Vesper Lynd

I wish I had seen that photo a couple of days ago, the recipe makes a bit more sense now.

Sounds good, it would be great to get a second opinion on some of the recipes we've tried

Must be a little different then as the molasses is quite tart and is a brownish colour. I've used it in salad dressings, and also have a chicken recipe that uses it.

Brandy Crusta 3 Dashes Maraschino (3 dashes Maraska Maraschino ) 1 Dash Angostura Bitters (1 Dash Angostura Bitters) 4 Dashes of Lemon Juice (4 Dashes freshly squeezed lemon juice) ¼ Curacao (½oz Cointreau) ¾ Brandy (1½ox Dorville VSOP) Use small wine glass. Moisten the edge with lemon and dip edge into caster sugar which frosts the glass. Cut the rind of half a lemon spiral fashion; place in a glass. Fill Glass with cracked ice. Stir well and strain into prepared glass, adding slice of lemon We followed the recipe up to the point of filling the prepared glass with cracked ice. We simply strained our drink into the rimmed glass with the lemon rind and then added a slice of orange. There is a little bit of prep work involved if you don't have a glass rimming kit, but it's well worth it as this was another great drink.

Brandy Blazer 1 Lump Sugar (1 Sugar Cube) 1 Piece of Orange Peel (1 Piece of Orange Peel) 1 Piece of Lemon Peel (1 Piece of Lemon Peel) 1 Glass Brandy (2oz Dorville VSOP) Light with a match, stir with long spoon for a few seconds and strain into a cocktail glass Until recently I had been sceptical of the value of burning good alcohol. However the action of the flame on the sugar and the peel, caramelises the sugar slightly and seems to liberate some additional flavours from the peel, adding an intensity to the drink. I flamed and served my drink in the same glass, so a word of caution is necessary if you plan to follow my lead. The brandy took some warming with a lighter before it would burn continuously, so the glass was rather warm (hot) when it was served. I snuffed the flame by placing a folded damp tea towel over the mouth of the glass. All in all a spectacular (once you get the brandy up to temperature) and tasty drink.

Is the Pomegranate Concentrate anything like Pomegranate molasses?

Thanks for that, I guess I'll have to go and have a look in the Middle Eastern grocers for the pomegranate juice. I presume the alcohol is meerly there as a preservative? However it does remind me I should have to have another look at the bottle of Van Dieman Grenadine Liqueur thats been collecting dust on the bottle shelf From memory I think it was rather sweet and reminded me of one of the medicines I used to get given as a child Then again maybe not

Do you have a recipe for home made grenadine that you can share with us? I've been using some French Grenadine Syrup made by Teisseire which I don't find to be as sweet as some of the others I've tried.

Brandy Cocktail 2 Dashes Curacao (3 dashes Cointreau) ¾ Wineglass Brandy (2oz Dorville XO) Stir well and strain into cocktail glass. This was a really nicely balanced drink with the Cointreau providing subtle undertones of orange.

Brain-Storm Cocktail ½ Wineglass Irish Whisky (2oz Tullamore Dew) 2 dashes Benedictine (4 dashes Benedictine) 2 dashes French Vermouth (4 dashes Noilly Prat) Squeeze orange peel on top. Stir well and strain into a cocktail glass. (As the astute observer can probably tell from the photo we shook ours whoops) After I had started to mix this drink I discovered that we had no oranges in the house, but we proceeded any way. Perhaps that's what was missing from our version of this drink. Or perhaps I was too mean with my dashes? What ever the answer it certainly seemed to be lacking something. On my initial reading of the instructions I had assumed that the orange zest was to be squeezed onto the surface of the finished drink, that would seem to make sense to me. However on re-reading the instructions as I typed them up, I'm not so sure

The second beer for the evening was Coopers Sparkling Ale. This is one of our favorites, a really nice refreshing drop. Brewed and fermented using a unique method of top fermentation and bottle conditioning.

