A.M.F drink

A.M.F DRINK

(ALPHA MIKE FOXTROT)

ALPHA! MIKE! FOXTROT! OR

ADIOS MOTHERFUCKER!

Here's a big-ass drink. I mean really. Belongs to the series with Irish Trash Can or Long Island Iced Teas, the A.M.F - drink is "oh one of THOSE!" - styled cocktails, which I would recommend making at home if at all. With a beautiful and tropical color, this drink is very very deceitful! Let's take a look:

• 1.5 cl vodka
• 1.5 cl rum (white)
• 1.5 cl tequila (100% de agave)
• 1.5 cl gin
• 1.5 cl blue curacao
• 6 cl sweet & sour mix (I just used 3 cl each fresh lemon juice and simple syrup mixed together)
• 6 cl (or to top) sprite/7-Up lemonade
• Orange/lemon/lime/cocktail cherry garnish

Super easy to make! With a big glass filled roughly half-way with ice, just pour in everything, give it a little stir and top it with lemonade. BOOM! Done! I did make two variations to it, using regular sprite and the now-only-available -30% less sugar sprite and I have to say, the latter tasted better. The first version was overly sweet, which isn't really surprising if you look at the list, three of them being sugary products (curacao, sugar syrup, lemonade). Otherwise, as my friend noted, it's the "alco-pop of spirits" :D Easy to down and gets you drunk fast. Which, in accordance to this cocktail's name is quite right.

Sierra! Echo! November! Delta!

November! Uniform! Delta! Echo! Sierra!

:D

BaBe Gimlet

BaBe GIMLET

Hey again! It's been such a long time since my last post! Well, I've had my summer/parental vacation through May-July, I've been abroad/away and quite frankly haven't had much time to create cocktails per se. But today I had the time as my family left the house as well :D

I present you with the BaBe Gimlet. Apparently it is from their (Becherovka's) official site, so let's take a look:

• 3 cl Becherovka (Czech liqueur)
• 2 cl gin
• 2 cl lime juice
• 1-2 cl simple syrup
• 3-6 basil leaves

Shake everything with ice, double strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a sprig of basil.

When I made this, I only use 1.5 cl simple syrup and with the gin I chose a London Dry - style, so it can enhance the flavors of everything else. The BaBe Gimlet was refreshing and had a nice taste to it. Wasn't overly sweet (because of the lesser amount of syrup). One suggests using an orange to garnish would work too. I don't doubt that at all!

Winter Aperitif / Rudolph the Reindeer

WINTER APERITIF / 

RUDOLPH THE REINDEER

Recipe given by a guest

Winter is still here to embrace yourselves! This cocktail's recipe was introduced to me by a guest, who made it during the Christmas season. Even with Xmas gone (and no "name" for it), I liked the recipe and decided to make it as well! Mainly available in Finland (?) due to one of its main ingredients:

• 2 cl gin
• 2 cl cointreau
• 2 cl mulled wine extract
• tonic water (quality)
• wintery spices/herbs to garnish

Stir the first three ingredients with ice, strain into an OF - glass, top it off with tonic water and garnish. Add a straw and you're ready to go!

This cocktail is sweet. Using a longer stir with ice is highly recommendable before pouring it into the glass. Spiciness, orang-y flavors and with a good bitter-ish aftertaste I really enjoyed this cocktail. The best part being, for the winter season it fits like a glove.

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!

Gingerhassle

GINGERHÄSSÄKKÄ

(GINGERHASSLE)

(I know, it is in Finnish)

Hello everyone! Here's a very refreshing drink, initially asked by a customer (do something citrus-y) and I thought of summoning something up for them. It turned out to be so good I figured "hey this makes one helluva drink!" Since this doesn't have a proper name yet, it is called a "Gingerhassle". Yeah, that'll do :D.

½ lime's juice

2 cl cointreau

2 cl gin

ginger beer, to top

On a highball glass filled with ice, press the juice of ½ a lime onto it. Add the alcohols and top the whole thing up with ginger beer. Garnish with a lime wheel, add a straw and there you go!

It is both fresh with good notes of citrus, orange and ginger. The lime juice cuts the tight gingery notes and the gin I used (a london dry style) was more in the background. Nonetheless, an excellent drink this was!

