Sunday 13 November 2016

Cocktail No 56 - The Mango Sidecar

Version 2 with the Mago fruit brandy substituting normal brandy, halving the quantity of lemon juice and topping up with a splash of water to balance the volumes.

Much more successful IMHO. Mango is again the dominant flavour, but the orange and the sweetness of the Triple Sec blend perfectly into it supporting the flavour and altering it. The lemon juice is there with a hint of acidity, but it is more sweet than sour - I normally don't like sweet drinks, but the Triple Sec with its bitter orange overtone adds an element that helps balance the drink.

I think I rather like this one.


Recipe

1 part Mango Fruit Brandy

1 Part Triple Sec or Cointreau

1/2 part freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 part water

Shake on ice and serve in a Martini glass.

Cocktail No 55 - The Oriental Sidecar

Another novelty ingredient that I created last week - Mango fruit brandy.

This drink is a twist on the classic Sidecar, where the Mango Fruit brandy is substituted in place of the Triple Sec. Its a bit tart as the Mango isn't as sweet, so addition of some sugar syrup would help. The Mango is quite dominant, so playing around with the proportions would be a good idea. The acidity of the lemons is there, but the taste has combined with the Mango in a very pleasant manner. The brandy is there, but only just detectable.


Recipe

1 part Mango Fruit Brandy

1 part Triple Sec or Cointreau

1 part freshly squeezed lemon juice

Shake on ice and serve in a Martini glass

Saturday 17 September 2016

Cocktail No 54 - Fraquiri

Its been over a year, but the muse has struck again.

You may struggle to find the ingredients for this one, as it uses Eau de Vie de Frais (Strawberry brandy), which I made myself. You can buy it, but it is expensive in Britain. It a variant of the daquiri family, substituting the strawberry spirit in place of rum.

Its a classic eau de vie, if you have tried grappa or kirch or poire william, you will recognise immediately that harsh kick on first taste of the neat spirit, followed by a burning glow throughout the body. Whilst a popular digestif after dinner in Europe, this one is completely transformed when diluted in weird and wonderful ways. Adding 3 parts water to 1 part spirit removes that harshness and leaves a wonderfully mellow white spirit with the taste of strawberry leaves (or how you think they taste when you smell them). Adding tonic brings out a sweetness that was undetectable in the raw or diluted spirit.

The Fraquiri combines the bitterness of the lemon with the astringency of the eau de vie. The strawberry is definitely there. Triple Sec doesn't have enough sweetness to really play its part and Cointreau would be a better balance.

A bit more experimenting needed I think - perhaps reduce the lemon juice to 1/2 the volume and replace with water to balance the sweet / sour aspect.



1 part Eau de vie de Frais1 part Triple Sec (suggest Cointreau)1 part lemon juice (suggest 1/2 lemon juice + 1/2 water)Shake on ice and add to Martini glass.