Spring Break

I have worked with Caraïbos juices before, but I was slightly intrigued when I saw this bottle of “Sex on the beach”-juice in my local liqueur store. This mixed juice is made with a puree of pineapple, cranberry, melon, peach, sugar and some acidity for balance. It’s a juice especially created to mix up easy “Sex on the beach” cocktails, by just adding 40 ml vodka to 120 ml of this juice. But that’s cutting it a bit short in my opinion.

FYI: The “Sex on the beach” cocktail is registered at the International Bartenders Association as an alcoholic cocktail containing 40 ml vodka, 20 ml peach schnapps, 40 ml fresh orange juice and 40 ml cranberry juice. 

I decided to make my variation on this classic and stay true to the story behind this drink. The original drink was invented in San Francisco in 1980 and was a real party drink during spring break. Since then several versions of the recipe have been around. 

My variation is based on Jenever and balanced to be served in a coppa- or wineglass with lots of ice. The strong fruity flavours might give you the impression that it’s a sweet drink, but after a second sip, you’ll realise that this isn’t the case. 

About the image: My wife loves to sketch and draw things, so I asked her to draw my drink.

Spring Break

Ingredients

50 ml Fryns Premium Jenever

40 ml Caraïbos “Sex on the beach” (mixed juice)

30 ml Fresh lemon juice

10 ml Simple syrup

Method

Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. Give it a good shake for 15 seconds and strain over fresh ice in a coppa glass or a large wine glass. Garnish with blood orange. 

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.

Southern aperitivo

Spring has finally arrived and admit it, you automatically start dreaming of summer holidays and southern aperitivo moments. That thought was enough to start exploring flavours. 

I mixed up a fantastic Negroni-style drink and together with my wife I've put together a great aperitivo plate with pickled vegetables by Camps, sardines in olive oil and a delicious homemade mayonnaise. 

"Bourbon forward" Boulevardier

Ingredients
50 ml Bourbon
30 ml Red Italian vermouth
30 ml Red Italian bitter

Method
Add the ingredients to a tumbler with ice. Stir for 15 seconds. Garnish with blood orange. 

Balsamic-Parmesan Mayonnaise

Ingredients
2 egg yolks
300 ml Olive oil
1 table spoon lime juice
1 teaspoon mustard
2 table spoons grated parmesan cheese
1 rasped clove of Garlick
5 anchovies 
Cayenne pepper
Pepper and salt

Method
Mix a mayonnaise with the egg yolks, lime juice, mustard and olive oil. We used the emersion blender. We use a small high container, add everything and mix it from bottom to top until the mayonnaise is nice and thick. 

Add the extra ingredients, mix again until completely blended. Season with pepper, salt and a tiny bit of cayenne pepper. 

You can find the recipe in Dutch at Tineke's Cucina. 

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.

Mister Campbell

The Manhattan is a classic recipe that really invited us to experiment. In the Peaky Blinders cocktail book, I discovered another delicious beauty. In this case flavours of absinthe and Benedictine are added to the core recipe. I decided to pick an American Rye whiskey for my drink, which has slightly more sweetness.

Mister Campbell

Ingredients
2 dashes of Angostura aromatic bitters
2 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters
20 ml Red Italian vermouth
30 ml Bénédictine
40 ml Knob Creek Rye whiskey
Absinthe for a rinse

Method
For this recipe, you need a Martini glass or coupe. Rinse the glass with a little bit of absinthe (or spray it, which often works better) and cool the glass with ice. 

Add all other ingredients to a mixing glass with lots of ice. Stir with a barspoon for 15 seconds. Remove the ice from your glass and strain your drink into the glass. If you have a spray bottle with absinthe, finish with another spray of absinthe over the glass. 

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.

Brooklyn

Angostura aromatic bitters are probably among the very first bitters that were ever used to prepare mixed drinks. And even today they still seem to be the salt and pepper used to season drinks by any bartender around the world. While you have a choice in hundreds of different bitters today, the original Angostura aromatical bitters are still the preferred bitters for a wide array of drinks. 

The Brooklyn is a variation on the Manhattan, adding the sweetness of Maraschino liqueur to the recipe. Again a recipe that will work much better with slightly higher proof whisky. (100-110 Proof would be a much better choice than 80 proof in this case). 

Brooklyn

Ingredients

60 ml Rye Whiskey (higher proof is better!)