Cucumber-basil-sour

CUCUMBER-BASIL-SOUR

Summer in a glass

Good day y'all! Today I present you with a very summer-y drink called the Cucumber-basil-sour! It is a gin based cocktail but even for those who don't like the taste profile of gin, the sourness and flavors from both the cucumber and basil will work wonders! It's also a very refreshing drink! What you'll need:

• 4 cl gin (prefer a lighter one)
• 2 cl lemon juice
• 2 cl simple syrup
• 1 egg white (smaller)
• 3 slices of cucumber
• 5 leaves of basil

As we have egg white in this drink, dryshake before adding ice and shaking again. Moreover, you can gently muddle the cucumber/basil before shaking to extract as much flavor as possible.

I love how cucumber is such a great ingredient in cocktails giving them tons of flavor to it. With the herbal notes in this one and the texture given by the egg, it's a summer's "must try this one!" drink! I approve!

Lady

LADY

Hey everyone!

A few days back ago I whipped up a cocktail a fellow (home)bartender made. It's a gin based drink and regardless of what the name "Lady" implies, this is not a lady-like cocktail! Let's have a closer look:

• 4 cl gin
• 2 cl peach schnapps
• 2 cl lemon juice
• 1 egg white

The "original" recipe called for one tsp of egg white, but I like to go with one whole; gives more body, texture and volume. I also came to realize that the use of gin makes quite the difference. If you use a light(er) gin (or floral) instead of a robust one, it'll affect the tasting notes quite a lot. I went for Monkey 47 for its citrusy - taste. If someone has more gins at home, I'd suggest trying out with different ones to see which one works out for the best.

So dryshake everything, then add your ice and shake again. Strain into a cocktail glass and as you can see, I garnished it with a cocktail cherry. I like the contrast between creamy, frothy white and bright red. Visually, quite the look :)

Velvety texture, clearly got the gin out of this with peach in the background. This cocktail also had that good tartness to it which makes it more than suitable for any person enjoying gin in different forms.

Kaukokaipuu (Wanderlust)

KAUKOKAIPUU (WANDERLUST)

reader request, awesomeness ensured!

A good Saturday to you all! Here's a cocktail I made based on a reader request! Its base ingredient is quite different that what you would expect and its name "Kaukokaipuu" (Wanderlust) derives from and I quote

"You can make this with rather cheap ingredients. While drinking this at cold winter nights watching Madventures one can ponder, what it be like to jump out of the rat race into far away lands."

Roughly so :D So what do you need to make this?

• 2 cl blanco rum
• 1 cl malibu
• 1 cl gin (prefer a floral, "light" gin)
• 1 bs almond syrup
• 6 cl Alpro coconut-rice milk
• some roasted almond chips on top (optional garnish)

Shake everything with ice and strain into a smaller, chilled cocktail glass. Garnish optional (an edible flower would be awesome I realized).

With a good coconut-aroma to it, it also has that surprisingly good combination of rum & gin. The slight sweet-bitter almond-y notes are also there easily to be found.

In my opinion, it was a very fun experiment and this cocktail is an all-around drink. I give it a solid 4 out of 5!

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!

White Lady

WHITE LADY

Hello everyone! It's Cocktail Monday (I just made that one up, but it seemed fitting at the moment :D) and two weeks left of my mammoth nine weeks of combined summer/paternity holiday. It's always fun to make classic drinks and this one belongs to the family. I present you the White Lady. Now, different sources will give you different ratios of how much ingredients you should have in this cocktail (not to mention IBA's "official" ratios). In addition to that, the Finnish alcohol laws prohibit using more than 4 cl of raw alcohol per drink (with exceptions), so what we'll have is two following ratios. The Finnish bar ratio and the one I used (for that little extra oompf and love):

• 1:1:1 ratio = 2 cl gin, cointreau, lemon juice (Finnish version) AND this version

• 4.5 cl gin
• 2 cl cointreau
• 2 cl lemon juice

Some sources will also imply the use of egg white, but it is not necessary. Should you use it, remember to dry shake before adding ice.

So what you want to do is add the ingredients to the shaker, add ice and shake it like you mean it! Strain into your (at this point it is safe to assume the cocktail ware is well chilled before use) cocktail glass and garnish. You could either use a lemon twist or a stemmed cocktail cherry; it adds nice aesthetics (albeit not being opposite colors). Serve.

I liked it! With the (more added) gin it wasn't as sweet, had that bite to it and of course the beauty of it, using your favorite gin this cocktail has a lot of potential to suit one's taste!

