Science Of Drink

My first 100% Agava tequila - Los Arango Reposado and my first Margarita

I have my first bottle of 100% agave tequila in my liquor cabinet. It is Los Arango Reposado (41 USD for 0,75 l bottle).

Los Arango Tequila Reposado - The name “Los Arango” is in honor of Doroteo Arango, better known to history as “Pancho Villa”, a famous revolutionary leader and one of Mexico’s great heroes. Los Arango Tequila is expertly crafted at an 18th century hacienda distillery, and is dedicated to Pancho Villa’s name and memory. The secret behind this premium Tequila is 100% agave, hand crafted, and bottled by hand.Hacienda practices old-school, artisanal methods of tequila production, including aging in barrels crafted from three kinds of oak. Los Arango is considered the ultimate example of the tequila distillers art. From www.tequila.net

The smell and taste of this tequila at room temperature (from snifter) are perfect! For sure this tequila is sip-worthy liquor. After first sip of Los Arango I decided to compare over my tequilas with this excellent tequila. The results are:

Pepe Lopez Premium Silver (24 USD 0,75 л) - very bad (vrong smell and taste);

Sierra Reposado Gold (26 USD 0,7 л) - very bad (very spirituose smell and taste);

Olmeca Blanco (25 USD 0,75 л) - not very bad, but bad (aromatic smell with little of spitituose, hard taste);

El Charro Gold & Blanco (26 USD 1,0 л) - not bad (not bad smell and taste, for this money ;) );

Jose Cuervo Blanco (37 USD 1,0 л) - good (very aromatic tequila with right taste).

Of course I tested my new tequila in cocktail. I prepare my first Margarita!

Margarita

30 ml tequila (100% agave)
30 ml fresh lime juice
20 ml Cointreau
Shake with a lot of cracked ice. Cocktail glass (or magarita, or champagne saucer) with coarse salt.

Admirable cocktail! Perfect taste of tequila with acute freshness of lime is very good for me. But I prefer to increase of amount of tequila.

I think the composition of rum (I use anejo - Havana Club 7 Anos), Grand Marnier and lime juice is so good.

Prince George Cocktail

45 ml light rum
15 ml Grand Marnier
15 ml fresh lime juice
Shake. Cocktail glass with lemon twist.

Admirable!

I have new bottle of rum in my bar today. My new rum is Bacardi 8 - aged rum from Bacardi family. I decide to compare it with my favorite aged rum - Havana Club 7 Anos.

The results of comparsion are:

Color:

Bacardi 8 - amber-gold colour with light red tones

Havana Club 7 Anos - Deep amber color? with red tones. This rum has more intensive and deep color.

Nose:

Bacardi 8 - High aromatic, rich but little so strong flavor with sweet undertones of caramel, vanilla, chocolate;

Havana Club 7 Anos - Delicate and rich flavor with bright taste of wood. This rum has outstanding bouquet wih complex notes of fruit, vanilla, cocoa…

Taste

Bacardi 8 - The taste has light woody base, the taste are rich, crisp and full with undertones of fruit.

Havana Club 7 Anos - This rum has exellent, rich, complex taste with delicate woody base and sweet and mellow undertones of vanilla, sugarcane, caramel, fruits. The taste is so complex, rich and smotth like good cognac.

Finish and aftertaste:

Bacardi 8 - The aftertaste is not very long, sweet and rumy;

Havana Club 7 Anos - Has rich, bright and long aftertaste with bright sugarcane notes.

As tasting area for coctail using I choose the Rum Sidecar recipe.

David Wondrich advice to use an aged Cuban-style rum, such as Brugal A?ejo, Bacardi 8, or, if you can get it, Havana Club 7 (not just Cuban-style, but actually Cuban).

The classic recipe of Sidecar was investigated by me with some ex-USSR brandyes last month. And I think is very good classical recipe.

Rum Sidecar

45 ml rum
20 ml Cointreau
20 ml fresh lemon juice
Shake. Cocktail glass with sugar rim.

Exellent drink! The aged rums work well in this cocktail. Drink has perfect balance of strong, sour and sweet taste.

I like more cocktail with Havana Club 7, which has rich and compose taste. The Rum Sidecar with Bacardi 8 has more sweet and no such compose, but bright taste.

Resume: Both rums are pretty good, but for me Havana Club 7 Anos has more rich and unique flavor and taste; and it work in my Rum Sidecar more better.

I have some bottles of cream liqueur in my home bar and now I try to prepare some delicious dessert cocktail with this liquor.

In this post I would describe some long-drink with cream liqueur - slides.

Slides:

MudSlide (with Carolans)

30 ml Irish whisky
30 ml coffee liqueur
30 ml Irish cream liqueur
30 ml cream
Shake all ingredients with ice and pour over ice in an collins glass.

Ultimate Mudslide (with Baileys)

30 ml vodka
30 ml coffee liqueur
30 ml Irish cream liqueur
45 ml cream
45 ml milk
1/2 banana
grated chocolate
Place all ingredients, except grated chocolate, in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into margarita glass and sprinkle with grated chocolate.

Dooley`s Mudslide (Dooley`s Russian Toffee)

20 ml Dooley`s
10 ml vodka
10 ml coffee liqueur
10 ml cream
Build. Collins with crushed ice.

