Jer - Tales & Cocktails

|| Absolut Mixology Challenge Heat 2 ||

Round 2 of the Absolut mix it up challenge was a real fight of the fittest. The bar was set quite high in the previous heat. It seemed that improv was the real star of the day.

There is an age old debate about who is the 'better' bartender ; the studied purist or the freestyle mixologist.

I cannot answer that question but I can definitely say, it's worth the comparison. 

As much as each participant was preparing their own creations, it was still evident who was a purist and who drew inspiration from the heart.

I should mention that I am a mix of both. I think that well known cocktails, such as a classic Martini, Pina Colada and Brandy Cuban are great as is. They are simple, pure and do not need revision. However, we can draw inspiration from these classics and experiment to create something unique and personal.

I enjoy mixology for these reasons equally. 

I really appreciated the opportunity to judge others on this, as well as, living while experiencing their expression through drinks. The setting was beautiful and so were my fellow judges. 

Remember, Drinking is always great when it’s done responsibly!

Basic Spherification is a Molecular Mixology technique that lets you create caviar like beads that will burst in your mouth releasing their flavors. These beads are a favorite in both molecular gastronomy and mixology. Using this technique, you can create caviar using virtually any liquid, from Olive Oil to Cointreau.

This technique is quite easy to remember and perform. It involves 2 additives:

Sodium Alginate

Calcium Lactate

It involves dripping the Caviar Solution - made by combining the desired liquid blended with sodium alginate powder - into a calcium bath(a simple stir of Calcium Lactate and Distilled water) using a pipette. The contact between the droplets and the bath creates the thin gel membrane that forms the bead’s wall. It might sound a little complicated but the process is actually quite straightforward.

Sodium alginate is derived from the cell walls of brown algae or seaweed. This means that any of its products can be considered vegan and vegetarian.

I will be sharing more recipes and posts about how you can incorporate this awesome molecular mixology technique into your cocktails.

Remember, Drinking is always fun when it’s done responsibly.

Cheers,

A cucumber is one of the most versatile fruits or veggies to have behind the bar. I have seen cucumber in the shape of roses and even beautiful ribbons with lattice detailing. I thought I'd experiment with a little cucumb-art myself.

Here's a how I started out:

A good place to start, especially for the artistically challenged like myself, is with a surgical blade/scalpel which you can buy at any chemist for 20 shillings. That, and a cucumber and you're good to go.. alternatively you can use a sharp paring knife. 

I started out with practicing some thin slicing and just got more adventurous as I got better at handling the blade. You can't really mess it up when it comes to cutting up a cucumber. The best tip is to have fun with it.

Cucumbers don't only look great in a drink, the also infuse their cool, subtle flavours into it. They work really well with citrus-ey and herbal-ey cocktails. You can also use the left over pieces to make some pretty ice-cubes for your other cocktails. 

I came up with a new cocktail just for the occasion. I call it the Jäger Breeze. It is a simple, 2 part serve of Jägermeister, topped with ginger ale and garnished with the ever cool cucumber. I'll post the full recipe soon.

Remember, drinking is always fun when it's done responsibly!

Cheers,

They say simple is beautiful. Here is a fresh and delicious watermelon juice with a molecular expression.

Gelification is an elegant and effortless way to step  up your garnish game. The idea is to use a technique for creating an ice wedge in a glass only this time instead of water, using gelatin or agar agar with the juice of your choice.

I thought of pairing the watermelon juice with a coconut water jelly with grapes inside for a cool floating effect. To prepare the gel, heat up the coconut water with half a teaspoon of agar agar. Before it cools, add the grapes and place the glass leaning at a slant.

Once it cools, blend the watermelon and pour it into the glass. Your simply delicious and elegant drink is ready to enjoy!

What do you think of this technique?

Remember drinking is always fun when it’s done responsibly! Watermelon juice is a great way to start the day because it has an abundance of health benefits. It’s super hydrating due to it’s high water content and also contains a multitude of vitamins and minerals.

Cheers,

I found inspiration for this cocktail on instagram from a vegan fruit dessert made with agar agar. Gelification is a molecular mixology technique that takes the classic jello shot concept to a new, more sophisticated level.

Jello Shots are made with gelatin or pre-packaged jelly mix. Molecular Mixology favours Agar Agar over gelatin for a number of reasons. The difference between the two gelling agents is the source. Agar is derived from seaweed whereas Gelatin is made from the collagen in animal skin and bones. This makes Agar the perfect vegetarian or vegan substitute.

More importantly Agar Agar sets at room temperature and won’t melt at warmer temperatures.The fact that gelatin requires freezing and melts easily makes it much less versatile when it comes to making cocktail gels. 

