Campden Cocktail

“De gustibus non est disputandum”

The Campden cocktail isn’t the most famous cocktail in the world, you won’t see him on the menu in many cocktail bars. About it’s history there isn’t much known either, except that it goes back since at least the Prohibition. The cocktail was described in the Savoy Cocktail book. And in a way that’s how I got to know it, I read about it on The Savoy Stomp, a website with a single mission: having tried all the cocktails in the Savoy cocktail book. But the website doesn’t rate the cocktail very well. In the contrary, if you read the review of this cocktail it’s no surprise that it’s not well known. According to the review it’s a pretty awful tasting cocktail.

But I believe that you can’t argue about tastes and colors. Plus I was anxious to taste the cocktail and reckoned that it could be turned into a good cocktail if I kept the advice from the Savoy Stomp website in mind. There were reasons enough for me to give it a shot! A good gin and some more balance than the original recipe came to mind. I went for a premium gin with a hint of citrus and replacing triple sec with a smaller amount of Grand Marnier. Here’s the recipe for my version and I’m pretty happy with the result!

Rossorinha

Earlier this week I was invited to dinner by friends. They would take care of dinner and I would take care of the drinks. I knew in advance that they were no fans of Martini, but I decided to accept the unspoken challenge. I went for the Rossorinha and it was a big succes!

Rossorinha

The Rossorinha is a distant cousin of the Caipirinha. It is made the same way but with different ingredients: Martini Rosso instead of Cachaça and muddled orange instead of muddled lime. The cocktail was invented in 2003 by Belgian mixologist Manuel Wouters for Martini. Wouters is a popular bartender for events and the Rossorinha is almost always on his menu. There are two reasons for that: first of all because it’s very delicious and second because it’s easy and fast to make. You can prepare the entire cocktail so you only have to add crushed ice when it’s ordered.

Morning Glory Fizz

“When I’m sad I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True Story.” — Barney Stinson

Today is Blue Monday, it is said to be the most depressing day of the year. The inventor of Blue Monday is Cliff Arnall, a British psychologist. If we can trust in his (according to him) scientific calculations the most depressing day of the year is the monday of the last full week of January. Unless you live on the southern hemisphere of the world it’s winter that day. It’s cold and probably rainy, it’s dark when you get up and dark when early in the evening. Summer is half a year away and you just had an expensive December. The New Year’s resolutions have all failed and it’s monday, it’s seems ages until the next weekend!

My remedy against Blue Monday is a premium Scotch: “Johnnie Blue“. The Blue Label is the flagship of the Johnnie Walker assortment, it’s a blend of Scottish top shelve whiskies. Some of the malt whiskies that are used are over 50 years old. Each bottle is numbered and it’s packed in a nice silky gift box. Of course this kind of whisky comes with a price, in Europe about 175 euro per bottle (and about 200 dollar in the US) . But for 75 euro there’s a nice alternative: the Johnnie Walker Collection box. It’s a box with 4 smaller bottles of premium Johnnie Walker whiskies: Blue Label, Gold Label, Green Label and Black Label. Or you can buy  a 20 cl. bottle separately for about 35 euro. That’s still not very cheap, but it’s less than 10 euro per glass, which is the average price for a cocktail in a cocktail bar. On Blue Monday you’re allowed to try things that might cheer you up!

Johnnie Blue is mostly enjoyed neat, so no ice, on room temperature in a wide whisky tumbler glass, with a water back. You often hear that it’s a sin to use expensive liquor in cocktails, and a lot of the time it’s true that it’s not the best way to taste the full flavors of the liquor, but if it makes your cocktail better it sure is allright for me! The most depressing day of the year is a good day to try it, for example with a Morning Glory Fizz.

Whiskey Winter Punch

In December 2011 Jack Daniel’s launched a winter punch: WinterJack. The premixed whiskey punch was only for sale in Germany at that time. But since I visited Germany right after the launch of WinterJack I managed to get a bottle last year. After a long search I found 1 bottle in a night shop of all places. Because I really enjoyed that bottle and getting a new one was going to be difficult I decided to make my own whiskey winter punch. All ingredients were listed on the WinterJack bottle so I only had to figure out the right dosing. Meanwhile WinterJack is available in other countries but it’s still not available where I live and besides that I enjoy making it myself just the way I like it.

