Cocktails that are like a la minute liqueurs

[ThinkingBartender]

Has anyone noticed that "Vodka Espresso" (cocktails) aka. Espresso Martini are little more than a la minute coffee liqueurs?

A Vodka Espresso is alcohol (vodka), sugar, espresso (coffee), and water (from the melting of the ice, while shaking).

Coffee Liqueur is alcohol, sugar, coffee, water.

This cocktail as liqueur concept can go further:

Limoncello and Lemon Martinis.

Rum Shrub (lime) and Daiquiris.

Ratafia and Raspberry Martinis.

I am sure there are more instances of such drinks.

Thoughts?

Cheers!

George

[slkinsey]

This is an interesting question worthy of discussion on its own, so I split it off from the homemade coffee liqueur thread.

Isn't rum shrub made with a kind of fruit/vinegar syrup?

[donbert]

Isn't rum shrub made with a kind of fruit/vinegar syrup?

I believe it is and there is a thread on fruit vinegars in the soft drinks forum. I've made Baker's Raspberry Vinegar that I posted in that thread and it mixes with cachaca (MdO) but it is listed as a temperance drink.

...a teaspoon or so diluted in water with cracked ice makes one of the mist delicately flavooured summer thirst quenchers in the world. Fine for children, invalids; non-alcoholic, and one fo the few non-alcoholic drinks worth touching besides water, milk, tea and coffee.

[mbanu]

Has anyone noticed that "Vodka Espresso" (cocktails) aka. Espresso Martini are little more than a la minute coffee liqueurs?

A Vodka Espresso is alcohol (vodka), sugar, espresso (coffee), and water (from the melting of the ice, while shaking).

Coffee Liqueur is alcohol, sugar, coffee, water.

This cocktail as liqueur concept can go further:

Limoncello and Lemon Martinis.

Rum Shrub (lime) and Daiquiris.

Ratafia and Raspberry Martinis.

I am sure there are more instances of such drinks.

Thoughts?

Cheers!

George

←

I suspect that at one time the difference between making liqueurs and making short drinks wasn't so big, and that's why you can still see the effect one had on the other in a bunch of drinks.

One subset of short drinks seems to be based on making "liqueurs" fresh because one of the ingredients isn't shelf-stable, like in cocktails using cream (which comes out of emulsion) or eggs.

Another subset of cocktails seem to be based on creating liqueurs and aromatic concoctions at the bar that due to competing companies, customs laws, different locations, etc. would have been a pain in the neck to simply bottle at the source and market back when the world was less globalized. It was only at the bar that you could easily take an aged rye whiskey from Pennsylvania, an aromatized wine from Italy, and a patent medicine, from three protective independent producers in three different areas, and combine them together into a drink.

Edited October 12, 2006 by mbanu (log)

[eje]

I think of liqueurs and shrubs as a subset of canning and preserving.

You're taking fresh seasonal ingredients, like strawberries, and preserving and concentrating their flavor for the times they won't be available. Or you're taking an abundance of fresh seasonal ingredients and preserving their essence before they spoil.

I would imagine this was especially important before the advent of widely available refrigeration.

Saying cocktails are a la minute liqueurs strikes me as looking at it kind of backwards.

Presumably, if you could make a strawberry smash or caipirinha with fresh strawberries, you would do that, instead of making the same with strawberry liqueur or syrup. But, much of the year fresh strawberries are just not available.

Also, most liqueurs or shrubs are not balanced beverages. Almost any straight liqueur or shrub is so concentrated or rich as to be nearly undrinkable in any quantity above an ounce or two.

Now, if you wanted to say cocktails were a la minute punches, I'd be down with that.

[ThinkingBartender]

Saying cocktails are a la minute liqueurs strikes me as looking at it kind of backwards.

I didn't actually say that, although I did say that the Vodka Espresso is little more than an a la minute coffee liqueur.

Also, Cock-tails were frequently sold by the bottle. Punch was served by the bowl-ful, as well as by the bottle, and was then whittled down to single servings.

Cheers!

George

Edited October 12, 2006 by ThinkingBartender (log)

[ThinkingBartender]

Now, if you wanted to say cocktails were a la minute punches, I'd be down with that.

I could be persuaded to say that, as long as you meant "cocktails" as being a single serving mixed drink.

Cheers!

George