The “Flavored Vodka Box.” Lisa made Paella. We taste Sub Rosa Saffron Vodka. Everything is yellow or green in this episode. We make a Sun and Moon cocktail. Lime nipples cutting. Exploding bottles.
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New Holland Spirits was relatively unknown to me until I ran into them at Tales of the Cocktail this year and tasted their fantastic orange liqueur (more on that in a minute).
Born out of New Holland Brewery in Michigan, the spirits line is pretty diverse and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve tried so far, including their Beer Barrel Bourbon. They were generous enough to let us try many of their other spirits. Here’s what we think:
Walleye Rye, $40-50. A rye with more fruitiness than I expected. Spicy, yes, but there’s a lot more dried fruit and sweetness than I’m used to in a rye. I feel like this rye’s fruity flavor is possibly due more to its younger age than what it’s distilled from. It;s fun to use this to make more fruit-forward rye cocktails, like Manhattans.
Knickerbocker Barrel Gin, $35. I love barrel aged gins. They helped me transition from being mostly a gin drinker to whiskey. When you take a sip, this is in the very end of the taste you get a caramel-barrel sweetness that’s really great. We tasted this on an episode of the podcast as well.
Clockwork Orange Liqueur, $30. This is the drink that drew me to New Holland initially. A high-proof (40%) triple sec that can easily be a stand-alone sipper. I know folks who like to drink straight triple secs or curacous while smoking cigars, and this is leaps and bounds better than the $10 bottom-shelf triple secs you see at the grocery store. It’s not too sweet, it’s slightly bitter and spicy. I’ll be saving this bottle for high-end cocktails and for sipping.
As their distillery line is relatively new, there isn’t national distribution of New Holland’s spirits. Mostly available near and in the areas surrounding Holland, Michigan, USA, if you get a chance to try their line, you won’t be disappointed.
The Blood Moon rang in the fall. “I’m better than that.” We taste Wild Turkey 101. “Good job Tom Cruise.” The meaning of the work cocktail…explained!? Mark Twain’s favorite cocktail. We make a “trashy” drink….a Choco-Mint-Chata (with Iceberg and RumChata). Greg has trouble remembering Toy Soldiers.
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Our first podcast tasting of cognac. Cognac defined. “Very special other people’s property.” We taste Hennessey (Ryan McGinness edition bottle). Cocktails with cognac? Sophistication to ghetto drinking. Greg teaches us to make “Tinis” of various sorts. The ratio is 2:1.
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I talked about National Bourbon Heritage Month on The Morning Brew in Albuquerque yesterday! Check out the video which includes the background behind the Month, some raving about Bourbon Curious, and drinking Four Roses at 7 am!
Here’s a link to our National Bourbon Heritage Month blog post if you’d like to read more about it. Lisa took some great behind-the-scenes photos as well: Continue reading
“I caught you on a good year”: we go to the State Fair. Many types of fried food. Lisa talks about fried tequila shots. We taste Skyy Vodka. “If you haven’t heard Greg…” Greg’s signature drink? We taste Knickerbocker Barrel Gin, too, and make a Gin Old Fashioned with it. “Breaking records left and right.” The real reason for no orange garnish. An eyeball sucked out of a mummy. Lisa’s genius coffee mixing technique. The problem with stemless glassware.
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It seems every liquor bottle comes with a legend of some sort, and Brugal Rum is no exception. A five-generations-old rum that’s both sourced and produced in the Dominican Republic, Brugal has a line of rums with vary age statements.
For your entry-level $25, you get Brugal Especial Extra Dry. Keenly wrapped in a net of string, Brugal is unique in a way that many silver rums are not: it’s barrel-aged. After distillation, Extra Dry is aged 2-5 years in oak casks, then the color imparted from the casks is filtered back out. Usually a silver rum is not aged, and because of that, it’s not particularly flavorful, maybe a step up from vodka. But in the case of Brugal, you get a huge nose of woodiness, and a spicy, bold, and very dry rum. Though a common rum complaint, you won’t catch anyone saying this particular rum is “too sweet” for them.
As I tend to prefer my Daiquiris to have a lot of character, meaning I prefer to mix them with aged rum, Brugal gives me a great alternative to the usually-murky brownness that you get with aged rum, then allows me to mix a flavorful-yet-light Daiquiri instead.
You may recall from our Tales of the Cocktail interview that Fabian preferred Brugal in his Daiquiris as well! Cheers Fabian!
Diner en Blanc Albuquerque: “the mayor WAS there….or at least we saw the pictures,” it all comes out the sweat-pores, and here’s some Instagram pics, we taste New Holland Clockwork Orange. “Can you make me a cocktail involving milk?” We make the J.R.’s Revenge cocktail. Who did shoot J.R.? “Let’s do ‘I Dream of Jeanie Next’.” Mistresses will kill you.
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Some spirits have a bad reputation. Often, it’s deserved and occasionally it’s more of a guilt-by-association situation. Jägermeister is certainly one of those “bad reputation” spirits, and I think in their case, they fall in to both camps.
First, an origin story. Jäger is an 80-year-old German brand, creators of an herbal liquor that’s a bit like an Italian amaro, a blend of 56 macerated herbs, spices and flavors. Jäger is aged a year as part of its production, then bottled and shipped out.
Now for the uncouth side of Jäger. Remember scantily-clad cocktail waitresses with trays of ice-cold Jäger shots prancing around your local bar? Seen frozen Jäger-branded “shot machines”? How about “Jägerbombs” or “Liquid Heroin”? There’s the fact that they’ve virtually ignored craft cocktail bars, craft cocktail makers, and craft cocktail enthusiasts, too. Continue reading
In the world of craft cocktails, amaros are a staple of the bar, usually multiple varieties. In the real world of people’s home bars however, these Italian bitter liqueurs have yet to make as much of an impact.
Amaro Lucano is one of many amaros you may find at your local liquor store. Of the amaros I’ve tried, there tend to be several camps of them. There’s the citrusy, like Aperol and Campari. There’s the cola-esque like Averna. Then there’s the herbal, like Cynar, Fernet Branca or this one, Amaro Lucano.
Lucano is the most similar to Cynar, herbal and spicy, though there are enough differences to set it apart. First, the alcohol level is higher, 28% compared with Cynar’s 16%. Because of the increased alcohol level, and likely because of something in the secret recipe of 30 herbs, Amaro Lucano has an interesting tingle when you sip it. It’s hard to trace the source of that tingle, but everyone who’s tried it has noticed it to varying degrees of enjoyment.
At $30, Amaro Lucano is definitely an enjoyable, herbal amaro. If you love to taste new amaros, and experiment with them in your Negronis, it should certainly be on your list of amaros to try.
