Nomad Velvet Sazerac

It’s no secret that I really love a dram of Nomad Outland Whisky. This Scottish blend of over 30 Speyside whisky’s, created by ‘The Nose’ Richard Paterson, is a great and tasty sip. The casks containing the blend are aged for 3 more years in Scotland, before they are shipped to Jerez in the south of Spain. In that Mediterranean climate, the whisky gets an additional aging for a minimum of 12 months in old Pedro Ximenes sherry casks. 

When Nomad shared a recipe for a cross-over between a Velvet Old Fashioned and a Sazerac on their Facebook page, I wanted to take it a step further. 

I decided to use the recipe with the Nomad Outland Reserve 10 years instead of the “normal” Nomad whisky. More flavour, more dept. What a drink!!!

Nomad Velvet Sazerac

Ingredients

60 ml Nomad Outland Reserve 10 years

1 bs Gonzalez Byass Nectar (PX sherry)

3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Absinthe

Method

Give your tumbler a rinse with the Absinthe and add some icecubes. Give it a good stir to cool the glass. Add the rest of the ingredients and give it another good stir. Garnish with lemon zest or a dehydrated blood orange wheel.

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.

La Vie en Rosé

From the very start of this blog, wine has always been the “ugly duckling” in my posts. Sparkling wines are often used to top off a drink, so they still pop up regularly in a French 75 or Negroni Sbagliato. Red wine is only necessary for a fruity float on a New York Sour. And then I got this question to do something with a very nice rosé wine. 

Mouton Cadet Organic Rosé is the second organic wine, launched by Baron Philippe de Rothschild. Earlier he already launched a red organic wine. You drink this wine chilled on a summer evening, maybe try to squeeze a citrus zest over the surface. Or use it in a cocktail like I did. 

This was – by the way – the second cocktail that I’ve tried with shaved ice. Next up, I’ll try the KitchenAid Ice shaver with a frozen drink. 

La Vie en Rosé

Ingredients

60 ml Mouton Cadet Rosé wine

30 ml Aperol

30 ml lemon juice

7 ml Simple syrup

Method

Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. Give it a good shake and strain into a wineglass with a big scoop of crushed/shaved ice. Garnish with orange. 

P.S. Please do use a reusable straw. 

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.

Anguria Sour

Most years my wife (Italian roots!!!) produces home-made limoncello and arancello. But have you ever heard of anguriacello? The guys from ‘The Natural Limoncello’ have sent me a bottle. It’s more or less the same thing, but made from watermelon. Now, that’s a fruity flavour we can work with. 

Anguria Sour

Ingredients
50 ml Hendrick’s Gin
20 ml The Natural Anguriacello
20 ml lemon juice
10 ml Simple Syrup

Method
Add all ingredients to a shaker with lots of ice. Give it a good shake and strain over fresh ice in a tumbler. Garnish with a dehydrated blood 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.

La Bienvenida

Summer is just around the corner and we can use a drink that smooths us into that sunshine. This one sure does. 

The name was chosen, refering to the pineapple as symbol of hospitality. 

(Photo: Paal 26).

La Bienvenida

Ingredients
50 ml Havana Club Golden Rum
20 ml Lemon juice
10 ml Simple Syrup
30 ml Pineapple juice

Method
Shake with ice. Strain over fresh ice in a tumbler. Garnish with basil and/or fresh pineapple. 

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.

Sugar and spice

This ‘Sugar & Spice’ is a spicy alternative for a classic Rum Old Fashioned. 

With a base of Mexican Sol Tarasco Charanda Rum, I started this drink as a Rum Old Fashioned, with some sugar and Angostura aromatical bitters. Then I added a shot of Ambr. After some balancing, this ended in a tasty, but spicy drink. 

Ambr is a non-alcoholic drink, created by 'Ghost in a bottle' and based on curcuma and ginger. You can drink it mixed with soda or added in your tea. You could even drink it neat as a digestive shot or use it in the kitchen to spice up your desserts. It doesn’t have a strong and pure ginger taste like other similar brands, it's a very clever marriage between ginger and curcuma. 

In cocktails, this drink works more or less like a liqueur, but it’s no liqueur. It doesn’t contain any alcohol and even the sugar level is almost nothing. This is about spices and taste. I have used ginger mainly in sour-style drinks before, but never in Old Fashioned-style drinks. Ok, I might have used ginger syrup before, but no similar products. I was surprised by the result. 

Sugar & Spice

Ingredients
50 ml Charanda Rum or Rum Agricole
20 ml Ambr Curcuma & Ginger
10 ml Simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Method
Add everything to your shaker with ice. Give it a good shake and serve over fresh ice in a tumbler. Garnish with dehydrated orange. 

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.

Frontera

Can an Old Fashioned recipe inspire me to create a totally different sour-style drink? Apparently, it can. When I saw this recipe online with Japanese whisky mixed with rum agricole, I just needed to try this with some pineapple. The result was interesting. It’s a cocktail with complex flavours, which you don’t expect. 

If your palate is more “bartender-like”, try it without the sugar, to experience the true profile of this drink. Including the sugar, this drink is ready for an audience that wants something more than a simple Whisky Sour. 

For this drink, I used Mexican Sol Tarasco Charanda Rum, aged for 4 years. Charanda is a regional product from the state of Michoacàn. It’s distilled from sugar cane, and harvested 1300 metres above sea level, using traditional production methods and a slow distillation process. The Pacheco family has been making Charanda (also known as Guarapo) for more than 11 years. The distillery is located in Uruapan.

Frontera

Ingredients

25 ml Japanese blended whisky
(I used ‘The Tottori’)

25 ml Sol Tarasco Charanda Rum 4y

25 ml Gonzalez Byass Amontillado sherry

25 ml Pineapple juice

7 ml Simple Syrup

Method

Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. Give it a good shake and strain over fresh ice in a tumbler. Garnish with a cocktail sherry. 

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.