30 ml Red Italian vermouth

20 ml Maraschino liqueur

2 dashes of Angostura aromatical bitters

Method

Add everything to a shaker with lots of ice. Give it a good shake and strain into a chilled tumbler with fresh ice. Garnish with a cocktail cherry. Add a few drops of cherry syrup.

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.

Monkey Gland

I already told you about the fact that in the roaring 20s, spirits were often mixed with sugar, sweet vermouths and juices to conceal the poor quality of the spirit. 

This probably happened in almost every (speakeasy) bar at that time. But some of those bars tried to uplift the recipes by adding other flavourful and aromatic ingredients such as Absinthe. 

This mixed drink of a very nice example of such a recipe. And do have a good look at the coupe, it’s a thrift shop find that might as well data back to those exciting years. 

Monkey Gland

Ingredients

60 ml Dry Gin

20 ml Fresh orange juice

5 ml Grenadine syrup

2,5 ml Simple syrup

3 dashes of Absinthe

Method

First, we prepare the coupe by either rinsing it with a few dashes of absinthe or just spraying the interior of the glass. I always have a small spray bottle with absinthe on my bar which makes life easier. Add ice to cool down the glass. 

Add all other ingredients (so, everything but the absinthe) to your shaker with enough ice. Give it a good shake and double strain it into the chilled coupe (remove ice first!). Garnish with a nice piece of orange peel. Unfortunately, I had no fresh oranges left, so I used a dehydrated slice. 

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.

Angel

When we mix a longdrink with rum, the mixers that first come to mind are coke (Cuba Libre!!!), ginger-ale or ginger beer. In this Gatsby-style highball drink we use tonic. The combination of rum and tonic was a bit new and unusual for me, but your tastebuds adapt pretty fast. 

Without the intention to stereotype, I do feel this is a nice aperitif which will probably be liked by most ladies at your next “roaring 20s”-party. 

Angel

Ingredients

50 ml Havana Club 5y Rum 

10 ml House of Broughton Rose syrup

Tonic

Method

This hassle-free drink can be built directly into your longdrink glass. Fill the glass with ice cubes, add rum and syrup, top with tonic. Give it a few gentle stirs. Possible garnish: a dried rosebud.

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.

Classy drinks from Babylon, the movie

This year (and maybe even longer because I absolutely love it…) Double Strainger will focus on the ‘roaring 20s’. I will spotlight and create prohibition and speakeasy-style drinks and think about how drinks were mixed and served in that specific period in time. 

I’m incredibly thankful that I had the opportunity to work with Paramount Pictures for the Belgian release of their new movie “Babylon”, starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.
More info on the movie is below the recipes. 

In this post and the linked socials, I’m spotlighting three iconic classic cocktails starring in this film. I had lots of fun mixing and sipping them. I hope you’ll enjoy them too. Make sure you don’t miss the fun reel on Instagram, where you’ll see me in action, shaking these beauties. 

From the official list of cocktails linked to this movie, I selected three drinks that really represent this era of class and taste: The Classic Martini, The Corpse Reviver and The Orange Blossom.

The Classic Martini is THE iconic drink of this period. The origin of the recipe is a bit unclear, as is the case for most cocktails. This drink was probably served first to John B. Rockefeller in 1911, by a bartender at the Knickerbocker hotel. It’s questionable because Jerry Thomas already mixed Sloe Gin with vermouth and bitters around the 1880s. 

The classic Martini is also one of the favourite base recipes for bartenders to experiment on. It was the original base from which many other modern classics have been developed, like e.g. The Espresso Martini, The Breakfast Martini, The Cosmopolitan, … even the Manhattan and Rob Roy are very similar recipes. 

The gin-based Corpse Reviver (also known as the Corpse Reviver II) is one of the better-known cocktails published in the Savoy Cocktail book, one of the classic references for mixed drinks. 

The Orange Blossom, at last, was one of the more trendy party drinks during the roaring 20s. Good quality spirits were hard to find and bartenders often mixed questionable spirits with juices and fortified wines to hide the poor taste of the badly produced spirits. 

The Classic Martini

Ingredients
60 ml Dry Gin
30 ml Dry Vermouth
1 dash of orange bitters

Method
Combine ingredients in a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir well to chill and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist a piece of lemon peel as a garnish or toss in an olive on a spear.