Basil Smash

When I first tried the Basil Smash, it was a failure. The drink I had made was too sour and the taste of the basil was completely lost. However, I was ready to give it another try because the use of basil in a cocktail had made me very curious. The recipe I had found on diffordsguide.com was as following:

• 12  fresh basil leaves
• 60 ml fresh lemonjuice
• 30 ml simple syrup
• 60 ml gin

This was adapted from the original recipe by Jörg Meyer who invented the Basil Smash at the Bar Le Lion in July 2008. Originally he called the drink Gin Pesto but the name was quickly changed to Basil Smash or Gin Basil Smash. It was called this because the drink was inspired by another famous smash:  the Whiskey Smash. Another drink I already tried. In a Whiskey smash, mint leaves are muddled and then shaken with rye whiskey, lemonjuice and simple syrup.

As I found my first attempt of the Basil Smash to sour, I adapted the recipe myself. I used 50 ml of lemonjuice instead of 60, 40 ml of simple syrup instead of 30 and I made sure that my basil was as fresh as  possible. This is very important, if you keep the leaves for too long, I noticed that they start losing flavour. So my second try was a bigger success. The refreshing basil flavour was everywhere in the drink, there was sourness of the lemon juice and bitterness of Gin. The only thing that still bothered me was the way I had served it, in a big tumbler glass with a straw, simply not elegant enough for me.

This problem was solved however thanks to my parents. As they were moving into a new flat at the time, my mother asked me if I wanted to have a look into their glass collection. I remembered them having a collection of beautiful, classic yet elegant wine glasses. And my luck, they didn't want to bring them along into their new home. So I took a few of them with me and tried the Basil Smash another time. I also reduced the amount of simple syrup back to 30 ml as the glasses were a bit smaller than the tumbler I had originally used. I shaked it, served it in the glass and garnished with a basil sprig and I loved it.

A few weeks later, Niklas and me hosted our first cocktail tasting night where we invited friends and family to try out some of the cocktails we had tried and loved ourselves. I decided to put the Basil Smash on the menu, but I was a bit afraid for its success.  We served cocktails like the Zombie and Lazy Red Cheeks and I had thought that the Basil Smash would have been put in the shadow by fruity cocktails like those. I was (luckily) proven wrong as this was the most successful cocktail on our menu. People were surprised  by the use of basil and how good it tasted in this cocktail. Even on our second cocktail event, people requested this one for a try.

So this is the way I make the Basil Smash today:

• 12 fresh basil leaves
• 50 ml fresh lemonjuice
• 30 ml simple syrup
• 60 ml of gin

Muddle the basil leaves in the base of a shaker, add all the other ingredients and shake well. Strain into a glass with ice cubes and garnish with a basilsprig.

 

Cheers!

Oskar

Sazerac

A few weeks ago, I was in a newly opened cocktailbar in Ghent. As we were chatting about cocktails and ingredients, he decided to borrow us one of his books: Bitters by Brad Thomas Parsons. As I was checking it out, I saw some interesting recipes or both cocktails and homemade bitters. However, I still remained a bit sceptical. I mean, how can you write an entire book about bitters?


Since I started making cocktails, I always had a bottle of Angostura within hands reach but I guess I was never really aware of the effects of bitters on a cocktail. Last weekend I started reading this book, and ironically couldn't put it away anymore.

The first part of the book contained a brief history of bitters. In the first years bitters were produced, they were sold as medical tonics for all sorts of illness. People (mainly in the U.S.A.) where told to mix bitters with brandy or wine as a cure against hangovers. It wasn't until later however that bitters became essential in cocktails. Angostura for example were used in an Old-Fashioned during the Prohibition because the homemade bourbon or rye whisky couldn't be drunk without it. Later however, bitters became a victim of the prohibition as well. Many producers bankrupted and for a long time, the use of bitters was lost. So naturally, cocktails like the Old-Fashioned, the Manhattan and the Sazerac were lost.


