January 26, 2013

Chartreuse Swizzle - with a kiss of cherry

I know I'm late to the Chartreuse Swizzle party, but the idea of mixing green Chartreuse with Wray and Nephew over proof rum and not getting my throat burned was too tempting.

I started with the improved recipe developed by Kaiser Penguin.

I knew I wanted to add some cherry liquor too.

I've gotten a vial of not yet matured cherry liquor from the makers of the amazing Frederiksdal cherry wine and I figured this was the cocktail to test whether or not they have got the balance between sweet, sour and alcohol right.

In my opinion they have - through the strong earthy flavors of the sizzle the cherry was easy to pick up - and I used less than 3 cl.
  • 8 cl green Chartreuse
  • 1.5 cl Wray and Nephew over proof rum
  • 6 cl pineapple juice
  • 4 cl lime juice
  • 3 cl falernum 
I put everything in a shaker with a bit of ice an shook it vigorously, than I strained into a pretty big low ball glass full of crushed ice - and then I poured a small amount no more that 3 cl of the cherry liquor into the center of the cocktail.

I had wanted to make a green mamba lime twist  (your blog - and drinks - always inspire me Tiara) for a garnish - but none of my limes had a peel looking nice enough for that.  

January 21, 2013

Mixology Monday: Amalienborg

This month Mixology is all about fortified wines.

Jordan Deveraux of Chemistry of the Cocktail almost had me experimenting with port, Madeira or sherry.

But in the end my interest in wine fortified with quinine won out.

I was ready to see if I could come up with my own mix and started to thumb through a pretty special Christmas gift I got i 2012: A reprint of a handwritten bar manual a Danish bartender called Axel Sørensen wrote in the late 1930'ies when he worked at a now closed bar in central Copenhagen called Café De la Reine - the Queens Cafe.

The reprint has been made possible in a collaboration between Henrik Steen Pedersen who runs one of Copenhagen's hidden gems Moltkes Bar and the grandchild of Axel Sørensen.

Thumbing through the manual I noticed a cocktail called Amalienborg. (it may have an almost identical twin called Coronation)

Axel Sørensen suggest that it's mix of one half part Dubonnet, a quarter part gin and a quarter part French vermouth.

The cocktail - named after the Royal palace in Copenhagen - had also caught the eyes of the folks at Molktes bar. However they suggested different ratios of the ingredients. And I changed the French vermouth out for Kina L'Avion D'Or .

So with two quinine fortified wines I figured I needed a sweet gin and chose Old English Gin.

I present the twice updated Amalienborg cocktail:
  • 9 cl Dubonnet
  • 4 cl Kina L'Avion D'or
  • 3 cl Old English Gin
Shaken with ice, strained into a cocktail glass and with lemon twist for a garnish.

Thanks Jordan for hosting!