As i did happen to write a review for Mozart Dry at the same time as i was going to write about chocolate spirit here i chose to add the review here as well as the product is the best chocolate spirit i´ve tasted.

There are basically three different types of chocolate liqueurs:

1. Original chocolate liqueurs – these are produced with genuine chocolate.
2. Chocolate flavoured cream liqueurs – using natural or artificial aromas that are added to cream liqueurs.
3. Cocoa extract liqueurs – These are traditionally produced in France and are called “Crème de Cacao” even though they do not contain any cream.The word ”Créme” in this case only signifies a high sugar content.

Mozart Dry is made by Mozart Distillerie who has since the year 1954 produced Austrian spirits in Salzburg (where Mozart was born) and has specialized in chocolate spirits for the past 30 years. What Mozart distillerie is actually doing is distilling chocolate..

The first thought that comes to mind when tasting Mozart Dry is that of a very fine chocolate, in fact i`m transported back to childhood, to those x-mas dinners where the best chocolate was served and as soon as you opened the box the fragrance teased you with tempting promises.

Its that same fragrance hitting me now – its just that i`m not holding a chocolate-box in front of me but a bottle. The nose is exquisite. The products are made with cocoa macerate – made of two types of Forastero and Trinitario cocoa that is specially produced for the Mozart Distillerie.This blend of fine cocoa beans is mixed with high-proof alcohol and then stored for 2 months in barrels and during this time the cocoa becomes completely sedimented and the end result is a clear cocoa-macerate which finally is skimmed.

There`s a different stage in the production of this spirit that is unlike any other i`ve ever heard of: The content of each bottle of Mozart spirit is soundmilled for 24 hours with Mozart’s music during the final storage before bottling.

This is because there´s a belief – and scientific research has actually been done by a Japanese scientist M. Emoto – that liquids are able to store information. And therefore special loudspeakers are actually fixed at the large stainless steel tanks so that the contents of the tanks is thoroughly exposed to the musical vibrations of Mozart´s music!

If you want to read more in detail about the sound milling of this chocolate spirit you may continue here.

The Mozart Distillerie has before this latest clear spirit also made Mozart Black, White, Gold and Amadé ChocOrange.

Mozart clear chocolate spirit is made by all natural ingredients and is as the name says quite on the dry side, very pleasant with a hint of bitterness. Its strongly chocolate flavoured but not the common mik-chocolate, this is raw bitter dark real cocoa.

In the recipe book i received there´s a drink that picked my interest, it’s a take on the Negroni, one of my favorite cocktails and of course i had to try it.

TABULA RASA (Created by Klaus St Rainer – Schumann`s bar)

1 oz Mozart Dry
.75 oz Campari
.75 oz  Carpano Antica Formula

Build in glass and garnish with an orange zest.

As i don`t have the Antica Formula it`s of course not sold here, i had to use my Martini Rosso instead. Not the same thing but as the Rosso is commonly used in Negronis its my best sub.

After trying this chocolate Negroni all i can say is that its bloody tasty and i strongly believe that a great part of why its so tasty is that this spirit is dry and just a bit bittersweet and made with real high quality dark chocolate with a high cocoa content.

This is more like a xocolatl Negroni – think dark, raw, bitter, dry and crisp with just a hint of sweetness and well, i could easily imbibe more than one. Dipping the nose into the glass when its finished is even that a pleasure, the aromas of orange peel, exquisite dark chocolate and campari is making me dizzy.

Mozart Dry is a win. Not sure about the price though, with these kind of high quality real ingredients and made the way its made with music and all it cannot be cheap. One thing for sure, though, when my sample is finsihed i´m gonna try to find a bottle and i`m gonna look for Mozart Black as well.

One of the more intriguing bar gadgets that I recently bought was the British-style Bonzer barspoon (available online at the Cocktail Kingdom). At first glance, it looks like a standard barspoon great for mixing drinks and measuring half teaspoon amounts with the added aesthetic merits and textural sensations of the twisty stem.

But what’s that on the right you ask? I have heard vehement arguments over what that flattened end is used for in the field (and specifically in the UK). One camp declares that it is used as a bar muddler and the other argues that it is a drink layering device. Therefore, I decided to test the merits of each claim in my own kitchen.

