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Yea I might have a weird palette for Calvados. In DC where I live the decent Laird's (not the blended jack) starts at $30-$35 and the various Calvados start at $30-$35. Always an easy call for me. The VA ABC sucks for Calvados though. At one point I had both on hand. I felt Laird's gave me more of a whiskey-like finish, the dos more unique apple flavor. I made my wife do Distillerie Boulard in 2016 when we went to Normandy. Only had time for one visit. They were really trumpeting their long aging stuff but the young VS to me is already so good.
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May 9, 2022 13:23
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Mr. Wiggles posted:Yeah people don't respect that bourbon enough. The funky / weird calvados' is the minority in style though. The vast majority of it is elegant, well produced brandy that's much more akin to well made Cognac or Armagnac.
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May 9, 2022 14:27
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AlexDeGruven posted:A lot of it depends on what you like, too. If you like the base flavor/prime characteristic of something, I think you'll be more open to the different ranges. My favorite cocktail bar before COVID closed it used that as their well bourbon. Evan Williams is a very good bourbon that just doesn't spend as much on marketing because it's one of many brands Heaven Hill makes, so even their basic 86 proof is better than Jack Daniels but significantly cheaper while being dismissed as a "copy" because they use a similar label.
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May 9, 2022 15:50
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Have any of you guys made 'super juice'? I'm tired of buying lemons and poo poo and would love to have something shelf stable.
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May 10, 2022 05:40
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Yeah we’ve talked about it in this thread a few times. It’s all I use at my bar. Try it, it’s good.
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May 10, 2022 07:59
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Someone gifted me a bottle of Limoncello and I can't figure out what to do with it. Any suggestions? I looked up some recipes online and frankly all of them wind up feeling like "just throw some of this stuff in another drink." So far I've tried a Lemon Drop and a Sour and both were pretty underwhelming. Should I just make a spritz and call it a day?
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May 17, 2022 16:17
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TBH I've mainly just had it as a cordial/liqueur chilled straight from the freezer.
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May 17, 2022 16:22
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Yeah as much as I love being all creative 'n junk, some liqueurs really are just best enjoyed as-is. No need to reinvent the wheel. ALTHOUGH I'm now wondering what it would taste like with some absinthe. drat you.
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May 17, 2022 16:32
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Carillon posted:TBH I've mainly just had it as a cordial/liqueur chilled straight from the freezer.
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May 17, 2022 16:32
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That's my go-to for limoncello, yeah. I also make orangecello and sub it for Cointreau.
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May 17, 2022 17:15
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Also, soak some berries in lemoncello and top with whipped cream. Bonus if you have a crumbly cookie or shortcake. Extra bonus if you crumble a handful of nilla wafers and toast them in brown butter! E: you can do yogurt instead of whipped cream too depending on your yogurt prefs
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May 17, 2022 17:29
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BrianBoitano posted:Also, soak some berries in lemoncello and top with whipped cream. Bonus if you have a crumbly cookie or shortcake. Extra bonus if you crumble a handful of nilla wafers and toast them in brown butter! Hell yeah. My girlfriend’s grandma made this for us when we came to visit and it is heavenly.
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May 17, 2022 17:41
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BrianBoitano posted:Also, soak some berries in lemoncello and top with whipped cream. Bonus if you have a crumbly cookie or shortcake. Extra bonus if you crumble a handful of nilla wafers and toast them in brown butter! EDIT: Reading back on prior pages, I'm a bit worried about my ginger syrup. I use a 2:1 for the liquid, but then I went and processed a bunch of the candied ginger and strained out more ginger juice because I want the stuff to burn. I made a batch about three months ago that worked like gangbusters; it was so thick that I'd need to break it up with the back of a barspoon then shake it up before I could pour, but it was fire, and it was rich enough that it stayed stable for the whole time I used it. I ran out like three weeks ago and cooked up a new batch. I wound up losing a bunch of my strained ginger juice due to being clumsy so it ended up with half the strained juice as my last batch. On the bright side it's nice and hot while still being totally pourable, but I noticed that the bottle I put it in was ejecting its silicon stopper like a cannonball until I corked it with a heavier one. My previous G.S. was in a screwtop bottle so I didn't notice any pressure buildup. Is that normal for ginger syrup, or is that batch going to go bad on me? Strange Matter fucked around with this message at 21:11 on May 17, 2022 |
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May 17, 2022 18:03
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That's fermenting for sure. I'd try adding a bit of vodka to the syrup to stabilize it, that should kill the fermentation and preserve it for longer.
