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

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.

Recipe

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.

Cocktail No 53 - Margarita

The most famous cocktail from south of the border, the margarita dates to at least 1924 and was originally tequila and lime juice, it was cointreau's introduction to the United States in 1962, in collaboration with Jose Cuervo's advertising campaign that gave us the margarita we know today.

Wikipedia entry for Margarita

The unique flavours of Tequila dominate this drink. The flavour is beyond description yet we all know immediately what it tastes like. Cut with lemon or lime juice to fire up the taste sensations at the roof of the mouth and the tip of the tongue, with mellow smoothness from the Cointreau as it drips down the back of the throat, whilst the salt just makes you want to drink more, which I am just about to go and mix a second!.

A well deserved classic.

Recipe

1 measure Tequila
1/2 measure Cointreau or Triple Sec
1/2 measure Lemon or Lime juice.

Wet the rim of a cocktail glass with lemon juice and coat with salt. The easiest way for small numbers of glasses is to dip your finger in lemon juice and rub around the rim. Then pour a pinch of salt into the cup of your hand, invert the glass and holding the stem rotate it through the salt. For larger numbers, tip a layer of salt into s saucer or similar and push the glass rim into it.

Add liquids to cocktail shaker and shake on ice. Pour into cocktail glass. Serve.

Cocktail No 38 Hemingway

I bought a grapefruit just to make this one, and since it is freshly squeezed explains why I made this and the Lieutenant on the same evening.

I've been reading a bit of Hemingway recently and therefore wanted to make this one. First I read "The Sun Also Rises" as I was visiting Pamplona and it was quite a good read. Just finished "A Farewell to Arms" and can't really say it worked for me. Not sure why, but I found it hard work.

Quite unlike this cocktail on the other hand. This is entering into my pantheon of favourites and will be repeated I am sure. The mix of Rum and Cointreau with a sour is always a winner. At equal measures you would expect it to be very sweet and it is, but less than I expected. Far less so than the Apricot Brandy in the Lieutenant. A benefit of this is that the Grapefruit Juice comes through clearly and very pleasantly. The Sparkling Wine gives a great lift and tingles in the mouth, making it a great drink sensation as well as taste.

Recipe

2-3 Ice cubes
40 ml White Rum
40 ml Cointreau
40 ml Grapefruit juice
Sparking wine

Add White Rum, Cointreau and Grapefruit Juice to a shaker and shake very well on ice. Strain into a Champagne glass and top up with Sparkling Wine.

Cocktail No 35 Queen Elizabeth

Oh this is good, this is very good, this is exceptionally good! I think I might like this one!

As a kid I loved those aniseed balls - do you remember the ones that were rock hard and had an anis seed in the centre? Well this is what this cocktail tastes of. Clear sharp anise, spiked with lemon juice to really lift the taste. Its only a dash, so its not overpowering like Pernod can often be and the Orange citrus from the Cointreau brings it all down and leaves a lingering smooth sweetness in the back of the mouth.

A fine drink to name after our Monarch and another of complexity with multiple taste elements and sensations in the mouth. If I can't tempt you with anything else try this one.

Recipe

Add 1 measure Gin to a shaker with 1/2 measure Cointreau / Triple Sec, 1/2 measure lemon juice and a dash of Pernod / Ricard / Pastis. Shake on Ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Decorate with a cherry.

Cocktail No 33 Between The Sheets

Continuing the Brandy theme, I present a classic that is an official cocktail according to the International Bartenders Association, although they call for lemon juice instead of the orange juice and I do think it would be better with a bit of extra sharpness.

Its still very pleasant though. The Brandy and Rum mixes so well together - really good robust mouth feel and a sweetness from the Rum and Orange Juice. It certainly packs a punch and is wonderfully warming on a cold autumn night like this one is.

Recipe

Add 1 measure Brandy to a shaker, with 1 measure White Rum, 1 measure Cointreau and 3/4 measure of Orange Juice (or Lemon Juice). Shake on Ice and strain into a Cocktail glass.