The first aspect I set out to test was the muddler. For muddling something soft like mint in simple syrup (pictured to the left), the tool worked rather effectively. The only difference between it and my gold standard wooden muddler is the smaller surface area on the spoon’s tail end. At the bottom of the mixing glass, this difference just meant a few extra strokes. Moving on to the other end of the spectrum — the sugar cube — the spoon’s muddler seemed to falter (note: I did not even attempt to crush ice cubes). To derive the force necessary to smash the cube into powder, the spoon felt awkward to hold on to due to its narrow diameter, especially compared to the wooden muddler which fits nicely in the hand. My fingers kept sliding down the shaft, but with enough attempts, the sugar cube eventually gave way. In between these two extremes, I figure that the muddler end would be sufficient for softer items like berries and herbs; however, it would have issues in muddling citrus with the rind like in a Caipirinha or smash. Added force applied on the spoon end should be avoided since the weld holding the spoon bowl to the shaft apparently will give way. So as a muddler, it is adequate for some ingredients and it is certainly handy to have a single tool to do both, although I still prefer my sturdy wooden muddler as my go-to tool (and Dr. Freud would certainly be proud).

The second aspect I tested out was the drink layering. For standard floats, gently pouring on the back side of any barspoon or teaspoon with its edge touching the glass works so the flat end seems excessive for this purpose. However, for making a pousse-café, a multiply layered drink, in a narrow glass, the convex part of the spoon trick is not sufficient. For a recipe to test this functionality out, I opened my copy of Boothby’s World Drinks and How to Mix Them and picked the Champerelle.

Champerelle
(1) 1/4 jigger Curaçao
(2) 1/4 jigger Anisette (Pernod)
(3) 1/4 jigger Chartreuse (Green)
(4) 1/4 jigger Cognac (Courvoisier VS)
(5) few drops Bitters (Fee’s Whiskey Barrel)
Pour carefully, as numbered, into chilled pousse-café glass, so that ingredients will not mix, and serve with cut straws and ice water chaser.

I must admit that pouring the layers with the Bonzer’s flat end was a little tedious but not that difficult to achieve perfection on the first try (my middle transition would look better if my old bottle of Pernod had not yellowed to look similar in color to my Chartreuse). The lower I got the OXO mixing cup, the gentler the pour. Beforehand, I did experiment with starting at the top of the spiraled shaft with some water but this caused drops to fly off before landing at the flattened base. At a height of a few inches, the stream adhered beautifully to the shaft quite well. Keeping the OXO mixing cup touching the shaft and the edge of the flattened base touching the side and slightly above the surface was not that difficult to achieve even with several slow pours.

Overall, I rather like my Bonzer barspoon. It has a great feel in the hand as opposed to a straight, untextured shaft. The muddler is handy in a pinch although it will not be my tool of choice; however, the layerer is quite superior to anything I own especially for depth and precision work. At $12.95, the Bonzer barspoon is more pricey than say my $3 eBay one, but it is a lot more stylish and handy for certain advanced techniques. And oh yeah, it stirs drinks too!

(cross-posted to the CocktailVirgin blog)

The BarSol Pisco TDN was a great success, with 22 original cocktails created featuring this grape brandy spirit. We really enjoyed the participation of Diego Loret de Mola, who shared his knowledge and passion for pisco with us.

Here’s the contenders for this week’s prize, a bottle of Peruvian bitters, courtesy of Mud Puddle Books. Be sure to vote!

Que Lastima

• 2 oz Barsol Quebranta
• 0.75 oz lime juice
• 0.5 oz cinnamon syrup
• 0.25 oz Falernum
• 1 dash Fees Old Fashioned Bitters
• 1 dash Pimento Dram

Shake briefly with crushed ice and spent lime half, pour into old fashioned glass

Viejo Peruano

• 2 oz pisco
• 0.25 oz Galliano
• 1 tsp simple syrup
• 3 dashes celery bitters
• Orange peel

Gently muddle orange peel with celery bitters. Add Galliano and simple syrup and stir with an ice cube. Add Pisco and more ice and stir again.

Mental Roulette

• 1.5 oz pisco
• 0.75 oz Campari
• 0.5 oz lemon juice
• 0.5 oz falernum

Shake with full concentration, strain into a glass filled with crushed ice.

Industrial Sex

• 1oz pisco
• 1oz cachaca
• 0.5 oz Averna
• 0.5 oz vanilla syrup
• 0.5 oz lime juice
• 1 dash whiskey barrel-aged bitters

Shake like a paint mixer, strain into a cocktail glass

La Fineza

• 1.5oz BarSol Quebranta
• 1 oz dry vermouth
• 0.5 oz Aperol
• 0.25 oz Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
• 1 teaspoon rich simple syrup (to taste)
• 1 green apple slice for garnish

Stir with a smooth, flowing motion, strain into your most elegant cocktail glass, and garnish with green apple slice

South American Flip

• 1 whole egg
• 0.75 oz falernum
• 2 oz pisco
• 0.5 oz Cynar
• 0.5 oz simple syrup
• 0.75 oz lime juice
• nutmeg

Shake your money maker and strain into glass

Now it’s your turn. Vote for the best Pisco drink! Polls will stay open through midnight Tuesday, just in case you’re taking Monday off to enjoy Memorial Day.