The Whiskey Winter Punch is a heated mixture of apple juice, lemon juice, honey, spices and Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7. The only substitute that I would allow for the Old No.7 would be Jim Beam Bourbon as it’s taste is quite similar to Jack Daniel’s. For each part whiskey I add 4 parts apple juice and half a part lemon juice and to season the punch you need honey, plenty of cinnamon and cloves. Heat the mixture and serve it in a preheated Collins glass or a mug. It’s the ideal drink to warm up your winter barbecues!

El Presidente

El Presidente

January 8, 1959 – Fidel Castro triumphantly arrives in Havana, the capital of Cuba. It was the end of a victory march that started a week earlier when President Batista fled the country in the last night of the year. Batista’s position as president had become impossible to retain after he lost the battle for Santa Clara to Ché Guevarra and his fellow rebels. On January the 2nd Castro’s troops took over Santiago De Cuba, the second largest city in the country. About the same time Guevarra marched into Havana, where Castro installed a new president of January 3, Manuel Urritia Lléo. Castro Himself would arrive in Havana on January 8, it were the most important days of the Cuban revolution.

El Presidente is also the name of a famous Cuban cocktail, but in contrary of popular belief it’s not named after one of the two most infamous Presidentes, Batista or Castro. The recipe of the cocktail was already mentioned in 1935 in La Florida Cocktail Book, at that time Castro was only 9 years old. After which Cuban president the cocktail is named we will never know for certain but most guesses go out to President Menocal or President Machado who was president of Cuba during the prohibition era.

Canaletto

Ringing in the New Year has to be done in style, here’s a sparkling cocktail that fits the occasion: The Canaletto.

This cocktail was named after the Venetian art painter Giovanni Antonio Canal. His father Bernardo Canal was an famous painter before him and therefore son Giovanni was known as Canaletto (‘little Canal’). The cocktail got his name because it was often called the little brother of the Bellini, another cocktail named after a Venetian painter.

The Canaletto is a mix of sweet and sour, finished with a dry sparkling wine or Champagne. It’s pretty easy to make and it sure is classy, which makes it an ideal cocktail for your New Year’s Eve party. If you have guests over for New Year’s Eve you can easily do the mixing up front and store it in your fridge, so you only have to finish it with the sparkling wine when your guests arrive.

Ghost of the city

“It’s the end of the world as we know it..”

The Four Horsemen

Today, the 21st of December 2012, is the end of the thirteenth baktun in the old Mayan Long Count Calendar. It’s the end of days according to many. Floods, volcanic eruptions, a gigantic tsunami, a rain of lightning from the sun, the Apocalypse, who knows what we might expect today. The term Apocalypse has become a synonym to the end of the world, but literally this in origin Greek word means nothing more than revelation. Apocalypse is the Greek word for the 6^th book in the New Testament, Revelations. The events in this part of the Bible are often interpreted as the end of the world. So actually the word Apocalypse has nothing to do with the Mayans. The term as we use it now is an abbreviation of apokalupsis eschaton (an interpretation of the book of revelations), which means ‘the revelation of the end of days’.  This particular revelation in the New Testament is engaged by the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse. That also happens to be a shot drink: a mixture of ¾ fl. oz Jack Daniel’s, ¾ fl oz. Jim Beam, ¾ fl oz. Johnnie Walker (Red Label) and ¾ fl oz. Jameson’s Whiskey. I think the list of ingredients explains how this shot got its name.

I have no doubt that it’s a good way to get drunk fast but it doesn’t sound really tasty, does it? That’s why today I’m choosing for a more civilized whiskey mix that also seems to fit the occasion of Doomsday: the Ghost of the city. The main ingredient for this cocktail is an unaged (and therefore see-through or ‘white’) whiskey, for example Low Gap Unaged Whiskey or Glen Tunder Corn Whiskey. I’m dying to try the new Jack Daniel’s Unaged Rye for this cocktail but unfortunately it’s not easy to get it yet as it’s released only recently and only for sale in Tennessee for now. The second ingredient is  Cocchi Americano (an Italian aperitif wine) or as a good alternative Lillet Blanc (a French aperitif wine) and just a dash of (The Bitter Truth) Lemon Bitters.

