It may sound weird but believe me, milk clarified cocktails are delicious! It changes the mouthfeel, the taste, smoothens the rough edges the cocktail may have… and NO IT DOESN’T TASTE LIKE MILK!!! You are only a few minutes away from changing your cocktail game forever! If you guys are ready, follow my tips and tricks to understand how to make clarified cocktails and nail it every time!
There are many reasons why I have so many variations of the Brooklyn cocktail in my own cocktail library. The main reason would probably be that I often miss one ingredient. The Brooklyn cocktail is made of Rye whisky, dry vermouth, Maraschino and Picon. Picon is unavailable in Canada and in the USA because of an ingredient in it figures on the list of prohibited ingredients in these countries. Well… I happen to live in Canada so my access to this aperitif is quite limited. Because of that, I created a recipe of my own. Analyzing the way it’s made, I realized that I could mix 4 ingredients together and get pretty much the same taste.
If you ask me, I think the Paloma is the best tall drink out there. It’s fresh, citrusy, slightly bitter and last but not least, it’s tequila-based! I LOVE agave spirits. Tequila, Sotol, Mezcal … all of them! And I like the unaged better than the aged ones. It’s crisp, it’s green, it’s when you really get to taste the spirit of it (do you get it? Spirit like in the soul, not the alcohol… Bad joke LOL)
OK full disclosure, I’m genuinely and highly surprised when I realize how many people still think that a daiquiri is a frozen strawberry drink overly sweet made with cheap, artificially made fructose syrup. While we’re at it, I get a little confused when I get a request for any other concoction that suffered from the dark age of cocktails. Any Tiki cocktails are good examples for that. Am I facing one that knows or not? Or will he return what I consider to be the proper recipe because he’s expecting a diabetes crisis mix? It’s always a guess and I try to keep in mind that people don’t come at the bar to be schooled. They come to have fun so I don’t take it too seriously. But between us, let’s clarify something, Tiki drinks suffered a lot in the past but they are GREAT and should be the exact opposite of artificial, unbalanced or dated!
Whether you’re cooking or making cocktails, for a living or as a hobby, it’s no secret that working with seasonal products makes a big difference in the quality of your recipe. For a long time now, many restaurants been offering seasonal/from farm to table menu and recently, some bars also adopted that approach. I find this very motivating. On the one hand, it’s a challenge to work with ingredients when they are in season. You have to build your inspiration around what’s available at the moment, but at the same time it gives you a direction which can help you in your creative process.
When Sefra and I announced our friends and family that we would start a blog about food and cocktails, many asked us if we would do cocktail and food pairing. Even if I think that sometimes cocktails can be great friends with food, I honestly think that wine is so much better. Bottom line, my answer to this question was “no” unless I really feel for it and guess what? Today I feel for it.
A father can be of so many kinds. No matter if he is your biological, spiritual, foster or stepfather … whether he is 25 or 85, I’m sure you will agree that they all share this same feature … they are awesome! It will soon be that time of the year again when we celebrate this special man in our life. But how can I give you some good suggestions to celebrate that day when aside from being important, they all are different? Well, I’m getting there. Because some are old fashioned while others are new school, I thought I could do a parallel with classic cocktails and modern cocktails to give you some ideas for your libation on that special date.
I don’t know if it has something to do with the fact that I’m turning 35 this year, but I’m not that tolerant to alcohol anymore. Quite honestly, even in college I never was the guy who could chug a whole 26 oz of spirit in a party and still being able to go to the gym class the day after but still… I feel like I’m getting old and I hate it.
The process of clarifying drinks may sound like a new trend or like another innovation from modern mixologists to make cocktail making yet more complicated but it’s not. Some writing track clarified punch recipes from as far as the early 18th century. Even Benjamin Franklin had a recipe of his own. While some say that clarifying a punch with milk was to make it easier to digest, we can say for sure that such process changes massively the flavours of said punch. The acidity from the citrus and strength of alcohol become smoother while the mouthfeel gets pleasantly silky.
Surprised to see my name instead of Jean-Félix as an author in that cocktail section? That’s because I needed to talk to you about that place. As you already know, Jean-Felix is a bartender, and an AMAZING one. He got me really picky about cocktails. As I’m used to drinking what he does for me all the time, I’m not easily impressed anymore when I go to cocktail bars and this, no matter where we are in the world.