I’ve been lucky enough to get samples of a few different tequilas recently and I decided it was time to do something about it.

No, not drink them!  Wait…yes, drink them, taste them, mix with them, see what happens with them.

One thing is not like the other…

…yes, one of these is a mini.  Partida only sent a mini of their tequila, while the other three (inocente, Jose Cuervo Silver, and Tequila Ocho) sent fifths.  Unfortunately, that meant I couldn’t experiment as much as I’d like with Partida, but you take what you can.  (And keep that in mind – if you want cocktail bloggers to actually make COCKTAILS with your liquor, you need to provide enough for us to work with, and odds are, you won’t send enough in minis.)

I went with my usual way of experimenting with new liquors – smell, straight without ice, straight with ice, and in a mixed drink.  Obviously, given Tiare’s post, the liquor, and the fact that tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, I had to go with the margarita as my drink!

Ahhh, my UVA glasses…wahoowah.

I’d tried the Tequila Ocho once or twice in the past, and Gina down at PS7 had hooked me up with tastes of the inocente.  The Cuervo had yet to be cracked, though I like their Tradicional (but note this was the only one that wasn’t advertised as 100% blue agave), and I couldn’t recall having tried the Partida before.  So it was time to sniff.

First off, look at the colors, if you can see them there.  The Partida is by far the most yellow, the color of straw, and the inocent had a slight hint of yellow as well.  The others were blanco – white.

Sniffing them, the Partida seemed very smooth.  The Ocho I wanted to say was more floral, definitely more complex, but a bit more of an alcohol smell on it.  The Jose Cuervo Silver – uh, do not smell this one at length.  The inocente is complex, not as floral as the Ocho but a bit more earthy maybe.

Then to taste.  I used to always shoot tequila but I had a girlfriend for a while that was from Texas and she managed to switch me to enjoying it on its own. I looked forward to this part most of all.

Partida is smooth, very smooth, just a slight burn on it.  I’d have no problem recommending it.

The Ocho had no real burn at all, slightly floral taste.  It was also quite good and I’d recommend trying it this way.

The Cuervo – no.  In fact, to quote my notes:  “no no no no no no”.

The inocente was more complex than even the Ocho, with a hint of floral and an earthy taste.  To be honest, for me, leaving out the Cuervo, it was a toss-up between which is the best.  Like most straight liquors, it depends on what you like.

Next I added a single ice cube to each of them.  I let it sit for a minute – often times the water/ice combination changes the flavor of the liquor.

The Partida, in fact, seemed to me to show even more complexity with a bit of water in it.  I also noticed a bit more burn on the first taste of it, but not on the second, so that might’ve been just a bit of a fluke.  It’s a throw up which I’d prefer.

The Ocho was lighter than it had been before but still good – you could taste the floral in it but it wasn’t overwhelming.  I’d prefer it without the ice, myself.

Then we were onto the Cuervo again.

[21:10] SeanMike: oh dear god now it’s time for the jose cuervo again
[21:10] my friend: hahaha

Yes, I was a bit biased going into it but let me quote my notes again:

* Jose Cuervo Silver – no – gasoline – yuck

It was advertised a shooting tequila and – yeah.  Don’t linger on this one.

The inocente, with the ice, seemed to retain its complexity with the ice and did have a bit more burn.  Like the Ocho, I’d go without the ice, myself.

Finally, it was time for margaritas.  Unfortunately for the Partida, which I’d be interersted to see how it tastes, I was out of it – so it was just the other three.  I used the recipe from Gary Regan’s The Joy of Mixology.

Margarita
1 1/2 ounces white tequila
1 ounce triple sec
1/2 ounce lime juice

I used Cointreau for the triple sec and squeezed fresh limes.

Made with the Ocho, it made for a good, if not anything inspiring.  It was good, but nothing I’d jump up and down about it.  I dunno.  Maybe I was spoiled by the mezcal margaritas from Marshall’s recipe on Friday night…

The Cuervo – I initially wanted not to like it.  But the more I tried it, the more I’d say “it’s not bad” – it had more personality, perhaps, than the Ocho, but it also had more of a “off” taste to me in addition.  So – yeah – 50-50 – more taste, but also more bad taste to it.  Not bad, but not great.  I’m betting if you added something more to it – maybe some orange bitters, for instance – it wouldn’t be half-bad.  (And if you’re one of those heathens using the HFCS-infused neon-green mixtures, well, it won’t matter so much.)

