Captain Kidd

CAPTAIN KIDD

Strong, tasty, the Kidd

Hey everyone! Today I present you with a (slightly crooked :D) after dinner - style cocktail called the Captain Kidd. I found out there are numerous different recipes under the same name and this one I picked up from this book shown below:

The more I sipped this drink, the more I started to like it! Here's how to do it:

• 25 ml creme de cacao (dark)
• 25 ml dark rum (I used havana 8 años)
• 37.5 ml cognac (1½ British measure, I used a VSOP one)
• ½ orange slice for garnish (editor's note; a twist + its essential oils would've been even greater)

Instead of shaking this drink (as the recipe calls for), I stirred it (due to only alcoholic ingredients) and poured into a chilled coupe before garnishing.

But even with the original garnish (the ½ orange slice), its aroma combined with the strong cocoa was very nice indeed. The Kidd isn't as sweet as I would've thought, but instead an intense, spicy, cognac-y after flavored sipping cocktail. If I really tried, hints of a full-bodied sherry/port are noticeable!

I give this drink a 3.5/5. It's solid, it's strong, it's a fine cocktail.

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!

Tequila Old Fashioned

TEQUILA OLD FASHIONED

Hoi everyone!

Here's an approach to the good o' Old Fashioned, with a twist; using tequila as our base spirit! I stumbled upon some recipes regarding such drink and thought to myself "why not?" In addition, I wanted to find out whether this cocktails is something worth drinking since for most people even the word "tequila" gives them a sour feel. By using a proper sweetener and some good bitters (including our tequila naturally), the Tequila Old Fashioned is actually a very tasty drink!

• 6 cl 100% de agave tequila
• 1.5 cl agavesyrup
• 2 ds orange bitters
• 2 ds angostura bitters
• lemon rind for garnish

Stir the ingredients with ice, strain into an OF - glass and garnish.

I used a blanco tequila (I don't have others) so I reckon using añejo or reposado tequila will yield even better results. Nonetheless, this version was quite good! Smooth, not too sweet and with proper agave notes in taste. With a slight bitterness on the side, this is a cocktail worth mentioning. Especially to those who aren't big fans of tequila (because they've drunk only crappy ones).

A GRAND CHOCOLATE TASTING

THE GRAND (BLIND)
CHOCOLATE TASTING

That's a lot of chocolate!

Hello everyone! Last Sunday I managed to pull off (in a week's notice so that's cool!) a grand blind chocolate tasting with my friends! I'm still baffled how quickly we actually managed to organize this but hey, everything counts, right?

Nonetheless, let's discuss the matter at hand. What did we do, how did we do it and how it all went? I also made some neat excel sheets of the final results as well.

Luckily I realized to cut them into small pieces before hand :D

The idea was quite simple. Get a bunch of people over at my place, make them taste ("blind") pieces of regular market brand chocolates (so none of the fancy/overly expensive/weirdly flavored ones) in two rounds (so the first answer needn't be one's "final answer"), guess (or know) which chocolate they had and finally give the chocolate a score between 1-10. Also had three dark chocolate brands in this test to see if everyone would recognize them among the milk chocolates.

Please don't mix these, please don't mix these!!!

The chocolates were (in alphabetical order); also seen as the first picture here

1. Bellarom milk chocolate
2. Fazer milk chocolate (blue label)
3. Fazer dark chocolate (brown label)
4. Fazer light milk chocolate (red label)
5. Fin Carré dark chocolate
6. Fin Carré milk chocolate
7. Marabou milk chocolate
8. Milka milk chocolate
9. Panda milk chocolate
10. Panda dark chocolate (in Finnish dark = tumma thus comes after "m")

The setting

I deduced that Milka, Fazer (blue label) and/or Marabou (market leaders) would probably be the "easiest" to recognize so the only way to "mess" with the participants is to modify the order to confuse them. You'll see the final order when I show you the results

Carefully placing a piece in a cup

Chocolate tasting, SERIOUS BUSINESS

I even went so far to place a little "lid" on each cup and asked everyone to just chug the piece of chocolate in their mouths. Because pretty much each brand has its name carved on an individual piece and one could easily figure out the brand by just looking at it as well. So participant honesty was asked and well received! :)

Hey, no chocolate in there!!