Cocktail No 29 East india

Its a Rum night tonight and the East India is fabulous on a cold, miserable night like tonight.

I am really surprised by this cocktail. It only has a splash of pineapple juice, but it mixes and blends with the Rum to a much greater flavour that I would have predicted. As alcohol strength goes, its up there with the Martini, as its basically neat rum diluted with a teaspoon of juice. However I wouldn't be tempted to increase the pineapple juice otherwise the drink will be overly sweet. If its too strong, then add a splash of soda.

This is another one of multiple sensations. Initially just coldness on the tongue and no flavour, developing into sweetness after 1/2 a second, which rapidly becomes recognisable as pineapple, then as you swallow that wonderful harshness of the rum biting then warming at the back of the throat - me likee. This could be fantastic made with Cachaça instead of rum and then it would be a very aggressive drink.

Recipe

Add 1 & 1/2 measures white rum to a shaker with 1 teaspoon of Cointreau, 1 teaspoon of pineaple juice and a dash of angostura bitters. Shake on ice until chilled and strain into a cocktail glass.

Cocktail No 19 Blue Monday Nightcap

This is for those who love orange and bitter-sweetness. The base of the drink is Vodka to give a clean and neutral alcoholic strength to the drink.

Cointreau or Triple Sec gives a sweet orange taste and viscosity. This is complimented by Blue Curacao, that strange blue bottle that is in many cocktail cabinets yet rarely used. It is actually a very bitter orange liquor evolved from the Valencia orange that the Spanish transplanted to the East Indies. The plant could not thrive in the nutrient poor soil and arid climate of the island Curacau and instead produced shriveled bitter inedible fruits. The skins though still contain the orange essential oils which can be extracted and distilled into the spirit, which is then coloured with blue dye.

So you have an intense blue drink, which has no odor. Upon sipping the first sensation is that it is immediately cold on the tongue. No obvious flavour to start with but a syrup like texture in the mouth, which rapidly thins out as you swallow. As the tongue clears a rich bitter sweet orange taste develops over a few seconds accompanied by a mild burn at the back of the throat - not severe and very pleasant in fact.

A really interesting drink that works on multiple senses - visual, cold, viscous, thin, citrus, then lingering heat. I am not sure why it has taken me so many years to try this one. Very, very pleasing.

Recipe

Add 1 measure of Vodka to as shaker with 1/2 measure of Cointreau (or Triple Sec) and 1/2 measure of Blue Curacao. Shake on ice and strain into a tall glass.

Enjoy.

Cocktail No 7 Balalaika

Named after the Russian stringed instrument similar to a lute, it should come as no surprise that this is a vodka based cocktail. It one of my all time favourites and a gentler variation on the Margarita, substituting vodka for the tequila. It is therefore much fresher and lighter, but just as lethal, so be warned.

I used Raspberry vodka this time and to be honest, it doesn't work - too strong a flavour. Its needs a pure, clean neutral vodka to let the lemon juice and the orange flavours in the Cointreau / Triple Sec come through.

Remember to twist the orange peel (or cheat and add add a few drops of Fee Brothers Orange Bitters) to release the citrus oils and really lift the taste.

I made this one with my Art Deco cocktail shaker, which has a lemon squeezer built into the top - its a beautiful piece of design.

Recipe

2-3 ice cubes

40 ml Vodka

15 ml Cointreau or Triple Sec

15 ml Lemon juice

Spiral of orange peel

A vodka, Cointreau or Triple Sec and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.

Decorate with a spiral of orange peel (twisted).

Enjoy.

Cocktail No 5 Take Two

Be very careful with the Campari on this one - its surprising just how strong and bitter it can be. I usually refer to measures, but in this case will give a defined measure to balance the amount of Campari - I think I overdid it in mine - still pleasant, but if I could pull back on the astringency and let more of the Cointreau come through it would be better balanced.

Actually, its growing on me the more I taste it.

Recipe

25 ml Gin, 15 ml Cointreau, 2 teaspoons Campari.

Shake on Ice and pour into Martini glass.