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!

Sampling the unknown

SAMPLING THE UNKNOWN

What could these be?

Hello again and welcome! It's been quite a while since my last post and I do apologize for that. With our now 6-month-old daughter and my wife having a two-week work shift I haven't really had much time to taste new products, make new cocktails (I don't even have ice in the fridge at the moment!) or explore the vast world of alcoholic beverages in general.

Today that changed. But first let us rewind a bit and ie. one week. A tasting was held at work but alas, I could not attend. It's not that didn't want to but I couldn't because on the following day I had my blood tested and that meant no alcohol for the previous 48 hours. So I bought these little sample bottles that hold 3.5cl (35ml so a healthy measure) from a drug store and brought them earlier to my workplace so I could later sample them. From what I heard one of them was going to be the last of the legendary Valhalla series, Odin. So a colleague of mine was kind enough (<3 !) to fill these bottles for me but never told me which bottle had which product! That meant, I had five samples and no idea (not even the type [whisky, rum, cognac etc.]) what they were. A true blind tasting that is. 

A sample bottle labeled "=)"

So what I had was five (5) different products. Each were labeled differently and only my colleague knew what was in each one. When I started pouring the products in the glasses I realized how much even ~30 ml was! So going with approximately 20 ml each, I ended up with a nice row of products:

The tasting was a great success! Just nosing them made me think two of them were whiskies, one a dark rum and one I just couldn't figure out but it was on the tip of my tongue. I actually thought the first one was a whisky too but after I wrote down my tasting notes and rated them, my colleague sent me pictures of what I had but not in any particular order. Using the power of deduction I then managed to collect the last pieces of the puzzle and finish the job!

1. Tres Generaciones Añejo tequila (the peppery notes, just astonishing!)
2. Highland Park Odin (cask strength, bitter chocolate notes)
3. No3 London Dry Gin (this had lemon peel notes in it making me believe it was some sort of triple sec first, I "almost had it right")
4. Brugal VX dark rum (sweet aroma but taste-wise much robust)
5. Glenrothes 2001 (a very "pure" single malt, extremely fast finish)

All in all, these were great products. Especially the tequila left me with an extremely positive impression proving once again that there are good tequilas out there but only the shittiest ones are exported abroad and the good ones are really effing expensive to begin with. Also the gin was very palatable and worked as itself quite nicely.

Inspired and motivated of all of this, I've gotten myself another 10 sample bottles so I can share some of my different spirits with friends in the future! Not to mention should I ever open up another whisky bottle for the first time, I can take a measure of it and store it in a separate container. This way, after a long period of time I can always "return" to the original product and see if the flavor has developed, if at all.

Gin Sour

GIN SOUR

Hello again! Today we explore a truly classic cocktail, which in fact is one if not the easiest to make in its category. The Gin Sour. To simplify what a sour is, basically it comes down to

1. Choice of liquor
2. Fresh lemon juice
3. Simple syrup

The ratio might vary from bar to bar or even recipe-wise, but a solid 2:1:1 works just fine. So what liquor to use? That's the beauty of this drink! You could pretty much use anything you want and still have an amazing cocktail. Or an interesting one. A vodka sour, whisky sour, tequila sour, campari sour, midori sour and so forth. Only keep in mind if using a very sweet alcohol base, to cut back with the sugar syrup. You want the cocktail to be fresh and crisp, not overly sweet.

Let's get back to this one. Easy to make, solid in taste (love the pun).

• 4 cl gin of choice
• 2 cl fresh lemon juice
• 2 cl simple syrup
• (optional) garnish

Since gins have very different flavors nowadays, the choice of garnish is relevant. With Hendrick's gin I definitely would've used cucumber to garnish my drink. But since I used Schwartzwald dry gin, which is a very citrusy gin, the classic "lemon+cherry" worked out fine.

Pour ingredients in a shaker, add ice, shake, rattle and roll. Strain, garnish and serve. There you go!

I liked it. It is all a rather "manly" drink, but has that nice citrusy note to it. Also it wasn't too sweet but just enough to be...well, sour :D To be honest though, I could've used 5 cl gin instead of 4 cl but that's alright. The drink tasted excellent!

A promise made is a promise kept

A promise made is a promise kept

A 365 days' work between the covers

This year's last season greeting to you all! It is the last day of 2014 and I have something big to discuss.