Nowadays, there is a new revival of the use of bitters in the cocktailworld. A lot of new companies like The Bitter Truth, Bittermens, Regan's, ... popped up while old companies like Peychauds and Angostura are still in buisness. Bitters are being used again in cocktailbars and speak-easies all over the world so naturally, after reading this book, I upgraded our bitters collection as well.

I bought a bottle of Peychauds bitters, but didn't really know what to do with it. Until I stumbled on the recipe of the Sazerac and its history. This absolutely classic cocktail was born in New Orleans. In the Sewell Taylor's Sazerac Coffee House to be precise. At first cognac was used in the Sazerac but as during the Prohibition this became scarce in the U.S.A., the spirit of choice became rye whiskey. The other most important ingredient is Peychauds Bitters. These bitters were also produced in New Orleans in the apothecary of Antoine Amedie Peychaud in the French Quarter of the city. It is often said that the Sazerac was America's first cocktail.

After making and tasting it the first time, I was suprised by the different layers in the drink. There is the sourness of lemon oil, the freshness of anise and the complicated taste of rye whiskey an Peychauds bitters. With other words, I loved it.
So this is how I did it:

• 6 ml of rye whiskey (Bulleit)
• 0,8 ml of simple syrup
• 4 generous dashes of Peychauds Bitters
• a splash of Pernod Pastis (Absinth is also used)
• a thick lemon peel

I used a spray to rinse the glass with Pernod but u can also roll the glass around with the pastis in it. Then, I added the rye whisky, simple syrup and Peychauds Bitters in a mixing glass with ice and stirred until everything was chilled, strained it in the coated glass and rubbed the rim of the glass with the lemon peel. This cocktail is served straight up so there is no ice in the glass. 

Cheers!

Oskar

Leap Frog

I made a Leap Frog last night. 

I was inspired when I read about it in the PDT Cocktail Book. This is one I was going to make during one of our test runs. 

It kind of slipped my mind recently, because of all the other cocktails we were making and trying to perfect the cocktails we already know and love. 

Yesterday evening I was looking for something new to make. Whilst Oskar was reading in Intoxica, he suddenly stopped at the Leap Frog and said "Weren't you going to make this one?!". "Yes, yes I was old sport."

Straight away I started making the Leap Frog as Oskar was summing up every ingredient. 

I made it, shaked it, poured it in a glass. I liked it. 

Here's what's in it:

- 1 ounce lime Juice

- 1 1/2 ounces apricot brandy

- teaspoon of grenadine

- 1 1/2 ounce white rum

All ingredients in a shaker, shake well with crushed ice. 

Pour into a coupe glass (I don't have that, so it was a martini glass for me)

Whilst I was reading Intoxica to find out more about this cocktail, That's when I saw it. This cocktail needs a teaspoon of grenadine. Oskar failed to mention this to me. Either way, I liked it. Instead of making a new one, I added a teaspoon of grenadine and let it drop to the bottom of the glass. Which gave it a nice effect, but wouldn't of been nice at the end of drinking it. Too sweet, one thinks. 

Once the grenadine was added, this cocktail made even more sense.

Sour enough, because of the lime, but sweet enough with the grenadine and apricot brandy. 

Normally I'm not a big fan of cocktails with a specific dominant taste. But my G.O.D. this one gets a seal of approval.

Before writing about this cocktail, I did some research. I like to find out about it's history, when in fact, some cocktails have no real history to tell. This one was created around the 1940's in the Camellia House of the Drake Hotel, Chicago. Not too fancy, right? 

Anyway, during my research (read: drinking a beer in a public place whilst there's a beautiful girl sitting not too far from me, distracting) I found out there's several different ones to be found amongst the leapfrogs. I have three books with me and all three have something completely different. whilst mine has rum, the other two have gin, one of those two adds mint. 

My next attempt when making the Leapfrog will be the PDT version. 

I'm not going two write about it just yet, but I will give you the ingredients. Let you decide which one you prefer, and could make yourself.

- 2 ounce plymouth gin

- .75 ounce lemon juice

- .5 apricot brandy

- .25 simple syrup

- 2 dashes orange bitters

- 6 mint leaves

Muddle the mint with the simple syrup. Add everything else, shake with ice and fine strain in a coupe glass.

