Mister Cocktail

The Sorrento area in southern Italy is famous for it’s Feminello St Teresa lemons, better known as Sorrento Lemons. Enormous, sweet lemons that are specific to that region. The limoncello is created by macerating the peels in alcohol for 4 days. After this it is blended with sugar syrup and water. A lot of my friends make it at home, it’s that easy! Although buying neutral alcohol is not that easy in some countries, like mine.

I once managed to buy 5 litres at a NATO-base in Brunssum in the deep south of Holland after giving a seminar for the bored-to-death soldiers who drenched their evenings in alcohol. Anyway, I created my own limoncello, but after tasting Villa Massa, I realised getting the right ingredients is a bit more difficult here, then it is in Italy!

Villa Massa is an old brand of Limoncello, based on an over-a-century old family recipe dating back to 1890. Of the Famiglia Massa that is. It is created in their family farm (which is called Villa in Italian), located in Piano di Sorrento, close to Naples and in the very heart of the limoncello-area. Because it is made from only Sorrento lemons and also created and bottled in this area, it is one of the very few Limoncello’s that have the P.G.I. mark, a proof of authenticity that a product receives when the ingredients are only from a certain area.

The bottle: The bottle is made of frosted, slightly green glass with a label that displays the entrance of the family mansion. Visually not the most exciting appearance, but it accentuates the tradional area where it originates from.
85/100

The nose: The scent of fresh lemons with a somewhat bitter nose from the zest. This contains some oils that are more bitter, but it all balances out really nice.
90/100

The contents: Lovely and gentle sweet taste, slightly tangerine, typical for the Sorrento lemons. Pretty sweet and enjoyed straight from the freezer, giving it a smooth, silky-like texture. There’s a slight hint of bitterness in it, coming from the essential oils in the lemonzest.
90/100

The mixability: Limoncello is traditionally drunk after dinner, straight from the freezer. But it is also perfect for mixing with soft drinks, like Tonic or in cocktails. See below for a recipe.

Overall: This is a very nice liqueur, well belanced and very accessible. Enjoyed in many ways and  always refreshing.
90/100

How to: A cocktail is best enjoyed in good company, so I will give you a recipe for a nice jug of Villa Masso Mojito, enough for you and your 5 best friends!

Cut 3 nice lemons in quarters and squeeze these into the jug. You can drop them in after this, they make a great decoration with their bright yellow peels. Pour in 36 cl Villa Massa Limoncello – you can pick up small bottles of VM that measure 35 cls, also perfect. Place 10 large sprigs of mint (about 60 leaves) between your hands and bruise them slightly by ‘clapping’ them: this releases the flavour, but keeps the bitter oils inside the leaf! No need to get the leafs off of the stem, just leave ‘em on.
Fill the jug with icecubes and some sodawater and stir gently, combining all flavours. Do you prefer a sweeter taste, use lemonade instead of sodawater.

What do you know about Drambuie? Most people already got the country wrong, thinking it’s French and pronounce it that way. How wrong. It’s Scottish and therefor pronounced as Drambuie. The whiskies used for Drambuie come from the Speyside, perhaps the most famous part of Scotland for producing whiskies, but certainly the most productive. This areas delivers somewhat sweeter whiskies and are perfect to combine with herbs and spices. Which is why Drambuie tastes so nice.

Quite recently, the line of this over a century old family-owned company has been extended with the Drambuie 15 Years Old.  The name kind of reveals what’s inside the spirit, but if you haven’t guessed by now: it’s Speyside Whisky with a minimum aging of 15 years. The master blender has accumulated a fair amount of great whiskies and could choose from them to blend together with the famous elixir of Drambuie. With a secret formula I might add, but with a little browsing one can get to anise, saffron and cinnamon, although nowhere confirmed.