After the first round, we had a small break, ate something salty and prepared ourselves for the next and final round. If anyone had doubts, they could now fix it. 

Notice the #8, a little doubt goes a long way

As the tasting was finally over and people were feeling doozy of all the chocolate they ate (even with a small amount it felt like a lot), I brewed some well-deserved coffee, scrambled the answer sheets and gave each one someone else's paper. I then proceeded in telling everyone the correct order and people graded the papers accordingly.

I'm guessing he knows the correct answer?

and the final results were...

*drum fill*

Marjukka 7/10!

Mikko, Tuomas, Hennariikka 6/10

Antti 5/10

Markus, Karoliina 3/10

Winner (Marjukka) and a joint 2nd place (Tuomas, Hennariikka & Mikko)

The winner takes it all!

As life is full of surprises, Marjukka was awarded with a Kinder egg! :D :D :D

THE COMPLETE RESULTS

I'm not even mad that this picture kind of breaks from the side. It was all part of my grand scheme! So let's break down the numbers and I'll also try to explain how to "read" the charts. Should be quite straightforward, though. After the name you'll see their answer and regarding its color you'll notice if it was correct or not. The score column next to the chocolate mentioned before (1-10), meaning one brand could receive a maximum of 70 points. The competition was actually quite tight! A joint winner was nonetheless found! 

Fazer (blue label) & Bellarom milk with a whopping 55/70 points! Moreover, not so impressively, Fin Carré dark was the only chocolate to receive less than 40 points and lost the competition with a meager 37 points. But when comparing the other brands they are all withing ~15 points with no "big" exception in point division.

People knew their dark chocolates. Markus & Tuomas were the only ones confusing Fin Carré's dark with Panda's dark and everyone knew Fazer's dark (brown label) and I am glad of that! Surprisingly though, Marabou was only known by two (Marjukka & Tuomas) and Fazer (blue label) (Finland's #1 sold chocolate) by less than half of the participants!

But if anyone else has found their own points of interests, do ellaborate! I found this tasting to be extremely fun and just pure awesome! Do enjoy the final gallery!

GALLERY

(quite a small one :D)

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.

Why Whisky Sampling is so damn fun!

WHISKY SAMPLING &

THE BEAUTY OF IT

Glenfarclas 15yo (got a sample in exchange for another!)

Hey everyone! So in the last few days I got myself involved in some whisky sample switching. Holy moley has this been so much fun!! So the whole thing started ~a week ago when I had a discussion at a whisky-based forum. I had recently opened the Macallan Amber (first open) for Easter. Some were also talking about the Glenfarclas 15yo and how its quality wasn't "as good as expected". 

Then, a person recognized the picture wall panels (from my cocktail videos I assume) and asked whether I wanted to have a sample of the before-mentioned scotch. I happen to have about a dozen of sample bottles that fit a nice 3.5 - 4 cl of liquid inside them so of course I complied. I wanted to try out myself the big fuzz of this whisky. For the trade I decided to give one of my own single malts for the person to rate themselves. I wasn't going to tell them what it was so you could say it was a blind tasting for that matter.

A few days later the switch happened (at work). He got my sample, I got some Glenfarclas 15yo as seen above.

#singlemalt #surprisemotherfucker

Without going into too much detail of these single malts, he had some Dalmore 12yo in his glass, which I revealed to him after the review/guessing. I got to admit, he knew his shit; knew the ex-oloroso maturing and 40% ABV (not to mention his review, which was 5/5 altogether :D)

Anyhow, I told him to bring back the empty sample bottle whenever he's done (not that I was in a big hurry I have plenty of these at home still), but for my surprising he filled it up with another mystery scotch!! I actually first thought it was my colleague's doings, but then realized she gave her bottle back ages ago.