Cheers!

Niklas

x 

Navy Grog

Ah, The Navy Grog, I had never heard of  this cocktail untill I drank it a few months ago in a local cocktailbar. It is boozy, yet refreshing it has a soft taste and yet a bit sour. This was the perfect drink for me as I am quite the rum-lover.
The recipe is based on the original grog which was drunk by the Royal Navy. Originally, a grog was a mix of water and rum. Later citrus was added to mask the foulness of the water. Also to add vitamin C to the drinks of the sailors to keep them healthier. After a while, the British received the nickname "Limeys" because of the amount of limes they consumed. Later the Continental & U.S. Navy also adopted the Grog. They experimented with rye whiskey instead of rum and called their version of the grog the "Bob Smith".

The Navy Grog we drink today is a typical Tiki Cocktail. It was first served in Don the Beachcomber bars and restaurants in the 1940's and 50's. This was not a typical Donn Beach recipe as it did not contain a blend of 5 rums or no additional alchohol like Pernod or Triple Sec. His original recipe contained a blend of 3 different rums, lime juice and grapejuice. It was served in an Old Fashioned glass with an ice cone surrounding the straw.

Later, different recipes for the Navy Grog popped up. The one I personally prefer and serve included. I searched for a long time for the ideal recipe. I tried a lot of different kinds of rum and a lot of recipes I found online but none of them really to my liking. Once I had found XM Royal Demerara rum in the liquor store, things improved. This rum was perfect for this type of cocktail. It has a strong flavour and is still soft. Some times I even drink this one straight up. The recipe I found in a book Niklas had bought: Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. The cocktail was called the Ancient Mariner. It is a variation to the original Navy Grog recipe. The drink contains a bled of demerara and Jamaican rum. I have tried Appleton Estate, but I prefer Plantation Jamaica from 2001 much more. The recipe I found also contained Allspice Dram. This is something I did not have at the time. Recently, I found a recipe to make Allspice or Pimento Dram myself so very soon I will give this a try as well. Instead of Allspice, I simply used Angostura Bitters, wich also adds to the softness of the cocktail. As for grapefruit, I like both white and red. The white grapefruitjuice gives a little sour taste to the drink whereas red grapefruit gives the softer flavour I prefer.
The First time I made this Navy Grog, I had some kick-ass new Tiki-mugs. These are tall ones as you can see on the picture. I served it on crushed ice and garnished with a lemonslice and a mintsprig. Now however, I have some new and wider mugs. I fill them with icecubes and pour the shaken cocktail unstrained in to the mug and garnish with a lemonslice and a mintsprig.

Recipe:

- 3 cl. Demerara Rum
- 3 cl. Dark Jamaican rum
- 1.5 cl. Red grapefruitjuice
- 2 cl. Lime juice
- 1.5 cl. simple syrup
- 3 dahses Angostura Bitters




Shake all the ingredients vigorously in a shaker with icecubes and pour into unstrained in a tiki mug filled with icecubes. Garnisch with a slice of lime and a mintsprig.

Corpse Reviver #2

Corpse Reviver #2

This. Cocktail. 

You might find this cocktails on some menu's in cocktail bars, and it's not because of it's silly name. It is truly a very decent cocktail.

It's origin probably finds itself early in the  20th century, though written in a book one can find it in the Savoy Cocktail book, written by Harry Craddock in 1930.

Next to the name, there's also a good punchline that comes with it.
"Drink before 11 am, or whenever steam or energy are needed."

It's wasn't unusual that around the time of writing of the Savoy Cocktail book people would drink cocktails for breakfast or have it during brunch. What he meant by steam or energy, was basically when you had a hangover. Drink one of these and it will definitely wake you up.
Hence, the name, Corpse Reviver.

There is one other line that you should know about though. 
"four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again."

I assume this doens't need much explaining. A line that comes up in every cocktail book that consists of the Corpse Reviver. 

