Suomi 100 - Sour

SUOMI 100 - SOUR

A toast to Finland's 100-year anniversary!

Happy independence day Finland! To celebrate this event, I picked up a recipe from the newest cocktail - magazine made specifically for this. The Suomi 100 - Sour. The recipe looked fun enough so of course I want to make it myself as well. For readers abroad, this cocktail can still be made there, since you don't need any super rare ingredients to pull this one off!

• 4 cl Finlandia vodka
• 4 cl blueberry juice/soup
• 3 cl fresh lemon juice
• 1 egg white
• 2 tsp caster sugar

Dry shake everything, add ice, shake again. Strain into an OF-glass and garnish. The original recipe called for blueberries, but this time of the year they're not available and using frozen ones is questionable due to their small size. So instead I used a lemon twist.

How does the Suomi 100 - sour taste like? Smooth, very smooth and a very clear blueberry flavor boosted with alcohol. Not too sharp (the citrus-y notes) and well balanced. It doesn't have too much depth to it, so IMHO it's an overall ok drink to enjoy. On a side note, it is pretty as can be!

This said, I too want to raise a toast for Finland's 100th independence day! Cheers!

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

Jäger Sour

JÄGER SOUR

Here's yet another sour - styled cocktail, now from Jägermeister's official site. The Jäger Sour. Just like the Averna Sour I made with my colleague or the Drambuie Sour, here's a similar drink that incorporates orange juice.

• 50 ml Jägermeister
• 25 ml orange juice
• 12.5 ml lemon juice
• 12.5 ml simple syrup 1:1
• 1 egg white

Shake everything with ice (a bit longer) and strain into your prechilled, ½ with ice filled tumbler. Garnish optional, but a lemon slice/peel would look nice. So I had to use clementine juice, because my local shop ran out of oranges :D but nonetheless, this drink was absolutely wonderful! The Jäger's aroma, the freshness, the balance. All there.

Moreover, I used MANIFEST to make another drink with the exactly same recipe just to figure out the differences. It had so much more of an oompf to it, but it was good too. Not quite AS good, but still delicious.

This is a kick-ass cocktail, hands down!

Wildside

WILDSIDE

Close enough :)

Hey everyone! It's been quite a long time since my last update...well, I have a good (?) reason for that, explained later. But now let's do some cocktailing! The recipe is not mine but instead by a chap called Tero Räisänen working at Olympiakortteli (in Finnish). I asked him about this legendary drink and permission to re-create (also in video) and he said yes! So here we go!

On a sidenote, this cocktail was created by him back in 2012 and legend goes, where ever he works, he introduces the Wildside to his staff. For a good reason I say! Let's take a look.

• 4 cl (blood)grapefruit vodka
• 3 cl lemon juice
• 2 cl sugar syrup
• ½ kiwi, muddled + some for garnish
• crushed ice

Muddle half a kiwi in a high ball glass. Add the crushed ice, the rest of the ingredients and spoon shake everything. Basically with a (bar)spoon mix everything in the glass. Add more ice and garnish with a kiwi slice + add two straws.

There you go! One fresh drink with a superb kiwi-taste to it! Moreover, I used my own blood grapefruit infused vodka and here's how to make that:

1 large blood grapefruit, washed and peeled

1 tbsp plain sugar

1 standard sized bottle (0.7L) of vodka

Let everything infuse for ~24h, stirring occasionally. Strain into a sterile bottle.

So those who live in Finland (or plan to make a trip), visit Tampere and Olympiakortteli for Tero's Wildside. Totally worth it!

Averna Sour

AVERNA SOUR

Greetings everyone! Tonight's special is a real treat! The Averna Sour! I had the priviledge to make this one with a colleague and friend of mine at my work place and we actually made two versions of it; one with egg white and one without. By slightly altering the ratios you can make a cocktail that'll best suit your preferences!

• 4 cl averna (an Italian bitter liqueur)
• 2 cl sugar syrup 1:1
• 2 cl lemon juice
• 2 ds bitters
• (1 egg white)

If using egg whites, remember as always to dry shake first! Otherwise, just pour everything in the shaker, give it a good shake with plenty of ice and strain over fresh ice onto an OF - glass. Garnish with e.g. a lemon twist. As you can see in the picture, that one was made with egg white, giving the Averna Sour beautiful texture and volume. In addition, we sprinkled the bitters on top of the drink instead of putting it in the mixing glass.

Herbal, sweet and with balanced tartness, it's a great sour altogether! You could also make a slight variation/twist if you want, using different ratios of lemon juice/simple syrup or even Averna. For example, 5-1-2 (as mentioned above the ingredients). Follow your instincts and like Shia Labeouf, just do it! I know we did!

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!

