If you want to enjoy a tasty cocktail at home, it’s always easy to have a few “even parts” recipes at hand. Almost impossible to make a mistake and mostly very flavourful drinks.
Today I’m making another unusual combination with fino sherry. We add the boozy layer of the gin, with a lot of citrus notes, and the herbal and fruity notes of the Vylmer Apéritif. You do need a little bit of tonic to blend it together and add that ‘zesty’ extra.
Gin & Vylmer
Ingredients
30 ml HTK Gin (or another gin with fresh lemon flavour)
30 ml Tio Pepe Fino sherry
30 ml Vylmer Apéritif
Tonic
Method
Stir together the gin and sherry in a mixglass with ice. Strain into a tumbler with a big block of ice. Top off with a little bit of tonic. Give it one more gentle stir. Garnish with a fresh strawberry.
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.
Sherry is one of my favourite ingredients to lift a cocktail to the next level. It really adds this extra silky layer to your drink. I have used amontillado and PX sherry in several cocktails, but these days I’m experimenting with fino sherry.
Fino sherry is probably the most dry wine on this planet, but packed with flavour and it works very well in several combinations.
And of course, we’ll keep it very simple !
Scotch & Fino
Ingredients
60 ml The Balvenie DoubleWood
30 ml Tio Pepe fino sherry
7 ml Simple syrup
7 ml Maraschino liqueur
Method
Stir everything together in a mixglass with lots of ice. Strain in a tumbler with a big block of ice. Add a dehydrated lemon 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.
Orange marmalade is an ingredient which is commonly used in a range of cocktails. I have used it before in Negroni-style drinks and of course in the all-time classic, Salvatore Calabrese’s Breakfast Martini. Today I’m using it in a rum-cocktail.
Again, nothing is home-made, all bottles bought at the local liqueur store. You can replicate this at home too.
Hemingway Breakfast
Ingredients
50 ml Bacardi Carta Blanca
20 ml Fresh lime juice
10 ml Falernum
½ bs Orange marmalade
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Absinthe
Method
Select a nice coupe for this drink and give your glass a rinse with the Absinthe. Put all ingredients (except the Absinthe of course) in a shaker with lots of ice. Shake well and double strain in the coupe.
You could add a piece of orange peel for garnish, but I was out of oranges 😉
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.
Two years ago I spent a week at the bodega of Gonzalez Byass in Jerez. In those days I learned everything there is to know about sherry from the godfather of sherry himself, Antonio Flores.
Back home I started using sherry in cocktails more often. I absolutely love a Velvet old Fashioned with PX sherry, but also learned that whisky and Amontillado sherry are a pretty good mix. Some days I couldn’t be bothered and just poured myself a cool glass of fino. The only thing I had never done before was mix a real sherry cocktail. It was about time to do that.
The most classic sherry cocktail is probably the Sherry Cobbler. This is a pre-prohibition cocktail which has changed a lot through the years. In my oldest cocktailbooks they just take a glass with crushed ice, dust some sugar over it and add a few shots of sherry. Garnish with berries. That’s it. Today it’s a slightly more complex sherry-cocktail, still served with berries on top.
“Sherry, sugar and citrus, shaken, poured over crushed ice and slurped through a straw, the Cobbler is thought to have originated sometime in the 1820s or early 1830s” (Punch)
It’s also a cocktail for bartenders to alter and create their own version of it. I have tasted some really fantastic rum cobblers in Belgium’s best cocktailbars. For my home-version I also had to play with the recipe because normally the base is oloroso-sherry, which I didn’t have at home. So I searched my liqueur-cabinet for the next best thing. I was also out of crushed ice, so had to settle for ugly small cubes. The result was what I would call a “Dessert Cobbler”, slightly sweeter than the original, but nevertheless pretty good 😉
Dessert Cobbler
Ingredients
60 ml Gonzalez Byass Cristina (Medium Sherry)
15 ml Gonzalez Byass Nectar (PX Sherry)
5 ml Maraschino liqueur
5 ml Sugar syrup
7,5 ml pineapple juice
7,5 ml orange juice
Method
Shake with lots of ice. Strain in a glass with small icecubes or shaved ice. Garnish with mint, strawberries and blueberries. Use a metal straw, it will also get chilled by the ice.
