Through the Looking Glass – Bloody Mary Variant

Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.

Ahem, Sorry about that. I’ve wanted to combine Marmite in a drink for a while. And when KJ did a Marmite-sriracha bread, I decided to take the opportunity to make a savory cocktail to go with it. This isn’t really a bloody mary in the traditional sense since it doesn’t contain any of the same ingredients aside from the tomato juice, lemon juice and vodka. The salt and umami flavours (the soy sauce and/or worcestire sauce) are replaced by the marmite, the Tabasco and black pepper are replaced by Sriracha, and the horseradish is replaced by wasabi. But the result has all of the things one would look for in a tasty bloody mary, but with a radically different flavour.

Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary,  Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.

Bloody Mary

50ml Vodka

10ml Lemon juice

400ml Tomato juice

50ml Bloody Mary mix (recipe below)

Combine ingredients in a tall thin glass, stir to combine. Garnish with celery stalk and lemon.

Bloody Mary Mix

1 Teaspoon Marmite

1 Teaspoon Sriracha

.5 Teaspoon Wasabi

100ml Boiling water

Stir ingredients together in a glass. Allow to cool.

Bloody MARY BLOODY MARY BLOODY MARY BLOODY MARY BLOODY MARY

Huff and Puff: Smoked Stout Cocktail

In my continuing struggle to come up with interesting cocktails I try to come up with some weird stuff. Those who have been reading for a while now know that I love beer and frankly I’d like to see it used for as a cocktail ingredient beyond your typical lager and whisky Depth Charge. Thus I present the Huff and Puff, a smokey cocktail inspired by Bigby Wolf of the Fables series.

It may look simple but its complex flavour and strong alcohol content will knock you back. I got the idea from the horrific Nicotini idea. My idea was to start with the idea of cigarette, of which Bigby consumes thousands, and try to make something smokey but tasty. The result is a mix of cold-brew lapsang souchong, a type of Chinese black tea tried over pinewood fires to get a nice smokey flavour, stout or porter, and bourbon.

Ingredients

25ml Bourbon

35ml Cold-brew lapsang souchong black tea. Prepare this by putting one teabag is 300ml of water and let it steep for 2 hours.

330ml Stout, higher alcohol stouts or porters work best. Try to avoid smoked porter as it will overpower the flavour. I used Summer Wine’s Padrino Imperial Affogato Stout, which is sweet and nutty with a 9% ABV.

What do you call a lumberjack wolf?

A timber wolf!

The Rose Baron: Bourbon Caraway Cocktail

I’m a pretty terrible geek. I’ve seen a lot of anime, but I haven’t really seen most of the Studio Ghibli’s films. KJ has though, and not being one to rewatch films often we’ve been making our way through some of the lesser known ones. Of these our favourite is The Cat Returns. Primarily for the suave cat protagonist Baron Humbert von Gikkingen. Also after watching a lot of Studio Ghibli I’m pretty sure Miyazaki is directly responsible for at least half of the Furries in our current generation.

I wanted to create a cocktail that mimicked the classy aura that the Baron exudes. So I started with my favourite liquor, Bourbon. I used Four Roses for it’s smoothness and also for it’s rye content. Because what goes with Rye? If you follow KJ at Need to Knead you’ll know that Caraway seeds are essential for a nice rye bread. So for my rye cocktail I made a caraway and lemon simple syrup. For some reason the Baron reminded me of a cat version of Tuxedo Mask from Salior Moon, so I thought I’d stick with the rose theme and add in a bit of rose water. The result is a sweet and flowery cocktail with a pleasant bourbon punch.

Ingredients:

50ml High rye bourbon or rye whiskey

15ml Lemon Caraway simple syrup (recipe below)

1 Squeeze of lemon

4 dashes rose water

Combine ingredients in cocktail shaker with ice, shake and double strain into rocks glass.