What about this cocktail then that's so good?
All different ingredients, a simple cocktail, but perfectly balanced. Perfectly balanced if you get the measurements right.
Cointreau, gives you a ever so slight sweet taste of orange. With the lemon juice giving you that tartness. Lillet brings floral to the mix. Of course, using an good gin base. Then for the finishing a dash of absinthe or pastis. Just subtle, 'cause this can be dominating, but with the right amount it's perfect.

Lillet what?
Lillet is a french aperitif wine. It consists of 85% bordeaux wines and 15% macerated liqueurs (sweet orange peels and bitter orange peels).
To be served fridge temperature with an ice cube and a orange peel. This is mainly only done in France. Anywhere else they use Lillet Blanc in cocktails. 
Next to the Corpse Reviver there's one other cocktail I can think of at this time that also consists of Lillet, and that is the Vesper. You might've heard of it in a James Bond movie? 

The Corpse Reviver #2:

Ingredients: 
3/4 oz. Gin
3/4 oz. Cointreau
3/4 oz. Lillet Blanc
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
A dash of absynthe or pastis

I used pastis (Pernod) for this, because it's not as easy for consumers to find a absynthe in a store. 
Anyway, there's options with this one. 
I've shaken the pastis in the cocktail with the rest. Not bad, but maybe a bit overwhelming. 
What I did the following time is swirl the pastis in the glass, so it' stuck on the inside of your glass. Any leftover? Drink or use again. It really nice as a smell and then with the little hint in your glass. It's gets you craving for more. 
Steve of the Old Fashioned gave me the idea of using a spray bottle to equally cover the inside of your glass with pastis. Still going to try this, but I imagine it being the best solution.

Garnish with a maraschino cherry, but I'm going for an anise star. It seems fitting with the little bit of pastis. 

(Pics coming soon)

Cheers,
Niklas 
x

Lazy Red Cheeks

I found the recipe of the Lazy Red Cheeks on  Njam.tv under the cocktail section by Manuel Wouters. At the time, I tried a lot of his recipes and the more I tried them, I found that in almost every of his cocktails there is something off. Too much alcohol in a Long Island Iced Tea, too much lime in a Caipirinha, etc...

Now, this wasn't the case for the Lazy Red Cheeks. The drink has a nice balance between sweet and sour and there is no overwhelming taste of any of the ingredients. I guess the cocktail is so good because mr. Wouters invented the recipe by himself. The name was given to the drink by Tom Barman, lead singer of the Belgian rock band  dEUS.

When I tried the Lazy Red Cheeks myself, I was sold. But like always, I wanted too test it on a crowd. So I served it to some friends and they all liked it as well. Because of  the colour, the sweet taste and the name itself, I thought this one would be a great hit with the ladies. So very recently I had two ladies who were visiting town with their boyfriends in my private bar and I made them one. Both really liked the Lazy Red Cheeks very much. Even one of the boyfriends asked me for one. So my mission was accomplished.

I made it like this:

• 4,5 cl wodka
• 1 cl violetsyrup
• 1 cl simple syrup
• 4 cl limejuice
• 6 raspberries
• 1 barspoon sugar

I muddle the sugar, the raspberries and the violetsyrup in an old fashioned glass. when the raspberries ar reduced to juice, I add the wodka, limejuice and simple syrup and give the drink a good stir. I top this with crushed ice, stir once more and garnish with a limewedge.

If this cocktail seems tempting to you, it will be on the menu of our first event: Sips & Tips vol. 1

Cheers!

Oskar

Note: dear followers and readers of this blog. It appears I was misinformed about the origin of this cocktail. There has been a debate going on about who invented it. Another bartender was working on a recipe for the Lazy Red Cheeks at the same time. I will not judge about who deserves credit for this delicious cocktail here. That I will leave up to you. My apologies for misinforming you as well.

Queens Park Swizzle

It starts with a rum. 

Generally speaking I don't like rum. Why? I blame Rum Cola's. I mean which person goes to a bar and decides to willingly mix Bacardi with Coke. What a gastly tasting beverage that is...until I went to the liquor store. After chatting a bit with the sales person, we decided to buy Sailor Jerry. Fair priced, tasty rum. To be more specific, a spiced rum. When I first took a sip it could clearly taste vanilla and cinnamon, but not too sweet. Well balanced. Really suitable for anything, pure or in a cocktail. Which of course the last one we did.