So the ball was now thrown back to me! There it is, I want to say it is cask strength. Has to be according to its taste. As I am not a whisky expert per se, I quote "uncertainty is the only certainty there is..." In my sincerest opinion, people should do more of this! What could go possibly wrong? :D

A mystery sample.

Hemingway Daiquiri

HEMINGWAY DAIQUIRI

"I drink to make other people interesting"

- Ernest Hemingway, 1899 - 1961 

Hello everyone! Today's cocktail is more or less of a classic. It's a daiquiri popularized (or coined) by Ernest Hemingway who spent a part of his life in Cuba. According to the internet (it never lies by the way), he used to have many of these in a bar called "El Floridita". Also, the internet states that since Hemingway was a diabetic, he preferred a different kind of daiquiri (a less sugary one); legend has it that he loved this version so much that he always ordered a double, lending the cocktail its nickname of Papa Doble.

In its essence, the Hemingway Daiquiri is a more robust, dry version of the regular cocktail. If feeling manly enough, give this one a go and see for yourself!

• 6 cl white rum (prefer Cuban, e.g. Havana 3 años)
• 2 cl lime juice
• 1.5 cl maraschino liqueur (the sweetness to this cocktail derives from this ingredient)
• 1.5 cl grapefruit juice
• lime wheel (or maraschino cherry) as a garnish

Shake all ingredients except for the garnish with ice, strain, garnish and serve.

US citizens can't really use Havana rums because of the trade embargo that prohibits the selling of Cuban rum, but luckily for the rest of us, there is still hope :D But any good quality white rum will suffice.

For me, it had that oompf. Since my experience of daiquiris have always been sweeter, it was nice to experience the "other side" of this classic cocktail group. Moreover, there are so many different variations of the daiquiris out there, having a few different recipes in your back pocket doesn't hurt you at all. I give this cocktail a 3.5/5. Those who like their daiquiris dry and strong, it's a solid 5/5.

A Glassful of BBQ

A GLASSFUL OF BBQ

Hardy's stand

Hello everyone! Last Wednesday I got to be part of something completely unique! Before explaining where I was and what I experienced, let's roll the tape a few weeks back. We don't want to make this story a short one. 

So ~two weeks ago, as I was in Istanbul with my family, I got an email (yeah who reads their emails during vacations?!) from a lady who asked if I was interested in this "Glassful goes BBQ" - event on the 16th (March). While I had no idea what it was all about, I inquired some more information of said event while asking my boss if I could get the day off.

Now what happened next was deeply touching. She replied that a mixologist called Kim Rantanen suggested that I could be interested in this thing. Now those who don't know who he is, this guy was the restaurant manager at Tampere's literally only cocktail bar and now works for Stolichnaya vodka. He knows his shit. So getting "a recommendation" from this guy, that's a Biggie, with a capital B. Moreover, I was invited to be there as a blogger, which totally blew my mind :D 

That moment was one of those...moments when I thought to myself "man isn't this nice! I'm getting somewhere :D" 

Bushmills and Kraken rum

So heck yeah did I go there! As for the event and its name "Glassful goes BBQ", as much as it was pointed to our national alcohol retailer's staff (new wines/products for the upcoming summer), I didn't mind that at all. It was nice having professional ambassadors for [insert wine/product here] to tell about their newest articles that hit the shops within the few months (or those which already are there).

Rosé wines

I was overly excited. I even brought the system camera with me just to realize it was going to be too bulky for taking pictures (and sipping wines while at it), so I ended up taking pictures with my phone. I'll let it slide this time.

So what was the concept of this event? As summer is knocking its way to Finland, the BBQ season starts as well. Testing different types of wines with different types of BBQ - foods and especially trying wines (be it red or white) that isn't necessarily thought to "match". A classy example, red meat pairs with red, so why not try a (matching) white instead? So-called "leaving our comfort zone" for that matter and trying new wild things.

More wine

The event lasted four hours, in which I got to sample a whole range of reds, whites, sparkling ones, dessert wines and of course different types of food that are the next big thing in the summer season.

