gin Archives • LiquorAlchemy

Improving the Cuba Libre and the Gin & Tonic

These two are the drinks that probably everyone knows - the Cuba Libre and the Gin & Tonic. In the past, there has even been some argument as to whether they are cocktails or not. I would argue that the Gin & Tonic is not - at least not in its simplest form. By contrast, the Cuba Libre is (it contains lime juice in addition to rum and coke). In any case, they are dead simple longdrinks and while they are excellent in principle (I do not want to doubt that), one might wish for a bit more complexity at times. Today, we will consider two recipes that…

A DRY Chocolate Martini???

Let me start by saying that I think it is totally okay to have sweet drinks once in a while. White Russians? Amazing! Espresso Martinis? Classic! So what's wrong with the usual syrup-y sweet chocolate Martini? Nothing. This post is just about an interesting approach that is not meant as a substitute for the "common cocktail": A dry Chocolate Martini. Believe it or not, I had this idea in mind for a while and I was very happy to discover that legendary German bartender Jörg Meyer recently posted a video on it (in German unfortunately). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voks1zRG1WI Martini vs. Chocolate Martini But finally, what is a "dry chocolate Martini"?…

The Breakfast Martini – How to Achieve Interesting Taste

When dealing with cocktail recipes, one might ask how good taste can be achieved. In this post, I will try to give an at least partial answer to this question and, as an example, explain how Salvatore Calabrese's delicious Breakfast Martini satisfies the criterion derived before. I will also briefly touch upon further examples that illustrate the concept. As is commonly known, the sensation that we usually call taste is produced both by our sense of taste and our sense of smell. There are five basic tastes that we can detect with our tastebuds: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savory (umami). So it is safe to say that…