Irish Flag Shot

IRISH FLAG SHOT

Good evening everyone! Although it is not close to St. Patrick's Day, I might as well present you with probably the most well-known shot during that time, the Irish Flag Shot. It is a layered drink, similar to the B-52, Sprinbokkie, Brain Hemorrhage or so and most likely being drunk, as mentioned before, on St. Paddy's.

If you check the ingredients below, you'll notice it almost 100% identical to the B-52 version with two "twists":

• 1/3 part cremè de menthe (green)
• 1/3 part baileys
• 1/3 part gran marnier

Layer in the given order but don't light it up (like you would a B-52). Shoot! As for the visual part, looks like the Irish Flag sideways. Taste-wise? Well the biggest problem with layered shots in general is that they tend to taste to whatever is the last liqueur in the glass. These shots have that visual aspect to them and that's pretty much it. For instance, this shot tastes pretty much like green peppermint liqueur with a hint of baileys and orange-cognac. Of course, on the correct theme day these are naturally more fun to drink. Not necessarily better tasting, just more fun :)

Smoky Rum Old Fashioned

SMOKY RUM OLD FASHIONED

As per Waldo Smit

A good weekend to everyone! Today I've "exited" my comfort area to make something completely different. I introduce you the Smoky Rum Old Fashioned.

I stumbled upon this recipe (or video to be honest) by accident. I checked it out, fancied it and thought to myself "I might as well give it a go!" I pretty much had everything except for the lapsang souchong tea needed. Yesterday I found a store that had it and I immediately bought a pack. Let's get ready to business!

• 6 cl spicy rum
• 1.5 cl smoky simple syrup
• 4d orange bitters
• cinnamon + star anise + grated nutmeg
• a glass jar
• an orange wheel + star anise for the garnish
• a kitchen blowtorch

The video will pretty much explain the whole process how to make it and I won't be going through it namely because it would take a small life time to explain the same thing the original author did in a tad over 1 minute 30 seconds. So I'll just skip ahead and review the cocktail. Before that though, I would consider this cocktail a somewhat "special occasion" drink, since...

First of all, effort. This cocktail takes some. Secondly, the effort is rewarded in the end by its flavor profile. Thirdly, but not lastly, choosing a good rum will work wonders here. I noticed the author used Sailor Jerry, I instead went for El Dorado 15yo. For me (+ the 4d's of orange bitters), it was a bit too fruity. Could also be that I didn't smoke the dried spices enough. The cocktail itself was still complex as f**k and when the opportunity arises, I shall make another one of these beauties! 

Vanilla Daisy

VANILLA DAISY

Heeeyoo! Roughly a week back I made a bourbon based cocktail called Vanilla Daisy. The recipe was found from the "Classic Cocktail Bible" I own. In all fairness, when looking at the ingredients list, I can't help but think it's a twist to a "Whisky Sour". Nonetheless, it's a twist well worth making! Or is it...? Let's give it a look.

• 5 cl bourbon
• 2.5 cl lemon juice
• 2.5 cl vanilla syrup
• 1 tsp grenadine
• 2-3 maraschino cherries as garnish

Shake the first three ingredients with ice, strain into a tumbler, "drizzle" the grenadine over the drink and finally garnish the cocktail with the maraschino cherries. 

How was the drink then? My initial fear was that it would turn out waaaay to sweet (coffee flavoring syrups tend to be overly sweet in themselves), but luckily the lemon juice cut the sugariness just enough. As I used Buffalo Trace bourbon for this, overall the drink was decent-ok but didn't quite manage to stand out at any point. I would even go as far and claim that the choice of bourbon makes this drink in the end. With a good mouthfeel to it (double strain for the win!), I rate this cocktail 3½+ out of five (the + for visual).

Paranoid

PARANOID

Hello everyone! Today (actually almost a week ago) I had the pleasure to make a cocktail called Paranoid. Its history goes back to 2004 to a cocktail bar called Shaker, in Jyväskylä, Finland. I had previously seen a video of the drink being made by their staff and a BIG SHOUT OUT goes to Karl Lojander for inventing this drink! Story goes they wanted to make a kick-ass gin-based cocktail after their opening in 2003 and what do you know? They made this, which roared success on the first try! *cue slow clap right here ladies and gents*

I've personally heard of this drink before as well but now I had the opportunity to make it myself! The recipe as follows:

• 3 cl lemon juice
• 2 cl DeKuyper blueberry liqueur
• 2 cl dry gin
• 1 cl lingonberry syrup
• dash soda water

I made the lingonberry syrup myself by using 2dl frozen lingonberries, 0.5dl water, 1dl sugar and 0.5dl household syrup (for future reference that last one is option IMHO). Boil the berries with water, strain the mash, add sugar and heat to dissolve. Yeah...kinda like that :D

As for the drink, shake everything except the soda water and strain (no double straining needed here) into a glass. Top it off with soda and garnish with an orange slice. There you go!