Sailor Jerry

This rum was actually created by Sailor Jerry fans. Norman "Sailor Jerry" Collins spent half his life sailing and the other half tattooing sailors. His style of tattooing was quite specific, Asian colouring and that combined with American design. Each bottle has a "tattoo" on the inside of the label. Quite the inspiration, if ever you need any. 

Background

The Caribbean is probably the heart of the rum world. Where rum came up together with sugar. That's why Sailor Jerry is distilled and will always be distilled there. Adding different spices to a rum was a tradition many sailors took to. The first rums where mainly quite harsh, so they added spices to liven it up, and improve the flavour.

Queen's Park Swizzle

This cocktail originated from the Queen's Park Hotel in Trinidad in the 1920's. It is seen as the forefather of modern swizzles. In many ways it is like a mojito, but this one's is slightly easier to drink. I'd see myself drinking this whilst on a sunny holiday, as long as their are palm trees. With the right ingredients this drink is refreshing, sour, sweet, pungent, and tasty. Very tasty.

How?

- 8-10 mint leaves

- 4 ounces of Sailor Jerry rum

- 2 ounces of freshly squeezed lime juice

- 3/4 ounce of simple syrup.(orgeat syrup would be pretty cool, but haven't tried it yet)

- Angonstura bitters

- Plenty of crushed ice

Gently bruise the mint leaves in a highball glass. Add crushed ice practically to the top of your glass. Add the rum, lime juice and simple syrup. Swizzle that stick* in the glass. Top it off with some Angonstura bitters, add more ice to top the glass off, because most of it will have gone down already. Garnish with a mint twig.

*Swizzle that stick

What the bleeding hell is a swizzle stick?

Swizzling is a way of stirring your drink, handy when you want to get your glass frosty.

You hold between you palms of your hands and stir up and down your drink. Just above the mint in this case. It, of course, mixes the different ingredients, and is a unique way of making your cocktail. You're not exactly stirring your drink with the swizzle stick as only parts of your drink get mixed at a time. The motion is controlled in small parts. Enough blabbermouthing....

Enjoy! 

Niklas X

Cradle Of Life

Well, the Cradle of Life, it was love at first sight. A few weeks ago me and Niklas went to the 2 years anniversary of the Old Fashioned Cocktail Bar in Ghent where the opening was announced of The Drifter, a brand new cocktail bar in Ghent specialized in Tikis. After drinking a few there, I got inspired to try out some Tikis myself. I loved the fruity taste, the use of different kinds of rum, the way it felt like summer in my mouth. So I woke up one morning and decided to look up some recipes.

The Cradle of Life was the first recipe I stumbled upon which was within my budget, and of course, the flaming garnish was an awsome extra. I already had the spiced rum, the white rum, lime, lemon, orange and Angostura Bitters. The only thing I still needed was orgeat syrup and Chartreuse Vert. So, I took my brand new notebook, wrote down the recipe and went into town to find the missing ingredients. In the Mobile Liquor store I had no trouble finding the Chartreuse and the orgeat syrup so I was ready to give it a go.

I knew I already had the perfect spiced rum: Sailor Jerry. A delicious rum with a vanilla and cinnamon taste which Niklas described beautifully in his blog about the Queens Park Swizzle. For the white rum, I decided to stay in my budget and I already had a bottle of 3 year old Havanna Club. All the other ingredients were easy to find since there is a fruit store just around the corner of my flat. The only thing I couldn't find were the right glasses. I would have loved to serve this drink in a Tiki mug or glass but these are bloody hard to find. I decided to use an old fashioned glass instead. Not quite the same but it did the trick. In the meantime I found a website where I can order nice Tiki mugs and glasses but this wasn't in my budget in the time.