Just had a Redoak Rauch (World's best Smoke Flavoured Beer, Gold Medal World Beer Cup 2006). A really nice drop with a nice smokey flavour

host note - topics merged. We all know that a Cocktail is the sum of all its parts, and the best cocktails usually contain the freshest, highest quality ingredients. So at what point does the law of “Diminishing Returns” kick in and the best ingredient, becomes too good to be used in a cocktail? What criteria do you use to determine this point? This is a point we have pondered from time to time when we are trying new/unknown drinks. Do we use the best on the shelf, or one of the lesser ingredients?

Raffles Long Bar is the traditional place to drink a Singapore Slings, however as has been noted earlier in this thread, the current recipe is far removed from the original. It's worth doing once, just so you can say been there done that. Also check out the Bar & Billiard Room Whilst you're there. Any of the bars within the Raffles complex will serve you a Singapore Sling, so have a look around and take your pick If you are after authentic as in the original recipe you might have to buy the ingredients and mix your own

Couldn't agree more. We were very disappointed to see our long awaited SS's poured from a large premixed pitcher The bar in the Billiard room has a far better atmosphere and would be my choice any day I still wouldn't order a SS there though. The SS's that Singapore Airlines serve must use the same premix as they are as good as identical.

Ponche Soto, is Spanish. It had been something I had steered away from primary due it's chrome bottle until I had the chance to try it at a Spanish Restaurant. Were it was served over ice, as a digestive, very nice it was too. You are right there is very little information on the net concerning this drink.

The recipe in the Raffles Hotel Museum is; 1/2 glass gin 1 drop Cherry Brandy 1 drop Angostura Bitters 1/4 glass Maraschino 1/4 glass Benedictine 1/4 glass lemon squash As an aside not only is the current recipe freely available, in fact our room valet made sure we didn't leave without a copy, you can also purchase premixed bottles of the brew; simply add soda. I'm reasonably sure that all that is served in the long bar, or at any other bar within the Raffles complex for that matter, is simply premix. Understandable given the number that must be ordered each day, but rather disappointing, and over sweet, given the mystique that surrounds this drink.

Bombay Cocktail (No.2) 1 Dash Absinthe (1 Dash Absente, Liqueur aux Plantes d'Absinthe) 2 Dashes Curacao (2 Dashes Cointreau) ¼ oz French Vermouth (¼ oz Noilly Prat) ¼ oz Itailian Vermouth (¼ oz Rosso Antico) ½ oz Brandy (½ oz Dorville XO) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. This cocktail had a lovely yellow topaz colour, and so far has been one of the hidden gems for us. The flavours were, rich, complex and lingering. The citrus, of the Cointreau and anise, of the absinthe, combined to make this a very satisfying drink, that we will definitely add to our regular list of drinks.

Perhaps if you were to take out say 1/4 cup of vodka and gently warm it then add the Saffron threads and bruise then in the warmed vodka and then return to the bottle? The Licor 43 sounds similar to Ponche Soto. BTW. You are very right about the Cartron it's just a huge hit of pear on all fronts. Hi VL: The saffron vodka I infused myself. Big pinch of saffron in the bottle. Let sit for a couple of days and strain. I suspect it would infuse even better if the bottle were in a tub of hot water to start, to slightly heat up the vodka. Licor 43 is a vanilla, citrus and herb flavored liqueur from Spain. Supposedly has 43 ingredients in it. Very tasty stuff. I like it because it imparts sweetness and some texture to a drink, as well as a delicious vanilla flavor. ←

Thanks Katie Is the Saffron Vodka a commercial product or something you infused yourself? What is the flavour associated with Licor 43?