The bottle: I know good things come in small packages, but in this case it literally came in small packaging. The good people of Drambuie sent me a 5 cl sample bottle and although I can say it looks nice on the picture, I only can describe a bottle when I’ve held it in my hand.
…./100

The nose: In the nose there’s a loverly maltiness, that is accompanied by honey and spicy notes, together with hints of citrus, like orange and lemon. The spirit is bottled at 43 % ABV (or 86 proof) and that’s noticeable here, really emphasizing the influence of the aged whiskies.
91/100

The contents: A very warm taste and a silky mouth feel, despite the high ABV. The citrus notes come through really nice and it’s remarkable how this spirit goes from whisky to liqueur and back several times in one sip: sweet notes, malt, orange, wood, butterscotch, a little salty even at times.
93/100

The mixability: This one is enjoyed best neat (I used a Glencairn Glass) or over ice.

Overall: A very rich spirit that has all the maturity of a Speyside whisky and the characteristics of a great liqueur. It rivals other liqueurs like Bénedictine B&B and Grand Marnier 100 and will be very nice additition to your spirits collection. But then of the one that you want to drink regularly!
92/100

I must admit that this gin is a somewhat difficult to find spirit, but since I left almost my entire stock of gins in G&T’s Really Really Nice Place last week, I had no choice but to dig in on my more exclusive stock. No worries though, as I wanted to treat myself to something special anyways, after the successful tour I did with Hidetsugu Ueno last week. We visited Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London for several masterclasses and we visited a fair amount of bars.

Back to the topic now, since it’s still Sunday while I’m writing this and  it’s best to finish before Monday kicks in.
I already reviewed the ‘normal’ Citadelle Gin here in the mix with Schweppes, and if you’d like to learn a bit about the story of the brand, please follow the link or go to their site.

Having a gin with such a colour in your glass is something special in itself: pale gold reveals the influence of barrel-aging and I can imagine that a long time ago most gins carried this colour as a result of transportation and storage. The nose of this gin is more smooth and sweet than that of the regular Citadelle, although that one has already some great sweet notes in its taste: cinnamon, orange and liquorice. In the taste, the wonderful high and citric notes from coriander, juniper and lemon are even more balanced after the maturation: more vanilla and peppery notes have been added and all work great together.

Schweppes: I decided to keep this brand in the testing, as it is the one that is readily available all over the world, as opposed to the other brands of Tonic Water. And even though it doesn’t come out on top most of the times, it is good for reference.
The softness of the gin somehow rules out the strong bitterness that normally dominates a G&T with Schweppes. The main flavour I’m getting is orange, which is actually quick pleasing. Long citric notes, along with the spices and peppery aftertaste still come through, making this a nice drink.
8.5/10

Fever Tree: Again, I get that feeling of excitement when I’m mixing with FT. The taste is soft and lingers to the sweet side, although some bitter notes remain in the aftertaste. The taste is fruity and floral, yet very mature and the extra depth that has been given to the gin still shines through in the mix with this tonic.
9.5/10

Fentiman’s: I always enjoy Fentiman’s as their bubble is very powerful, sending the aroma of the mix into the air. I needed to adjust the gin:tonic -ratio a bot to find the right balance – a little more gin is required in this mix versus the FT & Schhh. But the mix couldn’t really please me this time: the taste of Fentiman’s is a bit overpowering, especially the strong presence of lime. Should you be a great fan of strong lime in your G&T than you might like this better, but another gin with it is probably the best option.
8.0/10

Thomas Henry Elderflower Tonic: I received a sample of this a week or so ago and I figured this is a good occasion to test it, since there’s so many nice floral notes in the Citadelle Réserve. It’s a fun addition to the drink, but it’s one that you would really have to want. The quality of the tonic water is good and the flavour of elderflower is not artificial
8.0/10

Conclusion: The Citadelle Réserve 2011 is a great gin to mix with tonic, although it’s also great to sip neat, or to create a Dry martini with. It requires a soft Tonic Water to accompany it and Fever Tree is the obvious choice. Need I say more? Don’t think so!

The G’Vine people not only thought about the botanicals with which they wanted to create their gin, bus also about the base-spirit. Most gins are based on a neutral grain spirit, but G’Vine opted for a wine-alcohol which delivers a more smooth and soft taste to start off with. Another great addition they made to this gin is a special distillate of macerated grape flowers, that only flourish for a few days in June.

