Posts Tagged ‘mixology monday’
Mojito
It’s been a while since I’ve mixed something up in the monthly cocktail party that is Mixology Monday and I’m well and truly past the deadline. But I’m hoping that Kevin over at Beers In The Shower (one of my all time favourite pastimes along with shower pow-wows) will accept the submission.
The concept of the “Money Drink” is one I’m so familiar with, a friend comes over, sees your bar and asks you to whip them up a tastey cocktail. They aren’t sure what they like, and you want to blow their socks right out of the water. Where do you turn? There’s a few decisions you have to make, do they want something hard or something smooth? Sweet or perhaps dry? The answers all of course depend on your punter. Old Fashioned, Manhattan or a Negroni are my favourites, the beauties that I turn to when I want to impress myself. But when I want to impress someone else, the best place to start is with a Mojito.
Recipe
- 45ml rum. I think any lighter, unnaged rum is good. Traditionally of course it is Cuban, illegal in the US. Here in Australia we don’t have a problem with that so Havana Club is a cheap option, but Matusalem Platino is amazing.
- 30-45ml lime juice. This depends on how tangy the lime is. I usually use around 1 1/2 limes.
- 1 barspoon brown sugar. This is supposed to be cane sugar but I use brown sugar. Palm sugar is a good option also, it gives the drink a slightly cleaner taste.
- Mint. Go out to the garden and grab a handful of mint, leave the stalks on there is a heap of flavour hiding in there.
Method
Put the lime juice (and the shells if you like), sugar and mint in an old fashioned glass and gently muddle it. Add the rum, and then top the glass up to the top with crushed ice. Add a splash of soda water (or not.) Clap a sprig of mint nice and hard and garnish.
You should follow me on Twitter.Jasmine Cocktail – Campari, Gin, Cointreau and Lemon Juice
The theme for this month’s Mixology Monday is the style of italian bitters known as Amaro. Having recently picked up a bottle of Campari I had an idea of what I was going to make. I had mixed Negronis a couple of times and a few variations on them but hadn’t quite fallen for them, the bitterness was overpowering but the flavours interesting. A few recipes I read balanced the bitterness with champagne and fresh orange but not having them I kept searching.
Finally I stumbled upon the Jasmine cocktail. I love cocktails mixed with lemon juice, the flavour is so crisp and so fresh and surprisingly it seems bring out the orange in the campari (or maybe thats the triple sec.) The other thing about this cocktail is how it takes on a new flavour, bigger than any of the individual flavours.
The Jasmine
- 1 1/2 ounces of gin
- 1 ounce cointreau
- 3/4 ounce campari
- 1/2 ounce lemon juice
Traditionally shaken and strained into a cocktail glass, I prefer to shake quickly and serve in a old fashioned glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel and an olive.
You should follow me on Twitter.The Gin Gimlet and the Japanese Slipper
Of recent times I have been asked many a time about what a good introduction cocktail is, and although I’ve usually answered it with one drink or another taking this moment, courtesy of Boston Lupec, to really think about it has, if anything, solidified in my mind what a perfect gateway drink should be. Balance is mentioned in the introductory post of this month’s Mixology Monday and it is definitely one of the important traits but there are more.
Like all great cooking and mixing the most important thing is letting the ingredients speak for themselves, fresh fruit and juice in cocktails, great garnishes and most importantly quality spirits are paramount. This sounds like a whole lot of cocktail snob wishwash but it is true, noone wants stale apple juice (replete with fizz) in their drink least of all when you are introducing someone to new world of mixology.
For me however, the most important thing in an introduction drink is booze. This baby has to knock you around, people that are coming from the world of Smirnoff Double Black’s, pre-mixed Canadian Club bottles and cheap champagne are going to wonder wether if they order this at a bar are they going to get their necessary drunk on. As we all know, the answer is probably yes but these first drinks need to drive the point home that near pure alcohol can taste great.
Without further ado, I’m submitting 2 drinks to you my cocktail loving peers, my other go to drink is a basic whiskey sours which I have posted about in the past. This is especially good if someone is a whiskey drinker, in which case they probably won’t take much convincing.
Gin Gimlet
The first is a Gin Gimlet, I was introduced to this by the venerable Jeff Morgenthaler and his Richmond Gimlet. I very rarely have any mint on hand so instead forgo it for a classic Gin Gimlet. This drink is beautiful in it’s ability to match the botanicals of the gin with the strong flavour of lime and the sweetness of sugar.
