Stocking the Home Bar -- Part II

Hello All,

    How did the week start? Was it thrilling or still facing the Monday morning blues? Well, the trouble with my web server doesn’t seem to go away. So my day ain’t any thrilling. Anyhow, another quick post today, on how to stock the Home Bar. Before reading the article any further, head on to my previous post here, on what spirits are needed in a Home Bar.

   Once you have decided upon the spirits that are a must in your bar, now lets have a look at other essentials that are needed to make the perfect Home Bar. So, today, let us focus on Liqueurs. A Liqueur is basically a sweet spirit used as a flavoring agent  in making cocktails and recipes. Wikipedia puts it this way:

A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage made from distilled alcohol that has been flavored with fruit, cream, herbs, spices, flowers or nuts and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.


What liqueurs to store?

The answer ain’t so simple. For someone like me, who loves chocolate, a chocolate liqueur is a must. Examples include Ashanti Gold, Mozart

Finest Scotch

Black, Royal Mint-Chocolate Liqueur. They will make wonderful cocktails when mixed with Black Dog Reserve / Black Dog Deluxe. (Stay tuned for a few recipes).

For someone who loves his scotch the following liqueurs look good

• Eblana, which has a flavor of coffee, honey, almond, peanut
• Glayva, which reminds you of Seville oranges, herbs, and honey
• Orangerie which goes well which citrus based / spicy scotch.

Other good liqueurs include

• Rock and rye usually mixed with American Whiskey
• Bloody Oath and Kajmir for fans of Vodka

What are your favorite liqueurs? I have actually no idea about fruit based liqueurs. Do suggest some of them for me and my readers.  

Wishing you sweet dreams
Abhishek Boniapalli

Scotch Based Cocktails

Hello All,

    How did the weekend go? Well, everything at my end ain’t so cool. We are facing some issues with our web server and orders are pending with clients getting apprehensive about delivery dates. Well, after trying to solve the problem from the past two days, I just decided to unwind a little and relax by surfing about my favourite topics which include Scotch, One Piece and Guns.

Finest Scotch

    After enjoying a few vodka based cocktails, I decided to find a good scotch based cocktail. We are suggesting Black Dog, the finest scotch in India for the cocktails. So, here are two cocktails which look good. I am gonna share the recipe today and a review of how they are sometime later.

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Blood and Sand Cocktail

Makes: 1 drink

Ingredients:

Cocktails

• 3/4 - 1 ounce Scotch (Our suggestion: Black Dog Reserve)
• 3/4 ounce freshly-squeezed orange juice 
• 3/4 ounce sweet vermouth 
• 3/4 ounce Heering

Procedure:

1. Shake all ingredients together with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 
2.  Garnish with a flamed orange peel. To do this, peel a nice, wide slice of orange. Run a flame gently back and forth over the rind side, releasing the oils. With the flame still going, gently squeeze the peel into the flame over your glass. This should send the oils bursting into your drink, replete with flame. 
3. Run the peel around the rim of the glass and discard.

--x--

Mamie Taylor Cocktail

Ingredients:

Scotch Cocktail

• 2 oz. blended Scotch (Our Suggestion Black Dog Deluxe)
• Juice of half a lime 
• 1 dash Angostura bitters 
• Ginger beer 
• 1 hunk of candied ginger

Procedure:

1. Fill a high-ball glass with ice
2. Add ingredients in the above order (you should just be topping off the glass with the ginger beer)
3. Gently stir
4. Garnish with the ginger candy on a toothpick.
5. Enjoy!

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    Ever tried a scotch based cocktail? How do they feel? What is so cool about them? Why aren’t they so famous like the vodka based ones?  Do let us know.

Abhisehk Boinapalli