Lemon-Caraway Simple Syrup

2 Tablespoons caraway seeds

1 teaspoon lemon peel

90g caster sugar

100ml water.

Bring water to a boil and combine with ingredients. Stir until sugar has dissolved then remove from heat. After it cools to room temperature strain and put into a clean bottle. It will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks.

Why was the sad cat in a hurry?

He was a Russian Blue.

The Neighborhood – Studio Ghibli Cocktail

This was a really fun cocktail to make. It was the first time I started with a theme and worked back to the ingredients. Here’s The Neighborhood, based on My Neighbor Totoro.

 

Despite being a milk or soymilk if you prefer, based cocktail the Neighborhood is surprisingly light, this is mostly due to the low-alcohol nature of the cocktail. It’s mostly a nutty flavour with a bit of creaminess from the milk and a small fruity aftertaste.  I’ll explain a bit about the process.

I chose a wine glass to capture the rounded shape of Totoro’s body seen below.

Souce: http://youandmie.files.wordpress.com/

The trickiest part of the cocktail was recreating Totoro’s signature greyish colour. I considered a few different ingredients, from black food colouring to Kristoff Black. But I wanted to avoid artificial colours since what’s the point. I could have just coloured anything grey and then called it a day. 

I ended up choosing black sesame powder, though based on some issues that I encountered I would recommend using black sesame paste in the future or superfine black sesame powder since as you see from the picture there was a fair amount of sediment at the bottom of the cocktail.

Since in the film part of Totoro’s character is giving nuts and seeds as gifts and his whole nature collection I thought a nutty/fruity cocktail was best.

 

Some of the ingredients may be a bit difficult for you to get your hands on. I recommend seeing if there is a specialty Asian store and a specialty liquor store near you.

 

Ingredients

15g Black sesame powder

220ml semi-skim milk or soymilk

50ml Frangelico or other hazelnut liqueur

3-4 dashes Plum Bitters 

Granulated sugar for rim

Combine sesame powder and milk in a pan on the stove over low heat. Whisk until powder dissolves and milk turns the desired grey colour. Transfer the mixture to a different container and put in the fridge to cool down.

While that’s cooling rim your glass with sugar. Coarse sugar is recommend as it adds a nice crunch and crystal look to the drink. 

Once cooled combine mixture with frangelico and bitters and shake well with ice. Double strain into the glass. 

Garnish with mint leaf and little umbrella. Big thanks to Kim-Joy for inspiring this cocktail with her Toroto cosplay she rocked last weekend.

 

 

A doctor made it his regular habit to stop off at a bar for a hazelnut daiquiri on his way home. The bartender knew the doctor’s habit and would always have a drink waiting. But one day the bartender ran out of hazelnut extract, so he substituted hickory nuts. When the doctor arrived, he took a sip and exclaimed, “This isn’t a hazelnut daiquiri!”

“No, I’m sorry,” the bartender replied. “It’s a hickory daiquiri, doc.”

Coyote Tango – A Pacific Rim Cocktail

Fair warning: this is the strangest cocktail I’ve ever made. The concept came from a coffee shop I frequented in London when I was interning for the BBC. Curator’s Coffee does a unique creation every so often. The month I was there they were making an espresso punch with mint and strawberries. It sounded terrible but I was proven so wrong. By pairing a fruity espresso with strawberry and mint the results were delicious and odd.

Summer Espresso Punch Photo by Curator’s Coffee http://www.curatorscoffee.com/

I tried to recreate this with my cocktail. And the results were pretty good. The basic composition of the punch was similar to a mojito so I decided to try using rum. Captain being all I had in the house I thought I’d give it a go.

For coffee I used Pact Finca Manila prepared using a moka pot.

The result was interesting. Herbal and refreshing (both KJ and myself immediately thought Coke on the first sip) on the palate with a distinct tart bite from the strawberries and coffee.

Also, the name was just sort of thrown on here because I’m feeling excited about my Pacific Rim rewatch last week.