Belgian Apple Pie

BELGIAN APPLE PIE

Hey! Here's a cocktail, or a hoptail, I made today. How this came to life is quite a story. So someone sent me a request as follows (loose quotes):

"Sir cocktail-sir

Back in the beer festival I got to taste an "apple pie drink" from a friend of mine. I was quite drunk but I remember it tasted good nonetheless. Later on I did find the pamphlet from my jacket pocket and on it were the ingredients listed: Belgian wheat beer, cloudy apple juice, lemon, vanilla liqueur. Any tips on the amount of the juice/liqueur? And how much do you reckon would go into one glass? With hazy memories I believe the size of the drink was about 0.4l."

With the help of google and some well-timed detective work, I managed to find the source of this cocktail! Luckily enough even my local store had some Belgian wheat beer and cloudy apple juice so I could make this one! It's called the Belgian Apple Pie:

• 2 cl lemon juice
• 4 - 6 cl cloudy apple juice (IMHO 6 cl is good)
• 2 cl galliano vanilla
• Belgian (style) wheat beer

Shake the three first ingredients with ice, strain into a mug filled with ice, pour over the wheat beer and garnish with a lemon slice/wheel.

I first made it with only 4 cl apple juice but had to admit it was too little so 6 cl would do much better. Smell/Taste-wise it did remind me of an apple pie, which was nice.

On a side note, if you can find, use a bit stronger wheat beer; the lower ABV ones lack body in my opinion.

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.

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!

Reader's Challenge: Sangreal Cocktail

THE SANGREAL COCKTAIL

A wannabe Sangria drink!

Let's keep up posting like there's no tomorrow! I recently received a Reader's Challenge (!!!) I was asked to make a Sangreal Cocktail and quote:

Have you ever tried the Sangreal cocktail? I first tested it at a cocktail bar three years ago and attempted it on my own. Here's how I did it: "Pour 4 cl Licor 43 in a highball glass, add two chunks of grapefruit and two chunks of lemon. Muddle most juice from out the chunks. Add two-three ice cubes and the red grenadine. Pour roughly half of the Ginger Ale and stir from the bottom so that the chunks won't stick there. Add still one or two ice cubes and fill up with Ginger Ale." This drink is a long one, somewhat mild, nicely reddish and exceptionally refreshing on hot summer evenings. Sang Real, or sangreal, comes from both French and Spanish and means the words Holy and Grail or Holy Royal. Thus, the name relates to something very old. Additionally the name relates to its colour, which should be close to what is known as "veriappelsiinivehnäolut" in Finnish. And as I first got the hint for this cocktail fr om a Swedish person, this challenge includes four nationalities :-)

I had no Licor 43 at home so I bought a sample bottle of it, also got pretty much everything else from the store except for the grenadine, which I already had.

I read the challenge a few times to get the jist. I realized I would need a large enough glass to make it and as I soon found out how large the grapefruit chunks were, I'm glad I picked up the bigger highball glass in the first place:

• 4 cl Licor 43
• two chunks grapefruit
• two chunks lemon
• 2 bs grenadine (I figured 2 bs would suffice)
• ginger ale, to top

Everything worked out fine until I added the grenadine. A few times now I've witnessed bad quality syrups and as you can see from the picture, the grenadine didn't give as much deep color as I was hoping for. Also, the camera didn't really give justice to the drink; with added orange slices (for the heck of it) it was a nice looking drink overall; its taste was just too sweet for me. I blame the grenadine; one didn't give enough color and two went overboard especially since Licor 43 itself is a sweet liqueur as well!

Let's be honest here (as if I weren't normally :D). This cocktail wasn't a top-tier one. But what really warmed my heart was indeed how I got to make this cocktail, by a random dude's challenge on my blog! Cheers to that!

Islay Sour

ISLAY SOUR

What would Ron Swanson do?

Heya guys! It's been a long time since my last update! So why not continue by making an interesting cocktail that uses one ingredient that most people would find horrifying if used in a mixed drink! I present you the Islay Sour!

The story so far; I found out about this in a portfolio made by Diageo. In its "perfect serve" there was this peculiar one there. A typical sour, yes, but with Laga-fucking-vulin 16yo? It had to be done...so I made it by using their recipe and here's how YOU can do it at home:

• 4 cl Lagavulin 16yo
• 3 cl lemon juice
• 2 cl simple syrup (1:1)
• 2 dashes angostura bitters
• 1 egg white (fresh!)

Although the recipe calls for ice shaking all right away, I would still dry-shake first, then add ice and finally shake again. Double straining as usual.

The looks is great, a beautiful peachy color and velvety texture. Taste-wise, the citrus dominated a bit and I was hoping for more "oompf" from the whisky, the Lagavulin did give a nice kick in the end though with its sweet peatiness. What I would nonetheless do, is alter the recipe just a tad should I ever do it again:

• 5 cl Lagavulin 16yo
• 2 cl lemon
• 2 cl syrup
• 2 dashed bitters
• 1 egg white

In its essence, give the drink more its need power and lessen the citrus-y notes.