The glasses however were not my only problem. All the recipes I found for this cocktail were measured in ounces. The jigger I have was in millimeters. I decided to adjust the recipe a bit so it would be easier to measure all the juices, rums and syrup. I invited a friend (and later my partner in crime Niklas) to try out my latest finding and the result was smashing. We all agreed this was one of the best experiments we had tried so far. It was fruity yet the flavor of the rum was not lost. And the coolest part is that the drinker is given a choice: add the burning Chartreuse to the cocktail or not.

So this is how I did it:

-3 cl of spiced rum (Sailor Jerry)
-3 cl of white rum (3 year old Havanna Club, there probably is better but it is what I had at the time)
-1 cl of lime juice
-1cl of lemon juice
-1cl of orange juice
-2 cl of orgeat syrup
-2 dashes of Angostura Bitters

Shake all these ingredients in a shaker filled with ice vigorously. Strain this in a glass filled with crushed ice. Add a juiced lime shell to the glass and fill it with Chartreuse Vert and finally light it on fire. Please do watch out cause this one will get you wasted ;).

Cheers

Oskar

Tom Collins

The Tom Collins is a very simple yet refreshing cocktail. It was first made by a bartender somewhere in London named Collins. This man originally  used Old Tom Gin. And the cocktail was born. Later, lots of variations were invented using rum, bourbon, rhye whiskey, tequilla and even milk. I would love to write you all a huge blog about this one, but this cocktail is so easy to make and the ingredients are really basic so I am afraid this will be a short one.

The base of this coctail is gin. I used Bombay Dry Gin. This is not my all time favourite gin but I do prefer this one to its blue brother Bombay Sapphire. It leaves a bitter and a dry aftertaste in your mouth. Next is the lemonjuice and the simple syrup. Put everything in a shaker with ice, and shake strongly. The Tom Collins is best served in a collinsglass or a longdrink. Finish this with sodawater and a slice of lemon.

- 5 cl of gin
- 2 cl of lemonjuice
- 2 cl of simple syrup
- sodawater
- icecubes

Cheers!

Mint Julep

Ah, the Mint Julep. One of my favourite cocktails. 
It's simplicity, yet it evolves in taste whilst drinking it. When not knowing what's in it, there's actually a slight mystery around it. Obviously, the picture sort of reveals some of it, mint and ice. 

I have no clue why I ordered it the first time, but I do know it was in Cocktails at Nine in Antwerp.
Back when I went with Tom & Steve from The Old Fashioned Cocktail Bar in Ghent.
When I drank it, I didn't know what to think. Of course, the one I had in Antwerp was one with a twist. Never to be drunk by me again. I think there were bitters in there, loads of them. I'll never know, unless somebody else does, and decides to tell me! 

Anyway, after awhile it got in the back of my head until the guys from the Old Fashioned got silver cups. Ideal to keep the drink frosty, and lets not forget it looks fancy shmansy. Most of the time when people see the silver cup with mint as garnish, and some powder sugar for extra decor, they get curious. They all want to taste it, especially when I'm raving about it. 
Most of the people who taste it, tend to dislike it at first, maybe it's the bitterness in the beginning. That's when I always let them taste it, so they won't ask for another taste.

Now, I'm on a budget here, Oskar and me both actually. We can't afford fancy booze and we can't afford silver cups. We could afford mint. Decent mint.

The base of this cocktail is bourbon. Gin is used also, but not as commonly acknowledged.
At first we tried with Jack Daniels, 'cause that's what we had at the time. Though it wasn't ideal, none of the mystery was lost on me. It was what I hoped for.
It was clear though we could do better, so we tried with the Jack Daniels Single Barrel. Which it improved much more. 

In a later stadium, we'll use a better Bourbon, which will blow more than one sock off, I'm sure.

Everybody seems to have a different way of preparing it. Either way, it should only take about three minutes. Which makes it fun to drink at any time (even for breakfast, if that's your thing).

Here's what's in it and how I did it:

- Mint, about ten leafs. Big ones. 
- 1 cl of symple syrup. Muddle it, so you have a sort of mint infused sugarness. 
- Add chrushed ice. Don't quite fill it up.
- Bourbon. 5 cl should do the trick. When you add the bourbon you should see your ice melt, so make sure you have enough crushed ice for this one.
- Swizzle it with your swizzle stick.
- Top of with some more crushed ice. 
- Add a mint sprig for some garnish, maybe even some powdered sugar. 

