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BillBuitenhuys

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Posts posted by BillBuitenhuys

  1.  

     

    Picked this up yesterday...Gin from Mexico from agave distillate made with a German pot still (named "Dora"). It's a delicate gin with some sweetness and green notes from the agave base, some bay, coriander, citrus. Found it to be quite enjoyable as a sipper. For cocktail use, it will have to be a subtle cocktail (maybe a 50/50 martini) but I think it will get lost in something more forceful, like a Negroni.

    IMG_20150708_103831.jpg

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  2. Both of these drinks are lovely for pre-dinner!

    Martinez is one of my comfort drinks. That thing I make when I don't want to think about what I'm making and just want to relax.

    I also favor the PDT recipe and that 50/50 recipe makes for a lovely Gin&It too.

    Definitely Cocchi Torino over CA for me as that CA vanilla dominates the gin. My go-to is Dolin rouge for this drink. Noilly works for me too. Hayman's, Ransom, or Malacca for gin. Geniver on occasion.

     

    I'm not a fan of orange bitters in my Martinez though. Something about the orange and the maraschino just doesn't do it for me because I'm not bothered by a Gin&It with orange bitters. Most of the time I'll use Dr. Adam's Bokers. If I'm up for experimenting, I'll go with an aromatic bitters over a citrus type.

     

    So very thirsty now....

  3. Went to a new Cajun restaurant near us the other day. The menu features a few NOLA inspired drinks including a Sazerac made with Ritt100. Awright! This could be good...craft cocktails a short bicycle ride from the house.

     

    I got a water goblet filled with ice, Rittenhouse way over sweetened with simple, and a spritz of absinthe over the top. No Peychaud's (or any bitters) anywhere to be seen. Holy moly. :blink:

  4. Yojimbo said it well. It's usually fun experimenting and you can definitely improve or detract from the base cocktail.

    That said, I love mole bitters in a Margarita (particularly a Tommy's Margarita...agave syrup/lime, no Cointreau).

    A slight dash of orange in Negroni variations (particularly if Aperol is used instead of Campari) can be nice.

  5. Excellent article! Thanks.

     

    I also went back and read The Professor's book and his section on arrack. He also notes both batavia arrack and coconut arrack and says he used batavia arrack in his recipes as the coconut version wasn't available in the US at that time. Pretty cool that in 1862 he was aware of a spirit that wasn't available to him (and he didn't have the benefit of the interwebz).

  6. Forgive me if this in the wrong thread...

    Most punch recipes that call for arrack specify sugarcane/rice-based Batavia Arrack (Indonesia). Where does coconut-based arrack (Sri Lanka) fit into punch history? Given that so much trade was done between India and Britain it seems likely that coconut arrack could have been used in early punch vs batavia.

    If punch did come from the Hindi "paanch" (five)...and I understand that connection is debatable...then coconut arrack would be the arrack of choice.

    I guess I need to read Wondrich but certainly interested in the collective thoughts here.

    Has anyone here tried making a Sri Lankan arrack based punch? I'll probably mail order some (White Lion) as none is brought into AZ as I'm pretty curious about this.

  7. We had a bunch of strawberries in the fridge that weren't going to get eaten so I made a strawberry/cardamom shrubb over the weekend. Followed the Neyah White procedure in Jeff Morganthaler's new book, using a 2 hr room temp maceration of berries/cardamom w/ brown sugar (2cps), then overnight in the fridge, add 2cps Bragg apple cider, let sit for a little over 24hrs, strain, filter.

     

    Used it in a very refreshing peach bourbon smash last night.

  8. Found this on our local Total Wine shelves last night so we went home and did a comparison, neat, with Hayman's OT and with Malacca.

     

    All have very similar aromatic botanicals

    The Tanq and Hayman's OT were of comparable sweetness with Malacca considerably drier (but not dry, of course).

     

    All in all, Tanq OT is much more vibrant and has more lift than the other two. I've been a big fan of both Malacca and Hayman's so the Tanq OT was surprising in how much more life it has on the palate...it is at 94.6pf compared to 80pf for the others.

     

    Tonight will be Martinez comparisons (1.5oz each w/Dolin sweet, 0.25oz maraschino, Boker's) as the proof is in the cocktail.

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