FireAarro

Limes are like $2 apiece down here at the moment, the bars are fuming

+1 on the Juliet and Romeo, that's an ultimate wow drink in terms of flavour and presentation, it's very accessible and very feminine.

Where do you get the Barbancourt? Keep in mind the Havana Club Anejo Especial has a very different flavour profile to the Anejo Blanco.

Good call! Made this with Havana Club Especial and TBT orange bitters, serves as a slightly mellowed dram of Cynar with powerful orange aromas. Hey Fire, Where are you buying your HCE & Cynar? These bottles I got from duty free and a small shop that had a closing sale nearby respectively, but both can be gotten from Dan Murphy's, or Nick's Wine Merchants if you wanna support a fantastic business, or some of the other good liquor stores around Melbourne.

Good call! Made this with Havana Club Especial and TBT orange bitters, serves as a slightly mellowed dram of Cynar with powerful orange aromas.

Regarding the Green Point, as far as I know the original recipe (oxymoronically) called for yellow Chartreuse, which would lower the hotness factor. I still didn't like it that much.

Personally, I find it pretty easy to overdilute drinks for my tastes, even at home. Dilution is desirable to an extent; control of dilution is what's really important.

I've always had this curiosity about grape brandies from other regions. How do they compare, flavourwise and mixing-wise, to the standard that is Cognac? Brandy de Jerez, German brandies, Metaxa, etc...

Thanks haresfur for the saz tip! Finally got around to making it (with Ricard and orange peel)- It rocks. Anyone who hasn't tried an old fashioned with a big punchy dark rum yet should seriously contemplate it...

I picked up a bottle of 20.5% Apry the other day; found one shop that stocks it in Melbourne (Parkhill Cellars on Errol st. there are probably other little hidden ones). It tastes awesome. Also, if you haven't yet, take Paul's advice and try the Claridge*. It's as worthy as he makes it out to be * Though feel free to scale it down a third

Won't be seeing weeniecello in bars anytime soon then I guess...

Interesting! I've never tried the Sazerac treatment with any spirits but rye and cognac before. Might have to give that a shot. Glad you're digging the rum!

haresfur, I adore an Inner Circle old fashioned. Not sure if that will work for you if you take issue with the flavour though.

This post is so sad.

The owner of my favourite bar here in Melbourne (Der Raum) opened up a sister bar/restaurant in Singapore called Tippling Club which is probably worth checking out.

brinza, what rums have you tried on the Tango no.2? I've only made it with Havana Club white so far.

It looks like the ice ball might be kinda wet after that process, which sorta negates the point of the sphere a bit. This could be remedied by refreezing it and storing for later I guess.

Regarding Australian spirits, Inner Circle is amazing (though technically "made in Fiji" for labelling purposes). Bundaberg is godawful. We also have a number of small distilleries around the place making great whisky which have gained some international recognition i.e. bakery hill, lark distillery, sullivan's cove... Murmur in Melbourne do a great drink called the Kickin' Koala, which they describe as "A blend of Drambuie, Finlandia vodka, honey liqueur, eucalyptus syrup, fresh lemon juice is shaken crazily with cracked pepper, bitters & a touch of egg white. Blinky would be proud!". This is pretty much the only Australian themed cocktail I've seen on a bar's menu round here, and it's a damn good one at that (the best we had at Murmur that night. forget about ordering a zombie). Anyway, happy invasion day peoples...

That's the Tango #2! I looooooooove it. Jay at Oh Gosh! did half a post on it once

I agree, I find Plymouth gets lost in a lot of drinks. I've found it to work very well in some drinks with Cherry Heering, like both of these drinks, which I heartily recommend.

The Left Hand is almost a Boulevardier, apart from the addition of bitters. The Boulevardier, and its associated variation the Old Pal, are both excellent. Use the extra dry style for the Old Pal though, like Cinzano, not something like Noilly.

I know a lot of people here (including myself) have had a bitch of a time blanching almonds. How did you guys do it? My dad has discovered that it becomes far easier when you actually boil the almonds on a stove for a minute, as opposed to soaking them for a minute in boiled water (from a kettle) that's off the heat, which is what I did at first. My original method: Boil water in a kettle Pour to cover almonds. Wait 1 minute Strain, rinse with cold water Peel Complain about difficulty of peeling almonds New method: Boil water in a saucepan on the stove add almonds Wait 1 minute Strain, rinse with cold water Peel

Sounds tasty Katie, and the name is brilliant! Tonight I had a Tomate- one part pastis to half a part homemade grenadine in a tall glass filled with ice and topped up with five parts water. A tad sweet but very tasty and a bit more approachable than just the Ricard with water. My grenadine isn't particularly colorful however but that is likely preferable to the neon red of the commercial stuff...

My favourite bar around town, Der Raum, uses sous vide for their infusions. Not sure how this process changes the end result, but the heat makes the infusion happen a lot faster, for one. Might ask the bartenders there some day.

Extract?