There you have it, enjoy!

-x-
Niklas

Mojito

Although a bit mainstream, the Mojito has been in my top 3 of favourite cocktails since a long time.  The first time I drank it was in the popular Candela bar in Turnhout. Whilst drinking it I could imagine myself sitting on a Carribean beach, surrounded by six naked native girls while hand feeding a couple of flamingo's. The freshness almost blew me of my sox.

From that moment on, I was sold. It became a small obsession for me to find perfect Mojito. Because of its popularity back in the day, you could find it anywhere. There was no need to go to a cocktailbar. However, in most normal bars, the ingredients were not fresh, it was made too fast so the mojitos were kind of crap. I also started making them my self but it was never really what I was looking for. There was no balance in the cocktail. Too much rum, too much lime, too much sugar. Too much of everything except the mint. Now at the time I always bought my ingredients in the local supermarket. Most of the fruits they sell aren't bad but the mint misses freshness.

In the summer of 2009 I visited Cuba with my parents. being in the birthplace of rum and mojitos, I was really excited. Tasting a real Cuban mojito is something else. Although the Cuban mojito looks a lot simpler, Cubans take their time too make a good mojito. The taste was amazing and really fresh. Perfect for hot Carribean weather. I payed good attention to the way the Cuban bartenders made their Mojitos so I could try the same at home. There was no crushed ice and they didn't use muddlers. The Cuban mojito was made very easily. They filled the bottom of the glass with sugar, then drowned it with limejuice and muddled it with the flat end of the barspoon. Next was the rum: Havanna Club 3 anejos was most commonly used. Since the I always used this rum as well. I tried Cachaça once after a bartender gave me this advice but me and Niklas both found the rum too sweet for a mojito. After the rum, the mint was added to the drink. Big and fresh leafs, with an amazing fresh scent. the leafs were gently crushed on the sugar and lime with the barspoon. The last part were the ice cubes and sparkling water to finish the drink followed by a good stir to mix everything. Delicious!

Back in good old Belgium I decided to give it another go. I looked up some more recipes on the internet and had some advice from other people. I learned that people here do the strangest things with a mojito. Some add a little bit of Sprite in it. Although I would never use it myself, I can understand this. There is however a fool who even gave me the advice too replace the sparkling water with Red Bull. I almost vomited after hearing this.

The most important thing I was still missing for the perfect mojito, I recently found here in Ghent. I found the perfect fresh mint that was still missing in a local fruit and vegetable store on the Vrijdagsmarkt. The size of the leafs, the smell, the color, simply perfect. I did change a couple of things to the Cuban recipe. Instead of using only limejuice, I threw is 3 small parts of lime, muddled them on the base of sugar. Next, i added the rum. 6,5 cl of the Havanna Club 3 anejos. I gave the whole a good stir with my barspoon so the sugar would disolve in the rum and the limejuice. Then the mint followed. I was quite generous with it and forgot to count the leaves. but the most important to me was the smell, the scent of the mint has to be there but not overwhelming. I muddled the mint in the rest of the ingredients and added a bit of sparkling water, gave it another stir and added some crushed ice. I took a few more mint leafs and muddled them on the ice which gave an extra freshness. Finally I added a bit more of sparkling water, gave it a last good stir and topped it with some more crushed iced. Too give it the finishing touch, I garnished it with a small mintsprig.

So the ingredients for my perfect mojito:

-a bottom of cane sugar
-3 parts of lime
-6,5 cl of Havanna Club 3 anejos
-sparkling water
-loads of fresh mint
-crushed ice
-1 small mintsprig

Salud!

Old Fashioned

The Old Fashioned was unknown to me until recently. My friend  Niklas showed me the simplicity of the cocktail and so I got interested.
First I started looking up the history of this cocktail as it was called "the mother of all cocktail". The Old Fashioned became very popular in the United States during the Prohibition. The recipe of the cocktail already existed before the Prohibition but its popularity increased in small bars who were serving illegal alcohol. During this time there were severe penalties for consuming, transporting, brewing or serving alcohol.

