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EvergreenDan

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Everything posted by EvergreenDan

  1. Is the sugar content of Kronan consistent with traditional Swedish Punsch? I was hoping to enjoy it straight, but it's way too sweet for my (perhaps overly sensitive) unsweet tooth. Does anyone have a good recipe yet for bumping the alcohol up and sugar down? I'm thinking some combination of Smith & Cross, another mild Jamaican rum like Appleton's, and a bump of Batavia Arrack.
  2. I wonder if you might have luck finding nice Agricoles in Quebec, given the French Connection.(stretching for a pun...) I had a cocktail last night with a lovely 50% ABV white agricole from Guadalupe -- alas bought in Paris -- and some Clement shrubb. And then after dinner, a selection of brandies -- a 1977 Calvados that was the best I've ever had, by far, a white Marc, an old Marc, and an XO cognac made for ... wait for it ... export to Norway. None available in the US. It took substantial willpower to not go back for a second sample of the Calvados.
  3. Fixed. I think its best to make it clear in the menu somehow, especially if it isn't clear from the environment. Keeps both types of customer happy and all.
  4. Metabisulfite is the only food additives that gives me an instant asthma attack -- pickled peppers and such. If you use it, you might want to warn folks would would not expect a preservative in a cocktail. Chemical preservation also seems a bit anti-crafty.
  5. What other options for a very dark, molasses sweet rum do you have? How much do you like rum? I assume that you are sipping, rather than mixing at that price. It's so hard to compare markets, but in Boston, there are a lot of other bottles I'd love to try at the $80 price point. I just saw El Dorado 21 "on sale" but resisted. If I were living where things were very hard to come by, I might be tempted to "look for my keys under the street light".* * A metaphor to the observation that in physics, you perform experiments where they are technologically possible, even if that limits the scope of the solution.
  6. Good to hear from a researcher. For those of us not in the field, what are BPS and NFC? I know what the NFC and AFC are, but since you add a u to flavor, I'm guessing you aren't into American Football.
  7. Campari, gin, and tonic or soda/seltzer with lemon or lime is nice. It's sort of a gin-and-tonic with the bitterness of the tonic coming from the Campari. You did say that tonic water was in short supply. I'd be happy with this without the carbonated mixer, but it might be a bit bitter / intense for some. Can you scrounge up a bottle of sweet vermouth? I mean, how isolated is this? Use it to make Negronis and Boulevardiers using the gin and whiskey. When I travel to the hinterlands, I bring a bottle of Campari and sometimes gin. I figure I can find citrus and soda/tonic almost anywhere. Or I bring some sweet vermouth so I don't need any fresh citrus (nor a knife). And for a plane trip, I fill 3oz travel bottles with premixed Negronis. While everyone else is having crappy beer or wine or liquor, I'm have a nice cocktail.
  8. Holy Crap. I actually have everything to make this, but I'm kinda scared to. That's a mouthful of Nocino. OTOH, you haven't steered me wrong. Much. As for Zwack, I don't object to them introducing Unicum Lite and repositioning the brand at frat boys. What bugs me is not importing the real stuff. No need to poke me in the eye and punch me in the gut.
  9. (Used by permission of Creative Commons Commercial 2.5 license.) There are at several different issues being discussed in this part of the thread. 1) Whether two drinks with absolutely identical final constituents will taste identical if the bitters are diluted in one step (one dash full strength right into the glass, with an extra dash of water in the glass) or two steps (in the dasher, then to compensate, two dashes into the drink). 2) Whether two drinks with nearly identical final constituents, differing only by a the extra water involved in using two dashes of the 37.5% bitters will taste different. Same as 1), but don't use the extra dash of water. 3) Whether bitters will change in relative aromatic (non-tongue) flavor when diluted in a dasher -- that the 37.5% bitters might taste different from the 75% bitters when dashed onto your finger and stuck in your mouth. By relative flavor, I'm not talking about alcoholic heat or intensity but a change in the relative prominence of one aromatic botanical to another. Absent a chemical reaction (such as solids precipitating out of solution), I believe: 1) is chemically impossible. The two drinks have the same number of constituent molecules in each drink. Any perceived effect will disappear in double-blind A/B/X testing. 2) is vanishingly unlikely, otherwise drinks would impossible to make repeatedly because the amount of dilution in cocktail-making caused by ice and measuring errors is orders of magnitude higher than the 1ml amount that we are talking about. Any perceived differences will disappear under double blind testing. 3) May be true, but because it is both counter-intuitive and in conflict with my experience in tasting bitters, I doubt it. Every bitters that I've ever tasted has been the same in character when sampled directly out of the dasher and then diluted in plain (or seltzer) water. (I'm talking relative botanical aromas here, not bitterness, alcoholic heat, saltiness, acidity, etc.) If 3) is true, then bitters makers should ignore the flavor of the bitters in the bottle and construct them so that they taste as desired in the cocktail. Alas, I don't know how to construct a double-blind test for this. I think we all agree that: 4) Two dashes of the same bitters in a glass will make a different drink than 1 dash. 5) Savvy bitters consumers consider the concentration / potency of the bitters when dispensing dashes. One dash of Xocolatl Mole may overwhelm a delicate drink, whereas 2 dashes of Angostura might not be enough. 6) Bitters should ideally be constructed so that they are an appropriate concentration. For example, Stirring's Blood Orange "bitters" are so mild that that they are useless in dash quantities. 7) The alcohol concentration during infusion makes a big difference, along with time, material preparation, temperatures, etc. This affects the flavor of the "base" bitters, prior to dilution to bottle strength.