Next to these 2 distillates, another distillate is made with 9 botanicals. Some are traditional to gin, like Juniper (duh), Coriander, Cassia, Liquorice and Cardamom. But 4 others create an even more exotic flavour: Ginger Root, Cubeb Berries for some peppery notes, lime and nutmeg. The result is a wonderful combination of a soft and floral base with a very well balanced range of botanicals, great to sip neat, even better to mix! After that, all three distillates are blended together and distilled yet another time to perfection.

This week I decided to replace Schweppes with another Tonic water, so I’m going to look for a new addition (anyone got a good suggestion for me?). This week the free slot is for Thomas Henry Tonic from Germany.

Fever Tree: the nose of this combination is very soft, the flavours are kept sort of a secret until the first sip. A gentle bitterness at first – quinine of course, with the cardamom- combining very well with the nice citric notes from lime and coriander. The sweet notes from the nutmeg, cassia and liquorice form the middle part with the spicy notes appearing at the end.
9.5/10

Fentiman’s: the nose in this mix is much stronger with more perfume and citrus coming through. The strong limetones in Fentimans don’t overpower the citric notes in G’Vine, but compliment them. The stronger bitterness in the tonic also works great with the sweeter notes. The aftertaste is long and lingering, a pleasant surprise almost resembling a nice champagne.
9.5/10

Thomas Henry: A pleasantly sweet nose in this mix with the soft bubble of the tonic. The taste doesn’t start with bitter, but with the more sweet and floral notes. Soon after there’s the bitter notes of the quinine which somehow very much accentuates the cardamom and cubeb berries. The bitter notes stay all the way through the aftertaste
8.5/10

Conclusion: This is just a great gin, that is very versatile in mixing drinks. I liked all tonic waters very much with G’Vine, and, again, it comes down to personal taste which direction you want to take your G’Vine & Tonic. The mix with Fever Tree is very soft, where the mix with Fentiman’s is much more fresh. Thomas Henry makes a great mix as well, but the combination is not as good as with the other 2 tonic waters.

The story of Monkey47 is that of Montgomery Collins, who was posted in Berlin’s British sector after the end WWII. He was struck by the massive destruction that had taken place there and he decided to spend his time helping to rebuild it. His focus was the Berlin Zoo, where he became sponsor of a monkey called Max.

He left the air force in the early 50s, to start  a career in watchmaking. This turned out not be his calling, but he found himself in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald), a great natural area where he not only opened a guesthouse called “The Wild Monkey”, but also started making his own gin. He was British after all.

Montgomery kept the recipe a secret, hidden in a box in his guesthouse, which was discovered some 50 years later. It was decorated with the drawing of a monkey and the words “Max the monkey – Schwarzwalder Dry Gin”. In 2008 the recipe was restored and brought to market.

Lovely soft smell of juniper and lemon, slightly peppery and with floral notes.
All the flavours come to life in your mouth, very well balanced and although there are some main flavours to identify, the 47 different botanicals are working together so well that it’s difficult to identify each individual.

Schweppes: The delicate palate of Monkey47 does not match very well with the dominant flavours of Schweppes. Both the strong sweetness and the long bitterness in the tonic just overpower the gin. I stopped tasting there.
6.0/10

Fever Tree: This is a great combination: the soft citric notes and the juniper in Monkey47 stay upright because of the light flavour of Fever Tree. This tonic water has a subtle bitterness in it and it balances out very nicely with the sweet and floral notes in the gin. The mix is very smooth and I like it how many of the different berries in Monkey47 create a wonderful fruity flavour in here.
9.0/10

Fentiman’s: There’s a lot of citric notes in this mix and there’s an overlap in ingredients that Money47 and Fentiman’s are using: Kaffir lime. Together the sweeter and fruity notes work very well, giving it a very long aftertaste. The more floral notes in the gin, like Jasmin and Chamomile, are highlighted in the mix with Fentiman’s.
9.0/10

