Tokyo Martini

With the “Golden Martini” still on my mind, I was wondering how to implement that subtle sweetness in other ways to this great classic drink. When a bottle of Japanese gin landed on our homebar, I knew this would be the opportunity to create an Asian-style Martini. Instead of vermouth, I decided to use a medium sherry, which has a slight sweetness from Pedro Ximenez grapes, mixed in with the Palomino Fino sherry. 

But then again, Tokyo Nights is also no ordinary gin. This gin is distilled from sugar cane molasses… just like rum. It’s made with a secret recipe that uses numerous local plants, such as yuzu bark and matcha powder. Mixed with juniper berries, coriander seeds and liquorice roots you end up with a pretty decent gin. It doesn’t surprise me at all that in this distillery they also produce rum and vodka. 

• Nose: Strong juniper berries.
• Palate: Full, fresh yuzu notes.
• Finish: Long and savoury.

Tokyo Martini

Ingredients
50ml Tokyo Nights Gin
20ml Gonzalez Byass Cristina (Medium Sherry)
1 dash of orange bitters

Method
Stir everything together in a mixing glass with lots of ice. Strain into a chilled Martini glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Discount code
I was playing around with my brand new Nakano Japanese Chef’s knife for cutting the garnish. You can find a reel on Instagram where you see me cutting three different orange garnishes. If you’re interested in these great knives, visit the Nakano website and enter DOUBLESTRAINGER on checkout as a 20% discount code.

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.

3 Days of Angostura (1/3) : Sidekick 7

This year no “12 days of Christmas”, but “3 days of Angostura”.
As you already have noticed, I’m writing this short series in English, because I was challenged by The House of Angostura to publish 3 different festive cocktails, each of them including two of their top products : Angostura 7 Rum and Amaro di Angostura.

They asked to write this series in English, so they can also share them with their audience. We are also thinking about switching to English for our blog, to make it easier for international producers to work with us… and because we seem to hit our ceiling in local growth. A recent poll on our Instagram story shows that ±79% would rather read our articles and social media posts in English.

In this first article I will also tell you a bit more about both bottles :

Angostura 7    
 
The continuous stills of Angostura in Trinidad and Tobago produce a massive amount of good quality rum. Even if you haven’t tasted any of the Angostura bottles, be aware that most European rumblends also contain very large amounts of Angostura rum.

Angostura 7 is a blend of aged rums, matured for at least 7 years in bourbon barrels.

Nose : Maple syrup, chocolate and spices. A bit of bourbon and vanilla from the cask.
Mouth : Again chocolate, caramel, coffee, honey, toffee.
Finish : More chocolate, caramel and coffee, a layer of crème pâtissier.

Amaro di Angostura

Probably everyone knows Angostura’s iconic bitters which are part of so many classic cocktails. From the same process comes the latest innovation from the House of Angostura : Amaro di Angostura, with a deep amber colour, aromas of cinnamon, dark chocolate and… Angostura bitters.

A good quality amaro can really bring the ingredients of a cocktail together. Add 20 ml of amaro to your Old Fashioned (I don’t even care if you make it with Whisky, Bourbon or Rum) and see what happens. It’s a serious upgrade you won’t regret.

To start our journey, we bring these great flavours together in a Sidekick cocktail. The Sidekick is a variation on the classic Sidecar, which is normally made with Angostura 5.

Sidekick 7

Ingredients
3 cl Angostura 7 Rum
3 cl Amaro di Angostura
1,5 cl Cointreau
1,5 cl Lemon juice
2 dashes of Angostura aromatic bitters

Method
Place all ingredients in your cocktail shaker with lots of ice, shake well then strain into chilled 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. This article is a paid promotion for House of Angostura.