Strawberry - Bergamot - Vanilla

Bergamot citrusfruit may be less known to us, it looks most similar to a lime. Its origin is said to be a crossover between a lime and an orange. The scent is very recognizable, you also recognise this scent from Earl Grey tea. Bergamot liqueur used to be the favourite drink at the Italian Royal Court. 

Italicus bergamot liqueur is made with bergamot citrus from Calabria, Sicilian lemons, lavender, chamomile, and gentian. You can drink this liqueur mixed with Prosecco, Gin, or even with a refreshing beer. Of course, I went a step further and created an original cocktail. 

The combination with strawberries and vanilla can also be found in certain desserts. I also thought this was a beautiful trio to translate into the glass. I chose typical Italian flavours and wanted to bring summer into the glass.

Strawberry - Bergamot - Vanilla

Ingredients
30ml Campari, infused with strawberry for two days. 
20ml Italicus (Bergamot liqueur)
7 ml Vanilla syrup
Prosecco

Method
Add cut-up straberries in a jar and cover with Campari. Give it a good shake and let it rest for two days. Filter the fruit out of the liquid. 

Add the Campari, Italicus liqueur and syrup to a mixinh glas with lots of ice. Stir ten seconds to cool and mix. Strain in a large wineglass and add fresh ice. Top with a good quality Prosecco. Give it just one more gentle stir (You don't want to loose the bubbles). Garnish with strawberry. 

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Consulting unless stated otherwise in the article. This recipe was created for Paal 26 Grrand Café. 

Shanghai Mist

Whenever I receive a bottle of spirit with a very specific scent or flavour, it’s actually fun to experiment with combinations. 

I know that a sour base always seems to work, but this time I wanted to stay away from that classic path. 

Panda Gin is not your average gin. It’s a Belgian organic gin packed with flavours from the botanicals used in the production process. The juniper berries are crushed and macerated in basic alcohol before they are added to the still. Next comes the infusion with litchi, cherry, orange peel, star anise and a few undisclosed botanicals. 

The result is a spirit with very rich and fruity notes. Delicate plants like rosemary and basil are macerated separately before being added to the mix. This gin is distilled 6 times in a continuous still. In my personal opinion, this gin has a very oriental style and I decided to work on that. 

Another nice gimmick, I fed the description and the list of ingredients into an artificial intelligence chat server and asked for a suggestion for the name of the drink. I think "Shanghai Mist" was just perfect. 

Shanghai Mist

Ingredients

40ml Panda Gin

30ml Lillet Blanc

30ml Déjà-vu Oriental aperitif     

1d orange bitters

Method

Add the three ingredients to a mixing glass with lots of ice. Give it a good stir for 12 to 15 seconds. Strain into a tumbler with a big rock of clear ice. Garnish with dehydrated blood orange or a beautiful flower. 

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.

Cucielo Vermouth Day

Sometimes I regret not living in a more southern country. I absolutely love the aperitivo culture that’s all around in Italy, Spain and even in the south of France. One of the most used bottles in aperitivo-bars is vermouth. In Spain, they even call some of those bars “vermuterias”. 

A good vermouth is probably the most versatile bottle in your bar. You can drink it neat, on ice, with a mixer or as a spice-adding ingredient in lots of classic (and not-so-classic) cocktails. Original classics like the Manhattan, Martini or Negroni all call for decent quality vermouth. 

This should give you reason enough to taste the vermouth before you pour it into any longdrink or cocktail. A cocktail is only as good as the sum of the quality of its ingredients. Read that again and think about it. You can find low budget vermouth in supermarkets, cheap as chips. But will that low-quality bottle add the desired spicy touch to your Martini? Probably not. 

One of the better brands for good quality vermouth is Cucielo, which we’ve already spotlighted before on this blog. 

