The MxMo is back! Great! And the scomorokh is back too Actually the topic of MxMo August: Brown, Bitter and Stirred is very interesting fo me. This MxMo hosted by Lindsey Johnson from Brown, Bitter and Stirred and thanks for great topic, Lindsey! This about true cocktail (and it is my choice now!) – the mix of aged spirit, bitter and stirred, not shaken! The Connoisseur’s Choice.

I dream about this coctail during long, very long time. But rye is absolutely unavailable in the Ukraine also Peychaud’s bitters. Thanks for God in my way I meet some great people who present me a bottle of great rye – Wild Turkey Rye 101 proof and a bottle of Peychaud`s. Thanks, companeros!

And now I prepare one of my dream-cocktail – the Sazerac. This cocktail was creaded on the 1850-s in the New Orleans. The creation of this cocktail associate with New-Orleans`s pharmacist (and Freemason!) – Antoine Peychaud – the creator of famous bitter. This cocktail is great thing – it include so rare and aromatic ingredients, it has unusual ritual of preparation and it has interesting story.

Sazerac

1 sugar cube
1-2 dash Peychaud`s bitter
1 tsp. water
50 ml rye whiskey
1 bsp. Pernod
Take two rocks glasses. Fill one with ice and soda for chill. In the second glass place sugar cube than add bitter and water. Muddle the sugar and mix all together for dissolving. Than add some cubes of ice and whiskey. Stir. First chiled glass coat with dash of Pernod. Strain the cocktail into this coated with Pernod glass. Serve without ice! Garnish with a lemon peel.

The Sazerac Cocktail has strong and complex flavor and taste. Actually is great strong cocktail with great compose palate and nose.

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MxMo August: Brown, Bitter and Stirred – Sazerac

The frozen cocktail turns 56 this week and we’re celebrating with a little history and an easy lesson on how to make the perfect frozen drink.

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Enduring Classic: The Pina Colada

Celebrate the American icon’s 110th birthday by mixing up one of his signature daiquiris. Not the kind your girlfriend orders on vacation, but a real old school cocktail. Enjoy.

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Hemingway Days

The Pina Colada is one of the most famous cocktail in the world. Actually Pina Colada is very popular cocktail on the Caribbean. It is official cocktail of the Puerto Rico.

The Pina Colada (from Spanish – pina colada – strained pineapple) is tropical, sweet mixed drink which consist of rum, pineapple (juice or blended fruit) and cream of coconut. Some barmen also add heavy cream. The King of Cocktail also add a dash of Angostura bitter.

The key ingredient of modern Pina Colada is cream of coconut. The most notable brand is Coco Lopez. The Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut and traditional Thai coconut cream is two different coconut stuffs. The Coco Lopez is very sweet with amount of fat about 17%, but traditional coconut cream is very fat (about 50-60%) a little sweet cream. You may use traditional coconut cream instead Coco Lopez with extra sugar syrup.

The official date of Pina Colada birth is August 16, 1954. This cocktail was created in Caribe Hilton’s Beachcomber Bar in San Juan, Puerto Rico by Ramon “Monchito” Marrero. He blended light puerto-rican rum with pineapple juice and Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut and crushed ice and great Pina Colada was born. Actually the story of Pina Colada is under debate. The great article about Pina Colada Cocktail written by George Sinclair aka Bourbon George aka Thinking Bartender you may read here.

For my Pina Colada I use recipe which include rum, pineapple stuffs, traditional thai coconut milk (100% natural stuffs) and cane sugar syrup. I prefer blended pinacolada than shaken.

Pina Colada

50 ml white rum
100 ml pineapple juice
50 ml coconut milk
20 ml simple syrup
dash of Angostura bitter (optional)
Blend all ingredients in a blender with scoop of crushed ice. Serve in the collins, hurricane glass, large goblet or colada-glass. Garnish with pineapple slice and red maraschino cherry.

For Virgin Pina Colada omit rum. The Virgin Pina Colada is great refreshing sweet drink.

Be careful with crushed ice in the Pina Colada. For best consistency you may use a little bit less of crushed ice than for another frozen drinks.

