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!)

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. 

White Nile Martini

WHITE NILE MARTINI

Greetings again, dear friends! It has been over a month since my last update but do excuse me for this. I was in South Africa from mid-December to New Year's 2013, seeing much and experiencing more. Many of the people I talked to said I should definitely get a bottle of Amarula when I leave. And so I did. Better yet, Amarula has proven its worthiness in almost every aspect.

I said "almost" because from what I've learned, 90% of the cocktails associated with Amarula have something to do with either fresh cream or vanilla ice cream. Fair enough, this stuff tastes great with them, but it also makes it vulnerable for not being as versatile as other liquors. To really put Amarula to the test, I've made two cocktails, this one being the first. I present you with the White Nile Martini.

• 50 ml Amarula
• 25 ml Cointreau
• 25 ml Creme dé cacao (white)

For a smaller cocktail, just cut the measures in half.

I started by coating the rim of the cocktail glass first with water, then with powdered cocoa and putting it in the fridge to cool. Add the ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add plenty of ice and shake shake shake! Strain into a cocktail glass. You can leave the cocktail without decoration, use grated chocolate or like in this version use a wafer.

Wow. Just wow. This really hit the spot! This drink had a great orange-chocolaty taste and reminded me of a chocolate we have in Finland! An excellent cocktail and a superb taste!

I tip my hat to you, Amarula.