Mister Cocktail

The creativeness of the brand Absolut has nearly limitless since the early 1980s. Remember the famous painting by Andy Warhol or the one made by Keith Haring?  These were truly a landmark in the collaboration between artists and spirit brands and has helped Absolut grow even faster to become the 2nd largest vodka brand in the world it is today.

An important part of their strategy is the launch of their yearly limited edition bottle. They have a vast array of themes they can choose from: City- or country-themed, collaborations with artists, fashion, charity and even strong messages on sensitive subjects. So far we’ve seen Disco, Rock, Masquerade and Glimmer, but also Mexico, China, New Orleans, L.A. and on the other hand Jeff Koons, Jamie Hewlett and Swarovski. We all love Swarovski, don’t we?
Make sure to check this link, that has all collaborations and limited editions until 2004.

This year, Absolut has stretched the edges of the concept “Limited” by launching roughly 4 Million unique bottles worldwide. Integrating such an extensive way … was quite a challenge for the team. A very nice movie has been made of the whole process: interesting to watch!

The celebrate the launch in The Netherlands, Absolut organized a party in Amsterdam in the industrial area called NDSM-wharf. It was quite an exclusive get together of the creative scene and Absolut had made sure that creativity could roam free within these old brick and steel walls. Enormous visuals were projected on the walls, displaying the colours that were used in the process of creating the Unique Bottle. Models with wild make-up and crazy hair-do’s we’re a living canvas here and were literally painted on by the guests, who would then receive the same treatment (fortunately it was allowed to were overall and shoe-covers). This resulted in wildly decorated crowd that was indulged in the creative roots of Absolut Vodka.

Recipes can be found here , my favourite was the Absolut Pineapple Sting: 35 ml Absolut Vodka, 35 ml (fresh) pineapple juice, 70 ml tonic water. Stir with icecubes in a longdrink and garnish with fresh mint.

I couldn’t think of a more appropriate cocktail to celebrate the first day of spring, than the Russian Spring Punch. It was a great day here in Amsterdam, 18 degrees with no cloud in the sky at all. Just perfect! If only the evenings were just a few hours longer and a bit warmer, it would be even better. And it would be called summer.
Back to the Russian Spring Punch. This cocktails is invented by the great London-based bartender Dick Bradsell, who is also responsible for the creation of the Bramble, the Vodka Espresso and many more in the mid 80s. He’s also known as the Godfather of modern cocktails in London.

The good thing about this cocktail, is that the origins are very well known and documented, so no need for me to reproduce history here, but I’d like to take one quote from an interview that another great bartender called Tony Conigliaro had with Mr Bradsell in October 2003:

“If a cocktail or mixed drink is going to get around and become well known, it has to be simple, or at least, memorable. Being a traditionally trained bartender, I know the differences between Slings, Collins and Fizzes. I was taught how to combine a spirit, citrus and sweetner so that it tastes nice. Proportions seen obvious to me. I don’t get why someone would adjust this drink so it becomes unpalatable. I guess there are a lot of variables: quality of Champagne, freshness of lemon juice, strength of cassis. Maybe bartenders are lazy, and just want to make the drink rather fast than well.”

In other words: if you want to reproduce a cocktail at home, stick to the recipe at first. You can always adjust a little, like you would do with a nice meal. And you can rest assured that many cocktails have become the classics that they are today, just because people stuck to that same recipe over and over.

Method:
Mix 25 ml/0.75 oz of good vodka, 25 ml/0.75 oz fresh lemon juice, 3 barspoons of Creme de Cassis (depending on strength and sweetness) and 2 barspoons sugarsyrup (take one barspoon of white sugar if you don’t have syrup around). Stir (or shake) the ingredients and top with decent dry Champagne – it can be flat. Quellany excess fizzing by pouring 25 mls of vodka over the drink. Garnish with a lemonslice.

This cocktail fits great in the category Easy-as-hell: even if your skills are limited to opening a bottle of wine, you can impress your guests with a great drink. It was invented in the U.S. in the late 40′s, first named “The Red Devil” but later renamed after Cape Cod, Massachusetts, because of the presence of the 2nd largest crop of cranberries in that area.

Method:

The Cape Cod uses only 3 ingredients, so prepartion by glas or per pitcher is easy as can be:

3 cl of any good vodka

10 cl Cranberry Juice (I would recommend Canadian Red)

1 wedge of fresh lime (2 wedges for more sourness)

Squeeze the lime in a longdrink glass, and pour in the vodka and cranberryjuice. Fill the glass with icecubes and stirr.

Having a crowd in your livingroom, or just very thirsty: 25 cl of vodka and 75 cls of Cranberry juice combined with the juice from 1 whole lime is sufficient for 1 litre of Cape Codder.

First drink in The Week of the Cranberry is about the most famous cocktail as I can think of. Even if you’ve never strayed away from your favourite beer, you still heard of someone ordering one or preparing one at a houseparty. It was invented in Miami in the 80s and travelled in no-time throughout the U.S. and the U.K., becoming one of the most sold cocktails in the 90s.

But no-one else did more for this drink than Carry Bradshaw, the main character in Sex and the City, promoting the cocktail with her 3 best friends, ordering it in the most fashionable places in New York. Good for us, because it makes our choice of partydrinks a lot easier now.

Method:

Mix 3 cl of any good vodka, 3 cl of Cointreau, 4,5 cl Cranberryjuice and 1,5 cl of fresh lime juice in a shaker. Add a lot of ice and shake well. Use a barsieve (called strainer) to pour the liquid in to a cocktailglass (you know, the fancy one in the picture above), while keeping the icecubes inside the shaker. If you have a tea strainer lying around, use this as well to catch the small particles of ice and lime, so your cocktail looks even better, without small bits floating around. Finally squeeze a 4 cm x 1 cm peel of orange over the drink and serve.

Wow, there’s a crowd of 10 in your livingroom? No time to shake, so move on to the blender for more drastic measures. Multiply by 10 and add ice, blend and pour into the old cocktailglass.

Mixing notes:

Your own taste is more important than any recipe, so follow your own taste to adjust the cocktail where necessary:

Alcohol: more or less vodka

Sweetness: more or less Cointreau

Bitterness: more or less Cranberry

Sourness: more or less lime