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.
Still trying out new combinations with the bottles in my homebar. A few days ago I created the lovechild of the Boulevardier and the Contessa. The result was a very tasty ‘The Italian Mark’.
Let’s go a step further today on this same Negroni-style path. Let’s create the lovechild of the Boulevardier and the Negroni Sbagliato. The result is again very tasty and Mark is getting a little fizzy in his head 😉
Mark gets a little fizzy
Ingredients
3 cl Maker’s Mark Bourbon
3 cl Campari
3 cl Prosecco
Method
Add the bourbon and Campari to a tumbler with small icecubes. Stir for 15 seconds.
Add the Prosecco. Give it just one more gentle stir. Add a dried orangewheel. Enjoy.
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.
During these crazy corona-weeks you need to challenge yourself to do something crazy once in a while.
Is it possible to create a quick and dirty cocktail by picking a bottle of heavy booze and a second bottle with a French style apéritif? Let’s try it.
We mix vodka in even parts with a French-style apéritif and blend it together with a few splashes of tonic.
Maybe not my best recipe ever, but still enjoyable. Not bad at all for something you stir together under two minutes.
Q&D French-style Apéritif
Ingredients
4 cl Vodka
4 cl Midi Apéritif
Tonic
Method
Pour the vodka and Midi Aperitif directly into your tumbler. Add ice and stir for 15 seconds. Add some more ice and top with tonic. Give it just one more gentle stir. Add a dried orange 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.
During the lockdown there are no events or product launches, so we try to create new and other combinations with the bottles in our homebar.
This Negroni-style drink could be the lovechild of the Boulevardier and the Contessa. The sour orange, tarty rhubarb and bitter herbs of the Aperol work very well with the slightly sweeter bourbon. I blend it together with a Belgian vermouth based on rosé wine.
The Italian Mark
Ingredients
3 cl Maker’s Mark bourbon
3 cl Aperol
3 cl Belmouth
Method
Stir everything together in a mixglass with lots of ice. Strain in a tumbler with a big block of ice. Add a dried limeslice.
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.
Sun is shining on this Easter weekend. Keep it safe, stay at home and enjoy some tasty drinks.
Time for another delicious cocktail. This tiki-style recipe is a little bit inspired by ‘The Travelling Banana’. I think I not only simplified the recipe, but actually made it more interesting with a fuller body.
Bacardi goes Bananas
Ingredients
50 ml Bacardi Cuatro Rum
25 ml Giffard Banane du Brésil (Liqueur)
15 ml Gonzalez Byass Vina AB Amontillado sherry
7 ml Orgeat syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters
Optional : 5 ml Port Charlotte (Peated whisky)
Method
Everything except the whisky can go into a shaker with lots of small ice cubes or ice pebbles. Shake thorough for 20 seconds. Dirty dump (with the ice!) into a Mojito glass. Add some extra ice, a dried orange wheel and a sweet cocktail cherry. Cheers !
If you want to make it even more interesting, add a float of Port Charlotte peated whisky. Just 5 ml should be enough, pour it over the round side of your spoon.
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.
Since about two months ago, we have a small white puppy at home. Her name is Penny and she really loves to play in the garden. The result most of the times is that she’s not really white anymore and needs a bath.
When I was joking about this with my neighbour (who also has dogs) on WhatsApp, he sent me a GIF with a “Dirty White Dog” cocktail, which is a variation on the well-known classic, The Dirty Martini. I never heard of this variation before and immediately wanted to try this.
A dirty white dog is a spirit-forward cocktail with a strong base of clear unaged whisky-spirit (you can’t call it whisky until it has aged for at least 3 years). “New make” is another name for this. It’s also a nostalgic reminder of the Moonshine that was distilled illegally in the Appalachian forests at night.
In liqueur stores you should be able to find (or order) a few brands of unaged whisky-spirit. Ole Smoky is present in almost any liqueur store and some supermarkets, but also local brands like The Belgian Owl have bottles with their new make spirit.
Of course I adapted the recipe a bit to my personal taste. I have to admit this was one of the tastiest cocktails I have tried in months. Damn, this was good… why haven’t I tried this one before ?!
