Manhattan

Back again folks, this time with a whiskey cocktail. It is called a Manhattan and is one of my most ordered cocktails, along with the martini and the gimlet(more on this next week).
This cocktail is made from bourbon whiskey, bitters, sweet vermouth, and a cherry for garnish. Here is a picture of the final cocktail.



This cocktail is pretty strong and if you do not like whiskey I would strongly suggest you order something else. Those of us that love whiskey as much as I do, however, should have this cocktail at least once in our lives. Here are the ingredients.


(image found at http://www.caribbeanproducers.com/files/imagecache/product_main/files/beverage_images/Vermouth-%20Martini%20%20Rossi%20-Rosso%20Sweet.gif)


(image found at http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/10/makers_mark/image/14.jpg)


(image found at http://www.wbdistributionltd.co.uk/images/bitters.jpg)

The recipe is very simple:
1.5oz whiskey(I like maker's for this)
1.5oz sweet vermouth
2-4 dashes bitters
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the bitters, whiskey, and sweet vermouth. Shake until fully chilled and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a cherry that has the stem taken off.

The first taste you get is the whiskey with a slight sweetness and spiciness from the vermouth and bitters. When you have finished the cocktail and eat the cherry it has had sufficient time to soak up the flavors and adds even more sweetness with a clean finish. In my humble opinion this is the go to cocktail along with the martini if you are out for drinks with friends.
Hope this post finds you all well, have fun

Black Velvet

I have been drinking a lot of champagne lately, so I have decided to post another champagne cocktail for you all to enjoy. This one is named the Black Velvet, I assume because of it's color. Here is a photo of the cocktail itself, two different glasses witht he same portions and ingredients, only made slightly differently, but I will get to that.


There are only two ingredients for this cocktail, champagne and guinness extra stout.


(image found at http://intoxicologist.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/korbel.jpg)


(image found at http://static.wix.com/media/3ff9088ad85efb18ae59052e07f179bb.wix_mp)

You may notice that I am using the Korbel natural again, I can't help it. It is my favorite champagne at the moment. There are two ways of making this cocktail. In the image above you see that the cocktail on the right is separated while the other is not. I like the separated look personally, and the way you make that is you take the guinness and fill a champagne flute up halfway with it. Then taking a spoon you pour the champagne onto the spoon so that it will flow down the sides of the flute and not mix with the beer. If you don't want it separated I would recommend taking the champagne and filling up the flute halfway and then pour the guinness directly into it to fill the glass. That is it, you now have a Black Velvet.
This cocktail is great to have before you eat as the acidity of the champagne cleans your palate while the guinness gives it body and a warmth. You also get those very fine champagne bubbles which is nothing but a good thing.
That is all for today, keep mixing.

Champagne Cocktail

What makes a cocktail a cocktail? In my opinion it is when you take a spirit of some sort and add one or more ingredients to it, creating something that is delicious but different from what it was originally. The champagne cocktail is the perfect example of this.
Most consider champagne something that is to be enjoyed by itself, however you can add two simple ingredients to make it something different, but still a very delicious cocktail. Thus, I give you the champagne cocktail.



Making this is a quick and easy way to take champagne to a different level. Made from just three items makes this cocktail perfect for dessert, or as an aperitif to a meal. These are the ingredients.


(image found at http://www.ecosalon.com/data/fe/image/WhiteSugarCube(1).jpg)


(image found at http://www.wbdistributionltd.co.uk/images/bitters.jpg)


(Image found at http://volunteer.blogs.com/winewaves/images/korbel-natural-03.jpg)

All you need is a sugar cube, some bitters, and your preferred champagne. For me I like Korbel Natural Champagne, it is somewhere between a dry and a brut. Putting it together is simple as well. First you fill a champagne flute with your champagne. Then you take the sugar cube and holding over the spout on the bitters bottle, you give it a few shakes to have the sugar absorb the bitters. After that all you need to do is take the sugar cube and drop it in the champagne.
This cocktail starts out tasting only like champagne, but the more you drink it the more the sugar dissolves and the sweeter it becomes. By the time you are at the bottom, it is quite sweet and you really notice the flavor of the bitters.
Well that is all for this week, I hope you all keep drinking cocktails and having a good time

The Martini

Hello all, I thought I would start off my blog than with a classic and a personal favorite cocktail.

Most may remember the vodka martini as one of James Bond's cocktail of choice, shaken not stirred as he would put it. I however lean toward a classic or gin martini. Made from two ingredients it is a perfect cocktail to make at home for guests. First the components:



I Like the Plymouth gin for this as it is quite smooth. Martini & Rossi dry vermouth is also what I prefer for this recipe. It is a simple and cheap vermouth that is quite good in a martini (hence the name I suppose). Just these two simple ingredients are what make up one of the most famous cocktails there is. After mixing appropriately you end up with a gin martini.



Unfortunately I did not have any olives on hand for the garnish but you get the idea. The recipe I used for this is something I came up with on my own after trying a number of differing types of martini's.

3oz. gin
1/2 dry vermouth
olives for garnish

Pour the vermouth in a glass full of ice. Shake the vermouth by itself to thoroughly coat the ice. Strain the excess vermouth and then add the gin to the ice. Stir the gin and the ice together until chilled. Strain into a martini glass(of course) and garnish with 1 or 2 green olives on a toothpick.

One may ask why you would go to the trouble of using vermouth at all if you are just going to pour it out. I like to think of vermouth as the salt for gin. You want to put some in it to enhance the natural flavor of the gin, but not so much you start to clash with it. The amount that sticks to the ice is enough to make is taste just right.
Something else you may notice is that I did not shake the gin with the ice and instead stirred it. The reason for this is that when you shake gin with ice you end up with a drink that has very thin ice shavings floating on top of the martini. I personally do not like that but I have several friends that prefer it icy than not. It all comes down to personal preference.

This, my friends, has been one of my go to beverages for several years now. It is easy to make and is always a good choice for a pre-dinner cocktail.

As always, stay safe.

The First

Hello and welcome. This blog is meant to be a beginners guide to cocktails. I myself am a beginner in this field and I hope to share my experiences with you while I stumble about trying to make drinks that can be called cocktails. Expect recipes and reviews for all cocktails that are made and enjoyed. If anyone has a recipe that they would like to see reviewed just let me know. More to come in the days and weeks to come. I hope you enjoy your stay with my humble blog.



Neil