Ingredients
4 Strawberries, hulled and chopped.
100ml strong coffee prepared with 3 tspn sugar and cooled. I recommend a coffee with red berry, citrus or pomme flavour notes.
8 mint leaves
50ml spiced rum.
Soda water
Ice

Combine strawberries and mint in a mixing tin and muddle. Mix in rum and coffee and fill tin with ice. Shake well and double strain into pint glass full of ice. Top with soda water and stir slowly to combine.

Mocktail: Rocket and Groot Iced Tea

Guardians of the Galaxy is finally out and to celebrate I’ve whipped up my first mocktail. It doesn’t require a lot of mixing, but it will require some specialty ingredients. It’s a cold-brewed iced green tea infused with whole dried hops. 

I’ve wanted to incorporate hops into a non-alcoholic drink for a while, since there’s some evidence that hops have relaxation properties. Also the flavour range on hops is incredible. Hops can add flavours from floral (crystal hops), to citrus (centennial), piney (simcoe), and even cannabis (Zeus).

 The drink takes its name from Rocket, a racoon-like creature and the heavy weapons specialist in the film and his friend and bodyguard Groot, a walking/talking tree. In honour of Rocket’s lose of guns, I used gunpowder green tea (I’m not sure which kind specifically, but it’s at least gunpowder style) and for the Flora colossus himself hop flowers.

Source: MoviePilot.com

This is an interesting mocktail with a complex flavour that’s simple to make and cures that hop craving without having crack open a beer. The final flavour is light and slightly citrusy without bitterness.

 In the picture above it’s only been brewing for about 15 minutes, so the colour isn’t very dark yet. The finished picture is under the recipe.

Ingredients

1.5 Tablespoons gunpowder green tea

6-8 dried hop flowers

Combine in pitcher and fill with cool water. Allow to brew for 2.5 hours. Strain and pour into glass with ice. Serve with lemon (optional).

What type of dinosaur was the most relaxed?

The Tea-Rex

An ode to widely available craft beer

After a certain point of drinking craft beer you get to the point where you can become easily frustrated by seeing the same draught beers everywhere you go. What I’m saying is that at some point we all become this guy

Source: The Onion

Once you’ve reached that point there’s a few rules of etiquette that I force on myself.

1. Never turn down a beer offered to you and then go buy your own. You drink yours what is offered to you and then buy the next round.

2. Never complain to the bar staff about their beer selection. You know as well as I do they have no control over what’s on offer.

3. Find your staples. Certain great beers will be available almost everywhere in a region. Learn what they are if you plan on being in one place for a while.

These are usually very good beers that come from great breweries, but for whatever reason their more interesting stuff doesn’t have the same commercial appeal. Here’s just a few of my favourites.

Sam Adams Boston Lager

Source: thebeerdaily.com

 

Everyone knows Sam Adams at this point. The Boston-based brewery distributes across the world and as such you can find it pretty much everywhere in England and New England. The flagship lager packs a ton more flavour than most “lagers” you’ll find. But where this company really shines is in their Brewmaster Collection, here’s my favourite.

Source: geografnik.blogspot.com

Lattitude 48 is an IPA hopped only with hops grown on the 48th lattitude. It’s a well balanced and interesting IPA. You won’t find it in the UK at all but if you’re in the States I highly recommend seeing what this brewery is truly capable of.

 

Quick note: Most places where Sam Adams is available you’re likely to find Brooklyn Brewery’s Brooklyn Lager as well. It’s a fantastic malty little number and if you like Sam Adams but find it too hoppy I’d suggest Brooklyn.

Also, they make one of my favourite beers of all time, Black Chocolate Stout.