Conclusion: Both the Fever Tree and the Fentiman’s work great with Monkey47, which is a very well balanced yet delicate gin. I have given both mixes the same rating, but notice that the are not the same mixes at all! But I just like both combinations equally much

Almost 3 years ago, London saw the birth of a new distillery, the first one to be given a distillers’ license in almost 200 years. The founders, Sam Galsworthy and Fairfax Hall, and their master distiller, Jared Brown, wanted to distill London Dry Gin like it used to be done: in small batches, one shot and by pot-still. This already sets them apart from other new-comers, which were more focused on finding new ingredients to be used in a gin. To make sure they could achieve their mission, they sourced the best classical gin-ingredients from around the globe and they designed a still that they named Prudence, a word they derived off of a quote by Gordon Brown.

The gin is very smooth, almost buttery with the fresh pine taste of juniper coming through in the beginning. There are some very pleasant sweet notes like liquorice, cinnamon and orange in it, together with subtle floral notes from orris root. The finish has great citric notes in it from coriander and lemon-peel.

Schweppes: This combination is pretty smooth, but with a bite. It leaves a dry bitterness at the end, while the overall taste is sweet. It definitely needs lime in this mix, but even with fresh lime the Schweppes is the stronger agent of the 2.
7.5/10

1724: Soft and sweet is the first mouthfeel I get: the gentle bubble in the 1724 plays really nice with the Sipsmith, that releases a slight bitterness and at the same timegives room for the pleasant sweet notes. It leans a bit to the boring side however as they play along nicely but in the aftertaste it regains a bit of those pine flavours.
8.5/10

Fever Tree: Every aspect of the Sipsmith Gin gets room to move around in this mix. All the botanicals in it have just the space it needs, while it gets the right counterbalance by Fever Tree. Combined with some fresh lime it gets a very smooth and long finish with just a little bit of bitterness in it, the freshness of this mix is just great.
9.5/10

Thomas Henry: Again, a very soft nose and I get a lot of flavours right at the beginning: lots of lemon, pine and orange. Strangely, most of these flavours disappear in the middle, are overtaken by the sweeter notes after which the lemon returns full force. The aftertase is mainly lemon with some bitterness. It’s interesting how it developes: it’s a very fresh mix but it loses some points due to ‘middle part’.
8/10

Fentiman’s: The combined citric tones in the tonic and gin make this a very refreshing mix. Fresh lime is still needed though, to prevent it from becoming perfumed. There’s a long bitterness in the aftertaste, although there’s an all-over pleasant sweet taste to this mix.
9/10

Conclusion: Sipsmith Gin is an amazing product and the creators have rally achieved thier goals. It mixes wonderfully with Fentiman’s and Fever Tree and it comes down to personal taste which of the two one prefers. For me, the mix with Fever Tree had a more complete taste so in my opionion the best mixer with Sipsmith Gin!

About 30 years before the launch of Bombay Sapphire, Alan Subin and Burton Brown, two old friends, decided to work on a gin together. They had these talks in the Gaslight Club in New York, which was co-owned by Brown. The Gaslight Club was a speakeasy, members-only concept that originated in Chicago, with Prohibition lifted not long before. The two gentlemen travelled to the United Kingdom and found a recipe that dated back to 1761 and contained 8 botanicals: Juniper, Lemon peel, Coriander seeds, Orris, Angelica, Almonds, Liquorice and Cassia Bark. The recipe called for a ‘vapour distillation’ which means that the botanicals are not boiled or steeped with the grain alcohol, but placed above it, so the fumes pick up the flavours.

Bombay Original has a lovely nose, with juniper, coriander and liquorice dominating. The taste is full-bodied with slightly bitter juniper and coriander with angelica at first and more sweet notes from cinnamon and liquorice coming through after that.

I seems a great gin for mixing with tonic water, accessible for everyone, even people who think not to like gin. How does this gin work with my 3 selected Tonic Waters?

