Introductions!

World of Cocktails

I am going to spend one entry to introduce myself and tell you a little bit of my "world of cocktail"...project one might say.

Everything has to start from somewhere, doesn't it? My love towards cocktails bloomed in June 2009, when I made a four Caipiroskas for my friends and took an awesome picture of them (don't worry, you will see it later on). Before 2009 though, I had collected a "healthy" set of different liquors, mostly from airports but more importantly from good friends of mine who were kind enough to do me this big favor. I can always remember when my oldest brother brought me a 1L bottle of Jägermeister from the airport when he came from Germany to visit our family. This about about 2004 or so, I still lived at my parents' at the time so I just stuck the bottle in one my far end dresser and kind of...forgot about it for a long time. So there aren't any misunderstandings, my parents did know of the bottle but they would've kicked my ass had I started to drink Jäger at home casually.

When I then moved out in 2005 my collection of one Jägermeister bottle had turned into another 1L bottle of Tequila as well. As time then flew by, bottles kept joining the "liquor cabinet"; Absolut Vodka (my good friends from Germany brought me this 1L bottle of Absolut in a gift box + another bottle of Tequila) and what do you know I almost ran out of space for my bottles.

I grew fond Absolut Vodka so much I always asked to bring that if only possible. But cocktail making isn't really cocktail making if you don't have the proper tools, right? To make a long story short (not that I would even remember most details) I had bought two cocktail books, found out what tools bartenders use and acquired them. From boston shakers to lime squeezers and strainers, one item, the bar spoon caused me the most hassle. I didn't want to get one of those cheap-ass spoons from regular kitchen shops, no! I wanted to get one of those most bars use. Luckily enough I got one (for free!) from a cocktail bar in Tampere which now doesn't exist anymore. RIP.

As of 2012 and living with my fiancée I have a whole cabinet dedicated to (hard) liquors of different kinds (I'll post a picture of that later too) and one shelf just for Jägermeister. In addition, I started collecting liquour mixers from the De Kuyper set and I must say I am very proud of myself. I'm still short of a few flavors but I let the picture do the talking.

Now, regarding cocktails themselves, I'm an "old school" cocktail hobbyist meaning I prefer classic drinks (e.g the old fashioned or the white russian) over those created in new bars in a spur of a moment. Not because they're "classic drinks" per se (the martini for instance, does not taste good) but because in my opinion there's something special in those created back in the days. Imagine creating another amazing cocktail such as the Old Fashioned now. Or put it this way. There are people who drink rum&coke and there are people who drink Cuba Libres. I'm the latter one. There's a big difference how you make the foresaid cocktail and that's what cocktail making/drinking is all about. 

The White Russian is another perfect example of a cocktail gone awry...in Finland. In finland they use a high ball glass, fill it with 2cl vodka, 2cl coffee liquor and top it off with milk...milk! NO! Also, in Finland due to alcohol laws there is no way bars could use more than 4cl hard liquor in a cocktail, unless a special permit has applied for (the Long Island Ice Tea being a perfect example).

But still, I try my best to create my friends cocktails that taste good, look good and feel good. Most of this wouldn't even be possible without my friends who have got me many of the bottles I now have. I'm just returning a favor in forms of pictures and sometimes even real drinks...

Speaking of favors, should you know a cocktail you tasted in a bar which was just plain amazing, send me a holler! I could remake it and post a picture of it here.