It's a lively-colored cocktail, fresh, has that "zinggg!" to it and tastes extremely good which makes give it a 4 out of 5!

Here's a clip of it when I made it (in Finnish!)

Tom Collins

TOM COLLINS

Hey everyone! A few days back I made probably one of the most well-known cocktails of all time, the Tom Collins. This drink goes back a few centuries, wikiquote

"First memorialized in writing in 1876 by "the father of American mixology" Jerry Thomas, this "gin and sparkling lemonade" drink typically is served in a Collins glass over ice."

I decided to give it a go.

• 5 cl Tanqueray dry gin
• 2.5 cl lemon juice
• 2.5 cl simple syrup 1:1
• dash soda water
• lemon slice/maraschino cherry as a garnish

Since I don't have a soda streamer at home, I find "soda-based" cocktails rather difficult to make. I usually substitute it (soda water) with mineral water (which isn't the same) but it gets the job done. This time I actually had a bottle of "Fever Tree soda water", which in my opinion is totally overpriced and overrated. But the heck with it, I shook up this cocktails, strained into a glass filled with ice and topped it off with soda. Garnished it with a lemon slice and one home-made maraschino cherry.

Result? Refreshing & fabulous.

I like to use a 2:1:1 ratio when making this drink (at work/home), getting a little bit more volume, consistency and not such a sour drink. Essentially, this is the sour of all sour drinks truth to be told.

Recommendations? During the summer as far as I'm concerned!

What is up, Cocktail Nyymi?

What is up, Cocktail Nyymi?

My New Year's drink 2016

Hello everyone!

It's been a too long a while since my last post. The reason for this is that I've put more effort on my youtube channel (that's right :D) than on this blog. So what's the story behind it?

Last year, around May I posted my very first cocktail VIDEO. I can always claim it was due to people demanding one, but it seemed like a natural progression ever since my more or less successful forums threads since 2014. The reason for my face not showing (in the first video!) was due to a level of "anonymity", but ever since I realized "why the FUCK should I care?" and gotten ever wiser after that, followed by videos not trying to disguise myself in any matter.

What does this mean? Firstly, I do it 95% in Finnish. The main reason for this that most of those people on the forum(s) are Finns and secondly, I want to bring home bartending closer than just reading forum threads. Meaning that just pictures of finished cocktails hardly every tell the whole story. By using "everyday Joe" - methods (at least that's what I'm going for) I want people not working in the cocktail/restaurant business to get their share of good drinks.

You could say I'm the Finn counterpart of the Common Man Cocktails - guy.

The reception has been overwhelmingly positive and I am grateful for that.

Thus my blogging here has taken some hiatus in the last few months and for that I am sorry. Basically I'm working on three projects right now (this blog, my youtube channel and family/real life) where the level of importance goes as follows:

1. Family
2. Youtube channel
3. This blog

In the past six months I've taken a lot of interest in buying my liquor form Germany, which gives me a great advantage. I have bought many liquors/liqueurs that aren't really commercially available in Finland thus being able to make those cocktails I've so wanted to make a long time ago!

I still want to keep a "classic/modern" touch to it. Ever since May, 2015, there has been roughly 40+ videos; shots, shaken, stirred, built etc. But my idea is to make the "truly classic" ones first before digging through those cocktails that are created in the 21st century, so to speak. Also, I want to keep an eye on making drinks that hopefully don't need a very obscure ingredient so that as many home bartenders could make them at home! Because nowadays when you look at great cocktail clips you sigh as they call for one ingredient that is so obscure you ditch the whole idea of making it! It shouldn't be like that! Unfortunately, here in Finland we have this thing called "fuck reasonable cocktail/restaurant culture and fuck things up by fucked up legislation." so yeah, I rather get my booze from Germany 50% off at best!!

So as said, my youtube channel Cocktail Nyymi has taken my time in the cocktail business. Not to mention my daughter who turned 1-year-old a few months back. Juggling between family, cocktail making and work is a rough business. But I don't mind it a bit.

Cocktailnyymi out.