The inocente won out overall.  It has a bit of complexity that sticks out through the lime juice and Cointreau, while not overwhelmed by the problems of the Cuervo.

Overall results:  The Cuervo was advertised a shooter tequila and was the only one not made from 100% blue agave (according to the bottles).  It, perhaps predictably, also fared the worst in taste, and really didn’t have much to recommend it.  If I can find something to make with it, I’ll suggest it, but it might be something more complex than a margarita.

The Partida wasn’t bad, especially over ice.  For a sipping tequila, I’d recommend it if you wanted it over ice, but I’m still interested how it’d do in a margarita.

Between the Ocho and the inocente, it depends on what you prefer, personally, but I think overall I have to go with the inocente if you wanted to also make margaritas with it.

Beefeater London dry gin has long been a go-to gin in my collection. Now Desmond Payne, the Master Distiller, is bringing us a premium take on the standard recipe, Beefeater 24. I had already heard great things when I received not one, but two full bottles for review in preparation for this week’s Beefeater 24 sponsored Thursday Drink Night.

Fizzing Sands with Beefeater 24

The 24 references the 24 hours that Beefeater steeps its botanicals in neutral grain spirits (24 hours) before distillation. Payne was supposedly inspired by the fact that Beefeater founder James Burrough was the grandson of a tea merchant. In addition to Japanese sencha and Chinese green tea, Beefeater 24 is flavored with Seville orange peels, grapefruit peel, lemon peel, coriander seed, licorice, angelica root, angelica seed, almond, orris root, and of course, juniper. After steeping, the gin is distilled in copper pot stills, and finally finished at 90 proof (45% ABV).

The resulting gin provides far stronger citrus on the nose and the tongue than regular Beefeater. The influence of the tea is, to my taste, fairly subtle but provides a nice acrid roundness. Despite the higher proof, I find this to be a slightly sweeter gin than than the regular Beefeater. Perhaps that’s because the peppery notes are far less dominant, and the higher proof creates a richer mouthfeel.

Overall, I’m really impressed with this gin. The suggested retail price is in the $28 range. At that price, I think it’s an excellent choice in the premium gin range, and I expect to keep it in rotation in my home bar.

The suggested 24 martini is 3:1 Beefeater 24 to Lillet, with three dashes of Regan’s orange bitters. While I do like the Regan’s, I’m still having a love affair with Angostura orange bitters, so I made mine like this:

Astoria 24

2 oz Beefeater 24
1 oz Lillet
2 dashes Angostura orange bitters

Stir until well chilled, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with lemon twist.

Beefeater 24 and Lillet blanc work exceptionally well together. I haven’t been using as much Lillet lately, and this drink has given me a whole new appreciation for it.

Glancing through the Beefeater 24 recipes, another caught my eye, the Shifting Sands. Credited to Sasha Petraske, this take on Milk & Honey’s Sands cocktail pairs 24 with maraschino liqueur, lemon juice, and grapefruit juice. I didn’t have a fresh grapefruit on hand, but I did have a bottle of Fizzy Lizzy Lonestar grapefruit soda, which tastes remarkably fresh, so I modified the recipe.

Fizzing Sands

1.75 ounces London dry gin (Beefeater 24)
0.25 ounces maraschino liqueur
0.25 ounces lemon juice
2 ounces Fizzy Lizzy Lonestar grapefruit soda

Shake first three ingredients, strain into ice-filled collins glass. Top with grapefruit soda. Garnish with spring of mint.

This is a great summer refresher. I never realized maraschino and grapefruit would pair quite so well as flavors. I’ll definitely return to this combination in the future. Honestly, this may not be the best way to experience all that Beefeater 24 has to offer. It does mix well with the citrus flavors, as I had expected from the gin’s flavor profile.

I’m happy to help welcome this new gin to the market. I’m even more excited at the chance to see what the collective cocktail consciousness comes up with at TDN.

As part of a series of Beefeater product features here at the Mixoloseum, last Thursday’s Drink Night (TDN) theme was Beefeater gin. As usual at the Mixoloseum Bar, many original drinks were created, submitted and enjoyed. The next online event will feature Beefeater 24, a new luxury gin and its introduction to the American market. This new product is differentiated from their original one by the additions of Japanese sencha and Chinese green teas, as well as grapefruit peels.