March 21 is #NationalVermouthDay, a perfect opportunity to taste and sample some of their bottles. I would recommend tasting vermouths with a few ice cubes because neat vermouths are often slightly syrupy. Next, try the vermouths with a mixer. A neutral tonic is perfect, but if you like it slightly sweeter, why not use a lemonade. My friends at the official distributor of Cucielo have sent me a bottle of both the Rosso and Bianco, but I also made a mix of both. Why? Because in some cocktails you need a mix of dry and sweet vermouth or a mix of white and sweet vermouth. Once you have tasted the vermouths this way, you can go on to using them for a deliciously crafted cocktail. 

Cucielo Bianco is mostly influenced by artemisia, pink pepper, cardamom, green apple, elderflower and pomegranate. Cucielo Rosso is mostly influenced by artemisia, yarrow, Chinese gentian, Sicilian bitter oranges, vanilla pods and cloves.

I hope I could inspire you to have a go yourself. I finished my tasting with a Golden Martini, stirred to perfection.

Golden Martini

Ingredients
50 ml London Dry Gin
25 ml Cucielo Bianco vermouth
1 barspoon Maraschino liqueur
3 dashes Angostura Orange bitters

Method
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with lots of ice. Stir and strain in a chilled Martini or Nick & Nora glass. I think it also looks stunning in a nice antique port glass. Pinch an Orange zest on top to express the oils. No garnish, keep it clean. 

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 Unexpected Rosé Negroni

The #Negroniweek is the perfect moment to experiment with some variations on the iconic Negroni-recipe. You always need a tasty spirit, a wine-based aperitif and bitters. You need to balance the flavors to get the right result. In most cases, like the recipe below, even parts will be fine. In some cases you need a bit extra spirit, or a spirit with a slightly higher ABV to get things right. 

Today I’m mixing up a rum-based Negroni-style drink that’s light and very fruity.

The Unexpected Rosé Negroni

Ingredients
30 ml Matusalem Rum Insolito (aged rosé rum)
30 ml Leonce Vermouth
30 ml Aperol

Method
Do it like the Italians, add everything to a tumbler with icecubes and stir for 15 seconds. Garnish with orange peel or 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. 

AmericaNA & NAgroni (Mocktails)

No drinks are more Italian than these two iconic aperitivo’s based on Campari : The Americano and the Negroni. Could we mix them without alcohol, while keeping those typical Italian flavours?

I have tried this before in the past, but newer and better non-alcoholic products tempt me to improve these drinks in yet another try …

For your next #mocktailmonday I’ll give you recipes for both drinks. If you’re not able to find a good quality NA Amaro, you could try Monin Bitter. But you might have to adjust the measurements in that case.   

The jury is still out on the AmericaNA, the result depends very much on the measurement of the tonic. (I tried first with soda water but that - really - didn’t work). The NAgroni has the right flavour-mix and is a true winner !!!

P.S. I received this nice pocket flask with Martini Vibrante NA with the "No compromise club" sticker in my mail. With this great new products indeed no compromises have to be made. You can have a nice and flavorful drink, without the need for alcohol. 

AmericaNA

Ingredients
45 ml The Bitter Note (NA Amaro)
45 ml Martini Vibrante Non Alcoholic (NA vermouth style aperitif)
Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic 

Method
Add the amaro and Martini directly in the glass. Don’t stir in a mixing glass, because you don’t want extra dilution. Add them to a tumbler with ice and top with tonic. Stir very gently during 5 seconds. Garnish with a dehydrated orange wheel. 

NAgroni

Ingredients
30 ml The Bitter Note (NA Amaro)
30 ml Martini Vibrante Non Alcoholic (NA vermouth style aperitif)
30 ml Nona June (NA replacement for gin)

Method
Add all 3 ingredients directly in the glass. Don’t stir in a mixing glass, because you don’t want extra dilution. Just add them to your tumbler with ice and stir very gently for 5 seconds. Garnish with a dehydrated 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.

