Author Archives: dh

French 75

Recently I’ve opened a bottle of prosecco bought in Christmas sale. Springs comes, and it seems like the time to get some fizzy booze, light at the tongue and strong when getting into our heads.

My choice was a cocktail based on the combination I can’t resist – gin, lemon juice and sugar. Yes, I love Tom Collins and I considered French 75 as Tom Collins with sparkling wine instead of soda water.

This cocktail is old and popular so Internet has provided me with tons of French 75 recipes. But I decided to seek advice in «The Savoy Cocktail Book», my favourite source of classic cocktails.

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MxMo LVI: Your Best – A Herbalist’s Coffee

This post is for the next Mixology Monday round – MxMo LVI: Your Best.

This time Chris from Spirited Remix hosts the party and expects original drinks created by participants.

I love the idea because creating new drink is my hobby so I have a nice cocktail to contribute.

That’s based on the combination of coffee and Fernet Branca (and also Fernet Branca and cherry brandy). It’s a bit unusual but I believe this cocktail would win over many coffee lovers. By the way, it’s called «A Herbalist’s Coffee».

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Discovering vodka. Part II

My second Russian vodka review is also about the premium vodka (or just something like it) retailing at Moscow supermarkets.

In the first review I explained my reasons and tasting conditions. All they are personal and maybe controversial especially Vodka Martini cocktail as one of the criteria.

I hope it would be useful for foreign imbibers because I know that many of reviewed vodkas are exported to Europe and US.

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Dark and Stormy

When I’ve made my first batch of ginger beer, I realized that I hardly ever drink it neat. It was too dry and burning for me. But there was an advantage – I could give a try to cocktails based on ginger beer, at last!

At first I’ve tried Dark and Stormy cocktail, a powerful combination of dark rum and spicy ginger beer.

Bermuda’s national drink, Dark and Stormy is deeply rooted in the traditional daily portions of rum served out in British Navy. The cocktail calls for Bermudian Gosling’s Black Seal Rum and local ginger beer. Very strict conditions, isn’t it?

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White Wagtail Cocktail

Another cocktail with Van Gogh Açai-Blueberry Vodka I’ve created after unsuccessful efforts to discover original cocktails with this hard-to-find vodka. I was trying to produce a berry-flavoured light cocktail with strong herbal background. Hope I succeeded in my attempt.

Surprisingly the hardest thing was not to achieve the best taste but to get acceptable appearance. Van Gogh Açai-Blueberry Vodka has wonderful lilac color but lose it completely after mixing with citrus juices. Happily, Parfait Amour liqueur helped me to keep the original violet color with steel-blue tint.

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Boukman Daiquiri

It’s so far from summer, and I don’t dream of it. That’s just a thing I promised myself to do some day. This cocktail looked so beautiful therefore I can’t resist the temptation. Not long ago I’ve made a batch of cinnamon syrup and redeemed the promise to taste Boukman Daiquiri.

I’ve found the cocktail recipe at the Imbibe. Created by Alex Day from the Philadelphia’s The Franklin Bar, this modern Daiquiri variation has two key components which made a difference in the cocktail flavour. The first is the cinnamon syrup I wrote above, and the second is Cognac.

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Discovering vodka. Part I

This article is mostly about Russian vodka so I think it will be not too interesting for foreigners who usually deal with vodkas of European or American brands.

Also I see some misunderstanding and underestimating from people across Europe concerning vodka. That’s not a problem because Russian vodka is a local spirit which should be consumed in proper conditions and accordingly to national traditions.

Traditionally, Russian hand-crafted vodkas were based on distilled rye spirit. Now wheat is cheaper as well as a rectification process substituted for distillation so the base for modern vodkas is rectified wheat spirit. Rye, potato, barley, grape are all an exception to the rule.

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S.I.P.#3: Manhattan

Our third S.I.P. event is dedicated to another cocktail icon called Manhattan as well as its numerous variations made with other whiskey (whisky) and vermouths (or aperitifs and maybe amari).

For me, Manhattan is a counterpoise for Dry Martini. Warm, sweet and spicy side of cocktails against dry and bitter world of clear and cold gin flavoured with drops of vermouth. Brown spirits versus crystal clear alcohol, Alpha and Omega of cocktail world.

I’m not interested in stories about Manhattan. I just enjoy it when I get tired of other cocktails – classic of modern, it doesn’t matter. Manhattan is the special mood, the atmosphere of calm and confidence.

The never-ending experiment with whiskey and vermouth pairing. The search for the best additions – bitters or liqueurs. Much attention to details, technique improvement. Careful sipping, enjoying aroma, appearance and taste. It’s a more than cocktail, almost a lifestyle.

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Tuxedo Cocktail

I’ve learnt about Tuxedo cocktail from David Wondrich’s Esquire Drink Database. So I thought that it’s made exclusively with sherry. Once enjoying Tuxedo with genever and dry sherry, I started to search for more information about this cocktail. To my shame, it appears that Tuxedo was a well-known and popular cocktail in the first half of 20th century.
The oldest source I could find, Harry Johnson’s «New And Improved Bartendes’ Manual» described Tuxedo as a cocktail with French vermouth, not sherry.

Later sources, «The Savoy Cocktail Book» and «Approved Cocktails, authorized by UK bartenders guild» also mentioned Tuxedo with vermouth. Moreover, «The Savoy Cocktail Book» contains two Tuxedo versions.

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