Dan Warner, brand ambassador for Beefeater gin, joined in the fun. He shared with us some fascinating facts about Beefeater, like the fact that there are only 6 employees at their sole plant in London producing 2.4 million cases a year. Beefeater is the only major distiller left producing London Dry gin in the city of London. He also dropped tidbits like the Negroni being a favorite of Desmond Payne, Beefeater’s celebrated Master Distiller. Dan even hinted that he might return on the TDN discussing Beefeater 24 on 4/30.

The Gin

I’ve always been pleased with Beefeater as a mixing gin, but in order to taste the individual components, I tasted it neat and then slightly diluted with water. The first smell on opening a bottle yielded the sharp aroma of juniper and citrus. Upon sipping the undiluted spirit, I tasted the rounded soft spiciness of the coriander. The mouth feel was rich and even a bit oily. The mid palate had a bit of a pleasant woody flavor, probably from the licorice and angelica root. The finish was bitter but not lingering. Overall the impression was very crisp and clean.

They don’t call this London Dry Gin for nothing. Beefeater is proud of their 24 hour maceration claiming that the “long steeping time gives a gentler extraction, but builds complexity, and fixes the aroma in the spirit more solidly.” The resulting bold and clean flavor makes it a great mixing gin. I love the sharp citrus tang of Beefeater relative to other gins. When you mix a drink with Beefeater, you know that you’ve put gin in there! Sometimes you want the gin to be the star, like in a gin and tonic, a Martinez, or a Clover Club. Orange drinks like a Bronx or Monkey Gland really benefit from a bold gin like this; otherwise the drink can get a little soft on you. But other times you want your gin to play more of a supportive role. For a drink like a Suffering Bastard, I recommend a mellower, more rounded gin.

Just recently at the market, I happened to come across fresh bergamot fruit, and having been waiting over a year and a half since reading about the following recipe at Married with Dinner, I snapped up the last one and made the following:

Friday After Five – Married with Dinner

• 1 ounce gin
• 1/2 ounce green Chartreuse
• 3/4 ounce bergamot juice
• 1 dash Herbsaint, absinthe or Pernod

Shake over ice, and pour into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a bergamot twist.

I have to say that this was my first experience with a real bergamot and I was totally impressed. As soon as my peeler bit into the peel, the pleasantly sharp odor of fine Earl Grey tea sprang into the air and surrounded me. I peeled the whole thing and set the peels out to dry for later use. This bergamot was quite tart, so I ended up adding a dash more Chartreuse to sweeten it a bit. The Friday After Five was still pretty tart, but the aromas of the bergamot peel worked well with the aromatics of the gin and the herbal sweetness of the Chartreuse. I was reminded of Audrey Sander’s MarTEAni, made with Earl Grey tea infused gin. So much so that I was inspired to invent the:

Trans-Europa

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 1/4 oz Earl Grey infused gin (Tanqueray – 4 tbsp loose tea to a bottle for 2 hours)
• 3/4 oz bitter Seville orange juice
• 1/4 oz green Chartreuse
• 1/4 simple syrup (or more as needed)

Shake, strain and serve up with a bitter orange twist.

I’m a big fan of Beefeater gin because of its bold, high quality taste coupled with its affordable price point. I have been stocking Beefeater as my house gin for some time now because sometimes you just need a gin with some oomph when mixing. Personally, I’m really excited about the American release of Beefeater 24. I hope you can come on down to the Beefeater 24 TDN we are having on 4/30.

Cynar (the correct pronunciation lies somewhere between chee-nar and shee-nar) is a bitter apéritif of Italian origin, akin to Campari and Aperol. (As it so happens, Gruppo Campari acquired Bols’ Italian holdings in 1995, and now owns all three of the apéritifs, as well as others.) The claim is that the beverage is made with “13 herbs and plants,” but no one seems to know, or care, what the first twelve are. All of the corporate branding relishes in the drink’s use of artichoke as an ingredient, from the picture on the label to the eponymous reference of the plant’s taxonomical name, cynara scolymus.

Somewhat confusingly, there are actually two products called Cynar (with near-identical labels) on the market: the ricetta originale (original recipe) and a newer reformulation. My first experience of the artichoke liqueur was with the reformulated version. Upon learning of the original, my expectation was that it would be drier and more bitter, but surprisingly, the products have about the same level of sweetness and bitterness.

When sipping Cynar neat (in either of the incarnations), it first hits your tongue with a taste reminiscent of a lychee fruit, if you have ever bitten into one to break it open and caught the bitterness of peel along with the syrupy flavor of fruit’s flesh. That might not sound terribly appealing, but the apéritif is actually only about as bitter as its fluorescent cousin, Aperol, and makes for a surprisingly versatile cocktail ingredient. Using it as a substitution in any drink that calls for Campari or Aperol usually yields gratifying results.