Third time lucky? Not quite, but todays effort was certainly an improvement, and a step in the right direction. 2 oz Cartron Poire Williams ¼ oz Absolut Vanilia ¼ oz Taj Mahal Saffron Syrup 2 thin slices of peeled fresh ginger. Shaken, very hard, with ice and double strained, to remove any ginger fragments. The ginger acted to balance out the sweetness, and the reduction in the Absolut Vanilia reduced the "apparent" sweetness that we were picking up on the nose yesterday. All in all a much improved result. We still have one other variation to try before we put this little project to bed

Bolo Cocktail The Juice of ¼ Lemon or ½ Lime (we made two versions one using freshly squeezed juice of ¼ lemon and the other freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lime) The juice of ¼ orange (freshly squeezed juice of ¼ Orange) ½ Wineglass Bacardi Rum (2 oz Havana Club Anejo Blanco) 1 Teaspoon Sugar (Whoops perhaps that’s what was missing ) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. The version of the recipe that we finally decided upon was the result of a little (very) research and a deal of discussion between Erik and our selves. The omission of the sugar was due to tiredness more than any conscious decision that it was superfluous, although there was some discussion as to the exact quantity that might be required in this recipe. We found the cocktail, as we mixed it, to have all its flavour and impact at the front of the palette and feel that the addition of the sugar (syrup, probably a something less than the full teaspoon) would work well to give the drink a fuller flavour. Whether lime or lemon was used the drink was very refreshing, and quite appropriate for our current summer climate. Rum and citrus go together so well, and drinking this drink even in the winter months would be appropriate as it would immediately transport ones thoughts to warmer climes

Thanks for you comments eas. We were initially a little worried about overpowering the eau-de-vie, as you can see from our first concoction. However we quickly discovered that the Cartron Poire Williams is quite robust and well able to hold it's own even in our second concoction. I've got one more concoction I want to try before I consign the saffron syrup to the desert cabinet

Well we’ve been distracted from our duties over at the Stomping Through the Savoy thread by some colour and movement, well more colour and flavour really, in the form a of a bottle of Taj Mahal Saffron Syrup. We came across this item, whilst idly browsing through our local purveyor of unusual and hard to get ingredients and cookware. Immediately our thoughts turned to the possibility of using this ingredient in a cocktail. A little research (googling) showed that we are far from the first to have struck upon this idea. It also provided us with a starting point and some additional ideas for us to pursue. We decided that potential companions to the Saffron, would be pear, vanilla and ginger. In the end we decide to start our experimentation with Josheph Cartron Poire Williams (Eau de vie) and Absolut Vanilia. Our first concoction consisted simply of; 2 ½ oz of Cartron Poire Williams 2 dashes of Taj Mahal Saffron Syrup Stirred with ice and double strained. Unfortunately we underestimated the dominance of the Poire Williams and overestimated the power of the Saffron syrup, so whilst the drink was dominated by poire Williams, there was still a very subtle undertone of saffron. Next we tried mixing; 2 oz Cartron Poire Williams ½ oz Absolut Vanilia ¼ oz Taj Mahal Saffron Syrup Stirred with ice and double strained. This proved to be a much more satisfactory drink, however the sweetness of the syrup, and the luscious aromas of the pear and the vanilla meant, that this drink would be much more suitable as a dessert cocktail, than the exotic aperitif that we were hoping for. We’d be very interested to hear from anyone else who has experiment with Saffron syrup or had a drink that included this ingredient.

Blues Cocktail Take 4 Glasses of Whisky. (2 oz Canadian Club) 1 Glass of Curacao. (1/2 oz Cointreau) Incorporate 1 Teaspoonful of Syrup of Prunes. (1/4 teaspoon Prune Syrup) Pour out over plenty of cracked ice and shake for longer and more thoroughly than usual. Serve very cold. As we used Cointreau rather than coloured Curacao our Blues cocktail lacked the hansom orange colour that Eirk's had Non the less it was quite a refreshing drink, and the prescription; to "shake for longer and more thoroughly than usual", produced a pleasant raft of fine ice chips on the surface of the drink.