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Posts Tagged ‘Cocktails and Recipes’

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Review: Alchemia Czysta (Pure) Vodka

Posted by Arctic Wolf on July 14, 2011

Alchemia Vodka is distilled in Poland by a company called, Bialystok S.A., which is apparently one of Poland’s largest producer’s of distilled spirits. The Alchemia Czysta (pronounced chis ta and meaning ‘pure’) is a rye grain Vodka, and I was given a sample bottle for the purpose of this review by Paul Charabin of PB Beverages, an Alberta based company which imports and distributes a wide selection of spirits from around the world. The bottle I was given was the 750 ml size, and the label tells me the Czysta Vodka is bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume.

Here is an excerpt from my Review:

“…When I brought the glass to my nose I noticed light rye-like spices in the air but no light citrus aromas. I let my nose take a few more sniffs...”

You May read the full review here:

Review: Alchemia Czysta (Pure) Vodka

As well I thought it was time to introduce one of my favourite cocktails as my recommended recipe for the Alchemia Czysta Vodka, the Sloe Comfortable Screw.

Please enjoy the review and the cocktail!

Posted in Cocktails & Recipes, Vodka, Vodka Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , | Comments Off on Review: Alchemia Czysta (Pure) Vodka

Review: Hornitos Reposado Tequila

Posted by Arctic Wolf on July 12, 2011

Hornitos Reposado Tequila is a 100 % Agave Tequila produced by the Sauza Tequila Import Company  located in Tequila, a municipality of the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The Tequila is the creation of Don Francisco Havier Sauza (Don Franco), a third generation member of the Sauza family who founded the La Preseverancia, distillery. Don Franco is credited with helping the Mexican Government to establish the Jalisco region of Mexico as the exclusive origin of genuine tequila in 1974. Hornitos was reported to be Don Franco’s favourite tequila. Unlike other spirits which proudly boast of a maturation period in small oak barrels to ensure heavy contact between the spirit and the oak, Don Franco’s Hornitos spirit is different. The Hornitos Reposado is aged in large 10,000 gallon oak ‘pipones’ to ensure limited contact with the wood during maturation such that the agave flavour remains as pure as is possible in a reposado spirit.

And this concept of minimal wood contact may have some merit. I have spoken with many Tequila aficionados who insist that aging Tequila in oak damages the spirit rather than enhances it. These Tequila connoisseurs are looking for that pure agave expression which Hornitos Reposado promises. Sauza is now part of  Beam Global Spirits, and it was the Beam Global Team here in Alberta who made a sample of Hornitos Reposado available to me such that I could provide this review. Here is an excerpt from that review:

“…The initial nose is full of spicy herbal agave fruit. It is a powerful, earthy smell that pours out of the glass growing deeper and stronger as you allow the tequila to breathe. White pepper scents and tart green apples reach the breezes along with grilled pineapple and lemons to round out the nose which is robust and anything but laid back. The scents and aromas from my glass interest me, but I sense a strong warning in those breezes. This is going to be intense…”

You may read the full review here:

Review: Hornitos Reposado Tequila

As well I have constructed a new cocktail for the Hornitos Reposado which I affectionately call, Nightmare in Pink.

Please enjoy the review and the cocktail!

Posted in Cocktails & Recipes, Reposado Tequila, Tequila, Tequila Review | Tagged: , , , , , | Comments Off on Review: Hornitos Reposado Tequila

Review: George Street Spiced Rum

Posted by Arctic Wolf on July 10, 2011

There is a place where they believe they know rum better than anywhere else. And it’s hard to ague with those folk because not only have they been smuggling and buying their rum for over three hundred years, they also happen to drink more of the stuff per capita than anyone else in North America. Where is this great rum haven, you might ask? Well, it’s not anywhere in the good old U.S. of A., and it not some tropical haven in Latin America or the Caribbean Islands. Nope, these people who drink more rum than anyone else live on a rock they call Newfoundland, which is part of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in the Great White North of Canada.

On that rock called Newfoundland is a city called  St. John’s where they have a place where the rum consumption reaches its apex. That place is George Street! A street full of music and revelry, lined from top to bottom with Pubs and Restaurants, where almost everyone’s drink of choice seems to be Rum! And it is for that place that the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Commission (NLC) have named their new rum, George Street Spiced Rum.