Beyond the initial impression of lychee, the flavor profile takes on a more herbal, vegetal character. Oddly, there are times when I am able to detect the artichoke’s contribution, but at other times it seems to disappear entirely. (I have no explanation for this phenomenon.) The original recipe has a slight nuttiness not present in the sequel. Unlike Lillet, Amer Picon, or the various other ingredients that have seen shifts in formulation over the years, Cynar doesn’t have a bevy of classic cocktails dependent upon the original profile, so don’t fret too much if you are only able to find the newer one. Both versions are excellent products, and I have no strong preference for one over the other. If you find you like one version, you will probably enjoy the other as well, and may even find it worthwhile to stock them both. That said, I’ve never found the old and the new in the same store, or for that matter, in the same city. I am not sure if this is some consequence of our country’s rather Byzantine liquor distribution system, or simple misfortune. Either way, happy hunting.

The cynaceous liqueur still sees most of its consumption in Europe, where it is typically served over ice, with soda and lemon, or mixed with beer. It was popularized in the ‘60s by a series of commercials produced by the relatively well-known (in Italy) director, Ernesto Calindri. For better or worse, one of the more popular of those TV spots was given a “modern” remake in 2007. (If you don’t have a high tolerance for camp, skip to the drinks.)

Drinks

The Choke Hold

• ¾ oz Cynar
• ¾ oz lemon juice
• 4 oz hard apple (or pear) cider

Build in a rocks glass filled with crushed ice.

I’ve mentioned this drink in the past, but its still one of my favorite creations, so here it is again. I typically use Spire Mountain cider, which is ubiquitous in the northwest. It is relatively sweet, so if you use something a bit drier you might want to add a bit of simple syrup. I somewhat of prefer the newer Cynar in this drink.

Cygroni

• 1 oz Gin
• 1 oz Lillet Blanc
• 1 oz Cynar
• 1 dash lemon juice

Shake and strain into an iced rocks glass with a lemon twist.

This is my variation on the Negroni. By changing our apéritif, we lose some bitterness, but we can augment it with the quinine from the Lillet.

The Gasper

• 1 oz Cachaça (using Boca Loca)
• ½ oz Cynar
• ½ oz Fino Sherry (using Bodegas Dios Baco)
• 1 dash Amargo Chuncho bitters

Shake and strain into a small cocktail glass.

Here is my reinterpretation of a little known cocktail called the Choke Artist. I think the nuttiness of the ricetta originale complements the sherry well. (My Peruvian bitters just arrived and I couldn’t resist using them here. Substitute your choice of aromatic bitters as needed.)

Citadelle is not the best gin I have ever drank, but I would put it in my top three. Martin Miller’s Westbourne Strength and Junipero, at least on my palette, are superior gins. But the margins of preference here are slight, and where I shop, those two run for $36 and $40 per bottle, respectively. Citadelle, meanwhile, costs me $23. Needless to say, I drink A LOT of Citadelle. In fact, it is probably a safe bet that I go through more of the French gin in the blue bottle than any spirit in my liquor cabinet. (As it so happens, Citadelle doesn’t spend any time in my liquor cabinet. She has a cozy spot in the corner of my freezer, ready and waiting any time the need for a martini strikes.) As you might imagine, I was more than a little excited to hear that the producers of my martini staple were releasing a new gin. I was more excited still to learn that they would be sending a bottle of it to my doorstep. So, for the past several months I have been waiting, in eager anticipation.

And friends, my patience has been rewarded. Behold: Citadelle Reserve.
The impact of the oak is immediately apparent upon uncorking. Juniper remains dominant, but is somewhat muted in comparison to the standard Citadelle, and there is a lightly floral quality with a hint of vanilla. In appearance, with a light blonde color, the gin could be mistaken for a chardonnay were it not for its thick, viscous legs. On the tongue, the barrel aging comes out as a light touch of oak, which plays nicely with the orange peel and anise. Almond and lemon lingers after swallowing, with a modest alcohol burn. In addition to a tamer presence of juniper, the cardamom and nutmeg notable in Citadelle’s standard gin is somewhat less prominent here, for better or worse. The base alcohol tastes cleaner than other gins, presumably a result of the charred barrel staves behaving as a sort of charcoal filter. The overall effect is a delicate, floral gin that comes across a bit less dry than the original Citadelle. In a word: lovely.