Schweppes: This tonic water is high in carbonation and quite sweet, giving it a somewhat perfumed taste. It adds  a lot of sweetness to Bombay Original and really needs some lime to get back to that freshness. I have the feeling that the tonic is overpowering the gin a bit, although there’s still plenty of room for Bombay Original to shine.
7/10

Fever Tree: There is so much more space for Bombay Original in this mix. The lime really finishes the drink, although they taste already great together without a garnish. The carbonation in Fever Tree works great in both the glass and in your mouth and the relatively low levels of acidity in the tonic are compensated beautifully by Bombay Original.
9/10

Fentiman’s: This is the most eccentric tonic water of the bunch and already from the smell on you notice how different it is. It is strong in citric notes and bitterness from the quinine and are maybe a bit too strong for the Bombay Original, although all flavours taste very natural together.
8/10

Conclusion: With just the addition of a basic garnish like fresh lime it clear that the best Tonic Water with this Bombay Original Dry Gin is Fever Tree. It leaves room in exactly those places where the gin is strong and compensates the areas in which Bombay Original has less flavour. The complement each other in a beautiful way and although they are not the most adventurous combination, it is highly recommended.

Barbados is said to be the place where the history of rum started. A document found in 1651 stated: “The chief fuddling they make in the island is Rumbullion, alias Kill-Divil, and this is mad of sugar canes distilled, a hot, hellish, and terrible liquor.”
Fortunately for us all this changed for the better and since then the category of rum has developed itself into the most diverse of all spirits. But above all: it became a way of life

The Grande Reserve Barbados 5 YO is one of the finest rums in the range of Rhum Plantation, a brand created by Pierre Ferrand, a French company also famous for making great Cognac. Their way of working is to blend rums that are specific to a region (for example Jamaica, Nicaragua, Guyana etc), age them together in oak barrels and ship this blend to France. There the blends are each put into old cognac-barrels for one more year.

The bottle: Most of the rums by Plantation are packed in a sleek, ling bottle, but the GRB5 is an exception to this. It’s a short bottle, for a bit more of that pirate-feeling. It’s packed in a straw netting and combined with the nice label, embossed logo and name of Plantation on the bottle, it’s sure to stand out in your liquor-cabinet. Also notice that the cork has a very tight fit, giving a nice pop when you pull it out, releasing some of the great flavours inside!
92/100

The nose: The nose of this rum is beautifully balanced: sweet notes like vanilla and butterscotch with a bit of coconut are accompanied by wood-tones coming from the oak-barrels that are used for the first 5 years. I also get sweet sherry-like tones from the fine cognacbarrel that is used for the last year.
94/100

The contents: The cognac-finish is very clear in the taste, with sweet notes like banana, toffee and coconut coming through. The taste is long, a bit sweet, yet wonderfully complex. Spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla make the complex part, alongside with fruits like banana and orange. The middle of the taste is a bit flat, but soon the aftertaste takes over. I love it how you can taste the minerals in the aftertaste: they stick in your mouth and keep adding flavour and depth. Try rubbing your tongue over your gums and notice how much flavour there is left from the rum (or that a strange suggestion?)
93/100

The mixability: This rum is great as a sipping rum, but it provides a great cocktail ingredient as well. There’s a whole range of grateful tropical cocktail, perfect to prepare with the Grande Reserve. I gave it a try in the Mai Tai, for which I found a great easy-to-make recipe by Max La Rocca (who’s cocktail the Irish Mermaid I reviewed yesterday), which is a simplified take on the David Wondrich Mai Tai. Perfect to try at home!

Overall: This is one rum that you’ll never regret to have bought. You’ll probably recommend it to friends and buy a second bottle when your first one is finished. I know I have! Because of the great versatility you can use it in so many different ways and on different moments
93/100

Method:

Combine 50 ml/1.6 oz Plantation Grande Reserve Barbados 5 YO, 15 ml/0.5 oz Dry Curacao, 15 ml/0.5 oz fresh limejuice and 15 ml/0.5 oz orgeat syrup in a shaker. Shake well and strain in a tumbler filled with icecubes. Crushed ice is even better, but don’t go out of your way to smash your precious icecubes if you’re low on those. Do you have some mint lying around, or growing on your balcony/garden? Grab a nice sprig to garnish the cocktail with! Enjoy!