Here is an excerpt from my review:

“…After a few minutes rich baking spices have built up, and I imagine that I can smell sweet cinnamon rolls in that glass. Rich brown sugars pour out with vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and pecans. This is probably the one of the nicest noses I have encountered in a spiced rum. But my feeling is that the spices are only part of the story. It is the aged Guyanese Rum under the spices which is giving the nose depth and character. I have a strong urge  to steal a sip before I am finished nosing the glass…”

Here is a link to the full review:

Review: George Street Spiced Rum

I have included a nice recipe for a Rum and Cola style drink called the Sparkling Cola Cocktail.
Please enjoy the review and the cocktail!

Posted in Cocktails & Recipes, Flavouerd Rums, Rum, Rum Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , | Comments Off on Review: George Street Spiced Rum

Review: Grey Goose Vodka

Posted by Arctic Wolf on July 7, 2011

Grey Goose Vodka was created by Sidney Frank who recognized in the mid 1990′s that North America was ready for a new premium vodka brand. He based his new brand upon what he believed to be a North American perception of the superiority of French production. He therefore chose a distillery in the Cognac region of France which would use French Winter Wheat as the base for his Vodka’s distillation, and a water source which was filtered through limestone. To say that his new brand was a success would be a wild understatement, as Mr. Frank successfully introduced his Vodka to the world in 1997, and then successfully sold the brand to Bacardi in 2004 for an amount which was reported (by Forbes Magazine) to be in excess of two billion dollars.

Since then, Grey Goose has become the standard by which Vodka is judged. I know this because almost every time I receive a sample of Vodka from a person in industry, they tell me that their Vodka is ‘just as good’ as Grey Goose. Since Grey Goose is the standard, I thought that it was about time to put the spirit through the paces of my review system here on my website.

Here is an excerpt from my review:

“…The flavour impressions which I encountered during my first sip were reinforced when I took a nice shot or swallow of a larger portion of the spirit. Ghostly impressions of wheat and starch and just a hint of sweetness. This is very good…”

You may read the full review here:

Review: Grey Goose Vodka

I have included a recipe which tastes extremely nice with the Grey Goose, The Vodka Daiquiri.

Please enjoy the review and the recipe which follows!

Posted in Cocktails & Recipes, Vodka, Vodka Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , | Comments Off on Review: Grey Goose Vodka

Review: No. 3 London Dry Gin

Posted by Arctic Wolf on July 5, 2011

Berry Bros. & Rudd is London’s oldest wine and spirits merchant with over 300 years of experience and tradition to draw on. They chose to use this expertise with a team of spirits expertscreating the recipe which would be called No. 3 London Dry Gin. The recipe is based upon three fruits and three spices, and to those I shall speak to in the review. However, I shall say as a bit of foreshadowing, that sometimes artistry can be found in simplicity.

I first sampled the No. 3 Gin at a store called Lacombe Park Spirits in St. Albert, Alberta. I have come to know the proprietors, Karim and his brother Jeff, quite well over the past couple of years, and when Karim discovered that I was about to venture into a series of Gin reviews he insisted that I try one of his favourites. I was convinced after one sip that this was a gin which I wanted to review, and after contacting the website for No. 3 London Dry Gin, Ross Hendry from Berry Brothers & Rudd, arranged for me to receive a bottle sample.

Here is an excerpt from my review:

“…When that first sample was poured for me at Lacombe Spirits, the first thing I noticed was the assertiveness of the aroma around the glass. I commented to Karim (the proprietor of Lacombe Park Spirits) that this was exactly how I liked my gin to smell in the glass. The nose was full of juniper, but it was not sharp and unpleasant, rather it was full of aromatics which lifted the juniper scent out of the glass and then surrounded it with floral notes and a beguiling sweetness…”

Here is a link to the full review:

Review: No. 3 London Dry Gin

I have provided a couple of nice recipes for the No. 3 Gin, the first is a nice Classic Gin Martini recipe which is provided on the No. 3 Gin website, the second recipe is a classic Gin cocktail recipe called the Bulldog Cooler.

Please enjoy my review and the recipes that follow!

Posted in Cocktails & Recipes, Gin, Gin Review | Tagged: , , , , | Comments Off on Review: No. 3 London Dry Gin

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