Verhofstede Negroni

The Negroni is a very tasty Italian Aperitivo. But there are many reasons why bartenders really love this iconic drink. The ingredients are easily replaceable by other products and each swap creates a new delicious Italian style drink. Each bar can have their own take on this cocktail. 

Gin can be replaced by whisky, rum, mezcal, … whatever spirit you desire. You can even swap it for a good quality Prosecco and have a delicious Sbagliato. There is a whole wide world of vermouths to play with and even the Campari can be swapped for any other bitter or amaro. 

If you want it really easy, you can buy premixed bottled Negroni at your liqueur store. Each year I try to included a good quality bottled Negroni in my posts for the #negroniweek. During the last editions we tested the bottled Negroni from Cockney’s and Belroy’s. This year, due to logistical problems the bottle didn’t arrive on time to be included in the themeweek. But since the iconic Negroni is a tasty cocktail we can easily enjoy all around the year, I decided to publish it anyway. This year we selected a nice bottle of Verhofstede Negroni. 

You could say this is a pretty alternative bottling. For starters it’s a mix of four ingredients instead of three. Each of the ingredients is produced by Verhofstede and also available in their webshop. The spirit is Edelweiss Gin, which we’ve tested before and has a very nice herbal flavour. The bitter components are a bittersweet vermout and Tante Andrée 35 (a dark herbal bitter). The fruitiness comes in by the Solé orange liqueur (made with Spanish oranges) which softens the drink. The result is a very elegant and silky Negroni. 

Serve on ice in an Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with orange. 

You can buy this bottle at your local liqueur store or directly from their webshop. 

Our friends at Foodbelgium also have a few interesting promotions for Verhofstede products. 

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.

Italian Shandy

 

It’s been a while since I did a Michelada or beer-cocktail. Why not go for a Spritz-style shandy? It’s weekend after all. 

I’m not using juices or lemonades to mix with the beer, but bittersweet Italian aperitifs. The result is a very refreshing drink which is not too sweet at all.

Italian Shandy

Ingredients
4 cl Select Aperitivo
1,5 cl Averna
Italian Pilsner

Method
Fill up your beer glass with ice cubes. Add the Select and Averna to the glass. Add a bit of beer and give it a quick stir. Top with some more beer and garnish with a slice of orange. It alsmost looks like a beautiful Sunrise 😉
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.

Cocktails in a box by Belroy's

 

During this lockdown lots of webshop-projects are really thriving. We can now order gourmet meals from Michelin Star restaurants ‘in a box’, delivered to our doorstep. So why not order high quality, handcrafted cocktails the same way? I’m not talking about bottled cocktails that you can also buy in the supermarket or liqueur store. No, I’m talking about the real deal, hand crafted cocktails prepared by a bartender in your favourite cocktailbar, sealed in a plastic bag and sent directly to your home ‘in a box’, together with the garnish and instructions on how to serve the drink.

Cocktails in a box are not exactly new, but they became ‘the new normal’ for cocktail enthusiasts since the start of the coronacrisis. A few years ago I already wrote about the SIPSNSODA cocktailboxes, which were probably among the very first in Europe. Today lots of cocktailbars all around the country are selling their weekly offer through a webshop.
I even spotted some local restaurants in my neighbourhood (e.g. Barnaba), offering complete take-away or home delivered meals, including good quality cocktails for a great start. Fight the crisis by enjoying your perfect aperitif-moment at home.

Probably the first premium cocktailbar who jumpstarted this new trend in Belgium was Belroy’s, the well-known Antwerp based company of Ben Belmans and Dieter Van Roy. Next to their cocktail catering activities they have two popular cocktailbars: Belroy’s Bijou (Graaf Van Egmontstraat 20) and Belroy’s MAS (Godefriduskaai 14). They already sold their own range of bottled spirits and cocktails (available at the better liqueur shops), but recently they also started a new webshop with a weekly range of crafted cocktails. Let’s try this. Is this really the same cocktail-experience you get in their bar?