  10. Does this coupe appeal to you?
  11. Yes, we do. It's really just a tiny splash, maybe a barspoon worth at most. Since the French 77 seems to routinely have 1/2 oz of St. Germain, perhaps your version should be a French 75.667?
  12. I think this is the heart of the matter. I believe the straight-forward laws of chemistry apply here. Being a good scientist, I "suffered" through an experiment. - I dispensed two identical 1/2 oz pours of Balvenie 12 (43%ABV) into two identical same-temperature single malt glasses. - I tasted them A, B, A, B. Identical. - I dispensed 1 drop of tap water into B. Swirled to mix. - I tasted them A, B, A, B. Identical. - I dispensed several more drops of water into B. Swirled to mix. - I tasted them A, B, A, B. Probably identical. I might have detected a slight reduction of heat in B, but it might have been my imagination, given that this is a un-blind experiment. Flavor character was identical. - I dispensed about 1/2 tsp of water into B. At this point, I could clearly detect the milder presentation of the scotch, "smoother", less penetrating, less alcoholic heat, and to my taste, less compelling. The flavor was identical in character but slightly reduced in intensity. - I finished both glasses of Balvenie, dispensed an oz of Lagavulin 16 into a glass, visualized a drop of water, and sat down to type. I don't think anything special happens when you dilute something with water (unless something drops out of solution, you expose it to aging/flavoring in a cask, etc.). It matters not whether this happens at the distillery, in the bottle at your house, or in your glass. I think the upshot is that we have different world views and are unlike to convince each other. I enjoy and appreciate your products, and am grateful for their availability. Thank you. I wish you a Happy Holiday. No hard feelings -- truly.
  13. No where did Sam or I say that there was no difference between the 37.5% and the 75% bitters. We both have said at least once that they obviously taste different from each other on the tongue. It is clear from my example (and from common sense) that diluting 75% bitters to 37.5% bitters and dispensing twice as much yields an identical drink. Not identical tasting bitters if dashed onto your finger and stuck in your mouth. We all agree on that. Identical drinks if dashed into a drink in concentration-adjusted amounts (twice as much of the half-as-strong bitters in this case). You seem to be saying that this is not true. The original genesis of this discussion was your statement that by diluting with water immediately prior to bottling, you are changing the flavor of some botanicals relative to others. Absent precipitation or time-related aging or oxidation effects, I can see no justification for this and logic would seem to preclude any. If I have misunderstood your position -- which is what I initially thought had happened -- then I apologize. If I understand your position correctly, then perhaps you could explain how those two Manhattans are not chemically identical.
  14. OK, let's follow this to its logical conclusion. Here's a thought experiment: Two dasher bottles, one half full with 75% base bitters. One half full with water. Make two 90ml Manhattans. Put one 1ml dash from each dasher into drink. The drink has 1ml of full-strength bitters in 92ml of drink. Sip. Yum. Pour the contents of dasher bottle with water into the full strength one, resulting in a 37.5% bitters. Put two 1ml dashes into the drink. The drink has 1 ml of full-strength bitters pre-mixed with 1 ml of pure water in a 92ml of drink. Sip. Yum. The two drinks are chemically identical (having the same number of molecules of each constituent compound), assuming nothing precipitated when the bitters were diluted in the dasher bottle.
