Scallywag - The Stray Dog goes to Italy

 

It’s hot, I would love to be in Italy right now and I really love this Douglas Laing Speyside malt blend. That’s three excuses to mix up one more cocktail based on Scallywag 😉

This whisky has a very recognizable flavour from the sherry casks and I just want to enhance this a little bit more. Some people add a tiny bit of tonic to Negroni-style drinks to take the sharp edge off the bitterness. I did the same with some dry fino sherry. The result is a Boulevardier with a nice sherry-touch.

The Stray Dog goes to Italy

Ingredients
30 ml Campari
45 ml Scallywag Blended Malt Whisky
30 ml Cinzano sweet vermouth
10 ml Tio Pepe Fino sherry

Method
Stir everything together in a large mixglass with lots of ice. Strain into a tumbler with a big block of ice. Add a piece of orange (fresh or dried). Salute !

Tip
I paired this tasty cocktail with a piece of ‘Doré de Lathuy’ Bio-cheese. This is cheese from the Ardennes, made from raw cow milk. This pairing was suggested by cheese master Peter Verbruggen. 

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.

The Stray Dog Returns - Scallywag

 

It’s more or less a year ago that I first played around with Douglas Laing’s Speyside blended malt. Since Speyside is my favourite Scottish Whisky region, I really need to use this great blend more often in tasty cocktails.

Scallywag is a blended malt whisky on 46% alcohol. With casks retrieved from Macallan, Mortlach, Glenrothes, and a few more distilleries. They have a tasty combination of ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks. The color, taste and flavour of this whisky do give the impression that lots of sherry casks were used.

• Color : Rich and dark
• Nose : Richly spiced, vanilla, sherry, oak
• Mouth : Strong whisky with herbs, warm red fruits, Christmas pudding and dark chocolate
• Finish : Orange peel, apple, pear, tobacco and fruitcake

Last year I have sent the Stray Dog to the Big Apple, in a tasty variation on the Manhattan which I paired with some great cheese. It’s about time to take the next step and bring the Stray Dog back to Scotland for another variation on the Manhattan, adding even more flavours.

The Stray Dog returns

Ingredients
45 ml Scallywag Speyside Blended Malt
20 ml Cinzano sweet vermouth
15 ml Conker Cold Brew Coffee liqueur
20 ml Lemon juice
1 dash Angostura bitters

Method
Add all ingredients in your shaker with lots of ice. Shake for 20 seconds and double strain into a pre-chilled coupe. Add a cocktail cherry. Enjoy it out in the rain, don’t forget your umbrella 😉

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.

(FAIL!!!) The Iceberg

 

Let me reveal one of the hidden secrets of booze-blogging. When we publish a recipe for a cocktail, do we always create or reshake the drink in just one go? Of course not.

I only publish a recipe (and the photos) when I’m satisfied with the result, even when only the taste needs a bit of tweaking and the problem doesn’t really show on the Instagram photo. If I’m not happy, it’s not posted online.
 
When I’m not satisfied, it’s because something just isn’t right. Maybe the cocktail isn’t perfectly balanced and I need to tweak the recipe. Or maybe I’m not really convinced by one of the ingredients and want to swap it for another ingredient and try again (recently I did this with a bottle of rum). Or maybe (not that often, stop laughing!) I made a stupid mistake in the execution making the cocktail.

Sometimes it's not possible to have another try… A while back I already made a list of reasons why bloggers don’t like small samples. Let me repeat it shortly, because the former article was in Dutch :

• Small samples are often only 20 or 30 ml, while you need at least 45 to 50 ml as a base for a cocktail. 
• When we are creating a cocktail based on a new spirit, sometimes we need multiple takes to just ‘get it right’. If we only have 30 or even 50 ml of the new spirit, we only have one single shot to get it right. If we fail, there is no second chance and no article or post. 
• Last but not least, a sample tube or mini-bottle is not really sexy on our Instagram photo. For the same reason we hate photographing ‘almost empty’ bottles. A normal size and almost full bottle is always sexy and very recognizable for our followers.

Earlier this week I tried to reshake a more or less classic German cocktail : The Iceberg. This tasty ‘bitter forward’ cocktail is not difficult to make at all, still I succeeded in screwing it up big time.

 

Recently I bought a new mini-blender for my homebar. I was looking for a nice and easy recipe to test the blender. The even parts cocktail “The Iceberg” would be just perfect. Problem: My new blender seems to be A LOT better than the old one. The crushed ice didn’t know what hit it.. in just 4 or 5 seconds the ice was completely vanished. The result was a nice and tasty creamy drink, but no iceberg at all. I added some extra icecubes to the Margarita glass to make it an acceptable drink, but my perfect Instagram photo was completely ruined. And I couldn’t go for a second try because my bottle of tequila was empty and it was the only reposado Tequila in my homebar. Yes, I know that’s a shame. I decided to use this experience for a FAIL-article 😉

 

My advice : if your blender can handle crushing icecubes, the result will be much better. I’ve made lots of Frozen Daiquiris and Frozen Margaritas in the past summers, always using small icecubes with a perfect crushed result.

 

The Iceberg

 

Ingredients

30 ml Tequila reposado (Medium-aged tequila)

30 ml Orgeat Syrup

1 mini-bottle of Underberg

25 ml lemon juice

 

Method

All ingredients in your blender with 1 cup of crushed ice. But I would REALLY recommend icecubes instead, unless you also want to risk screwing up the drink. Blend until it’s smooth as a slushy. Serve in a Margarita- or Martini-glass. Add a metal straw and the empty Underberg-bottle. Cheers !