As this year has come to a wonderful end, you might remember me talk about my New Year's Resolution for the year 2014. A quick recap to those who can't be bothered with the link;

"In the year 2014 I will/have taste/d every alcohol product (most importantly the whiskies) we sell at our bar."

"The commandments with twists and turns"

A great way to combine work and pleasure:

1. Work: I want to learn how different whiskies taste like so I know what I am selling our customers
2. Pleasure. I want to learn to taste different whiskies to become better at it. 

Now 365 days to sample what, ~100 products in total? (I counted them, 133 is the correct amount) What looked like an easy job actually ended up being one of the closest thing to be unfinished!

Okay, let's break this "task" down. What did really happen during this year?

1. The whiskies

This included each and every whisky our bar holds. Naturally, in the course of one full year, some whiskies were drunk before I got to them and subsequently some new products were available for me to assess. As long as I had each currently available sampled at the end of this year, I considered it a success. Every time I sample a product, write down the date as well.

Example page. Name, "type" and date when tasted.

2. The liquors

This meant the rest. From the mild ABVs (e.g. port/sherry) to the hard stuff (gins, rums, vodkas and other).

3. No (tap) beers, wines or mixer liqueurs!

I deliberately wanted to limit this section not to be included in the resolution. The reason is quite simple. Sampling low ABV mixer liqueurs doesn't make much sense (no-one ever orders them separately) and with the bottled products we had so many seasonal changes (cidre weeks, summer beers, winter ales and so forth). The same goes for the wines. Although we have a more or less "steady" list, our wines changed throughout the year quite a few times.

4. What if a product was drunk before I got to it?!

Well that sucked! For instance, I was really sad that the Nikka 10yo was drunk before I was able to taste it. Okay, I got to taste its older 20yo brother but still, evaluating them together would have been so much better. Later on I will let you know about the ones "missing in action" and "new incomers".

5. Which one did you like the best? Which one was not good?

Each product, be it a whisky or a liquor, I rated with a 1-5 star system. When evaluating an article, I tried to write down a few notes regarding said product and finally putting a "rating" to it. Coarsely, the rating as follows and keep in mind, this is according to my opinion. What I say only reflects my personal preferences:

* : Did not taste good at all!
** : Meh. Lacked potential and taste.
*** : Palatable. Missed that little "oompf" to receive another star.
**** : Very good! Wouldn't mind having another one!
***** : Exceptional in taste, texture and finish. A diamond.

Strictly speaking, only the greatest whiskies got in my personal Hall of Fame. They needn't be a five-star whisky to achieve this but if they managed to knock my socks right off my feet, they made it to the list. In addition, the ones (whiskies) I liked the least had the "honor" of becoming products in my Hall of Shame. As for the rest liquors, I did rate them as well but did not include them in the HoF, for obvious reasons.

Finally, every time I had a sample at our bar, I kept the receipt. I wanted to know how much I spent over the year to accomplish this task.

MISSING IN ACTION(never got to sample these)

• Benriach 12yo non-chill filtered
• Benriach 16yo
• Nikka 10yo
• Highland Park Loki 15yo
• Laphroaig 10yo cask strength
• Laphroaig 18yo
• Ardbeg non-chill filtered
• Minttu (black mint)
• Koskenkorva Nordic Berries
• Koskenkorva Blueberry
• Koskenkorva Lingonberry
• Ardbeg Auriverdes

NEW PRODUCTS(available to sample)

• Nikka 20yo
• Ardbeg Corryveckan
• Plantation XO Rum
• Nikka from the Barrel
• Macallan Ruby

THE FINAL WHISKY
MISSION COMPLETED :D

Laphroaig Quarter Cask

So up to this day, I had finished everything else except for three whiskies! The Laphroaig series; Triple Wood, Cairdeas 2011 and Quarter Cask. After my work I sample the two former and as I got home I popped open the QC. Thus my New Year's Resolution was completed! And not a day too early :D

So what ended up being totally awesomesauce in flavor and which did not quite make it to the top (or even past the start line)?

