A contribution to Drunks
I’m not a drinker, though I have nothing against it. I like rose champagne, some wine coolers and amaretto sours. I don’t like any of them enough to get drunk on them. Generally, my face gets hot after a couple of drinks and then I’m not happy. I have a low tolerance for discomfort, being very much addicted to comfort.
Also, I can’t even make myself drink the recommended daily water intake. I can’t even down a 6 pack of soda, much less beer. In addition, most alcohol tastes like medicine to me so my palate is very limited. Rum? Exactly like liquid Tylenol. I’m not very sophisticated when it comes to the yield of the grape.
I buy wine for the bottles, not what’s in them. Which, until he caught on, led to the One Armed Man trying wine I had purchased and pronouncing it tasting of monkey ass. He won’t drink anything I bring home anymore. He’s more a bitter red wine or for casual, day to day drinking, a Crown & Coke guy. The more expensive the whiskey, the more he likes it.
Lately I’ve been exposed to a lot of alcohol types I maybe had heard of, but never actually knew what they were. And since I am one of those sad geeks who watches TV with a laptop at hand, I look up what makes me curious. Instant information gratification – the internet rawks!
So, without further ado, I present my recently accumulated alcohol knowledge. My nod to Hookers & Booze, though these may well fall within the realm of girly drinks.
Bitters
I was led to a search on bitters from hearing a campari ordered on Mad Men.
A bitters is an alcoholic beverage that contains herbal essences, has a bitter or bittersweet flavor, and is typically flavored with citrus.
The patent medicines of yesteryear would have been classified as bitters. They have up to 45% alcohol by volume which explains why people thought patent medicines worked.
Angostura bitters were made in Venezula in 1824 and from there it made its way to England where the Royal Navy used it in making Pink Gin to settle nausea. It is called pink gin because the glass is swirled with Angostura bitters before adding the gin. This gives the mixture a pink tint.
Campari was invented in 1860 in Italy by Gaspare Campari. The recipe has remained unchanged except for the coloring agent, which changed in 2006. Supposedly, up until then, the red color came from the cochineal insect. The first drink Bond orders in the novel Casino Royale (the first Bond novel) is an Americano – Campari, sweet vermouth and club soda. It was invented in Campari’s bar in the 1860′s. It was only known as an Americano after the early 1900′s when it became popular with Americans.
I think I’d like to try a Campbell. The glass is pinked and then sparkling lemonade is added.
Caipirinha
From No Reservations in Brazil, I heard of this drink. This is the national drink of Brazil. It contains cachaca, sugar and lime, traditionally. As seen on the show, it is available in many, many fruit flavors though, other than lime. Cachaca is a sugarcane alcohol (38-80% ABV), like rum, which means that it probably tastes too much like medicine for me to ever enjoy this drink. A shame, because it sounds appealing. I’d still try it.
1.3 billion liters of cachaça are produced each year. Only 1% of this production is exported (mainly to Germany). (fOutside Brazil, cachaça is used almost exclusively as an ingredient in tropical drinks, with the caipirinha being the most famous cocktail.
There are two types of cachaca – artisinal and industrial. Artisinal cachaca is made by what we in the US would call moonshiners. Thousands of individuals distilling their own small batches.
I do think I’ll try one of these at some point. I expect to be disappointed as my taste for chocolate is, unlike my taste for alcohol, very refined. :) But I have pretty martini glasses, so surely that counts for something…
Chocolate Martini
1 1/2 parts Chocolate Liqueur
1 1/2 parts Creme de Cacao
1/2 part Vodka
2 1/2 parts Half & Half, or Cream
Shake all ingredients over ice; serve strained in a martini glass with a swirl of chocolate syrup.
Well, I gotta say that I understand the initial feeling towards booze. Liquor is about the subtleties not the whole. Ethanol will cook your throat. No doubt about that, but it is the impurities that make up the bottle of Maker’s Mark or Sailor Jerry (to grab ridiculously different bottles) and produce the dance on the tongue that makes good booze good booze. Furthermore I have to throw in that I’m about a bottle in of Maker’s Mark to clarify my sloppy language. Point is … it is about the dance on the tongue not the effect on the brain that is the desired effect. Once you get past the burn on the ethanol, you begin to appreciate the work (and the flavors) involved in booze.
If this is not clear I must apologize that I’ve been drinking most of the evening and that ethanol has pretty well cooked by brain. We all have a road that we must travel, and without exception that road is easier traveled boozed up.
wow. that was wordy.
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Nicole,
I use Godiva Chocolate Liqueur, preferably the milk chocolate variety. The white doesn’t mesh well, but the caramel flavor gives an extra sweetness that is hard to not gulp down. You can also substitute Bailey’s Mint Chocolate for a different take ;)
Godiva was gonna be my choice and I am *never* in danger of choosing white chocolate. :) Thanks for the tip. I do like mint chocolate. And I do like Baileys in hot chocolate. Woohoo! Weekend project!
And AG, it was pretty clear, despite the cooked brain. :) I have seen a lot of stuff on making of booze and what flavors go into making the top shelf stuff. I keep trying to find things I like so I too can appreciate the subtleties. :)
Hi,
I´m from Brasil and I will try to explain what happens when you dink a poor distilled like those industrial made. The good cachaças are hand made (artesanal)and they are aged up to six years in many types of woods.
The making process is completelly different.
In the hand made process the sugar cane is manually cutted and the fermentation is natural and has no quimicals.
During the destilation the “head”(the beggining of the destilation process) and the “tail”(the end of the destilation process) are takened off, keeping only the “heart”, this is what makes it taste so good and does not give “headaches”.
Very Good for the day after. No hangover.
Much better than Tequila ou Whisky !
Oh, and if you don’t care for the taste of alcohol, try a Midori Sour. One part Midori, 2-3 parts Sweet and Sour. A really easy one to imbibe.
Carlos, I had read about the tail, the head and the heart. I figure if I’m going to try cachaca I will make sure I get an artisinal batch. It sounds like it is really an art form.
Aggie, I’ll definitely give that a try! Thanks for the suggestions!
I’m biased about your Brasilian choice for family reasons :) It doesn’t taste like rum. Which is great because I can’t stand rum! I guess it tastes something like a margarita. I love caiprinhas in summer, you rarely get a hangover either :)
Ah, I was just going on No Reservations saying that since it was sugarcane based it was like rum. Good to know that it doesn’t. Makes me look foward more to trying it!
Okay. I stopped by the store on the way home. Lots of money later and I think the chocolate martini tastes like medicine – though I may not have mixed it correctly. And I like the Midori sour a lot. Whoohoo! One success!
I’m glad you liked the Midori Sour! One out of two ain’t bad ;)