Source: kingbobyjr.wordpress.com

It’s a 10% ABV punch in the mouth. It’s available in the UK but it’s harder to find. It’s usually around more at Christmas time.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Source: SierraNevada.com

Oh, Sierra Nevada makes me so happy. Out of this list their signature brew is my least favourite, but they distribute their other brews widely in the UK. Of those one you must try and will very likely be able to find (if you’re in Leeds try Tapped or Brewery Tap) is the Torpedo Extra IPA, a strong and bitter IPA that I can’t get enough of.

Source: SierraNevada.com

Brewdog Punk IPA

Source: Brewdog.com

If you’re from or living in Britain then chances are you know of Brewdog already and have definitely tried the Punk IPA. Punk IPA is my favourite on this list, it has an unapologeticly hoppy taste with a strong alcohol kick. It’s available almost everywhere and you can even get it from Sainsbury’s. Punk IPA gets top honours because it has the best flavour and is the most ubiquitous UK craft beer.  Also many cities in Britain have a Brewdog bar. But like all beers on this list, Brewdog doesn’t stop coming up with great stuff just because their flagship is so popular.

Source: BrewDog.com

Meet the Clown King: a knock-you-out-drag-you-around Barley Wine. At a whopping 12% this is definitely a one of the best beers I’ve ever had.

Also, one of the best things about Brewdog is you can buy directly from their site.

http://www.brewdog.com/product/clown-king

 

Child of Light (and Refreshing) Strawberry-Lavender Shandy

The brutal reign of summer continues for another month or so, so we’re going to depart from the booziness of my last cocktail for a low-alcohol refreshing drink. I present the Child of Light. 

This refreshing cocktail is based on a couple different sources of inspiration. Those familiar with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream may have come across the Liz Lemon-flavour of Greek yogurt, though I’m pretty sure it is only available in the US. 

Source: http://www.benjerry.com

The Liz Lemon yogurt is a blend of Lavender, blueberry and lemon. The flavours work well together, but primarily all you taste is sugar and blueberry. There’s a slight tartness from the lemon, but I’m pretty sure all of the floral taste I got was in my head.

But nonetheless it got me thinking about how to incorporate lavender into a cocktail. Then it hit me: Shandy (or Radler). Basically, a 1:1 blend of lightish beer with lemonade. This isn’t English lemonade by the way (what I would just call lemon soda) this is a blend of fresh lemon juice and water.

Child of Light by the way, is a fantastic game that KJ is hooked on at the moment. And since you play as the ginger protagonist I thought I’d make a ginger cocktail that’s a light red colour. 

Aurora from Child of Light                  Source: childoflightgame.tumblr.com

This recipe will make a pitcher of shandy. I’m going to use Titanic Brewery Golden Ale but you can use whatever you like as long as it’s light in colour and not too hoppy. Wheat beers work well with the fruity flavour, but the result will not technically be a shandy. 

Recipe (adapted from this and this)

100ml Fresh Lemon Juice (Juice from about 3 lemons)

300g Fresh strawberries, hulled and cut in half

400ml Water or Soda Water

200ml Ginger/Lavender simple syrup

500ml Lager or Ale of your choice

Chop up the strawberries and mash in a bowl. Strain them with a fine mesh strainer. The resulting juice should be be about 100ml. Combine ingredients except for water. Pour into pitcher and stir with water or soda water until fully combined. 

Your results should be about 800ml of fluid. Pour into pitcher and slowly pour in beer while stirring. It may start to foam up a lot at the point. Let it settle and then keep stirring. Pour into beer glasses and serve. 

For the Simple Syrup

100g Fresh ginger, chopped

3 tbps of Dried Lavender

2  tbsp lemon zest

200g caster sugar

250ml water

Bring water to a boil, combine with other ingredients. Stir until sugar fully dissolves. Remove from heat and let fully cool. Strain and bottle. Will keep in airtight container for up to a month.

Why are strawberries such good musicians?

Because they’re always jammin’ 

Bar Profile: Fab Cafe

Fab Cafe is a bar located in the Leeds City Centre that caters to the geek and goth crowds. It’s not much to look at from the outside, in fact you’d likely miss it if it wasn’t for the large sign jutting out into the pavement.