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May 18, 2022 17:24
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I can't offer any useful advice on the syrup, but I will say that it's very easy to infuse vodka with candied ginger. And when you're done, you have the only good excuse to make fruitcake.
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May 18, 2022 17:48
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prayer group posted:That's fermenting for sure. I'd try adding a bit of vodka to the syrup to stabilize it, that should kill the fermentation and preserve it for longer. Trip report on Limoncello + Gin: it's okay, but it's got none of the zip of a normal gimlet, so its kind of a let-down. Though I may have spoiled myself with a Earl Grey MarTEAni which is like an out of body gin experience.
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May 18, 2022 18:03
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Strange Matter posted:Though I may have spoiled myself with a Earl Grey MarTEAni which is like an out of body gin experience. Lovely drink, for sure. Perfect for Mother’s day.
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May 18, 2022 18:09
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I upgraded from a mason jar as my mixing glass, to a larger Madafo 24oz mixing glass . I really like the weight and heftiness of it seems like a quality product. I think I'm going to upgrade into a Boston shakers next. Is there a reason why some are weighted vs non-weighted? I'm assuming it's only for the shaker being more sturdy on the table?
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May 19, 2022 01:22
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obi_ant posted:I upgraded from a mason jar as my mixing glass, to a larger Madafo 24oz mixing glass . I really like the weight and heftiness of it seems like a quality product. By weighted, do you mean some part of it is weighted, or the whole thing is made of a denser/thicker material? I'd not heard of the former, but sounds like something dumb someone invented for no good reason. For the latter, I'd argue thicker/denser is better than thinner, even if it takes more energy to shake. Thicker metal typically* means less heat exchanging to outside, which means it reduces how loving cold your hands get shaking if you want something as cold as it gets. It also reduces the condensation on the exterior of the shaker (which adds some heat to the contents of your shaker), but that's a relatively minor effect. Also makes the shaker more stable, easier to keep together when dry shaking egg whites. Plus it just feels good to have a heavier shaker. Getting a better shaker is high on my list, I've got Renaud's so I have to use a towel to shake or the cold is brutally painful cause my shaker is razor thin. (*Assuming we're talking roughly similar stainless steel, different alloys/metals can have different conduction properties that make this all wrong, but typically thicker material means better insulation)
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May 19, 2022 02:42
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Limoncello Saga Part III: Found a recipe for a Limoncello Smash that was actually really good: 1.5oz gin 1oz limoncello 5 muddled blackberries Soda Water The recipe called for tonic water actually but I found that the tonic didn't play nice with the limoncello, so I think soda is probably the way to go. This was actually a really nice mix since the lemon and blackberry are one of my go-to dessert flavors. Really refreshing, nicely balanced, not super sweet.
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May 19, 2022 04:07
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Pander posted:By weighted, do you mean some part of it is weighted, or the whole thing is made of a denser/thicker material? I'd not heard of the former, but sounds like something dumb someone invented for no good reason. For the latter, I'd argue thicker/denser is better than thinner, even if it takes more energy to shake. Weighted shakers have an extra cap on the bottom to add weight Somewhat related, Koriko has dropped the overall weight of their shakers twice in the last few years and it loving sucks. The latest run sounds like poo poo now, too, to boot. They've gone from the gold standard to kinda crappy.
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May 19, 2022 05:39
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Fart Car '97 posted:Weighted shakers have an extra cap on the bottom to add weight Seems dumb. Wouldn't that add momentum that'd make it more likely for the shaker to decouple mid-shake?
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May 19, 2022 05:57
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Pander posted:Seems dumb. Wouldn't that add momentum that'd make it more likely for the shaker to decouple mid-shake? It's not a lot of weight, it's just enough to make them more stable when standing and, more importantly, a lot easier to do palm spins with
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May 19, 2022 06:04
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Pander posted:Seems dumb. Wouldn't that add momentum that'd make it more likely for the shaker to decouple mid-shake? They have a nice balance. And the chilling creates a vacuum anyways. The only time I’ve had tins decouple was when I didn’t seal them properly.
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May 19, 2022 08:15
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Fart Car '97 posted:Weighted shakers have an extra cap on the bottom to add weight That’s a shame, I had been thinking about upgrading from my generic Boston/pint glass shaker to Korikos. Any other brands I should look into instead?