The cocktail itself was quite the experiment and in my opinion, one of those drinks you can really try if feeling courageous :) 

Here's the same drink made on video (in Finnish!)

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!

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!

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!

Bee's Knees

BEE'S KNEES

Bee's Knees taken outside in the garden

Bee's Knees taken inside at the "usual spot"

A pleasant Friday to each and everyone! For some time now I wanted to make some sugar syrups and namely honey syrup. I've had a few ideas (recipes) where to incorporate this and this morning I managed to make a small batch of both simple and honey syrup as follows:

From left to right: Vanilla sugar syrup (made on the 4th of Feb., yea still tasted good), honey syrup and simple syrup

As said, sugar syrup (or simple syrup) is easily made: Just add boiling water to sugar/honey in a 1:1 ratio. For a rich syrup, use a double amount of sugar for each part of water. Lasts at least for one week. I mean, it's only sugar and water, keep it refrigerated and it'll easily last for a month (as proven, the vanilla version is over three months old and still tasted like on the day I made it.

Inspired by this, I looked up a cocktail that uses honey syrup. One that intrigued me much was the Bee's Knees. I had the ingredients and said, why the heck not? So I introduce you to the Bee's Knees:

• 6 cl gin
• 2 cl honey syrup
• 1.5 cl lemon juice (I used lime juice)

Add the ingredients in a shaker, add ice, shake and strain. No garnish needed.

First things first. Amazingly this cocktail smells like one of those honey flavored candies I remembered from my youth-hood. In addition, despite the fact this drink is very cold, it had a warm feel to it. The taste is wonderful and refreshing! Not overly sweet, has a bite and a smooth taste of gin.

I think I'll make a few for my friends this Sunday and see what they think of it. I bet they'll love it.

Ginger Martini

GINGER MARTINI

Evening everyone! Here's a cocktail I picked up from a food&drink magazine while at the barber shop (I'm so fresh&clean right now). It also traces back (kinda) memories because the main ingredient here is Xanté, a pear-cognac liqueur. The thing is, for a long long time I looked Xanté down for one (vain) reason. It was my...25th (?) birthday and a friend of mine asked what I wanted. I told him to get me a glass of Amaretto (I love that stuff). As the story goes, they didn't have any (!) at the bar so my friend asked the bartender to give something "similar". So what I got was Xanté. Nope, not an overly-sweet (mild) almondy liqueur but a strong pear-cocgnac one. At the time I couldn't drink it.

Ever since that I felt Xanté was a bad product. Yes, I was young and didn't know better (and to be honest the ideology behind my hatred was simply immature) but...last year I found out how horribly wrong I've been all these years. A few days ago I tried Xanté with hot chocolate, it worked! The possibilites are endless but only my stubbornness was getting in the way.

So today I grabbed the bull by the horns and this is what we have; the Ginger Martini (yea it's technically not a martini since it doesn't have vermouth in it. Hey I didn't come up with the name :D)

• 4 cl Xanté
• 2 table spoons of sugar
• juice from ½ a lemon
• ~1 cm piece of fresh ginger

Put everything in a shaker, muddle the ginger properly, add ice and shake vigorously. Double strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a piece of ginger (as seen on the picture).

I got to say, this is one great cocktail! I can taste each ingredient individually, the lemon, spiky ginger and notes of pear! Yummy! This cocktail has that ZING! It's a super fresh cocktail!

All in all, the Ginger Martini has won my heart. It's a good cocktail.

Berries and bubbles

BERRIES AND BUBBLES

A summery greeting to you all! Albeit we're already going on August, it doesn't matter, the sun is shining, it's ridiculously warm outside so why not grab a perfect summery cocktail? Called the Berries and bubbles, I picked this up from a website (Smallscreen Network) and thanks to my wife who picked up some fresh raspberries I had the ingredients to pull one off. Note that any seasonal berry will do just fine. If you like strawberries or blueberries, go straight ahead! This cocktail is not specifically made for raspberries!

• depending on size, 8-10 large or 15-25 smaller raspberries
• 4.5 cl quality vodka
• 2 cl fresh lemon juice
• 2 cl simple syrup
• a good sparkling wine/champagne
• raspberries for decoration

In a mixing glass, add in the raspberries, vodka, lemon juice and simple syrup. Add plenty of ice, shake and (double)strain (for a clearer cocktail) into either a coupe or a flute. Top it off with your choice of sparkling wine and add a few raspberries (you can freeze a few if you wish) for the garnish.

Wouzaa! A sweet drink with a strong taste and aroma of raspberries. Especially towards the end it got even stronger; as you can see the sparkling wine (I used Prosecco) floated on top of the rest of the ingredients but nonetheless, a super refreshing and summery cocktail!

I could easily imagined this being done with blueberries, that would probably make one helluva cocktail as well...or any berry, for that matter!

Since I opened the bottle of Prosecco...I think it's time for the long waited Bellini...