Italian Latte

ITALIAN LATTE

Evening everyone! Here's one helluva treat for you all! A friend/colleague of mine dubbed it as an Italian Latte. Just wonderful in taste, this cocktail receives a special place in my heart. You'll soon find out why.

• 4 cl Molinari Caffe liqueur
• 4 cl cream
• 8 cl milk
• (grated vanilla as garnish)

Fair enough, I used 5-5-10cl, but a simple 1:1:2 ratio and you'll do good. Briefly shake everything with ice and pour the content into a tumbler, no straining needed. Especially if using larger amounts of liquids remember to have a larger glass (duh). You could garnish the drink with grated vanilla or say, coffee beans. Serve.

The flavor...magic. Molinari Caffe is such an exceptional product (sambuca based coffee liqueur with a reasonably high ABV at 38%), I will warn you and say that if you don't like sambuca, then you won't like this one either. But the Italian Latte's texture is full-bodied, smooth, strongly coffee-flavored with clear anise in the background and with the ~half-and-half dairy products it still isn't too hard to drink ie. it's not too heavy.

Moreover, this is super easy to make. Always a plus :D

Flaming Sambuca

FLAMING SAMBUCA

FEUER FREI!

Evening everyone! Since my wife & kid has been away the whole week and I've had a morning shift every day of the week (until 18:00)...man the amount of drinks I've had in the past few days :D

But enough of that. Still have one week of work, then it is my Xmas holiday! Wo-hoo! So tonight's speciality is a Flaming Sambuca. One of those shots you've heard about but never actually had one.

Here's how to make one:

• 4 cl sambuca
• three coffee beans
• a snifter
• a tumbler
• (a napkin, through which a straw is pierced)

Put the sambuca and coffee beans in the snifter, add the sambuca and place the snifter as in the picture above. With fire light the drink up (remember work safety!!) and roll the glass a little while, let the fires burn like a thousand suns. You might ask "why three coffee beans?" Well, the traditional serving is with three coffee beans, each representing health, happiness and prosperity (I wiki'ed it, boom!)

After it has been burning for a while, smother the flames by pouring the drink in the tumbler and covering it with the snifter. Now at this point you could do one of the following:

1. Drink the now-warm sambuca
2. Quickly put the snifter on top of the straw (as it has gathered sambuca fumes), shoot the liqueur and inhale the fumes through the straw

Honestly speaking. I recommend the first one. Don't ruin this drink by trying to be "awesome" and inhaling alcohol fumes. No. Don't do it.

The shot itself was quite pleasant and warm (duh) :D But yeah, leave the fumes and just ignore them!

Momentum

MOMENTUM

Hey everyone and a pleasant Sunday to y'all! It's been a rough weekend at work (Xmas season) so why not spend one's free day enjoying a good cocktail?

Fair enough, I made this a few days back but nonetheless, the Momentum is a surprisingly tasty concoction. This drink is part of the "Let's make a drink from a magazine" - series i.e. the national cocktail-magazine Shaker (in Finnish). Just like the earlier shot I made, this one includes cognac in it. Let's take a look:

• 3 cl cognac (VSOP)
• 1 cl sambuca
• espresso/coffee beans (about 1 tsp or ~10)
• lemon twist garnish

Stir the ingredients except for the lemon garnish in a snifter with ice and garnish. Serve. With a very lemony and pleasant aroma to it, this cocktail has a pleasant balance to it! A liquorice-cognac taste with one drawback; the coffee beans are constantly getting in the way :D

After my glass had sit for a while, you get those coffee-flavors to it (coffee beans). In total, a 3-/5. It's quite a short drink, so use a smaller snifter if able.

New York Coffee

NEW YORK COFFEE

Hey! Here's a nice touch on mixed coffee drinks! Many have had an Irish Coffee before, sure but if that sounds boring, why not try a New York Coffee? A liquorice twist with excellent taste that'll sweep your feet right away :D

• 2 cl kahlúa
• 2 cl sambuca
• hot coffee
• loosely whipped cream
• grated nutmeg to garnish

Preheat the glass. Pour excess hot water away, add in the alcohols followed with the coffee. Stir gently and layer the cream on top. Garnish and serve.

Easy and delicious! In addition, if you still want to pimp this one up, before layering the cream, add a few pinches salt in the drink and stir. Then you have a Silvertaffee Coffee, based on the Finnish "Hopeatoffee" - candy since they taste the same :)

SHOTS TIME!

SHOTS, SHOTS EVERYWHERE

Good evening ladies and gents! It's time to have some fun with shots! I've had a day off due to Ascension Thursday so instead of making grand cocktails (fine, I barely had any mixers at home) I pursued the art of shots!

I created five different and instead of making one blog for each separately I thought it would be the wisest just to compile them all under one sheet. Most of them were created purely out of visual outlooks, meaning they look better than they taste. But of those individual shots later on. Here we go!

ÄSSÄMIX

This shot is really something you can barely make outside Finland. The reason being one ingredient only (do correct me on this one?) available where I live now. Ässämix, named after the candy Fazer (a Finnish company) makes. As if "you're eating that dark and fruity candy at the same time". I agree. This shot was actually quite enjoyable! Sure, you can't really layer these ingredients but damn, tasty!