Making this cocktail is so quick and easy, anyone can do it. 

INGREDIENTS

- Vodka

- Coconut and Pineapple Del Monte Juice

- Mixed Berry Del Monte Juice

- Green and Red Plums

- Agar Agar powder

In order to dissolve the Agar in the juice you have to boil them separately with roughly 1 tsp of Agar powder for every cup of juice. Adding fruit and alcohol requires that you use a little more agar so that it sets quickly.

First, bring the mixed berry juice to a boil and add the agar. Stir until it dissolves and set aside in a bath of hot water so it doesn’t solidify before you finish. Don’t worry if it does though because another great feature of agar agar is that it can be reheated into liquid form. Add the alcohol to the juice at this point to avoid evaporating it during the boiling process. Pour this juice-agar-vodka mix into a glass adding some fruit to form the first layer.

While this solidifies, repeat the boiling process with the pineapple-coconut juice. Set this aside in a hot water bath till you are ready to use it.

From here the process is easy and straight forward. Once the first layer has hardened you can add the pineapple-coconut mix to form the next layer. You do this over and over until the glass is full. Et Voila!

A visually appealing gellified cocktail that can be enjoyed as a dessert after a meal or even before one. A secret perk of consuming agar agar is it helps you feel fuller, quicker, therefore, eating less.

Remember, drinking is always fun when it’s done responsibly!

Cheers,

This cocktail is one for the modern day hunter in all of us. I find that it takes a little courage to get out of the house these days and go out there after what we want. Jagermeister is a drink for the trailblazers.. It started out as a drink enjoyed before and after a successful hunt. Now, we can mix it up in all sorts of ways to be enjoyed at all times.

I chose to try out the Hunter’s tea first because these days i’m surrounded by tea everywhere I look. It’s a simple elixir that i’ve found can be enjoyed both hot and cold. You can look forward to all the wonderful aroma’s from the botanicals in Jager. 

INGREDIENTS

- 50 ml Jägermeister

- 50 ml Black Tea

- 30 ml Lime Juice

- Maple Syrup or Simple Syrup, according to your preference

- Lime or Lemon Zest to garnish

First, brew some tea and set aside to cool. Once it’s cool enough, pour into a mixing glass with Jagermeister, lime juice and syrup and stir well. You can then add this to a rocks glass or whisky tumbler with ice. I used ice frozen with mint for an extra colorful effect and scent.

Your cup of heart is now ready to enjoy!

Remember, drinking is always fun when done responsibly!!

It might be a little late but Happy New Year!! I want to start of the year’s drinks with a fresh, seasonal mocktail that is bound to leave you feeling pepped up after the horrid January that was.

Lately i’ve only been working with seasonal fruits because like plums and mangos. I live next to a wonderful market that has traders who favor following the fruit trends, therefore, so will I. 

One of my favorites currently is the dark local grape that is also quite seedy. It’s surprisingly pricy for a local grape but just one small bunch is enough to reap the massive antioxidant and vitamin benefits.

For this drink I pre-froze the grapes in order to add a bit of thickness and chill when blended with the other ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:

- 10 Grapes

- 1 Cucumber, Peeled and Sliced

- Juice of 1 lime

- Some sprigs of mint

Blend all the ingredients together in a container. You can add as much or as little mint as you prefer. Strain the juice into a glass with ice and garnish with a sprig of mint. Enjoy

This drink definitely has a cooling effect. These are the qualities of both mint and cucumber. You don’t need to add any sugar or syrup either. The grapes are all the sweetness you need. It’s always healthy to enjoy a mocktail at the beginning of the day and especially the beginning of the week. 

Smoothies are easily absorbed into the body and are a great way to ensure you get your daily dose of fruit.

Remember, Drinking is always fun when it’s done responsibly!

Cheers,

Whisky cocktails can sometimes look a little bland as they a challenging to garnish. I read about this interesting spin on a salt rim garnish and thought I’d try it out. 

This type of lime and salt mix can be used for cocktails as well as for cooking. You can combine salt or sugar with any citrus rind and even some spices like cinnamon to highlight the flavors in your cocktail.

Salt is typically taken with a tequila shot and lime. It makes perfect sense to mix the lime and salt together to for a tequila drink. It's really quite simple. All you need is the rind of a lime and some salt and combine them together to make this garnish. 

I used this unusual garnish to make an unusual cocktail: a Whisky Margarita!

INGREDIENTS:

- 60ml Whisky

- 30ml Sugar Syrup or Cointreau

- 30ml Lime Juice

- Lime-Salt to garnish

- Lime Slices

Rub the slice of lime on the rim of the glass and dip into lime-salt garnish. Shake off any excess and put the glass to the side.