  15. Sam and I are assuming that when you dilute to bottle strength that nothing louches or precipitates out. Obviously if flavor components become solids in suspension or settled to the bottom of the dasher, then the flavor of the two end drinks could well be different.
  16. No, I'm an engineer, not a bitters maker. Are you saying that if you take take your bitters prior to setting the final proof at, say, 75% ABV and put one dash into a Manhattan. Then dillute equal volumes of your bitters with pure water and put 2 dashes into another Manhattan, that these two drinks will taste different? That there is something magical about dilution in the bitters bottle that happens differently from the dilution that happens in the glass? I think that I must be misunderstanding you. I obviously understand that during the infusion, different concentrations of alcohol will affect the infusion rate of different botanicals. I'm only referring to setting the final ABV once the bitters are made. I just don't see how that could differentially affect the flavor other than their overall concentration.
  17. The reason an overproof bourbon changes a cocktail is because it significantly raises the final proof of the drink and significantly reduces the dilution of the flavor components by having less (unflavored) water. A dash of bitters does not change the final proof of the drink. You could easily compensate for the lack of dilution by using less (say 1 dash of 75%ABV bitters rather than 2 dashs of 37.5% ABV bitters made my diluting the 75% ABV bitters 1:1 with unflavored water). Both would create essentially identical cocktails. So I can see diluting bitters to make them appropriately potent (a dash should be a reasonable dose), but not to change the flavor of them. Maybe I'm missing something.
  18. This confuses me. Are you saying that diluting with water as a final step would change the flavor in the cocktail (other than increase the amount needed)? The contribution of the alcohol in the bitters would not materially change the water/alcohol ratio of the final drink. It would seem that the any difference would disappear once a dash or two goes into the glass. Now back to the misunderstanding already in progress.
  19. In the history of the universe, no one ever regretted adding Sweet Vermouth to their bar. Ok, maybe 3 people, but that was just after Lincoln was shot and they were upset about that no doubt. No one since then. I'm absolutely positive.
  20. +1 on the Maker's Mark. A very nice, easy-to-drink bourbon. I'd buy a fresh bottle of sweet vermouth (maybe something interesting if it's available, like Cocchi Torino) and a jar of Luxardo Maraschino cherries (if they have them) and a bottle of Angostura bitters and make Manhattans. Very popular, easy to mix, no juicing, and they appeal to little old ladies and cutting-edge drinkers alike. If someone wants a sweeter drink, add more sweet vermouth or even a bit of syrup from the Luxardo cherries. The sweet vermouth and bitters and seltzer and a squeeze of lemon gives you a fizzy, light cocktail, good for when your guests might want something to sip but not drink much more alcohol. If that Cassis is a crappy brand, I would throw it out, particularly if it isn't fresh. It oxidizes rapidly. Cheap Cassis is nasty stuff.
  21. That's an awesome skill. And then the patron gets to enjoy a Manhattan made with Cinzano and palm sweat.
  22. Really? Perhaps a 375ml size? I recommend forthwith that you make a Last Word, or since you like whiskey, a Final Ward. Both are very fine drinks that highlight the Green Chartreuse. (I'm assuming you have Maraschino, if not, return to Santa's village immediately.)
  23. Mr. Negroni is agunnah beeah sooooo maddah. Campari sure loves Pineapple. Have you tried The Riviera? (I mess with it, swapping the ratios of Campari (more) and Maraschino (less), and skip the simple and egg white (just add lemon juice)). For some reason, the gin/Campari/Maraschino/Pineapple infusion works better than just mixing with pineapple juice. I love this drink.
  24. Did you add some water, or more water than usual? 60+% ABV and all....
  25. I've had good luck with playing with kumquats. They have great acidity and you can easily muddle the whole thing to get good oil from the peel. Try this: Old Sao Paolo by Dan Chadwick 2 oz Cachaça 1/2 oz Elisir M. P. Roux (or Green Chartreuse) 1/2 Lime (muddled) 2 Kumquat (muddled) 1/2 t Simple syrup (if needed) 4 ds Whiskey Barrel Aged bitters, Fee Brothers 1 Orange peel (as garnish) Muddle kumquats (or other flavorful orange, skin on) and lime. Add other ingredients except simple syrup. Taste and add simple syrup as needed if kumquats are very sour. Double strain, rocks, lowball glass. Orange zest garnish.
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