• 2 cl Salmiakkilikööri (explore the Finnish folklore *tshish*)
• 2 cl Passoã liqueur

In a shot glass, combine both ingredients and SHOOT!

SAMBUCA CON LA MOSCA

Simply put, Sambuca con la Mosca ("Sambuca with the fly") is Sambuca with three coffee beans and lit on fire. but more complicated put, it represents health, happiness and prosperity or the Holy Trinity. Either way,

• 4 cl Sambuca
• 3 coffee beans
• fire

Pour the sambuca in a shot glass, drop the coffee beans on it and light the thing on fire. Let it burn for a while, extinguish the fire and shoot! Taste-wise, as expected, very aniseed-like but the aftertaste is smooth and sweet. A great after dinner shot!

BANANA BOMBER

One layer drink I tried was the Banana Bomber. Given, there are multiple different recipes how one makes this but one thing is certain and that is the use of banana liqueur. The other half could be anything from tequila to vodka, whiskey, cointreau, you name it! This recipe included:

• 2 cl banana liqueur (not that green pisang stuff)
• 2 cl brandy

Merely a 2/5, this shooter wasn't really a good one. Like the saying garbage in, garbage out, I used a Spanish brandy and De Kuyper's banana liqueur. The liqueur had a strong essence taste to it and the brandy being young tasted coarse. Combined they didn't make a good combo. A hint of banana was in the background but in its essence, not a particularly great shot. Visually okay.

V8

Another curious one, the V8. I had to cut corners here and use a more potent ingredient that was actually called for since I didn't have the "softer" version at all :D

• 2 cl white peppermint schnapps (clear)
• 2 cl Stroh (54)

Layer the shot, the peppermint liqueur goes in first. As said, I only had a bottle of 80% (160 proof) Stroh in hand so I used that one. Well it layered just nicely (as almost pure alcohol does :D) but taste-wise. Ugh. A cruel shot. Like meth, not even once.

KÄNNIANKKA

(DRUNK DUCK)

Finally, the Känniankka (translated "Drunk Duck"). I have no history of who or where this was invented but some of my customers have asked for this. Basically it goes down to:

• 2 cl peppermint schnapps
• 2 cl jägermeister

Both ingredients should be properly frozen, as well as the glass. Layer the shot so the peppermint schnapps goes in first.

I made an exception to the rule and didn't shoot this as I did with the rest. No, I enjoyed this after eating pizza and while watching a Netflix series. Actually, around the time the Jäger's done and the pepper kicks into action, the combo works surprisingly well. A nice mix of herbal-pepperminty-sweetness I say. Hence, a solid 4/5 I give this shooter.

Tomorrow I'll be heading back to work. A few days more and then I'm off to to my well-deserved summer holiday! Yay!

SHOOT AWAY!

The Screamer

THE SCREAMER

Ooooh boy did we scream! Not really, though, but this shot kicks you in the sacks even if you're female! (true story, my wife tested this shot along with me)

But let's get to the point. To make a screamer, do the following:

• 2 cl Sambuca (½ shot)
• 2 cl Jägermeister (½ shot)

Build the ingredients in a shot glass. Shoot.

I still had ice cold Jägermeister at my disposal so I used that. As I poured the Jäger in the shot glass and then added the Sambuca it surprised me that the anise liquor sank to the bottom. Later thinking of this, I had it all figured out; of course it did! Sambuca has a fudge load of sugar in it making it heavier in volume/consistency.

So how did it taste? Fiery, strong, fully anise-like but the after taste was extremely sweet and nice! Sambuca dominated this drink but I did get some herbal notes, alas only a few. 

Pro-tip: Don't take this as one of your last shots. You go down in flames...

The Chronosphere

The Chronosphere

"We have also earnt the right to be the first to test the newest addition to our arsenal, the Chronosphere."

-Gunter von Esling introducing the Chronosphere

Legends say, Albert Einstein built this phenomenal device in 1946 to help the Allies against Stalin's forces. In 2012, Celestino built this phenomenal shooter to help people chronoshift into bars or if used too rapidly, to the bathroom.

I introduce you to the Chronosphere!

To create this mind blowing (freezing) experience, you need to do some preparations. All ingredients, including the glass should be frozen cold. 

• 2 cl Sambuca
• 2 cl Blue curacao
• a small lime wedge

Fill a shot glass with crushed ice, half-way fill it with sambuca and carefully pour in the curacao. Remember that the curacao will freeze solid if held too long in the freezer. What I did was put it in the fridge first and in the freezer only for about 1½ hours so the liquod became thicker but wasn't completely frozen. Add a lime wedge (you can press the juices on top of the drink), stick a small straw in the glass and with one sip finish your drink!

Phoooie!

Sambuca's anise-flavors combined with the citrus from the curacao make an interesting combination. A few variations of the Chronosphere will be made, one with peppermint schnapps and one made in a tumbler, for a "longer" drink.