I recently came across this bottle and it immediately drew my attention. The design of the bottle has been done really well and it invited me to taste the contents as well. The Double Rye! hasn’t got the exclamation mark for nothing – it is an indication that this is a special blend of two rye whiskies: The youngest is a 2-year-old that has a 95 % rye and 5 % barley mash. The older (16! year old) whiskey has a much lower level of rye: 53 % (note that 51 % is the legal minumum to be called a rye whiskey) and 37 % corn mixture. “The extra age and corn provides some sweetness to calm the “bite” of the younger rye for a relationship that works”. That’s a quote from their website, sometimes things are put into words just very well – no need for me to re-phrase that.

The bottle: This one’s a little rough around the edges, which is a great attribute for a rye whiskey. Light green glass with tiny airbubbles caught inside with the name and logo of the distillery  embossed. The label is mad of heavy, rough recycled paper, displaying a cowboy entering a saloon. The backlabel has a great promise: “Dedicated to the cowboy in all of us”. The wooded cork is a nice touch as well.
92/100

The nose: The heavy wood-tones of the youngest rye shine through immediately. I get a nice spicy nose, a little sherry-menthol and apple.
89/100

The contents: Again, the sharp, but never unpleasant wood and burnt oak come through. It has a slightly sweet undertone of vanilla and butterscotch, which balances nicely with the spicier notes of cloves, anis and mint. In the aftertaste there’s again some fruit that I got in the nose as well.
88/100

The mixability: This is great to drink neat, or on the rocks, but it’s also good for cocktails. I tried the Double Rye! in 3 variations of a Manhattan in a combination of Noilly Prat Rouge and Martini Extra Dry and my favourite was the Sweet Manhatta. The shaprer notes in this whiskey were too much accentued for my taste to use with a dry Vermouth, but I suggest for you to try it yourself, for your taste may be quite different from mine! Recipe below.

Overall: All in all it is a very pleasant Rye Whiskey, and certainly not middle-of-the-road. And that’s not how this Double Rye! is intended to be.
89/100

Method: Manhattan
Combine 55 mls/1.9 oz of High West Double Rye!, 35 mls/1.2 oz Sweet Vermouth and 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters in a mixingglass and stirr with lots of ice. Strain into a chilled cocktailglass and garnish with a good orangezest – squeezed over the glass.

Masataka Taketsuru (1895) was a member of the family that had been producing Sake since 1733, but he was obsessed with Whisky. His passion led him to Glasgow, where he studied the art of making whisky to eventually become master blender. He not only found his passion, but also his wife, Jessie Roberta, who he married and took home to Japan. He was the first one to produce whisky in Japan while working for a company called Yamazaki, but in 1934 he started his own company, Nikka.

Nikka from the Barrel is a blended whisky from matured malt whisky and grain whisky, blended together and ‘married’ by ageing and bottles at 51.4 % / 102.8 proof

The bottle: This undeniably cool bottle comes in a basic box, made of thick, silky cardboard with basically only Japanese printed on it. The bottle appears to come straight from an old pharmacist with a very simple alu-cap to close to short neck.
94/100

The nose: Despite the high percentage of this whisky the nose is really soft, almost silky that leans towards a fine cognac. It is slightly sweet from orange and has a bit of dryness at the same time, reminiscent of a sweet sherry. After I added a drop of water more flavours are released: a bit of caramel and more wood shine through.
95/100

The contents: A very mature taste of toasted wood at first, followed by more sweet notes, liquorice, slightly salty (very nice!). The high level of alcohol numbs the taste just a little but it so nicely balanced with the taste.
94/100

The mixability: don’t mix it, unless it’s with a drop of water.

Overall: This is an amazing whisky, one of the finest I have ever tasted! It is very reasonably priced and I think a great asset to any spirits cabinet. It looks cool and the taste could also be a great introduction to Japanese whiskies.
94/100