The Hall of Fame and Shame, respectively

Eventually, according to my taste and preferences, some whiskies proved their right to become awesome, great and fabulous. "Sadly", for two whiskies this was not the case but quite the opposite. Glenlivet 18yo, Macallan 12yo sherry oak and Nikka 20yo were exceptional in taste and I had no problem adding this trio to the list! On the other hand, Bowmore 10yo (Devil's cask) and Johnny Walker Red Label were something quite horrid. Okay, for Red Label's defence, it is not a single malt but a blend. But even mixed with cola it didn't taste good! For ratings' sake I had to give it a "parenthesis" one star.

So what did this all cost me? Of course I didn't pay for the stuff I could drink at home. I counted the sums in the receipts and ended up in a sum of 343.8€! I actually had to recount twice because I got a bigger sum before! :D So this cost me less than 1€/day!

I have to admit that this New Year's Resolution was worth every cent. Not only did I experience a wide range of flavors but also (hopefully! :D) became more proficient in spirits of different styles. Now, could I explain you thoroughly about a whisky I tasted in February? Probably not. Sampling half a measure of whisky does not make me a pro, no sir! This is not just one year's job. It's a life-long process that follows one to their grave. It's a passion. If nothing else, at least I had quite a few different whiskies and other liquors to drink!


Sláinte!

When in doubt, gin it out!

A GIN TASTING

Well, hello everyone! It's been a good two and a half months (!) since my last post. My sincerest apologizes, I just happened to become a father for my first-born daughter, so I was rather busy all this time :D

But have no fear, I am here, with new tricks in my bag! My new (and fourth) shipment from Germany arrived just dandyishly so I could pull off another great tasting. This time we were to explore the world of gin. Given, from only two countries, but still!

Before we get to the details, I will try to "open up" my history to gin. As for most, gin equals Beefeater, Bombay, Gordon's and gin&tonics. It does make excellent other cocktails as well (the legendary French 75 for example) but is it really good drunk pure? This we were about to find out. Of course, we sampled these products with some "special" tonics as well and finished the night with three different gin-based cocktails.

Our first gin, a true classic, if you may, was Beefeater London dry gin. This was known to everyone of us the best. The second one, an organic gin, The Duke of Munich, from...you guessed, Munich. The last was a gin "titled" by the world as a "super-premium-excellence-diamond-platinum-one-of-a-kind"; Monkey 47 Schwartzwald dry gin from Germany as well! All of them were at least 45% ABV (90 proof), the Beefeater and Monkey 47 being 47% (94 proof) respectively. So stronger than your usual stuff.

SAMPLING

As you can see, this was super interesting :D What was really remarkable was the fact that gin as a product is really versatile! The amount of different styles of gin has sky rocketed in the last few years. Taste-wise, the Beefeater was the purest. Meaning, this tastes as people would imagine gin should taste like. Moreover, even with 47% it was incredibly smooth.

The Duke of Munich on the other hand, quite the opposite. Although in its purest form it wasn't quite as palatable as the other two, it had a long, lingering aftertaste. To the nose it was a bit stuffy. But there's quite the twist to this gin, explained later!

Thirdly and as our "joker" the Monkey 47. According to their websites they used lingonberries in the process of making this gin. Anyhow, this gin was extremely fresh and lemony! One wouldn't believe it's gin at first! It was truly an exception to the bunch.

So now that we've sampled these pure, how about some tonic added?

Instead of using the o'regular Schweppes tonic water, I had a few bottles of Tonic Monaco at my disposal (from Aquamonaco). With silly 0.23L sizes (seriously), we used the extra dry tonic with our dry London gin and the regular tonic with the two others.

Of course the garnish part plays an important role. With the Beefeater, a lemon slice. The Duke of Munich received an orange slice (as recommended on their website) and with the Monkey 47 I decided to go with a lime wedge (just because). I tried to extract some juice of said fruit before adding the tonic.

As you could imagine, adding extra dry tonic with dry gin, the result? Quite dry!

I mean it was really, really dry. And I didn't know you could drink liquid that dry. Phooie! The greatest (positive) reaction was from the Duke of Munich version. Albeit it didn't claim much success by itself, in a tonic it was the best one! The Monkey 47 + tonic did succeed from the given task quite nicely as well. A very refreshing choice!

We finished the evening with three gin cocktails: Club Cover Cocktail, Bee's Knees and the Pegu Club Cocktail, in all using different gins (in given order).

Club Cover Cocktail was liked the best

Okay, I lied. I also made a Boston Sour.

Delicious. Period.