Butterscotch Slide (with Feeney`s)

45 ml Irish Cream liqueur
45 ml coffee liqueur
45 ml butterscotch schnapps
60 ml milk
caramel
Mix ingredients in a blender with 4 or 5 ice cubes until ice is well crushed. Drizzle caramel inside a chilled tall glass. Pour the mixture and serve with a straw.

Next time I would describe a martini-style cocktail with cream-liquers.

Hmm… Variations? It is very interesting… I decide to explore one of “real man” cocktail, one of cocktail which no recomend to woman… I explore Long Ilend Iced Tea, dorks!

A few informations:

http://www.webtender.com/iforum/message.cgi?id=56793

http://wiki.webtender.com/wiki/Long_Island_Iced_Tea

Long Ilend Iced Tea

20 ml gin
20 ml tequila
20 ml vodka
20 ml light rum
20 ml Cointreau
20 ml fresh lemon juice
50 ml cola
Shake all ingredients except cola, strain in ice-filled collins glass (400 ml) and fill with cola. Garnish with lemon slice.<.lang_en>

It is very “refreshing” drink with a big, nuclear kick. LIIT has some variations, which I try too.

Variations:

Long Beach Iced Tea: Simply a Long Island with cranberry juice instead of Coca-Cola. Named after the city of Long Beach, NY, (not Long Beach, CA, as many believe) which is on Long Island, and is where the drink was invented.

Long Beach Iced Tea

20 ml gin
20 ml tequila
20 ml vodka
20 ml light rum
20 ml Cointreau
20 ml fresh lemon juice
50 ml cranberry juice
Shake all ingredients except juice, strain in ice-filled collins glass (400 ml) and fill with cranberry juice. Garnish with lemon slice.

Admirable!

Adios Motherfucker: Also known as a “Code Blue” or “Blue Fucker” due to its azure hue, this concoction is topped with Sprite instead of Coca-Cola and utilizes blue curacao instead of triple sec.

Adios Motherfucker

20 ml gin
20 ml tequila
20 ml vodka
20 ml light rum
20 ml blue curacao
20 ml fresh lemon juice
50 ml sprite
Shake all ingredients except sprite, strain in ice-filled collins glass (400 ml) and fill with sprite. Garnish with lemon slice.

Another great “refreshers” ;) Has nuclear color, taste and kick!

Tokyo Tea: This libation uses the same liquors as the original Long Island, but is crowned with one-half to one full ounce of Midori instead of Coca-Cola. Also referred to as a “Three Mile Island.”

Tokyo Tea

20 ml gin
20 ml tequila
20 ml vodka
20 ml light rum
20 ml Cointreau
20 ml fresh lemon juice
30 ml Midori
splash of club soda
Shake all ingredients except soda, strain in ice-filled collins glass (400 ml) and add of club soda. Garnish with lemon slice.

I feel myself like real japanese after this very “refreshing” drink ;)

Unfortunately, I don`t have health for continuing of investigation and next variations of LIIT I want to try in future after some visit to my hepatologist :)

California Iced Tea: Calls for Amaretto in place of tequila and triple sec and topped with equal parts cranberry and pineapple juices.

Hawaiian Iced Tea: Shuns tequila and triple sec in favor of a full ounce of Chambord, and is topped with Sprite instead of Coca-Cola.

Miami Iced Tea: Reflecting the tropical setting of its name, this fruitier tea shuns triple sec and tequila in favor of Midori and peach schnapps, and is topped with orange juice instead of Coca-Cola.

Caribbean Iced Tea: This recipe utilizes a full ounce of dark jamaican rum, usually Myer’s, in place of tequila and vodka. Like the Long Island, it is topped with Coca-Cola.

Super Special LIT: Apart from the usual Gin, Vodka, Rum, Tequila, triple sec etc, it also includes a shot of Whiskey. The triple sec can also be substituted with Archer’s Peach Schnapps.

Georgia Iced Tea: This drink calls for sweet tea and sugar in place of Coke, which is ironic since Coca Cola is headquartered in Atlanta.

Martini is no great cocktail only but vermouth. This cocktail is Grand Martini (& Rossi of course).

Grand Martini

1 dash Creme de menthe green
3 dashes kirsch
4 dashes apricot brandy
30 ml dry vermouth
30 ml sweet vermouth
30 ml dry gin
Shake. Cocktail glass.

Grand drink!

Maiden`s Prayer is one of classical cocktail. It has fresh taste and it dispel melancholy very good ;)

Maiden`s Prayer

30 ml gin
30 ml Cointreau
15 ml fresh orange juice
15 ml fresh lemon juice
Shake. Cocktail glass. Garnish with a orange piece.

Very good!

Sambuca is sweet and strong anise and elderberry-based liqueur from Italy. It is one of my favorite liqueur for drink straight, but cocktails with sambuca is so rare. This simple cocktails is very delicious and refreshing afterdinner drink.

Sambuca Coffee Frappe

40 ml sambuca
20 ml coffee liqueur (Kahlua)
Stir both ingredient with ice. Build in cocktail glass with crushed ice. Garnish with a three roasted coffee beans.

Excellently!!!

Another classical coctail, which have some ambiguous name and bright taste.

Between the Sheets

20 ml light rum
20 ml brandy
20 ml Cointreau
20 ml fresh lime juice
Shake with craced ice, cocktail glass, garnish with lemon twist.

Admirable!

The illness was gone. :) Lets imbibe!

Alfonso Special

30 ml gin
30 ml dry vermouth
15 ml Grand Marnier
7 ml sweet vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters
Stir. Cocktail glass.

Admirable!