Santa's Cosmo

Let’s start with unplugging one of the world’s largest clichés. The Cosmopolitan is not a drink that’s only suitable for single young women.

When prepared as it should, it’s a very nice sour-style alternative for a Martini. I’m not a single young woman and I do like a good Cosmo. 

So, what’s wrong with Cosmo’s? In many bars they use a recipe which is a bit too sweet. This destroys the balance and gives you a sticky drink that’s not how it’s meant to be. I don't like drinks that taste like a lollipop. 

Let’s try this variation with an extra layer of malty flavours. Less sweet in the glass, but with a sugar rim instead to compensate. It was an experiment, but I really loved the result. 

P.S. Next on my TO DO list: I want to re-create this drink, but without alcohol. To be continued.

Santa’s Cosmo

Ingredients

50 ml Genever (I used Fryns Premium)

30 ml Cointreau or Triple Sec

30 ml Cranberry juice

15 ml Fresh lime juice

Method

1. Gently rub some simple syrup on the rim of your Martini glass. Dip in sugar candy.

2. Add all ingredients to your shaker with lots of ice. Shake for 15 seconds. 

3. Strain your drink in the glass.

4. Optional/advanced: Cut a piece of orange peel, give it a firm twist over your glass to spray some of the oils from the peel over your drink, add the peel to your glass.

If you feel really confident: Hold a lighted match between the peel and the drink while releasing those oils. This will warm up the oils to make them even more flavourful. 

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 Winter Spritz

For this Christmas season, I wanted to mix a couple of variations on the Negroni. And because it’s a festive season, I wanted these drinks to be slightly more challenging than what you normally see on this blog. 

The mission of this blog is to share easy, but tasty recipes. Simple cocktails that you can reproduce at home. Does this mean I never mix up a more advanced drink? Of course not, but those drinks are not what this blog is all about. 

But just maybe, you would love a more advanced drink for the Christmas holidays? If that’s the case, I’ll share one of my recent favourites with you… six ingredients, but still pretty easy to mix. It’s so tasty, you might even decide to serve it as a punch. Not festive enough?
Replace the tonic with a good quality Prosecco… solved. 

Italian Winter Spritz

Ingredients

25 ml Italian red bitter (I used Caffo Mazzodi L’Aperitivo Italiano)

25 ml Sweet vermouth (I used Cinzano)

25 ml Genever (I used Fryns Premium)

20 ml Fresh lemon juice

10 ml Simple Syrup

Schweppes Indian Tonic.

Method

Add all ingredients, except for the tonic, to a shaker with lots of ice. Give it a good shake for 15 seconds and strain it into your favourite cocktail glass. Add lots of ice and top with a good quality tonic. Give it one more stir and garnish with a slice of lemon. 

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.

Sweet Tea Old Fashioned

Most recipes featuring a combination of whisky and tea are highball drinks, measuring three times more tea than whisky. I really wanted to try a different approach. I have experimented with tea infusions before and I remember some of those results being very tasty. This time I don't want to create a syrup with tea-flavour, I want to use the tea as a tasty sweetener. 

What I want to do today is start with some tea, made with fresh ‘Bring me back to Bali’ tea, with lemongrass and lemon peel, spicy ginger, bamboo and pepper. While the tea is still hot, I’ll add lots of sugar, the result should be something in between a sweet cup of tea and simple syrup. After cooling down, this tea will be used to sweeten the drink instead of sugar, simple syrup or other sweet elements. I want this drink to be very easy, so everyone who wants a sip can try this at home. A few drops of bitters complete this Eastern-style Old Fashioned. 

Yesterday, I already shared a reel on Instagram with this drink, but you still need the recipe.

Sweet Tea Old Fashioned

Ingredients

For the tea: 

A tea egg filled with Tastea “Bring me back to Bali” tea

4 to 5 lumps of cane sugar

Water

For the cocktail:

50 ml whisky (I used Roe & Co Irish whiskey)

50 ml sweetened tea

1 dash of bitters (I used calamansi bitters, but do try with the bitters of your choice)

Method

Let’s keep it easy and build this Old Fashioned directly in your glass. Add whisky, tea and bitters, fill the glass with ice cubes and stir for 15 seconds. Garnish with fresh lemon. 

P.S. Want to start experimenting yourself? Order your tea at www.premiumtea.store before 31/12 and use the code “STRAINGER” for a 10% discount on all 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.

The story of Fryns (+foodpairing!)

I’m always a sucker for a good story with an unexpected plot twist. Last week I was invited by Céleste Fryns, to visit the Fryns distillery in Hasselt. Fryns is an iconic brand, started in 1887. It was Guillaume Fryns who started a genever distillery in a building called “In ‘t Claverblad” in Hasselt, very close to the governor's building. Today, the clover image, which was present on that original building, is still the company logo.  

When Guillaume passed away, his sons Guillaume Jr. and Jules continued the activities. Guillaume Jr. added a malt- and ice factory and they also expanded with sales offices in Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent and Mons. These were the early days of logistics, driving their lorries for three days to get enough bottles to the sales offices. They spend lots of time creating great packaging and POP materials, to sell attractive products during the roaring twenties. 

During the second World War activities ceased because Jules refused to work with the Nazis. After 1945, he started rebuilding the company. The Fryns company kept innovating and was the first company to launch longdrinks and pre-mix cocktails. 