The alcohol served in these bars were not the most tasty beverages. In order to sell the drinks, bartenders had to show their creativity. So they started mixing their drinks with fruitjuices and other non-alcoholic drinks. And so (ironically during the Prohibition) the popularity of cocktails, and especially the Old Fashioned was born.

The first recipe I tried was from Manuel Wouters. The cocktail was easy to make but while drinking it I found the taste of orange too strong. I muddled the sugar on the lemon and the orangepeel along with 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters. The aroma rising from the glass while muddling was amazing. I had no idea there was this much flavour in the peel. While making the cocktail I was really excited because of the different smells coming out of my glass. But when finished, I found the orange dominating the drink.

So for my next try I only checked the history books (read wikipedia) a bit. The original recipe told me to muddle the sugar and the bitters only on the lemon peel and adding the orange at the end. Because the orange was not muddled in the glass along with the lemon, sugar and Angostura, it does not dominate he cocktail, but there is a delicate hint of it.

My recipe for the Old Fashioned:

1 lemon peel
1 orange peel
1 barspoon of sugar
2 Dashes of Angostura
5 cl Bourbon
1 cl of simple syrup
sodawater
ice cubes

Muddle the lemon peel, the Angostura in a tumbler glass with the back of a barspoon. Add a little bit of soda water to dissolve the sugar. Add a few ice cubes and the bourbon and stir. add the last ice cubes, the syrup and the orange peel and stir once more.

Cheers!

Whiskey Sour

The Whiskey Sour was the first cocktail that caught my attention. It is a simple cocktail with whiskey, lemonjuice and simple syrup. In some variations egg white is used to create a layer of foam on top of the cocktail.

When I first decided that I would make the Whiskey Sour, I looked op some recipes on the internet. The web is filled with websites containing cocktail recipes. The recipe I first tried, was made in a shaker with crushed ice, juice of half a lemon, half an egg-white, two barspoons of simple syrup and 4.5 cl. of my favourite whiskey. So I took all the ingredients, the eggs were easy to find, fresh lemons from the local grocery store, simple syrup from the supermarket and the only whiskey I had (Jack Daniels No. 7).
The main taste in the cocktail was the lemon. I invited some friends over to taste it and our conclusion was that the cocktail was a bit dull and there was no trace of whiskey in it.

After digging deeper in the Whiskey Sour recipes I noticed that the egg white was not a real important ingredient and I figured that this might be what made the cocktail dull. So the next try was without  the eggs.
There was no foam on the cocktail but it had a clear yellow colour but the taste of the bourbon was still missing. So on njam.tv I found the recipe of Manuel Wouters. He also used bourbon in his Whiskey Sour so I used the same amount of ingredients he did. The final result was not what we were looking for. The combination of the bourbon and a larger amount of simple syrup only made the cocktail sweeter.

So I went back to my original recipe without the eggs but instead of adding 4.5 cl. of bourbon, I added 6.
The bourbon finally came through the sour taste of the lemon, but it was not yet the cocktail I was looking for. The Whiskey Sour I had in mind, was sour, but with a smokey toch of whiskey hidden inside it. So i went looking for another whiskey. I didn't want to try another bourbon cause I knew the result would be more or less the same. In the Mobile Liquor Store in Ghent, there was a large selection of different whiskeys. I was looking for a good but not to expensive whiskey here. Afterall we are on a budget. So I bought a bottle of Bushmills. This turned out to be a good choice. Using the Bushmills instead of Jack Daniels made the whiskey more smokey instead of sweet. My search for the perfect Whiskey Sour was over.

And now I proudly present my first cocktail recipe:

- 6 cl. of Whiskey (no bourbon)
- Juice of half a Lemon
- 2 barspoons of simple syrup

Put all the ingredients in a shaker filled with icecubes. Shake untill the shaker is ice-cold.
Serve in a Tumbler-glass with icecubes, a slice of lemon or orange and a cocktailcherry.

Cheers!