When Life Gives You Seville Oranges... Make Bitters!

So I had the day off today, so I went to the store and picked up some NGS (Neutral Grain Spirit). Because I'm making some bitters!

As I had mentioned the other week, I picked up some spices and herbs while up in Chicago. I pulled some mason jars out of the basement, and picked out a few ingredients I want to work with first. So I chose cardamom, star anise, ceylon cinnamon, rhubarb root, Seville oranges (what Campari is made of!), cloves, and ginger.

A few years back, Master Mixologist, Jamie Boudreau suggested to build each ingredient in your bitters in separate containers for control purposes(http://spiritsandcocktails.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/how-to-make-bitters/). So I did that with all my ingredients. But I chose to make a bitter base jar with wormwood, licorice root and gentian root. This will be the basis of my bitter formulas for the first round of experimentation.

They say as a general rule, you should let certain items sit depending on their strength, obviously take into consideration the proof of the liquor you're using. The higher the proof, the faster the extraction process.

3-4 days: Intense flavors such as vanilla beans, lemons, oranges, grapefruit, limes, mint, garlic, tarragon, basil, oregano, dill, thyme and peppers

1 week: Moderate flavors such as cantaloupes, strawberries, peaches, mangoes, pitted cherries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries.

2 weeks: Mild flavors such as pineapple, ginger and lemon grass

If you're looking for some good online resources with ideas for bitters, check out Jamie's Blog I mentioned earlier, and also the bartenders at Anvil in Houston (http://drinkdogma.com/how-to-make-your-own-bitters-for-cocktails/).

Happy Infusing!

Bitter and Opinionated?

While I was in Chicago last weekend, I made it a priority to procure some herbs, spices, and roots to create some bitters. Any suggestions what I should try first?

Bringing It All Home.

I haven't posted much this past week, solely because I was in Chicago. It's that place where I can find pretty much anything I want in the liquor world. And if my good friends at Binny's Beverage Depot don't have it they'll find it for me! Well this time I have brought back 3 spirits for your tasting pleasure (well I brought more, but 3 is plenty for now). Velvet Falernum, Hum, and some Batavia Arrack.

Taylor's Velvet Falernum is a sweet rum based liqueur from Barbados; with some very delightful aromas and tastes. At first smell you get cloves, and it really dominates the fragrance of the liqueur. But when one tastes the beverage you immediately taste sugar, lime and then the cloves at the finish. It's only 11% ABV so it certainly makes an ideal replacement for a simple syrup with spice notes. It's probably one of my favourite liqueurs to work with. Its one of those liqueurs that is extremely versatile. I look at it like a Maraschino or Tuaca.

Next, Hum, a botanical spirit predominantly of hibiscus, ginger, cardamom and kaffir limes. The latter two are of my favourite scents, so I may be just slightly partial, well that and a friend turned me on to it. The liqueur itself is pretty potent, and a little goes a long way. But i discovered you can bring out certain characteristics of the beverage by pairing it with a different ingredient. Apples for example bring out the ginger in the liqueur, where as I find ginger ale itself seems to make the cardamom pop more. It's 70 proof, so enjoy responsibly.

Finally, Batavia Arrack Van Oosten. Some people have seen the words Arrack and Arak, and often confuse the two. Arak is an anise spirit from the middle east. Arrack (arak in some parts of indonesia, it's not confusing at all!) in this case is a relative of rum! It is created in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), on the island of Java. What makes this spirit unique is the Javan red rice that is added to the beer (fermented sugar cane juice) and distilled. It still maintains the fiery sweetness you find in rum, with an approachable dryness. But has a nice almost floral aroma to it. This one sits at 100 proof. It going to make a great base spirit for some summer drinks, I almost prefer it over rum itself.

Hope you enjoyed my spirited reviews for the month! Cheers!

Barreled Goodness

So, it's been a week since I emptied water out of one of the barrels and filled it with 1.75 litres of Beefeaters and .25 litres of Martin Millers Gin. We'll let it age for a few more weeks.

What should I put in the second barrel?