Sadly, the Réserve in the name is not merely a buzzword from the marketing department. This is a small production gin. Frédéric Gilbert, Cellar Master for Cognac Ferrand, will be releasing a scant 21 barrels worth of the 2008 vintage, and it will only be available in “a few international markets already fond of Citadelle.” If pricing is to be believed, one online retailer appears to have the new gin, and at a price of $33 — a bargain for any gin enthusiast. Stock up while you can.

Given that my bottle is probably one of perhaps a half-dozen in the state of Oregon, I must confess a reluctance to use it even in my beloved Corpse Reviver #2’s, let alone experiment with it in an unproven recipe. This is a delicate spirit, and in any recipe that does not focus on gin as the primary component, its virtues are likely to be lost entirely. But for you, dear reader, I am willing to make a compromise. I will tinker with my standard martini preparation to make something a bit different, if not particularly original.

Le Martiné
• 2½ oz Citadelle Réserve Gin
• ¼ oz “New” Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
• 1 dash Rhubarb Bitters
• 3 drops fresh lime juice

Stir (of course) with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a flamed lime twist.

Cherry Heering has been produced in Denmark since 1818 to an original secret recipe handed down through five generations, and is the original “Cherry Brandy.”

The cherries – a special strain of cherry is used – the small, dark Stevens Cherry which has been evolved from an ancient variety still to be found growing wild in parts of Denmark, are pressed together with stones to create a unique cherry taste, and then placed in wooden casks with more spirit added together with spices. No artificial flavours or colouring is used. In order to ensure that the rich taste of the cherries is maximized, the blend needs to rest and circulate for several months. 3-5 years later the product will be bottled.

As i really love cherries it isn`t hard for me to like this product especially since it really is of a very good quality. I find the taste just sweet enough, its deep,warm and rounded with a very pleasant cherry flavor. It`s an essential ingredient in the Singapore Sling and Blood and Sand cocktails. And Blood and Sand is a cocktail which is a favorite of mine, so here it is :

BLOOD AND SAND

This drink has got its name from the film starring Rudolf Valentino as a bullfighter,in 1922. Its served at Tiki Ti with a top pouring of tequila while the crowd led by one of the Mikes yells toro toro tooooorooo..

I wanted to try that (the tequila part) but if I sit here at home yelling toro, toro, toro while pouring a drink I`m not sure how the people here would react. I could be thrown out head first.

For my Blood and Sand I decided to try my Yamazaki 10, wonderfully inspired by my friend Chris who used Yamazaki 12 in his version of this drink. And blood oranges…I just love them! and of course I want to use them as much as I can while they still are in season.

* 1 ounce Yamazaki 10
* 1 ounce fresh-squeezed blood-orange juice
* ¾ ounce Cherry Heering
* ¾ ounce sweet vermouth
* splash tequila

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Top with a little splash of tequila. Garnish with pineapple and a brandied cherry.

It tasted great with the Yamazaki and the tequila topping, very interesting. I will definetily make more of these. For garnish I used a pineapple/brandied cherry garnish lazily strewn on top of the foam, mmmm…

Inspired by Blood and Sand i made another little cocktail that i call Cherry and Sand which also was a part of the float themed TDN a while ago.

CHERRY AND SAND

1 oz Bourbon
1 oz dark Jamaican rum
¾ oz Cherry Heering
0.5 tsp simple syryp
Top with Lemon Soda
Float Lemon Hart 151

Shake over ice and servi with crushed ice in a highball glass, garnish with fresh mint.

To round it up i made a tiki drink, a version of the Aloha cocktail:

ALOHA COCKTAIL #2

This cocktail is based on the Aloha cocktail page 55 in Sippin Safari.The original recipe uses 151 Bacardi rum and light Puerto Rican rum. I switched the Angostura bitters for their orange bitters, used hibiscus grenadine and upped the orange juice to 1 oz from 0.5. Apart from that its the same recipe as in the book.

0.5 oz white rum
0.5 oz JWray overproof
1.0 oz fresh orange juice
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
1/4 oz Cherry Heering
0.5 oz hibiscus grenadine
2 dashes Angostura orange bitters

Shake and strain into a ice filled glass. Garnish cherry and pineapple leaves or pineapple slice. This cocktail went down way too easily, its really tasty.

If you have been reading the Mixoloseum in recent months, you know that there is a well established history of egg usage in drinks during the Christmas season. Wassail, Tom & Jerry, and of course, egg nog all rely on eggs to achieve their rich seasonal goodness. But historically, eggs have been popular in a great many mixed drinks, not just the winter variety.