You will miss the cosy atmosphere of the bar and the jokes made by Dieter while preparing your drink, but the drinks are definitely the real deal. Easy to serve and packed with of flavour. Dieter sent us a box with 4 drinks, which we could sample:

 

• El Presidente : A rum-based cocktail with Belroy’s Rum, vermouth, dry Curacao and pomegranate. This cocktail is also available in their bottled range. 
• Boulevardier : This Negroni variation is a very tasty mix of Michter’s whiskey, Italian vermouth and bitter. 
• Ipanema Swizzle : A very fruity cocktail with Belroy’s Rum, passionfruit, white vermouth, pomegranate, ginger and lemon. 
• Virgin Mojito : Some days are better without alcohol, this mocktail is a sweet lime mix with mint, served in a mix with Perrier.

We decided to use these drinks for a high quality aperitif moment, so we also made sure to get some matching snacks for each drink. We really enjoyed our aperotime. The drinks were extremely close to what we would get in the bar, so maximum points for quality.

Let’s hope most bars will keep this service also after the coronacrisis, it can come in handy when you’re entertaining friends at home and don’t want to spend too much time preparing drinks. Not everyone has the same bartending skills as Tom Cruise 😉

Personally, I think it’s a great service which will work perfectly for a lot of people, but I’d still enjoy the drinks a little bit more sitting at the bar in Antwerp, chatting with Ben or Dieter.

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.

Midi-Siësta met het Classic Red aperitief van Jules Delaere

 

Dit artikel is bijzonder. Niet alleen omdat het gaat over een nieuw Belgisch product, maar de aankondiging van dit artikel op Instagram zal tevens mijn 1000ste Instagram-post zijn voor Double Strainger. Met dank aan alle volgers die mij blijven stimuleren om dit leuke verhaal verder te zetten.

Jules Delaere is pas 23, maar zeker niet aan zijn proefstuk toe. Een drietal jaar geleden kwam ik hem voor het eerst tegen op een drankenbeurs, toen hij met redelijk succes zijn eigen Mister Y. Gin op de markt bracht. De reden waarom ik hem nu opnieuw ontmoet is een gloednieuw product, wat je niet zo dadelijk met iets anders kan vergelijken. Het duurde ongeveer een jaar om dit aperitiefdrankje helemaal op punt te stellen.

Midi Apéritifs Classic Red is zoals de naam al aangeeft een aperitiefdrankje. Een tegelijk bitter en fruitig drankje wat je kan drinken met ijs, met een mixdrankje of als ingrediënt in een cocktail.

Als ik kijk naar andere drankjes in deze stijl dan houdt deze fles zowat het midden tussen een vermouth en een amaro. De gebruikte botanicals leunen eerder in de richting van een amaro, maar de basis is een versterkte Syrah Rosé wijn uit de Languedoc in het zuiden van Frankrijk, wat dan weer eerder doet denken aan een vermouth.

Bijzonder is dat de botanicals zijn toegevoegd als aparte distillaten, niet uit de traditionele stookketel maar als vacuüm-distillaten uit een high-tech rotavap-toestel. Het grote verschil is dat bij een rotavap alle dampen in het toestel blijven waardoor er geen enkele smaak of aroma verloren gaat. Jules ging met de rotavap of rotatiefilmverdamper aan de slag in het foodlaboratorium Proef van Maxime Willems. Deze “Professor Barabas van Schellebelle” kennen we o.a. van toen hij Ran Van Ongevalle assisteerde met zijn winnende Bacardi-cocktail.

Er werden maar liefst tien botanical-distillaten gebruikt, waarvan er slechts zes bekend worden gemaakt : verse cassis (wat ook invloed heeft op de kleur), bergamot, rozemarijn, venkelzaad, artisjok en alsem. De laatste twee zijn bittere elementen. Jules verklapte dat er in totaal vijf bittere elementen gebruikt worden.