Shake the whisky, lime juice and Cointreau with ice in a shaker. Pour carefully into the glass making sure to avoid touching the salty edge.

You can add extra ice if you wish and serve. 

Remember, Drinking is always fun when it’s done responsibly! 

Cheers,

It’s so easy to to work with Agar Agar that I thought I’d get adventurous and mix two Molecular Mixology techniques and make a Piña Colada cocktail gel for this summer weather we’ve been having lately. This gel is a rum and coconut cream sphere encapsulated by a pineapple-berry gel. I envisioned the sphere made with the Reverse Spherification technique bursting in the mouth as you bite into the gel.

Reverse Spherification isn’t as complicated as I first thought. It’s a Molecular Mixology/Gastronomy technique that will make a tasty sphere of any liquid, preferably one with a high calcium content, that’ll burst in your mouth.

Most people experimenting with this technique will use a measuring spoon to form the spheres in the Sodium Alginate(Sa) solution. However, I never quite had the gesture down to do this so, I use a silicon mold to freeze the Calcium Lactate(Cl) solution first before I drop the would-be spheres into the Sa solution.

INGREDIENTS:

To make the coconut rum sphere:

 Cl Solution:

  - 1/4 tsp Calcium Lactate

  - 100 ml Coconut Cream/Milk

 - 100 ml White Rum (Malibu Coconut rum preferable)

Sa Solution

  - 1 Sachet (2g) Sodium Alginate

  - Distilled Water

To make the Pineapple-Berry Gel:

  - 1tsp Agar Agar

  - 100ml Pineapple Juice

  - Mixed Berry Juice

To make the Rum-Coconut Sphere, combine coconut cream, rum and calcium lactate in a square based jar using a spoon or immersion blender. Once Cl is fully dissolved, pour into a silicon mold with a curved base and freeze for 12 to 24 hours. Alternatively, if you don’t have this mold you can use a measuring spoon.

If you use the silicon mold, un-mold the ice into a sodium alginate bath. Gently stir to avoid them sticking to each other. Leave them in the bath for at least 5 minutes to allow for the outer layer of gel to form. Please note that the longer you leave them in, the thicker the gel membrane will become. Once they’re ready rinse the spheres in some distilled water to stop the gelling process.

After this, you can place the spheres in the ice cube mold.

Add the mixture of Pineapple and Mixed Berry juice now. This mixture is made by boiling the two juices with a teaspoon of Agar Agar for 5 minutes. While still hot, fill the mold half way, wait a few minutes and then fill to the top. This will allow the sphere to sit in the middle of the gel as opposed to floating right to the top . The beauty of Agar is that it sets at room temperature. You can refrigerate this for a minimum of 1 hour to get the ideal result.

Cocktail gels are best served cold. I’m so happy with the result. It worked out exactly as i’d wanted. It’s the experience of a Pina Colada in one tasty bite!

Remember, drinking is always fun when it’s done responsibly!

Cheers,

A cocktail garnish is a decorative addition to a drink that is intended to stimulate the nose our oral senses in anticipation of the taste of the drink. In my opinion, the Ideal garnish is both attractive and functional. A great example is mint in a Mojito or salt on the rim of a Margarita glass. 

The flavour of a garnish can complement or contrast with that of the cocktail. I came up with this straw-garnish combo when I moved houses and noticed i’d lost all my cocktail picks. A skinny straw is just sharp enough to pierce through a soft fruit garnish and in addition to that, it looks pretty neat.

It’s great to use with soft fruits like olives, strawberries or kiwi. Once you pierce the fruits you can use a long kebab skewer to empty the straw. Alternatively, you don’t have to use it as a straw and just pop into the cocktail. 

Remember, drinking is always fun when it’s done responsibly.

Cheers,

This is an idea I came up with where the word ‘Frock’ means a ‘Fruity’ ‘Rock’. I think ice cubes made from fruit are a great way to keep a mocktail icy cold without watering it down. They’re also a simple and pretty garnish. 

Whenever I make some fruit juice, I’ll run a portion of it through a strainer to get rid of the pulp then pour in an ice cube mold to store in the fridge. 

Today’s mocktail is a simple mix of fruits I had around and are currently in season too. 

I puree’d mango and orange together with a blender. I then added a shot of lime juice to bring out a little tang in the drink. Served in a glass with the ‘frock’s’ I garnished with a slice of mango and added 2 straws. 

What a great way to start the day. It’s this easy to add fruits and a vitamin boost to your day!

Remember, Drinking is always fun when it’s done responsibly.

Cheers,