted better! It had that Piña Colada feel to it; the Appleton 12yo version tasted...well, not only more boozy but as if it lacked body. Were I to make this cocktail again, I would totally use Malibu. Otherwise the measures were great; the cocktail was creamy and pineappl-y :)

Some recipes use a blender but to heck with those.

Jumalan Ruoska (God's Whip)

JUMALAN RUOSKA (GOD'S WHIP)

Whip it REAL GOOD!

Here's a cocktail I found about last weekend and apparently it existed already in 2004! Jumalan Ruoska, or translated "God's Whip". A customer mentioned this name and I had to look it up later just to find out from a very old forum that indeed! This drink does exist! I had to give it a shot.

This drink is similar to the White Russian, especially due to one of the main ingredients. But let's see how this one's made.

• 2 cl Jaloviina * (A famous Finnish cut brandy, you could use any similar product if this one is not available)
• 2 cl Kahlúa (it has to be Kahlúa, any other coffee liqueur won't do the trick)
• Milk

Build into a OF/tumbler filled with ice. No garnish, just a straw.

First of all, milk-based cocktails are devious for they are so easily drunk. I don't lie, I could've finished my drink in a few sips! Secondly, this cocktail is full-bodied (thanks to Kahlúa) and smooth in texture with a nice brandy-ish flavor to it. Thirdly, for the Finns this drink is easily and readily available, since come on, any self-respecting person should stock at least Jaloviina in their homes! :D

I can only recommend trying this if the basic White Russians are getting waaaaaay boring!

Kaukokaipuu (Wanderlust)

KAUKOKAIPUU (WANDERLUST)

reader request, awesomeness ensured!

A good Saturday to you all! Here's a cocktail I made based on a reader request! Its base ingredient is quite different that what you would expect and its name "Kaukokaipuu" (Wanderlust) derives from and I quote

"You can make this with rather cheap ingredients. While drinking this at cold winter nights watching Madventures one can ponder, what it be like to jump out of the rat race into far away lands."

Roughly so :D So what do you need to make this?

• 2 cl blanco rum
• 1 cl malibu
• 1 cl gin (prefer a floral, "light" gin)
• 1 bs almond syrup
• 6 cl Alpro coconut-rice milk
• some roasted almond chips on top (optional garnish)

Shake everything with ice and strain into a smaller, chilled cocktail glass. Garnish optional (an edible flower would be awesome I realized).

With a good coconut-aroma to it, it also has that surprisingly good combination of rum & gin. The slight sweet-bitter almond-y notes are also there easily to be found.

In my opinion, it was a very fun experiment and this cocktail is an all-around drink. I give it a solid 4 out of 5!

Brandy Eggnog

BRANDY EGGNOG

Good late evening everyone!

Tonight I made a cocktail that incorporates an egg yolk. I introduce you to the Brandy Eggnog!

Winter is coming (chuckle) and soon we'll all be warming ourselves in front of fire places drinking fine drinks. Eggnogs in general a good choice for these kind of actions. The recipe I used goes as following:

• 5 cl milk (prefer whole milk)
• 4 cl brandy
• an egg yolk (you know, the yellow part :D)
• a dash of bitters
• (nutmeg for garnish)

Put everything in a cocktail shaker and (dry) shake. I must confess that with egg whites a dry shake is very recommended but I will have to look up the use of this method when dealing with egg yolks. Nonetheless, I dry shook the drink first, then added ice and shook again. Definitely double strain into a cocktail glass and (optionally) garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

Opinions? I loved the silky smooth texture this cocktail had. Well-rounded cognac-y taste with a distinctive aroma from the nutmeg. BUT in my opinion the cocktail felt "thin and light", due to milk used. Fresh cream would've made a difference and made the overall drink feel better in the mouth. 

I'll give this cocktail a 3½ out of 5!

Editor's note: When dealing with fresh eggs (either whites or yolks), take good care of overall hygiene when dealing with these items.

Pink Polar Bear

PINK POLAR BEAR

(to see how the drink looks like under "different" lighting)

Well met again. It's...3am and I'm posting a blog regarding a new cocktail! Given, I made this a few days ago (sober :D), recommended by a member of a gaming community I am currently in. It is called the Pink Polar Bear. As I see it (having tasted it as well), it's a semi-variant of the (in)famous Finnish White Russian:

• 5 cl vodka
• 2.5 cl Tia Maria (coffee liqueur, I used Kahluá)
• 2.5 cl grenadina
• milk

In a high ball glass, fill it with ice, pour in the alcohols, grenadine and top it off with milk! One site even said quote "Tastes like chocolate milkshake looks like strawberry milkshake very nice!" but let's be honest, it didn't quite. In their defence, Tia Maria probably gives a more intense chocolately taste to the cocktail where as the Kahluá is more espresso/coffee bean - flavored. It does look like strawberry milkshake I give you that. I give it 2½ visual points but only 2 taste points. Should I ever have Tia Maria, I would try this again and see if (when) it's different. At the moment I'd rather just make regular White Russians and be satisfied with them.

Obsession

OBSESSION

Continuing with the Amarula theme, on the same evening I created another Amarula - based cocktail. This was very good but does not match with the  White Nile Martini I created before. But here goes:

• 25 ml Amarula
• 25 ml Disaronno
• 25 ml Creme dé cacao (white)
• 25 ml milk

I dipped the rim of the glass in water and then with powdered cocoa and put it in the fridge while preparing the drink. Add everything in the shaker, fill it with ice and shake it brotha!

(double) strain in a cocktail glass and add grated chocolate on top. Serve.

This cocktail was good, as mentioned before. The almondy-chocolate taste wasn't too strong thanks to the milk plus the amarula gave this cocktail a nice fruity touch.