Source: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk

It bills itself as the “first movie and TV themed bar,” and it is fairly impressive. There’s a great collection of geeky games available to play, including the Star Wars arcade game I wasted my youth (and my quarters) on.

Source: http://www.arcade-museum.com

Fab keeps with the geeky aesthetic throughout. In addition to the aforementioned games the walls are decorated with lots of neat comics, film and television memorabilia including full-size Daleks and Xenomorphs. You’ll also find some niche stuff in mint condition behind the glass cases that most of the memorabilia is behind, including the titular hero of the cult Toxic Avenger series.

The music they play is generally good as well, skirting the line between legitimately good, nostalgic, and ironic. I’ve definitely heard Arcade Fire, Blink-182 and Vanilla Ice in the same evening there.

They often host films on their televisions throughout the bar. Recently their Manchester location has been screening Firefly, which is a nice touch.

Part of what I really like about Fab is their marketing. Fridays are Stir fry-days and are Archer themed.

Overall, atmosphere is welcoming and non-pretentious and their drink and snack selection reflects that. Snacks range from sweets to crisps, but they have meals such as sarnies and fish fingers. If you’re a beer drinker you’ll have to settle for an imported lager or a Guinness if you prefer keg beers, they have a couple of real ales available. But they often seem to run out fairly quickly. On top of the draughts, they have ciders, bottles beers, and your standard alcopops. Cocktails are a bit more where they shine, a big selection of spirits and talented bartenders make it so that you can get almost anything you’d like.

Where it gets a bit rough is the price. You’re buying standard cheap beers and ciders, but you’re paying for the atmosphere. Fab Cafe is definitely a place to visit, but it’s very polarizing. You’ll likely have a blast there, but with evening cover charges, average booze, and high prices it might not become your new favourite hangout.

Cuppa Joy

The Cuppa Joy is a sweet and boozy cocktail that’s delightfully British. The name comes from my girlfriend Kim-Joy of NeedToKnead, who made the teabag shaped biscuits you see in the later pictures. It’s also her teapot. This week I’ve decided to continue with my love of infusing simple syrups. Last week we explored using fresh herbs as the flavouring agent in the simple syrup, but now we’re going to try something dried. The Cuppa Joy is a martini-style drink made from gin, lemon juice, and Earl Grey-infused simple syrup with a beautiful reddish-brown colour, fragrant nose, sweet taste and bitter finish.

Last week I suggested using a mid-range gin like Bombay Sapphire, which you can still use for this cocktail. Or you can try using some of the 5 quid stuff I bought for a party. But this cocktail is all about the gin, and the quality of your creation is directly tied to the caliber of gin you use. I recommend an upmarket gin such as Hendricks if you prefer a more earthy-vegetable taste in your martinis, or Masons if you prefer a clean yet herbal flavour.

Source: http://needtoknead.wordpress.com/

Ingredients

Ice

50ml Gin

30ml Earl Grey-infused simple syrup (recipe below)

10ml lemon juice

Length of orange peel for garnish

Combine ingredients with ice in a transparent glass. Stir with a long spoon and the ice will begin to melt. Once the volume of the liquid has about doubled (this will mellow out the boozy-ness). Strain into chilled martini glass or tea cup if you prefer. Remove the peel from the orange with a vegetable peeler and twist it above the drink. You will likely see a tiny spritz come off of the peel, that’s orange oil and it’s super flavourful and aromatic. Drop the peel into the drink and serve.

Earl Grey infused simple syrup

50g white sugar

150ml water

1 teabag of Earl Grey

Bring the water to the boil, combine sugar and tea bag. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool. Once it’s cool, remove the teabag, give it another stir and bottle. It will last for one month in an airtight container.

How do Americans make their tea?

They throw it in the harbour.