Het leuke aan dit licht-bittere aperitiefdrankje is dat het niet echt trendgevoelig is. Dit is een puur en authentiek product wat je eerder verwacht in een artisanale beperkte oplage bij een gepassioneerde kleine producent in het zuiden van Spanje of Italië. Je verwacht absoluut niet dat een jonge Kortrijkse kerel dit product op de Belgische markt zet, in een hippe versie die geproduceerd wordt met de nieuwste high-tech toestellen. Het is de bedoeling dat er nog meer aperitieven komen in deze reeks, maar met dit eerste product is Jules er toch al in geslaagd om een stukje van het zonnige zuiden voor ons te bottelen 😉

Wil je mixen met tonic of bruiswater, gebruik dan één deel van dit drankje met twee delen mixdrank. Het leent zich ook uitstekend voor een Spritz, in dat geval één deel bruiswater, twee delen Midi en drie delen prosecco. Om de smaak echt te leren kennen mixen we eerst en vooral met een neutrale tonic. Wat ons het meest opvalt is het aroma van alsem en citrus. Dat inspireert alvast de richting waarin ik wil gaan voor een lekkere cocktail.

Het zou een vrij eenvoudige keuze zijn om voor een Negroni-achtige drink te gaan met Midi Aperitif, rode vermouth en een stevige spirit naar keuze. Maar vermits die kruidigheid zo duidelijk aanwezig is gooi ik het over een andere boeg. De citrus gaan we versterken met een sour en als basis kiezen we voor Tequila.

Midi-Siësta

Ingrediënten
4 cl Tequila Silver
3 cl Midi Apéritif
3 cl vers limoensap
2 cl honingsiroop
2 dashes Angostura Orange bitters

Bereiding
Alle ingrediënten samenvoegen in een shaker met ijs. Krachtig shaken gedurende 15 seconden. Dubbel zeven in een mooi coupeglas. Versiering niet strikt noodzakelijk, maar als je toch iets wil ga dan voor citrus.

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.

Crodino Rosso: Nieuw non-alcoholisch aperitief met bloedappelsiensmaak

De foodblog van de wederhelft (Tineke’s Cucina) geeft het misschien al een beetje weg, maar zij heeft dus wel degelijk Italiaanse roots. Via haar heb ik ook een aantal jaren geleden Crodino leren kennen, het bittere Italiaanse alcoholvrije aperitiefje. Italië heeft een rijke aperitiefcultuur, maar dat hoeven zeker niet elke dag stevige Negroni’s of Americano’s te zijn. Soms mag het ook wel eens iets alcoholvrij zijn en dan denken Italianen niet noodzakelijk aan banale softdrinks. Een glaasje Crodino geserveerd volgens de regels van de kunst zal zeker niet uit de toon vallen naast de eventuele cocktails die op tafel staan. Ook de smaak is even volwassen en complex als bij de betere cocktail.

Wanneer de lentezon zijn warmte laat voelen start ook echt het aperitiefseizoen. Voor deze gelegenheid lanceert Crodino ook een nieuwe smaak : Crodino Rosso, opnieuw een alcoholvrij aperitief met een frisse bittertoets en het subtiele aroma van bloedappelsienen. Hiermee spelen ze natuurlijk ook in op de verhoogde vraag naar aperitiefjes met geen of minder alcohol.

Wij proefden de nieuwe Crodino Rosso, naast de reeds bestaande klassieke Crodino. Beide zijn te bestempelen als bittere alcoholvrije aperitiefjes, maar de nieuwe Crodino Rosso is iets zoeter en fruitiger en ziet er vooral heel erg zomers uit. Crodino serveer je met ijsblokjes en een schijfje sinaasappel, maar volgens mij kunnen we hier ook nog wel wat mee experimenteren als smaakmaker in lekker zomerse cocktails.

Leuk weetje : Crodino is genoemd naar de Italiaanse ‘Terme di Crodo’, een kuuroord in het noorden van Piemonte. Het gezonde, zuivere mineraalwater uit het kuuroord vormt de basis van dit verfrissende drankje.