I declared three degree of Pina Colada:

1. The Pina Colada with canned pineapple juice and white rum. It is average potation. Use quality juice and quality rum and your obtain the decent potation. Also you may use mix of white and dark rums or add dash or two of Angostura bitter for interesting results.

2. For better results I use caned pineapple (this trick I read in one of Calabrese book). In this case I use my best aged rums – like Varadero 5 y.o., Matusalem 7 y.o., Bacardi 8 or Havana Club Anejo Especial – with great results.

3. I use fresh ripe pineapple and great aged rums for my ultimate pinacoladas:

My Pina Colada

50 ml aged rum
90 g fresh pineapple
50 ml coconut milk
20 ml simple syrup
First blend all ingredients without ice until smooth. Than add scoop of crushed ice and blend again.Serve in the collins, hurricane glass, large goblet or colada-glass. Garnish with pineapple slice and red maraschino cherry.

This version of Pina Colada Cocktail is awesome drink. It has so sweet rum and fruit taste with great palate of aged rum and thin smooth consistency. It is great summer cocktail.

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Pina Colada

Now we explore two amazing mixed drinks with exotic Peruvian or Chile brandy – pisco. Both are right choice for hot summer evening and both are extremely delicious.

Pisco is national Peruvian or Chile strong spirit. It is brandy obtained from muscat grapes. For my mixology I use Pisco Capel (Chile).

First cocktail is Pisco Sour. The Pisco Sour is national Peruvian cocktail as Caipirinha is Brazilian national cocktail. Pisco Sour is variation of classic Sour with regional spirit instead whiskey and it was invented in Lima, Peru under Prohibition. The Pisco Sour has classic composition – pisco, fresh lime or lemon juice, sugar and egg white.

Pisco Sour

60 ml Pisco
30 ml simple syrup
30 ml fresh lime juice
30 ml egg white
Shake thoroughly all ingredients in shaker with a lot of cubed ice. Before shaking with ice you may use “dry shake” – shake all ingredients in shaker without ice. Strain cocktail in sour-glass and garnish with several drop (or dash) of Angostura bitters on the top.

The Pisco Sour Cocktail is dreamlike cocktail. It is wonderful, beautiful and miraculous The Pisco Sour Cocktail has very smooth, silk-smooth, perfectly balanced sweet and sour taste with great muscat palate.

The second cocktail with pisco is Pisco Punch. The Pisco Sour and Pisco Punch are too similar but it is two different cocktails. Pisco Punch was created by American barman Duncan J. Nichol aka “Pisco John,” at his San Francisco bar called the Bank Exchange at middle of 1940-s. The key ingredient of Pisco Punch is pineapple flavored sugar syrup.

Pisco Punch

60 ml pisco
30 ml pineapple flavored sugar syrup
30 ml fresh lemon juice
2 pices of pineapple
30 ml water (optional)
Muddle fresh pineapple with syrup, add another ingredients and shake. Strain into highball with ice or serve in punch cup. Garnish with pineapple wedge.

For preparation of pineapple flavored sugar syrup first prepare rich sugar syrup 2:1. Take ripe pineapple and cut it into cubes, slices or chunks. Marinate the pineapple pieces with sugar syrup (orange peel, orange juices or cloves – optional) up to 12-24 hours in cold place.

The Pisco Punch is great drink too. It has interesting sweet and sour taste with muscat-pineapple palate. It is great summer drink.

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Pisco Sour and Pisco Punch

The extremely positive experience of exploring of Bloody Mary Cocktail inspire me to try some similar cocktail with another nutritious component. Two present cocktail – the Bull Shot and Bloody Bull – contains beef broth and I think it is very interesting.

Bull Shot

45 ml vodka
1 bsp. fresh orange juice
1 dash fresh lemon juice
2 dash Tabasco sauce
pinch of salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
120 ml beef broth
Shake all ingredients with a lot of ice and strain into tall glass. Garnish with an orange peel.

Some recipe of Bull Shot prescribe Worcestershire sauce. But I decide to omit it.

