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.

Drambuie Sour

DRAMBUIE SOUR

Fresh magic in a glass

Hey everyone!

Today's special is a cocktail called Drambuie Sour. The recipe I got from a restaurant/bar called August von Trappe, located just by the rapids in Tampere. The idea here was the following: I wanted to see how bartenders use Drambuie in a cocktail, which isn't a Rusty Nail (as seen before). Since not many bars stock this liqueur, it was only right that I kind of challenge the staff to create magic out of it. In my sincerest opinion, that time they succeeded BUT not without mentioning that when I first ordered "A Drambuie - based cocktail, can't be a RN.", the bartender was rather insecure and couldn't come up with anything. I told her that it didn't really matter what she would make and that she can "fulfill any cocktail fantasies she has" with this liqueur. Alas, she asked her senior to help her out and together they made this. The Drambuie Sour:

• 4 cl Drambuie
• 4 cl fresh orange juice
• 3 cl fresh lemon juice
• 1 cl simple syrup
• 2 ds each orange and angostura bitters
• 1 egg white

Dry shake everything, add ice, shake again and double strain into a large-ish tumbler half filled with ice. Garnish with a orange twist.

Fresh, not too sweet and with a great orange - aroma to it. A steady egg white foam, good body. The aftertaste is a bit bitter (egg white). Just amazing.

I hope that the first bartender gets inspiration off of this and in the future keeps making great cocktails!

Rusty Nail

RUSTY NAIL

A cocktail appeared first in the 1930's

Hello everyone! Today's cocktail dates back some decades. The Rusty Nail. This cocktail has one rather "obscure" ingredient in it and as we look at the recipe altogether, it is quite similar to the Godfather/mother.

• 4.5 cl scotch whisky
• 2.5 cl Drambuie
• Lemon twist/spiral garnish

Drambuie is a Scottish liqueur with 40% ABV and flavored with honey and other spices. For me (at least) it has been one of those bottles

1. You might've heard about
2. You need in (that) one classic cocktail
3. Never intend to buy because of reason #2
4. Would collect dust once you've bought it

Luckily a colleague of mine went on a cruise and together we split a 50cl bottle. Now I have my hands on 25cl of this stuff and hell yes I intended to make this cocktail ASAP. So pour both ingredients in a glass filled with ice, stir gently and garnish.

The verdict? Quite easily enjoyable. The stinginess from the blended scotch is well combined with the sweet and honey-ish Drambuie, making a solid balance between both ingredients. Adding that lemon zest/spiral/twist you get that fresh citrusy aroma to it as well. Spices (cinnamon, clove) are apparent too. As a digestive the Rusty Nail would fit like a glove...You just need to buy that Drambuie bottle first :D

Irish Trash Can

IRISH TRASH CAN

A trash can. Its content tastes pretty good :D

Hey everyone! Today's special is called the Irish Trash Can. This drink was actually a request by a reader and I decided to pull it off. In two weeks time I'll make this as a video with a good friend of mine but for the picture I wanted to make it myself.

So...the Irish Trash Can. A big bunch of everything.

• 1.5 cl gin
• 1.5 cl vodka
• 1.5 cl light rum
• 1.5 cl peach schnapps
• 1.5 cl triple sec
• 1.5 cl blue curacao
• 1 can of red bull

Add all ingredients (except for the red bull) in a big glass filled with ice, stir gently, crack open the energy drink and add it into the glass (see picture).

Some call for using a straw and drink it as fast as possible...okay that will get you wasted fast. I had the patience to assess the drink (:D) and sip it slowly. This drink tastes candy-ish! The peach flavor comes forth nicely and the "can" is otherwise very "balanced". It's a sweet drink (literally). If you have the ingredients and the glasses for it, this'll make a "fun" house party drink!