Corpse Reviver #2

“Nothing fucks up your Friday more than realizing it’s only Tuesday”

If it’s only Tuesday and you feel like it’s Friday then you definitely need a boost. My favorite boost is the Corpse Reviver #2, the most popular cocktail of the Corpse Reviver family of cocktails. Harry Craddock, writer of one of the most famous cocktail books in the world The Savoy Cocktail book, claimed that the Corpse Reviver cocktail should be drank “before 11am, or whenever steam and energy are needed.” But be careful because he also wrote: “four of these taken in straight succession will unrevive the corpse again..“.

The Corpse Reviver cocktails would also be the best cure for a hangover and that is how they got their name, but I think Mr. Craddock is right and that you should limit it to one when you try to fix your hangover. Fighting a hangover with alcohol is sometimes called the hairs of the dog cure. A term coined in the time of Shakespeare when in Schotland they believed that the best cure for a dog’s bite is applying hairs of the dog on the wound. Translated to hangovers it’s curing the wounds of excessive use of alcohol with a little alcohol.

Repeal’s Day Americano

“Happy Repeal Day!”

Prohibition ends

On december 5th 1933, today 79 years ago, the Prohibition of alcohol came to an end in the United States. In short Prohibition was no more or no less than a law against the manufacturing, transporting or selling of alcohol or alcoholic drinks. In contrary to what most people think it was never illegal to possess or drink alcohol during this period. Prohibition lasted almost 14 years: from January 16th 1920 to December 5th 1933. The ban on the distribution of alcohol was implemented to reduce social problems like drunkenness, crime, mental illness and poverty. Prohibition would also help reduce taxes as a big part of tax money went to jails, hospitals, law enforcement and insane asylums.

But nothing could be further away from the truth: people kept on producing and drinking alcohol, Speakeasies were more popular than ever and bootlegging became a massive industry completly under the control of organized crime. For many people Prohibition is a synonym for the rise of Italian-American mafia. After a few years of Prohibition Al Capone, the famous gangster from Chicago, had an army of more than 700 foot soldiers working for him, ran more than 10.000 Speakeasies and controlled alcohol traffic from Canada to Florida. Costs for jails, hospitals and police services did not decrease, supposedly 800 million dollars on taxes on alcohol were missed out on and 300 million dollar was used to enforce Prohibition laws; an astonishing amount for that time! Not only was Prohibition costly, it also brought along an unseen crime wave: mostly black market violence between rivalling bootlegging gangs. In the first year of Prohibition crime had already risen by 24%, theft by 9% and murder by almost 13%. The repeal of Prohibition became an important agenda point in politics and in the streets protest marches were organized. The pressure on Prohibition become too much and on the 5th of December 1933 the era of nationwide Prohibition came to an end. December 5th became Repeal Day.

The Black Ass of Jack Daniel

“Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.” — Frank Sinatra

It’s a well known fact that Frank Sinatra was a big fan of  Jack Daniel’s whiskey. Both on and off stage he was often seen with a tumbler of Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7. It’s almost an iconic image: his microphone in one hand and his favorite whiskey in the other one. He often called it ‘the nectar of the gods’ and recommended it to all his friends and acquaintances.  Jack Daniel’s and Frank Sinatra Enterprises needed no further reasons to produce a new premium whiskey as a tribute to the Ol’ Blue Eyes: Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select. This new whiskey is marketed as an ultra premium whiskey, with an alchohol percentage of 45% (90 proof) and in a (new) long and narrow litre sized bottle. With a price tag of 150 dollar it’s not a cheap whiskey, but it comes with a nice gift box and a booklet with stories about Sinatra’s love for Jack Daniel’s. At first the Sinatra Select will only be sold in duty free shops, but by mid 2013 it will be available in selected premium liquor stores.