A very asian-themed BBQ setting

Mix & match

Beef, sweet potato chips, chicken, halloumi cheese, coleslaw (with wasabi, was PRISTINE) and a few different dips/sauces with a combination of wines was indeed a truly good learning experience. Not to mention the dessert!

(salty) liquorice and white wine

Now this was a fun little combo right there! Pairing liquorice with a sweet-ish white wine, absolutely amazing and honestly, never would've thought of that.

As the evening went on, after a few hours they opened the "bar". A mixologist showed us the "new" trends for this summer; pitcher drinks and how to make good ones. Fresh flavors and a whole lot of it! E.g. Stoli Lemonade (stoli vodka, strawberry flavored syrup for the soda streamer, fresh lime juice and simple syrup), a Kraken Storm (A cocktail I've also made ~8 months ago :D), a Bushmills Sour (Bushmills, vanilla syrup, lime juice and topped with non-alcoholic wheat beer; reminded me slightly of the Vanilla Daisy I made awhile back!) and also sampling Stoli Vanilla and Stoli Elit (smoooooth as can be)

Working his magic

Pitcher drinks

I got to say, I loved the small milk glasses in which he made the Kraken Storms!

Pardon the poor picture quality, but the drink looks just like it should!

Around 22:00 the event came to an end. I personally thanked the lady who sent me the invitation (was also one of the wine presenters (Hardy's)) and explained how extremely glad I was to be there.

It was a satisfying evening altogether! And I'm not talking only about the food/drink but overall: the people, presenters, atmosphere and being there as a blogger and how I ended up in there in the first place. Just a wild story for me to gladly reminisce later on.

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!

The Sazerac

THE SAZERAC

Evening everyone! Today...it finally happened. I made the Sazerac. This has been one of the cocktails on my forever "to-do" list because of one ingredient that is extremely hard to acquire. Oh yes...yes indeed, and I'm talking about the Peychaud's Bitters. Halleluja that one friend-colleague of mine managed to fetch me one bottle so the time had come to make this beauty.

This version is the IBA one. This drink's history is rather intriguing and to make a long story short, you could make this two ways by choosing your main ingredient; cognac or rye (whiskey). I tried it with cognac (it being the "original" one before rye came along):

The recipe is quite straightforward and follows the IBA instructions:

• 5 cl cognac (I used Meukow VSOP)
• 2 ds Peychaud's bitters
• 1 sugar cube (okay I used 1 tsp of simple syrup because I didn't have a single (!) cube at home)
• ~1 cl absinthe (quality-wise not a big difference, read further why)
• a lemon peel (just the oils)
• a frozen (small) OF glass

Start by having your glass extremely cold ie. in the freezer. Give the three first ingredients a good long stir. Before straining it though, rinse the inside of your now cold glass with a small amount of absinthe. Then, discard the liquid (absinthe). Now strain your drink into your OF glass. Press the lemon zest oils over the drink but don't garnish it. Serve.

With a fresh nose to it, the Sazerac is sophisticated, strong, herbal, sweet-ish and just damn delicious! Can't wait to try it with the rye and see which one reigns supreme!

I got to say, this drink doesn't look like much but you know how they say, less is more? My initial opinion of this drink is that it kicks ass, big time.

Merhaba Istanbul!

MERHABA ISTANBUL!

Drinking in Turkey in a nutshell

Merhaba everyone! I've come back from a one-week holiday in Istanbul, Turkey with my family! I'll start off by saying that this blog post is not really going to be about drinking or moreover, cocktails. Since such culture does not really exist in Turkey (with a few exceptions). Sure, you have your kiosks that have the culmination of western liquors ie. Jack Daniels, Chivas, J&B, Johnnie Walker (red), Jim Beam...the stuff you can get from everywhere. My safe assumption is that this stuff is for the tourists.

Then you have your raki. Like the link says, "it is an unsweetened, anise-flavored Turkish alcoholic drink that is popular in Turkey..." Since I was travelling with my wife & kid, I only had one raki (offered by our mutual friend who lives in Istanbul), a local beer Efes and a local Turkish wine Buzbaḡ with our everyday grape varieties öküzgözü and boğazkere. Gotta admit though, it was a good wine! I did buy the above-seen raki bottle; it's a small one + a bit more local than any of the commercially available/exported ones at the airport/retailers. Fair enough, I saw a 1L bottles of the same stuff at the duty free when we were leaving, but I just didn't want to get a big bottle.