 

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.

Ardbeg Sour

 

In the past weeks we joined two great online Ardbeg events : Ardbeg Day and Ardbeg Hour (=whisky tasting). During the last event Brendan McCarron also shared his favourite Ardbeg cocktail recipe. Brendan calls it his own version of the Daiquiri, but for me that name really connects to rum. I’ll just call it the Ardbeg Sour.   

Ardbeg Sour

Ingredients
50 ml Ardbeg 10
20 ml cloudy apple juice
20 ml lime juice
10 ml Vanilla syrup

Method
All ingredients into the shaker with lots of ice. Shake for 30 seconds and strain into a tumbler with a big block of ice. Slainte !

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.

Martini on the rocks

 

Warning : If you are a die-hard Martini-enthusiast and you already freak out completely when you hear James Bond order a Martini “shaken, not stirred” (*), you might need to take a pill to calm down before reading on.

In this article I’m talking about a new trend in American bars, or at least a revived trend: Martinis served on ice in a tumbler. Yes, read that again. On the positive side, your drink will stay cool much longer, on the negative side it will water down a little bit because ice will always do that. I tried it and actually liked it. I do like my drinks really cool.

I started from a Dry Martini recipe, because I also wanted to keep the color as transparent as possible. White vermouths often are a bit yellow. The result is a very clear drink in which the block of clear ice completely disappears. 

Martini on the rocks

Ingredients
60 ml Beefeater Gin
20 ml Forest Dry vermouth

Method
Stir the gin and vermouth in a mixglass with lots of ice until perfectly chilled. Strain into a tumbler with a big chunk of ice. Add an olive if you want. I kept it on the side to display the clearness of the drink.

(*) In my opinion James Bond likes his Martinis “shaken, not stirred” because he really wants more dilution. He needs to lower the alcohol to keep his mind clear to combat the villains.

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.

Verhofstede Edelweiss Gin + 2 cocktails

 

This is our second blog in the series we do together with Foodbelgium.com – Links with promo’s and FREE items at the bottom of this article.

Are there still well-known classics that haven’t really been featured on this blog yet? How about this cool and refreshing Tom Collins with a nice base of Edelweiss gin ?
This gin by Verhofstede holds 20 botanicals and is produced with water from the Edelweiss source. The gin has floral and citrus notes and a nice and sweet finish. It received the silver medal on the Concours Mondial in Brussels.

Tom Collins

Ingredients
5 cl Verhofstede Edelweiss Gin
3 cl lemon juice
1,5 cl Simple Syrup
Perrier

Method
Shake the gin, lemon and sugar with lots of ice. Strain into a highball glass with fresh ice. Add soda water. I really like Perrier for this because it has just the right amount of bubbles. Garnish with fresh or dried lemon. Perfect drink to cool down on a hot day 😉

And even more !!!
At our home we really like all things vintage and retro. That’s probably what I also like most about the Verhofstede spirits. They use old family recipes to create modern day drinks. Another Belgian company who does this is Ritchie. They have a range of vintage lemonades, which are very enjoyable and can now be found in several supermarkets.

The original lemonades dropped off the market in the 70s. Jan Verlinden, son of the former brewer, quit his marketing job in 2016, refreshed the old recipes (less sugar etc.) and brought them back to the market. They even have a natural coke without caramel or phosphor acid. Jan is the 4th generation running the brewery in Lubbeek, near Leuven.

The coke and the grapefruit lemonade both mix excellent with rum. I wanted to sample the orange lemonade and also give it a spike. This time it’s not a Gin Ricky, but a Gin Ritchie 😉

Gin Ritchie

Ingredients
5 cl Verhofstede Edelweiss Gin
1 bottle of Ritchie Orange

Method
Add your gin to a tumbler with ice. Top up with Ritchie lemonade. Give it a single stir. Garnish with a dried orange slice. Cheers !

Buy now
Verhofstede Promopage   
Edelweiss Gin 20 CL (+ FREE apero mix) 
Edelweiss Gin 50 CL (+ FREE Gimber)
 
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. Affiliate links present in this article.

Negroniweek postponed to september - Can we serve a tikidrink in Italian style ?

 

Normally the Negroniweek 2020 would have started today. Because of the COVID19 pandemic and the big challenges bars all around the world have to face when they reopen, the Negroniweek has been postponed.

Negroniweek 2020 will now take place September 14-20.
But just for fun and to keep spirits up, let’s do a Negroni-style drink with Campari, a nice spirit and a tastemaker 😉

Why not try to do a crossover between a tikidrink and a traditional Italian aperitivo?
Is that even possible? Most tikidrinks are slightly messy, often served by ‘dirty dumping’ the content of the shaker into a large glass or tiki-mug. What if we create a very simple tikidrink, but serve it like a clean Italian aperitivo?

For the base of this drink I selected Bacardi Cuatro. First I had another try with World’s End Tiki rum, but I wasn’t 100% convinced by the result. I do however use some World’s End Falernum and finish with Campari.

By the way: Italians do love their tikidrinks too. The best tikibar I have visited until today, was probably an Italian bar, Nu Lounge Bar in Bologna. The totally crazy pirates of Tortuga Bar in Durbuy are pretty high on my personal list too.

Tiki in Italia

Ingredients
50 ml Bacardi Cuatro
20 ml World’s End Falernum
20 ml Campari
10 ml Simple syrup
Tonic

Method
Add rum, falernum, sugar and Campari to a shaker with lots of ice. Shake for 20 seconds and strain into your favourite tumbler with a clean block of ice.
Top off with a few dashes of tonic to take the edge off. Add a single amareno 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.