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May 19, 2022 12:29
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Toebone posted:That’s a shame, I had been thinking about upgrading from my generic Boston/pint glass shaker to Korikos. Any other brands I should look into instead? I've been generally happy with BarFly's shakers
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May 19, 2022 13:24
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One of the other advantages of a Boston shaker is that it minimizes splashes when mixing ice into your drink. Since it's two vessels you can fill one with booze and the other ice, then pour the booze over the ice and close the shaker. With a Cobbler you usually pour in the booze first and them add ice, and if you're using big fat ice cubes like Morganthaler suggests for maximum aeration you're going to get liquor splashing up and out of your container. I haven't upgraded to a Boston yet and I need to sort of gently land my big cube inside the Cobbler to avoid making a huge mess and losing volume.
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May 19, 2022 13:47
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Fart Car '97 posted:I've been generally happy with BarFly's shakers Same, I have the brushed copper and love them.
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May 19, 2022 13:50
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Strange Matter posted:One of the other advantages of a Boston shaker is that it minimizes splashes when mixing ice into your drink. Since it's two vessels you can fill one with booze and the other ice, then pour the booze over the ice and close the shaker. With a Cobbler you usually pour in the booze first and them add ice, and if you're using big fat ice cubes like Morganthaler suggests for maximum aeration you're going to get liquor splashing up and out of your container. I haven't upgraded to a Boston yet and I need to sort of gently land my big cube inside the Cobbler to avoid making a huge mess and losing volume. Getting some ice-specific tools can help here too. Tongs are good obviously, but a couple years ago I started leaving an ice scoop in the freezer and it’s been great.
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May 19, 2022 13:58
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Strange Matter posted:One of the other advantages of a Boston shaker is that it minimizes splashes when mixing ice into your drink. Since it's two vessels you can fill one with booze and the other ice, then pour the booze over the ice and close the shaker. With a Cobbler you usually pour in the booze first and them add ice, and if you're using big fat ice cubes like Morganthaler suggests for maximum aeration you're going to get liquor splashing up and out of your container. I haven't upgraded to a Boston yet and I need to sort of gently land my big cube inside the Cobbler to avoid making a huge mess and losing volume. Use your mixing spoon to lower the ice into the shaker instead of dropping it in
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May 19, 2022 13:58
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Fart Car '97 posted:Use your mixing spoon to lower the ice into the shaker instead of dropping it in
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May 19, 2022 14:00
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Scythe posted:Getting some ice-specific tools can help here too. Tongs are good obviously, but a couple years ago I started leaving an ice scoop in the freezer and it’s been great. Fart Car '97 posted:Use your mixing spoon to lower the ice into the shaker instead of dropping it in Ah, the difference between professional and amateur approaches. I even do the barspoon thing for my service ice and still forget about it for the ugly ice I use for mixing.
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May 19, 2022 14:02
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Strange Matter posted:I need to sort of gently land my big cube inside the Cobbler Call me
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May 19, 2022 14:28
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Strange Matter posted:I usually just angle my cobbler a bit and slide it down, no mess, but a Boston eliminates this entirely. No shenanigans needed. It's also more theatrical since you can get a nice tall pour when you add the liquor to the ice. But if you poured tall wouldn’t the liquid hit the ice and splash out?
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May 19, 2022 18:29
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The Maestro posted:But if you poured tall wouldn’t the liquid hit the ice and splash out?
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May 19, 2022 19:51
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The splash is real! I use a cobbler and I just gingerly release it with my fingers into there. Sometimes a little splash. Thread given me some good ideas.
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May 19, 2022 20:08
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Make the drink in one side of the Boston shaker, put the ice in the other side, pour liquid to ice, seal, shake. I'm not sure I've ever spelled that out even it's so intuitive.
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May 19, 2022 20:28
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I use the small tin as an ice scoop and then dump and seal in one motion. If it’s a large recipe or a double then you have to be more careful, but it works fine.
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May 19, 2022 20:28
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Ah yes, the McDLT Shaker
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May 19, 2022 20:33
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Mr. Wiggles posted:Make the drink in one side of the Boston shaker, put the ice in the other side, pour liquid to ice, seal, shake. I'm not sure I've ever spelled that out even it's so intuitive. EDIT: Before I actually decided to learn what I was doing with drinks I deliberately went out of my way *not* to buy a Boston Shaker, lol Strange Matter fucked around with this message at 20:46 on May 19, 2022 |
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May 19, 2022 20:39
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