Brandy

It is the holiday season and Mixology Monday, being hosted by The Spirit World has decided it should be a festive occasion. There are so many great drinks… [Continue]

A good drink can often be considered "moral suasion". A good one keeps you in your seat, but not by force, and a really good one can persuade you to happily open your wallet and order a second. When I came across this cocktail, in the 1873 Daily Picayune (New Orleans), it piqued my curiosity, partially because this was the very early years of the cocktail art, and it actually looked like a legitimate… [Continue]

This is the second part of a write up on a persons ability to distinguish one spirit from another. Part one was Malt vs Blended whisky and this part is brandy vs whiskey. In the first research paper it was concluded that an inexperienced whisky drinker could not distinguish between a single malt… [Continue]

Another month, another Mixology Monday. This one is being hosted by Marleigh at Sloshed! As usual I waited until the last minute before writing, and as I write this I haven’t even decided what I’m going to write about! Obviously the… [Continue]

With the holiday season underway, traditional beverages are sure to cross your path. One traditional drink is mulled wine, or glogg in Sweden, vin chaud in France, Quento in Brazil, Glhwein in Germany, etc., etc. It is a favorite in wine growing regions and is traditionally served warm in the winter months. Mulled wine consists of red or white wine, with a variety of spices such as cinnamon, cloves… [Continue]

The class of drinks called “sours” are pretty common. The general recipe is spirit, lemon/lime, sugar, egg white and sometimes bitters. The Whisky Sour is a classic sour, which is probably the most commonly ordered in North America. But you can have a brandy sour, a Midori sour or a Pisco Sour. Pisco is the national spirit of Chile / Peru and they are currently still fighting… [Continue]

While I was thinking about what to write, I glanced up and notices my collection of Food & Drink magazines from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). I decided somewhere in one of those magazines there must be something that would inspire me to write. The first issue I pulled out was from the summer of 2004 and had a recipe for the Mint Divine, a rye, mint and lemonade recipe. Basically… [Continue]

This drink is basically a french Mojito. It uses cognac / brandy and ginger ale, instead of rum and soda. The drink is just as refreshing as a Mojito, but is a little more complex, so there are more flavours to think about and enjoy. When a Mojito doesn't suit your tastes, try a Centaur Cocktail.

The… [Continue]

When you think of Greek spirits the first thing comes to mind is Ouzo, the anise flavour liqueur. If you've tried Greek wine (Retsina ) you might have liked it, or maybe not. Some of the wines use a pine resin to seal the barrels leaving a unique flavour… [Continue]

Here is another old cocktail (fancy drink), circa 1873, that is named after Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia. The drink comes from an article published in the New Orleans Daily Picayune (1873 and was created by Mr. E.F. Barry, a bartender at the Everett House hotel in uptown New York. You may remember Mr. Barry as the one of the compounders of the Moral… [Continue]