The Bull Shot Cocktail has piquant and spicy taste. I think that it is great anti-hangover stuff. Next cocktail in the beef topic is Bloody Bull.

Bloody Bull

45 ml vodka
1 bsp. fresh orange juice
1 dash fresh lemon juice
2 dash Tabasco sauce
pinch of salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
60 ml tomato juice
60 ml beef broth
Shake all ingredients with a lot of ice and strain into tall glass. Garnish with an orange peel.

The taste of Bloody Bull Cocktail is so similar to Bloody Mary but with meat taste. It is very interesting drink.

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Bull Shot and Bloody Bull

The Bloody Mary Cocktail is one of the most famous and most consumable cocktail in the world. It is great pick-me-up and anti-hang-over remedy. The key of this mix is a sauce. Two old and famous sauce – the Tabasco and the Worcestershire make Bloody Mary Bloody Mary.

Bloody Mary Cocktail has interesting and so unklear story. The common version say that this cocktail was invented in Paris Harry`s American Bar by Fernand “Pete” Petiot in 1920-s. Some people suggest that first cocktail with tomato juice and vodka was prepared by George Jessel but Petiot only improved this drink. Interesting article about this problem you may read at the great blog – Bourbon George (Thinking Bartender, or George Sinclair).

The original garnish of the Bloody Mary Cocktail with selery stalk also has own unclear story. This garnish was incidentally invented by unknown quest of Pump Room Bar, Ambassador Hotel, Chicago under 1960-s.

For my first real Bloody Mary Cocktail I use recipe from one of my favorite cocktail book – The Craft of the Cocktail by Dale DeGroff:

Bloody Mary

45 ml vodka
2 dash Worcestershire sauce
4 dash Tabasco sauce
pinch of salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
15 ml fresh lemon juice
120 ml tomato juice
Add all ingrdients of mixing glass. Add ice and than rolling mixture. Pour into highball glass with several ice-cubes. Garnish with selery stalk as swizzle-stick (optional) and lemon or lime wedge.

The amount of the Tabasco sauce is very variable. My choice is about two dash of Tabasco for my Bloody Mary Cocktail. Also I prefer to decrease amount of Worcestershire sauce to 1 dash.

The Bloody Mary Cocktail has delicious spicy taste. It is awesome drink and it is very nutritious. Great choice for supper.

Next we explore Russian variation of Bloody Mary Cocktail – the Bloody Mary Shooter.

Bloody Mary Shooter

30 ml vodka
30 ml spicy tomato mix
Pour first tomato mix and than layer vodka into shooter glass with spicy rim.

To make spicy tomato mix you should mix tomato juice, lemon juice, Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, freshly ground black pepper, optional – horseradish, while olives or whatever else you like to put in your Bloody Mary.

For spicy rim you should make mix with teaspoon of salt, dash of freshly ground black pepper, ground red pepper and pinch of celery seeds or caraway seeds. Then moisture the rim of the shooter glass with a lime or lemon wedge and dip it into the mix.

Actually this shooter is great way of drink vodka. This cocktail has awesome look and very balanced taste of strength vodka and sweet and spicy tomato mix.

And finally we explore one of the modern version of canonical Bloody Mary Cocktail – the Inside Out Bloody Mary – martini style cocktail created by Kim Haasarud (founder of the Liquid Architecture and author of several book about cocktails – “101 … (Margaritas, Martinis, Sangrias etc.)”)

Inside Out Bloody Mary

3 to 4 spicy Mary cube
60 ml pepper (or citrus) vodka
dash lemon juice
Shake vodka and juice. Straint into cocktail glass with spicy mary cubes. Garnish with small celery stalk, speared red chile pepper (optional).

To make spicy Mary cubes pour the spicy tomato mix into ice trays. Place the trays in the freezer and let sit until cubes are frozen.

The Inside Out Bloody Mary Cocktail has strong and spicy taste of vodka. After melting of spicy cubes its taste is so similar to original Bloody Mary Cocktail.

