Moscow Mule

MOSCOW MULE

No cupper mug, but still has the kick!

Hello everyone and welcome back! Today I came to realize that in the past years I still had not made the Moscow Mule. Given, it's a well known drink and when done properly, tastes a-mazing during the summer time.

As you already see, I did not use the traditional Moscow Mule cup (I don't have one), so any good sized tumbler will do. What you'll need is:

• ½ of a lime + 1 lime wheel
• 5 cl vodka
• ginger beer, not ale. BEER.

The reason I have to stress the importance of using ginger BEER is that it is a completely different product than the ale one. Ginger ale, in all its fairness is just carbonated water with ginger flavoring, but ginger beer uses real ginger, has that spicy kick and just overall tastes about...I don't know, a thousand times better.

So what you want to do is the following: Squeeze the juice of the ½ lime into your tumbler, you can drop the shell in the glass as well. Add 5 cl of vodka and fill the glass with cracked ice (not blocks nor totally crushed). Add your ginger beer and garnish with a lime wheel. Serve.

Extremely refreshing during the summer periods, if you ever get a hold on to some ginger beer, try this cocktail!

Tonic water tasting, s'il vous plaît!

TONIC WATER TASTING, S'IL VOUS PLAÎT!

An arrangement of tonic waters

It's time for another (heartwarming) tasting! I admit, conducting events like these are my sweet spots. I love the idea of taking a group of x and sampling them with friends and along the way find those little things that matter. Be it cognac, vodka, rum, bourbon or whatever, today I took quite a different approach.

Everyone knows the famous Gin & Tonic. But in the last years (if not decade) the amount of different styles of gins and tonics has skyrocketed. People want more. People want different. For many, the good o' "London dry + the only tonic available + lemon slice" does not suffice anymore. A good example is the rise of Hendrick's Gin with not only a cucumber twist but a "high-tier" tonic. Another one, I've noticed how Gin Mare (a Spanish gin) has bubbled up to the surface and as far as I'm concerned, trying to be the next big thing in the G&T business. Not to mention a mediterranean tonic on the side. This is the present day, my dear readers!

So what better way do I have but to sample some of these exclusive tonics with a few more common on the side with two of my friends? Exactly. My tonic set was built from seven different tonics, two of which from the same manufacturer but different in style. These tonics were:

1. Aqua Monaco tonic (in German) - German  (n/a/100ml)
2. Aqua Monaco Extra Dry (in German) - German (21kcal/100ml)
3. Fever Tree Indian tonic - British (38kcal/100ml)
4. Hartwall tonic - Finnish (38kcal/100ml)
5. Fentiman's tonic - British (34kcal/100ml)
6. Schweppes Indian tonic (in Finnish) - Danish (made in Finland under a license) (37kcal/100ml)
7. Rainbow tonic (in Finnish) - Estonian (36kcal/100ml)

The reason why I put the "kcal/100ml" in the end is for a reason; tonic water has sugar in it and not just a little but quite a lot of what would think. Surprisingly, most of these had a distinctive smell of Sprite! The citrus aroma combined with sugars was just like that soft drink. Of course taste-wise the quinine made it completely different.

#2 was the driest of them all and it showed. You had that bitter palate and with less carbon dioxide it was for the "more adult taste", if you please. Its companion, #1, was like bitter sprite but its mouthfeel was better.

I must say though that #3 was a big disappointment! I would've thought that a brand like Fever Tree could produce a top-tier tonic but no, it was quite bland in the end! For me it was quite a shocker. Especially when you look at a price for one bottle (at least in Finland), one could say it's an outrage. Aroma-wise, #5 was truly exceptional! No wonder, since they used juniper/kaffir lime leaves in the production. One could smell the difference. Bubble-wise, this tonic was almost flat.

#4 and #6 made solid results. Sure, they're not hipster tonics hand-crafted in micro breweries but neither are they noticeably bad. They're tonics that have a lot of potential; they're not unique and suit just about everyone. #7 on the other hand, just didn't quite cut it into the big boys' league. Mediocre at best, a tonic good for big(ger) party where you don't want to pay ridiculously for just a 200ml bottle if making more than one G&T...

In the end it was quite fun trying new products and albeit we didn't try (all of) these with gin, just learning and understanding that there are different tonics out there and it is not just a marketing trick that gins make interesting combinations depending on the tonic used. Quite the tasting!

BREMEN TOUR (part 3)

BREMEN TOUR (part 3)

"Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

Another heart-warming welcome and greetings from Bremen! It had been almost exactly one (1) year since my last expedition to this wonderful city and this time instead of my wife I had two close friends to tag along! Our excursion included longs walks on the beach, romantic candle light dinners drinking, food and a bit of culture on the side! As I've "seen the city" before, I wanted to show my friends the local cocktail bars and a couple of "must-see" places, otherwise I was okay with whatever decisions they made. Blog-wise, I will probably go off tracks more than often here (which, I guess isn't too bad) but I try to take a more in-depth look regarding Bremen as a cocktail city. Of course on both trips (now and last year) my opinions consider all of this from a week-day POV, I can make a safe assumption that on a weekend everything goes bigger and louder. That said, let's get this excursion started! By the way, never mind the random pics along this post, they're for your entertainment, I swear!