- 60ml Gin
- 30ml Lime juice cordial
- 15ml fresh lime juice
Shake and serve in a cocktail glass with a mint or lime garnish.
The Japanese Slipper
The second is The Japanese Slipper, this beautiful drink is far fruitier than the Gimlet which works well in not overpowering an immature palate. Melon liqueur balances the sour of lemon juice and is perfectly topped off with the smooth flavour of Cointreau. Having not been able to actually purchase Maraschino cherries I garnish it with a small amount of grenadine which creates a cool layering effect in the glass and makes the drink slightly sweeter.
- 30ml Midori
- 30ml Cointreau
- 30ml Lemon juice
Shake vigorously, serve in a cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry or a bar spoon of grenadine.
You should follow me on Twitter.MxMo: Hard Drinks for Hard Times – Cheap wine cocktails
The theme for this month’s Mixology Monday is “Hard Drinks for Hard Times” hosted over at the recently laid off Matthew Rowley’s blog. His thinking is, that in the current economic climate a lot of us are having trouble drinking well – actually, he says he is drinking better than ever due to having stockpiled huge amounts of booze over a long period of time. This is pretty much the complete opposite to me, I’ve been a student for just about as long as I can remember and drinking cheap is something I’ve become pretty accustomed to.
I’ve got a heap of tricks for getting on the booze cheap, but thinking about how to make some cheap cocktails got me thinking back to drinks 2 of my friends have told me about. Both of them involve mixing wine (generally very cheap wine) with something to make it slightly bearable. The beauty of this is that wine here in Australia seems to be getting cheaper and cheaper due to the rise of cleanskins. What can be better, grabbing a $5 bottle of wine that wasn’t too bad to begin with and making it better.
The first is known as Calimocho, Jameses assures me that when he was in Spain he used to buy a 2 litre bottle of red wine and mix it about 50/50 with red wine. Cheap, nasty but tasty. The second drink was recently introduced to me by my French housemates, known as “Kir“, it is a dry white wine mixed with creme de cassis, peach liqueur or blackberry liqueur. This is really quite tastey and can just top off a ridiculously cheap bottle of Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay. The other option is to use sparkling wine instead.
I fully support the cuting of costs in regards to boozing, but remember. Friends don’t let friends drink Grants or Pipers.
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As the theme for Mixology Monday this week, hosted at A Mixed Dram is “Broaden your Horizons” I headed down the local liquor store and started browsing. The budget was a little bit tight otherwise I might have taken home a bottle of brandy, a bottle of Irish Whiskey and a bottle of Advokaat and started mixing but all I ended up grabbing was the Advokaat.
As far as I can tell there is really only 1 common cocktail that’s made with Advokaat – the “Fluffy Duck.” This is quite nice although it is a little too creamy. However, I thought a change here and there could truly turn it into something nice. The resulting cocktail, the “Fiery Dick” is:
- 30mL Vodka
- 45mL Advokaat
- 30mL Lemon Juice
Build over ice in that order and top with soda and garnish with a lemon wheel.
You should follow me on Twitter.The Batanga – Tequila, Salt, Coke and Lime
For this month’s Mixology Monday the theme is “Spice,” in the announcement Craig’s definition of spice piqued my interest, “Salt? Go for it.” This challenge coupled with one of my Mexican friend’s favourite drink swhich he described to me as, Tequila, salt and Coke. I got cracking, doing a quick search on Google gave it a name, the Batanga. It all fell into place when the bottle of Mezcal Tequila that I bought had a little sachet of spices and sea salt. According to another brief search apparently this spicey concoction is traditionally imbibed alongside Mezcal. The resulting drink, lime juice, tequila, spicey sea salt and coke, garnished with a lime wedge is very tasty, certainly interesting and quite unique.
Sweet Chocolate Lips – A Guilty Pleasure
As part of Mixology Monday (hosted by Steve at Two At The Most), I’m proffering this cocktail recipe. Some people may hardly call it a cocktail, but that’s the beauty of it. It’s simple, girly, oh so tasty, and not something you would tell your mates you were drinking, making this the guiltiest of pleasures. 
- 10ml White creme de cacao
- 10ml Dark creme de cacao
- 10ml Cointreau
- 45ml Baileys
- 100ml Milk
- 1 good squirt of Hershey’s Chocolate Sauce
Shake with ice and serve in a chocolate (Hershey’s) coated cocktail glass. Sprinkle chocolate on the milky froth.
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