Summa summarum, the world of gin is exploding. The mass-produced "we-all-know-these" gins are getting substituted by special, distiller cuts or otherwise extraordinary products with each having their own little special quirk in their taste. I also believe that everyone can find their own favorite, let it be with or without (any) mixer.

Clover Club Cocktail

CLOVER CLUB COCKTAIL

A wonderful evening to each and every one!

Tonight I present you with a classic cocktail; The Clover Club Cocktail. Fair enough, I made the most common variation of this, explained later. Moreover, here's a perfect example how egg whites work in cocktails and what an outstanding looks they give to the final product! Let's take a look, shall we?

• 4.5 cl gin
• 1.5 cl lemon juice
• 1.5 cl raspberry syrup or grenadine
• 1 egg white

The original recipe calls for raspberry syrup. The most used variation of this (how I made it, too) substitutes the syrup with grenadine. I won't get a bottle (if I even find one) for this one particular drink. But anyhow, combine everything in a shaker and dry shake first. The egg white emulsifies the drink. Then add the ice, shake again and double strain into your chilled cocktail glass. Raspberry garnish optional (should you have any at your disposal).

I even wrote down notes regarding this cocktail, since my wife was watching a TV-series from the laptop.

First things first. Beautiful color and texture! Velvety smooth and the layers stay in the drink for a long, long time. Even the mouth-feel was exquisite! Taste-wise, the gin was definitely present, albeit "smooth". The Club Clover isn't too bitter and has a definite after-sweetness to it.

I give this cocktail a 4½/ 5 for the outlooks (seriously this is one good looking cocktail) and a 3/5 for taste. Given, using the "proper" ingredient (raspberry syrup) would probably make a big difference.

*EDIT*

using raspberry syrup now

So I made the same drink...almost two years later, now using proper raspberry syrup instead of grenadine. The drink is otherwise exactly the same. My thoughts? Was better, definitely. Some recipes call for some dry French vermouth for that little oompf and "yay I'm an adult" :D, I can't see anything wrong with that. That said, this drink is easily modified and in my sincerest opinion making a twist to this IBA cocktail does not hurt at all!

Chimay 2009 VS Chimay 2014

Chimay 2009 VS Chimay 2014

Notice the new label (and my hands when I took the picture)

Hello everyone!

One day at work I noticed a bottle of Chimay Blue in the showcase. Nothing special, except for the fact it was brewed in 2009! Now at this point you might say "Eww Cele that's FIVE YEAR OLD BEER!" or "Put that f***ing thing away before I stick it up your ass!" BUT there's one thing you should know. These high ABV beers (in this case 9%) can be kept in cellars and "matured". Keep in mind, though, the 2009 version standing on the showcase has not quite met the requirements for proper (or any) "cellar"-conditions, so comparing it to the new version was just a fun experiment to make.

Thankfully a friend of mine managed to come along; drinking these alone would've been too much for me. But before tried out the Chimays I chatted a bit with two French tourists visiting Finland for a week, Inez and Jacques ("Jack"), with whom I talked before my friend showed up.

But let's get into business. As you can see in the following pictures, these two varied a massive amount; both in nose and palate. 

Left 2014, right 2009

First things first; the nose. Where as the 2014 had a fresh, malty aroma to it, the 2009 version smelt very yeasty to me, even spoilt. Also, the foam was weak and disappeared almost instantly. The amount of sediment (yeast) was crazy in the old bottling (as you can see in the pictures below).

2014

2009

2009

2014

Regarding taste, I have to admit the older Chimay had a distinctive taste to it. Fair enough, it wasn't a good one, but as if drinking cheap sparkling wine. I somehow got same kind of aromas from it! The 2014 bottle was so much sweeter (which makes sense since the yeast hasn't consumed all sugars) and maltier. Overall it was just better, no doubt about it. Sure, as mentioned before, the 2009 version wasn't cellar conditioned at any times, but still...phooie :D

I should've realized to decant the old bottle so all of the yeast had not gone in the glass, but well, too late now :D

Summa summarum, it was quite an experiment. After the Chimays we had a go at three gins sold at our bar (part of my NY-resolution and with a friend sampling products is WAY better); Gordon's, Bombay and Hendrick's. Out of these three, I ranked them as following:

Best nose: Hendrick's

Best taste: Gordon's

I got to say, Bombay gin had an awful peppery taste and was...quite bad to be honest.

Was fun! :)