January 25, 2019

Buttermilk Collaboration



I was fortunate enough to get an invitation from Juuls Vinhandel to a tasting at the launch of a small batch collaboration between Teeling Whiskey and Plantation Rum.

Basically the two producers exchange casks and experiment with finishing rum with whiskey notes ande whiskey with rum influences.

Alex Chasko of Teeling and Alexander Gabriel of Plantation took us through the process from idea to finished products. And we got to taste them two - as well as other spirits from the two companies.

Afterwards a friend and I stopped by one of Copenhagens best bars Duck and Cover for a cocktail. As always one is not enough and at the end of the evening we were both treated to a mystery cocktail on the house. Both made with buttermilk whey.

Mine had a base of Germana Caetano's Cachaca and cherry wine and my friend got a aquavit, gooseberry and Jerusalem artichoke cocktail. They were pretty amazing and I wanted to know all about the buttermilk whey.

In both drinks the whey had the effect of reminding your taste buds of something without your brain being able to pick out precisely what it was. I like that.

And it was a great experience right after listening to Alexander Gabriel reminding us that our noses and palates are more precise than any instrument in any laboratory and can pick up more smells and tastes.

He also let us in on the secret that distillers work mostly with the 1-2 procent of a bottle that is not alcohol or water. Then for a cocktail bartender that work only multiply on an exponential scale with 7-8 ingredients added.

So for full disclosure - I didn't not pay for the tasting - I took away a lot of interesting information, 2 cl of the Teeling Whiskey having spend 12 month in Plantation casks and a cute key chain hip flask.

And from Duck and Cover I payed for every drink I ordered and got one free that set my brain wizzing with ideas for buttermilk whey drinks.

One of which is Buttermilk Collaboration:

  • 2 cl Teeling Whiskey finished in Plantation casks
  • 2,5 cl Plantation Stiggins fancy Pineapple Rum  
  • 1 cl orgeat
  • 3 cl pineapple juice
  • 3 cl buttermilk whey (I brought 500 ml of organic buttermilk with a bit of lime zest, limejuice and pineapplejuice add up to about 50 C in a saucepan at which point it split and then strained it through a fine sieve through cheese cloth)
  • 2 cl aquafaba - from chickpeas

I added everthing to a shaker and gave it a quick dry shake before adding ice cubes and shaking it fiercely. Strain into low glass and garnish with pineapple or a good cocktail cherry.

 
  

January 23, 2019

Banana Daiquiri


It is actually quite winterly here in Denmark these days - frost day and night which isn't all that common.

But just because snow and ice is part of the landscape at the moment that doesn't mean I can't dream of icy cold drinks under a tropical sun - I just have to drink them in front of my wood burner.

After a nightly online conversation with some colleagues about the drinking habits - and preferences - of Hemingway I've been wanting a Daiquiri badly

Particularly one I have tinkered with a few times from a bar in Texas - a golden, sweet Banana Daiquiri. Here is the recipe I have been tinkering with.

My version looks like this:

  • 3 cl white rum - I used Plantation 3 Stars
  • 1,5 cl over proof white rum - I used Clairin Casimir
  • 2 cl fresh lime juice
  • 0.75 cl simple syrup
  • 1,5 cl banana liqueur - I used Tempus Fugit Creme de Banane
  • 0,75 cl chili liqueur - I used Ancho Reyes
Blend everything with crushed ice

Garnish with a coin of banana - if you have a dehydrator springle with banana and chili dust on top. 


 

January 18, 2019

Marlin


Picasso had a blue period and apparently so do I. Finding a very low prices ice crusher has also awakened a desire for cocktails with crushed ice.

Looking at the suggested cocktails in the brilliant app Total Tiki containing blue curacao, I decided to try a Marlin. An original drink by Clancy Carroll, 2000 it all it says.

I will say, that should I ever make it again, and why not it is a perfectly fine blue cocktail, I will dial the Maraschino down a bit:

3 cl light rum - I used Plantation 3 Stars
3 cl amber rum - I used Plantation Stiggins' Fancy Spiced Rum
1,5 cl fresh lime juice
1,5 cl fresh lemon juice
1.5 cl Maraschino - I used Luxardo
1,5 cl orgeat - I used Giffard
1,5 cl blue curacao - I used homemade

I shook everything with ice and strained it into a glass of crushed ice. Garnished with a homemade cocktail cherry.