Bremen on a Sunday night in a nutshell

We arrived on Sunday evening and naturally wanted to go for a drink. The problem is, on a Sunday...pretty much everything is closed. We did find a few places eventually, which was nice.

Pink Gin & Tonics

We stumbled upon a place called "Im Lu". A very lounge-style bar, I ordered a set of Pink Gin&Tonics (G&Ts with dashes of bitters). At first the bartender wasn't quite sure what I meant when I asked for Angostura Bitters, but caught my drift eventually. The funniest part being that instead of coating the glass with bitters (and then building the G&T), he came with the drinks, put the bitters bottle on the table in front of us and said "There you go pals, put as much as you need!" and left the bottle there for us to use!

Pink Gin&Tonic in a close-up

The thing I love the most with these smaller joints is that the bartenders are always so openly friendly and the whole atmosphere is amazingly relaxed. At least they've been both times I've visited Bremen! In the smaller hours of Sunday, strolling in the empty, rain-coated streets of Bremen (read: we got lost) we finally found our way back to our hostel to get some well deserved rest.

No love allowed!

In the two days of cocktailing, I can only be reassured of the points I made last year (see #5). I could redefine them a bit, though. When looking strictly from a cocktail-POV (price-quality/general specialization), there are actually three different kinds of cocktail bars in Bremen, as follows:

1. Happy Hour - tier
2. Middle-EarthGround - tier
3. Quality - tier

Funny how reading my post from last year, things haven't really changed with the exception of a little tweak. So this is how it works. You have your 4.5€/cocktail happy hour - places where consistency varies the most. Or what would you say about the Manhattan I had last year and this year from the same bar?

A Manhattan...I guess?

Also, from the same bar the bartender didn't know how to make a Japanese Slipper because "It wasn't on the list." I do understand that things are tend to change in a year's time (different workers/experience/etc.), but here is a classic example of "consistency gone awry".

Then you have the Middle-Ground - tier. These are places where consistency stays pretty much the same but it is "odorless". Per cocktail you probably pay 2-3 euros more and they don't let you down but there's that little "oompf" missing. In my experience, most bars in Bremen fall into this category. Usually located in places where you can eat as well, since people want to go wine&dining outside (Schlachte *cough*) and have a few drinks in the process.

Looking a place to wine&dine

Piña Colada, Mai Tai and a Lady Killer, note the same garnish in each one

Finally, you have your cocktail bars. Fair enough, on both times I've visited I haven't had the opportunity to experience most of the bars but there are two that shine like a diamond and need special mention.

General Gin Fizz @ Blauer Fasan. With roasted herbs in it, every sip from the straw was also an explosion of aromas in the nose!

Blauer Fasan is one of them. In comparison with the one I'll discuss later is that in my opinion Blauer Fasan is more inclined into molecular cocktails. I could be wrong, but looking at the drink menu just gave off that wibe. Twists from old classics, spicy Bloody Maries (with wasabi) and so forth. Price-wise, again a 1-3 euro bump higher from the Middle - tier, fluxuating around 10€ ±1€.

Me and my homies at the Blauer Fasan

I got to say, consistency and overall rating was top-tier just like from last year but I have to put on a negative mark as well. The place is quite small and with only one smoker huffing and puffing...The place smells, pardon my French, like shit. As a non-smoker, being drenched in cigarette smoke...not cool. 

 

The face of disappointment

I found the winning lyrics of the Eurovision 2016 contest from the hostel!

Finally, you have The Lemon Lounge. Hands down, in my sincerest opinion, it is the best cocktail bar found in Bremen. I wasn't disappointed last year and heck, wasn't disappointed this year either! Here you have the ~same price range that of Blauer Fasan, with their drinks listed in yearly order! That means, starting from the...1920's all the way to the 2000's.

What's important is to see the ingredients list of Zombie and specifically the first two words; "A lot of rum...and top that with overproof rum..." Made me chuckle. Well played.

Secretly and subconsciously this was the place I wanted to show my friends the most because in the Lemon Lounge the true essence of cocktails can be seen and tasted. Not to mention the barkeep, who effing remembered me from my last visit! I was sincerely and heart-warmingly surprised by this!

Three Old Fashioneds, s'il vous plaît!

The Chef at work

"The Making of a Mint Julep"

Voilá!

And the result

Mai Tai

How can you not love a place like this? With all the love and amazing-ness the Lemon Lounge has, it has two flaws, of which one is a "permanent", as it is not the easiest place to find. I remember from last year how I entered this place via the "back" without realizing I walked past the front door the first time. This year I was prepared though and we found it much easier. Secondly, their bathroom tap sprouted water like a badass mofo but yeah, that can be fixed :D

Espresso Martini

Aftermath

Bremen has a lot to offer when it comes to drinking and cocktails. Not to mention (like last time) Becks, which you will get from every bar, even the ones mentioned here! It also offers a lot of culture and a place worth seeing is the Schnoor with its narrow streets, handcrafts and restaurants, a few to mention.

Did I mention the narrow streets?

Where to next? (spoiler: the wind mill cafe)

At the town hall cellar enjoying a drink (and I had dessert!)

5/5 would visit again