Raw eggs impart no real flavor to a cocktail. In fact, they have the opposite effect, tending to lessen the intensity of flavor from the other ingredients. So why use egg at all? Because they contribute a feature to the drink that very few modern bartenders ever think about: texture. An egg white lends the pisco sour a smooth, velvety mouthfeel, not to mention a frothy, creamy head. Without the whole egg called for in the coffee cocktail the drink would be nothing but a pale shadow of the rich, luscious beverage it is. (If you have never tried these drinks, stop reading and go make them right now.) An egg won’t make a bad drink good, but it will occasionally make a good drink superlative.

Sadly, the FDA, in its never ending quest to make all food taste bad, has convinced most Americans that chicken eggs are little encrusted salmonella bombs. Consequently, I frequently have to resort to secrecy, dares, and various forms of insult and cajoling to convince friends to try anything with egg in it. But this is silly (and regrettable). If you have ever eaten chocolate mousse, a freshly made caesar salad, or one of those delicious seared ahi sandwiches with wasabi aioli, then you were most likely eating raw egg. For that matter, if you’ve ever eaten a fried egg with a runny yolk, you should know that it never go hot enough to kill off any bacteria it might have been harboring. The moral of the story here is that many people are eating raw or semi-raw eggs all the time, but almost none of them experience any ill effects. Now, a bit of back ground.

HISTORY

As any cocktail historian will tell you, usage of the term “cocktail” as a generic for any alcoholic mixed drink is a somewhat modern development. Prior to prohibition, a cocktail was one genre of drink among many, including cobblers, highballs, sours, smashes, fizzes, and so forth. One popular class of drink was the flip, which Robert Hess defines as, “an egg-based drink made by combining a spirit and/or wine with a sweetening ingredient and a whole egg. The ingredients are shaken with ice or rolled back and forth between two glasses before they’re strained into a wine glass and garnished with nutmeg.” You may still come across a gin flip, on occasion, and a quick google search will land you recipes for brandy flips and sherry flips, all worth trying.

Another phylum of drinks that often used egg, at least for a time, is the sour. Unlike the flip, sours were not historically made with eggs. That tradition developed in Europe while America was suffering through prohibition, but the trend was quickly imported after repeal. If you haven’t tried a whisky sour with an egg white, or perhaps more importantly, William Schmidt’s delicious sour, you should do so.

USAGE

It should go without saying that any eggs to be consumed raw should be fresh. Look for smaller sized eggs if you can find them. Some cocktails call for half an egg white. Trying to split an egg white in half is an exercise in absurdity—either double the drink recipe, look into stocking quail eggs, or toss in the whole white and enjoy the drink with a richer mouthfeel. For drinks like the pisco sour (or most any sour), where you want a thick frothy head, some additional effort is needed. Some insist on hand beating the white with a fork. I have had good luck adding all the ingredients and dry shaking (i.e. without ice), and then adding the ice and shaking again. Just be aware that after dry shaking an egg white, your shaker will want to explode. Open with care. Always double strain. When adding ingredients to the shaker, start with the egg and add low proof booze first. Adding a shot of 151° directly to an egg white will curdle it and gunk up your strainer. And finally, be aware that egg drastically reduces the burn from high proof alcohol. While this is a nice perk, it results in drinks that are deceptively potent. If not careful, you could lower the inhibitions of your cocktail party guests a bit further than you intended. Be aware.

Drinks

Its still cold outside, so for the first drink I wanted something rich and decadent. Add a little soda water if you want to lighten it up.

Nut Nog
• 2 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy
• 1 oz Castries
• 1/4 oz B&B
• 1/4 oz Frangelico
• 1/4 oz Pimento Dram
• 1 whole egg
• 1 dash Fee’s Whiskey Barrel Bitters

Shake everything in an iced shaker and strain into a chilled mug. Grind a little allspice on top.

The ‘Chaça Sour
• 1 1/2 oz Cachaça
• 1 oz Maraschino (Preferably Maraska. Add a bit of simple syrup if using Luxardo.)
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 egg white
• 2 dashes Fee’s Whiskey Barrel Bitters

Dry shake everything but the bitters to foam the egg. Add ice and shake again. Strain into a wine glass, drip bitters on top.

The Procrastinator
• 1 oz Jamaican dark rum (I like Myers’s)
• 1 oz lemonhart 151°
• 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 oz falernum
• 3/4 oz orgeat
• 3 dashes orange bitters (Fee Brothers)
• 1 whole egg

Shake everything in an iced shaker, pour into a pint glass, top with soda. This is one of the very first drinks I concocted. I had recently discovered Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails and just received my first order of syrups and orange bitters from Fee Brothers. As the name suggests, I was also in the middle of writing my undergraduate thesis.

Enjoy.