Hard to pronounce, easy to drink.

But most importantly, there's çay. 

It's more than just "tea".

Çay for the Turkish people is not only tea, it is a social construction. It is drunk everywhere and anytime; part of bargaining when at a bazaar, after meals, at cafés, when socializing with people, while working...I don't think there is a situation when çay isn't appropriate! It seemed like a national pastime, sitting with people and enjoying a hot cup of strong tea from clear and small glasses with optional sugar added. This was one also one of the great things I admired in Istanbul (or Turkey in general). Not to mention the tea was good tasting!

Then there's Ayran, but I only had it a few times. I understand its meaning though, during the hot summer days it is refreshing indeed!

I didn't see nor even actively look for any cocktail place. Although alcohol is not banned per se, strick regulations (especially in the Asian side) makes is hard to find any proper bar. I've read articles about a mysterious / quite legendary cocktail bar in the Europe side, where the owner is titled as the alchemist (that's cool), but honestly speaking, I had no intention to go there during my family holiday.

Food was good, many street bars serve kebab is numerous ways with restaurants that have that western-twist to them, if any. Mostly local stuff nonetheless!

lamb kebab, ayran, ҫay

meze and aubergine with chicken inside.

cakes, cakes, cakes!!

Cakes or pasta, were incredibly cheap and delicious. These people know how to make their sweet stuff! Turkish delights, baklava and all those things just demand to be put in our pie holes! I did also have a cup of Turkish coffee, surprisingly only once. 

Less is more

We visited the Grand Bazaar once and after one hour I said "yup, that's pretty much it", although some say you could spend days strolling through the place some call a big maze. The concept of bargaining and shopkeepers trying to sell you literally anything...well, as an experience it was unique and you can't go around that. 

Traffic regulations...or their lack of. Just go with the flow, they said, it'll be fun they said! Just read here for more information about it. With the pram it sometimes lead to really...mildly put, interesting situations! 

I won't be bothering you with endless amount of pictures of what I saw and experienced there, but as a whole the experience was great. Sure, the kiddo made the whole trip different, but not in a bad way!

How the F%$k are you supposed to go through there?! Even my daughter is baffled.

So summa summarum, if I really try to squeeze in all of the information of our one-week trip to Istanbul, what could I say more? Don't except to find great cocktails in Istanbul from every corner bar (if you even find a bar :D). Istanbul is more about food, culture, the people, simits, çay, kebabs, shopping and a whole lot of traffic.

A single picture that could sum the whole thing up.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

- Augustine of Hippo

Pear Delight

PEAR DELIGHT
I can't even think of new names anymore :D

Hey everyone! A few days back I ended up making a cocktail with some wintery-notes in it! I introduce you the Pear Delight. As some might know, soon after creating this drink I realized how silly I've been, using the same "delight" suffix in an earlier cocktail back in the summer! But that got me thinking (finally). Back then I used Absolut's flavored vodka, this time I used one also so I might as well call any cocktail with Absolut's [insert flavor here] a "X Delight" :D :D

So what's this drink all about? Winter. Apples, pears, cinnamon and love:

• 2 cl Absolut Pears
• 2 cl Xanté
• 1 cl cinnamon syrup
• 4 cl premium apple juice
• 1 star anise, burned

I managed to get a hold on to some organic apple & pear juice, which in my opinion would well enhance the flavor profile of this cocktail. It cost me a small fortune but what the heck!

Shake everything except the star anise in a shaker, strain into a chilled coupe. Take a star anise and burn it with a torch for a few seconds, smother the flame and drop it on the drink.

This cocktail was smooth in texture, full-bodied and tasted great with that hint of liquorice coming from the garnish. Of course using a clear apple juice will result in a clear(er) drink, but I recommend any high quality apple juice for this one