In 1979 the company was acquired by investors, who quickly shift it to Bruggeman, a large holding specialising in spirits and owned by the even larger group La Martiniquaise Bardinet. Later this group also acquired another genever brand, Smeets. A new plant was built near the ringway, but the Fryns brand moved to the Bruggeman HQ in Ghent. This was almost the end of a great story because Bruggeman marketed Smeets as their primary brand for ‘Hasseltse Jenever’. 

But blood is thicker than water. In 2017, Michel Fryns saw the opportunity to buy the bankrupt “Graanstokerij Wissels” and re-build the distillery on Hasselt soil. Soon after this event, he succeeded in acquiring the brand name from Bruggeman and he brought the company back to its roots. After 25 years Fryns is home again. Important fact: If you want to market your spirit as “Hasseltse Jenever”, the malt wine needs to be distilled on Hasselt soil. This is a protected origin.

In 2021, Céleste Fryns, fifth generation, joined the company. They now have a great dream to get Fryns and “Hasseltse Jenever” back on the map. They market genever as a versatile, tasty and Belgian top product. 

Genever has a public image which you might compare with Tequila. Everyone has this “mental image” of drinking these spirits as a shot. In the case of genever, it’s a shot often drunk by old men. But just like Tequila, this is also a fantastic spirit that can be used as a base for many delicious cocktails. For starters, in every cocktail that contains gin, you can replace the gin with genever. It will add an extra, extremely tasty layer… because of the malt wine, used in the production of genever. 

So yes, I also want to promote mixed drinks with genever and in the next weeks, months or even years you will see several mixed drinks with genever popping up on this blog. 

But for this article, I did something completely different. I remembered an old tradition, I picked up during my travels in Scandinavia. I served a bowl of freshly cooked soup of Belgian endives (Chicon/witloof), with a shot of Fryns Premium Jenever on the side. A match made in heaven. You can find the recipe for the soup on my better half’s foodblog, Tineke’s Cucina. 

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.

This is not a Daiquiri, but the drink sure has gutss

When you want to cut back on alcohol, but you really have your favourite recipes… it’s sometimes hard to find decent replacement products. For that reason, I find it sometimes hard to mix up a good-quality mocktail. I was already intrigued when I received a bottle that claimed to be a good replacement for rum. Would I be able to serve my better half a Daiquiri-style drink, but without the alcohol? 

Gutss is a Belgian non-alcohol premium drink range, claiming to work pretty well in lots of recipes. It doesn’t contain any alcohol, but still has that typical “alcohol bite” you need to mix up a good cocktail. It brings "body" to your drink. In the range, they have two different gin replacements, an Italian spritz and a Cuban spiced rum replacement. The last one is on our test bar at this moment. This product can be used to create non-alcohol variations on the Dark ‘n Stormy, Cuba Libre or Mojito. So, let’s try a fruity variation on the Daiquiri. 

This is not a Daiquiri, but the drink sure has gutss

Ingredients

50 ml Gutss Cuban Spiced (Non-alcoholic rum replacement)

30 ml Lime juice

30 ml Pineapple juice

10 ml Simple Syrup

Method

Add everything to a shaker with lots of ice. Give it a good shake for 10 seconds, and strain in a Martini glass. Garnish with lime. 

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.

Bitter Lemon Negroni

Inspired by the Limoncello Negroni by my friend Natalie Migliarini, I created this cross-over with the ‘White Negroni’. That might sound like a weird combination, but it’s actually delicious. 

Since it’s an even-parts recipe, everyone can mix it at home. Bartenders in every bar or restaurant can serve it fast and easy. This is another recipe I've mixed up for my friends at Paal 26 Grand Café. 

Bitter Lemon Negroni 

Ingredients

30 ml (Homemade and delicious!!!) Limoncello

30 ml Suze bitter

30 ml Lillet Blanc

Method

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with lots of ice. Stir for 15 seconds and strain into your favourite tumbler with fresh ice. Garnish with a wedge of torched lemon.

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.

Yellow Fever II - A unit drink

Let’s talk about “unit-drinks”. What??? 

Imagine craving a nice drink, but you’re driving your car. You would like a cocktail, but you want to make sure you’re within the legal limits for driving. Of course, you should try to avoid drinking and driving, but in Belgium up to two units is still safe and allowed. 

Or maybe you want to have a drink, but you are worried about your health and you want to stay within limits as published by the government. Reports state you will stay healthy if you don’t drink more than 10 units per week. If you know that some cocktail recipes hold 2, 3 or even 4 units of alcohol, you might need to think this over. 

One unit of alcohol in Belgium is 12,7ml or 10g of pure alcohol. Other countries might use different limits. In the UK one unit is only 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol. Because alcoholic drinks come in different strengths and sizes, units are always an excellent way to display how strong your drink is. 

It also shouldn’t be wrong to ask your bartender how many units are in a specific drink, or ask if they serve “unit-cocktails” that contain exactly (or maximum) one unit of alcohol. 

This week I was experimenting with unit recipes and I will share some in the next few days. Often these are longdrink recipes, using a mixer that’s spiked with a relatively small amount of spirit. These drinks won’t give you a real kick of alcohol, they are lighter drinks perfect to serve for a conversation with friends. You’ll keep a clear mind and still enjoy a tasty drink. 

Yellow Fever II

Ingredients

20ml Whisky

20ml Clément Creole Shrubb (or Triple Sec)

10ml Simple syrup

200ml FERM Kombucha Ginger & Lemongrass

Method

Add whisky, syrup and triple sec to your highball glass with a few ice cubes. Stir for 10 seconds. Add more ice, top it with the kombucha and give it a few more gentle stirs. Garnish with citrus or lemongrass. 

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