Dirty White Dog
Ingredients
5 cl Ole Smoky Moonshine
2 cl Forest Dry Vermouth
1 cl Olive Brine (the liquid from your jar of olives, mostly a mix of salt, vinegar and water)
Method
Add everything to your mixglass with lots of ice. Stir for 30 seconds. Strain in a chilled Martini glass. Add an olive.
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.
A few days ago a representative of tour operator Caractère suggested to make a cocktail which would make people dream away to the holiday spots they love most. Lots of people will stay at home this summer because of the COVID-19 virus. Let’s soften the blow with a glass of pure sunshine.
That same evening I was enjoying a typical ‘south of France’ aperitif, Vylmer & Tonic. The question inspired me to upgrade that simple but tasty drink into a ‘real’ tasty cocktail. Fly away with me to the beach or coast of your choice.
During this #lockdown, you probably won’t have a lot of choice of bottles in your homebar, so I’m suggesting a few alternatives. It won’t be the exact same thing, but it will still be a tasty drink :
- If you don’t have Vylmer, try using Midi Apéritif, Aperol or even a Rosé vermouth.
- If you don’t have elderflower syrup, try using Fever-Tree Elderflower tonic and simple syrup. You will find both in most supermarkets.
Médi-T
Ingredients
4 cl Tequila Silver
2 cl Vylmer, Apéritif du Sud
2 cl Fresh lemon juice
1 cl Elderflower syrup
Tonic
Method
Bring all ingredients (except the tonic) together in a mixglass with lots of ice. Stir for 20 seconds and double strain in a nice cocktail glass with fresh ice. Top off with a little bit of tonic. Add a dried limewheel.
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.
Some days you don’t want to spend too much time fixing your drink, but Gin & Tonics can get a bit boring after a while. While Italy has a well-known range of vermouths and amari, the south of France also has a lot of wine-based aperitif liqueurs. This style of aperitifs also seems to inspire Belgian producers. A few months ago we tested Midi Apéritif Classic Red, today we open a bottle of Vylmer, Apéritif du Sud.
Vylmer is a product created by the Belgian Annelies Lefere, but produced in the Provence. This aperitif is based on rosé wines from the Luberon, with a selection of herbs and a distillate of sweet and bitter oranges. It’s barrel aged for 3 months to get the perfect balance. Vylmer can be served neat, on ice, mixed with tonic or prosecco… or in cocktails.
In our next article we will shake up a nice Mediterranean style cocktail that will sweep you all the way down to the beach or coast of your choice. Today we enjoy a nice and refreshing Vylmer & Tonic. If you’re used to adding 5 cl of Gin to your G&T, watch it because you’ll need a bit extra of this product !
Vylmer & Tonic
Ingredients
1 part Vylmer
1 part Tonic
Method
Add both in a glass with ice cubes. Give it one gentle stir to mix. Add a dried orange 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.
Warning : Sweet cocktail alert !!!
Do you like sweet cocktails ? I really don’t.
If you don’t like drinks like Cointreau on ice, move on to another article. If you do like it, read on… it’s a tasty but rather sweet cocktail.
I know some of you really like sweet cocktails, so once in a blue moon I also post a sweeter recipe. Most sweet cocktails are what I’d call “spiked juices”, I really don’t want to share too much of those. Today I’m sharing an old classic which is a more boozy kind of sweeter drink. While the original Waldorf cocktail is based on rye whiskey, the “Cointreau Waldorf” is based on Cointreau orange-liqueur. It might be interesting to experiment with different curacao or triple sec brands.
This is a stirred cocktail with three sweet ingredients. And yes, I also go into diabetic shock just by reading this… but the vermouth also adds an interesting herbal touch to the recipe.
Another interesting experiment would be to serve this drink on ice and go Americano style by adding some soda or tonic to lighten up the sweetness.
Cointreau Waldorf
Ingredients
60 ml Cointreau
30 ml Sweet vermouth
½ bs grenadine
Method
Stir the ingredients together in a mixing glass with lots of ice. Stir for 30 seconds because you really want this cocktail to be very chilled. Strain in a prechilled coupe. Add a cocktail cherry.
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.