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Bloody Mary

The Cuba Libre Cocktail is great and simple choice for hot summer day or evening. This cocktail was created by unknown american solder under Cuban-Spanish War for Independence (1890-s). The Cuba Libre Cocktail has so simple composition – cuban rum, Coca-Cola and lime. The key of this cocktail is the squeeze of lime wedge.

Cuba Libre

50 ml rum
Coca-Cola
lime wedge
Take fresh ripe lime and cut lime wedge. Fill collins glass (300 ml) with ice-cubes and pour rum. Squeeze lime vedge than put the lime wedge into glass. Add cola. Serve with a straw.

The Cuba Libre Cocktail has complex so sweet refreshing taste with great rum palate. I prefer to use in my Cuba Libre shot of spiced rum for great results.

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Cuba Libre!

The Pimm`s #1 is old and famous premixed bottled drink which make with gin, herbs and liqueurs. The recipe of this liquor is secret. This beverage was created by James Pimm – the owner of an oyster bar in the City of London, near the Bank of England.

The Pimm’s Cup is traditional english summer drink. The simple version of Pimm’s Cup is:

Pimm’s Cup

45 ml Pimm’s No. 1
Sprite or 7-UP
Build over ice in collins glass. Garnish with herb borage, or cucumber spear and green apple slice.

The Pimm’s Cup is so interesting refreshing drink with great taste of gin and herbs.

Also I try more complex version which I found in very interesting book menu of The Merchant Hotel (Bar Book Vol. II by Sean James Muldoon). The Part 1 and 3 also interesting.

Pimm’s Cup (Courtesy of Pimm’s Oyster Bar, London, circa 1840’s)

50 ml Pimm’s No. 1
20 ml fresh lemon juice
10 ml cane syrup
1 coin fresh root ginger
chilled seltzer
Muddle ginger, then add all ingredients except seltzer. Shake hard and strain into an ice-filled cup (glass), then add seltzer.

This version of Pimm’s Cup has more complex and very refreshing taste with great palate of sour-ginger and herbs.

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Pimm’s Cup

The weather is warming up, perfect for a refreshing apéritif, my Aperol Pompelmo!

The pairing of Aperol and grapefruit (pompelmo in Italian) is hardly novel, but I could not find any definitive recipes, let alone a name. But Aperol and grapefruit juice, perhaps with a bit of sparkling water, is such a wonderfully refreshing drink it deserves a recipe, a name.

Aperol Pompelmo

Aperol is an Italian apéritif. Often compared to Campari, both derive from pre-war formulas but are today manufactured by the same Italian beverage conglomerate, Gruppo Campari. Like Campari, Aperol is made from an infusion of citrus peel, flowers, and alimentary herbs, and has a moderately bitter, invigorating taste. But in contrast to Campari, Aperol is less bitter, less alcoholic (11 versus 25%), more floral. You might call it a beginner’s apéritif, although I find plenty of uses for both.

Apéritif refers both to any preprandial drink and a specific category of drinks best suited for arousing the appetite and preparing the palate, without getting one drunk or full. A Campari & soda is a light, refreshing start to a meal, while the common choices of a martini or a beer while waiting at the bar are more likely to get you drunk or full, respectively, than prepare you for a great meal.

For this drink, use whatever grapefruit is your favorite, whatever looks best at the market. Here, I prefer grapefruit closer to tart on the tart-sweet scale—none of that sweet ruby red crap. And an oily, aromatic peel (you can smell them from a foot away at the market) is key for the garnish.

Makes 1 drink.

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces (1 jigger shot) freshly-squeezed grapefruit juice
1 ounce (1 pony shot) Aperol
2 drops Fee Brothers’ Grapefruit Bitters
1 ounce (1 pony shot) sparkling water
1 large grapefruit peel

Fill half of a Boston shaker with large ice cubes. Combine the grapefruit juice, Aperol, and grapefruit bitters. Stir rapidly for 15 seconds and then let sit until the outside of the shaker starts to sweat.

Fill an old fashioned glass (a lowball) with large ice cubes. Simultaneously pour in the stirred liquids and the sparkling water. Garnish with a grapefruit peel. Enjoy.

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Aperol Pompelmo