bar-log = blog

interesting and without alcohol? jalapeño pineapple Lemonade

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:26:13 +0400

Is it lemonade or pineapple-ade?

Anyway, a couple days ago my better half Sarah pulled an almost overripe baby pineapple out of the fridge and told me, that I supposed to do something with it, or she will throw it away.

I cut the pineapple open and found that it was perfectly ripe, sweet and luscious.
But I didn’t wanted to eat it... so the idea popped into my mind, that I just make a lemonade out of it.

I cut the pineapple in smaller chunks, added fructose [just because I had it on hand] and I squeezed a bit of lime into it.
This mixture I put into a pitcher and filled it up with water.

There was a cut jalapeño still on my chopping board [I usually eat in the night] so I thought it cannot hurt to put a slice of it into the mix.

Today, again hungry, I just rediscovered the pitcher. And tried. Well - it needed more sugar; but it was really delicious! Full of ripe pineapple flavors, a nice sweet & sour edge and at the end a soothing heat, coming from the chili.
I was actually quite surprised about the heat, as the fresh chili wasn’t that spicy...

The concoction was a bit too spicy for Sarah - but perfectly alright for me...

It supposed to be extra delicious with a shot of good blanco tequila...

Try this at home!

another great video of bacardi

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:15:48 +0400

Bacardi is pushing really the envelope... the youtube videos are so good made... there might be hardly anyone else, who is investing so much money in copyright-free material.

But it works... even if you don’t like Bacardi, you have to be impressed by the spots...

By the way - have you ever seen in reality an exhibition flair-bartender using a jigger and anyway concerned to attentions of details? I haven’t...

ikandy beverage menu

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:55:13 +0400

I can’t show you completely - however I can show you a draft of the list, which will be the base of the ikandy menu.

Like always, it will be dressed up in a magazine styled menu... but this is then no more my work.
I was responsible for the cocktails and other drinks - and besides, that it still needs to be tested and tasted, it is already pretty exciting...

Wanna have a look? So here we are:

Enriched Wines
Chardonnay [Vanilla, Stewed Apple & Pear, Lemon]
Sauvignon blanc [Lemon Grass, Rock Melon, Passionfruit, Grapefruit Zest]
Merlot [Plums, Red Currant, Black Cherry, Caramel, Clove, Vanilla, Coffee Bean]
Cabernet Sauvignon [Ginger, Pimento, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Blackberry, Cassis]

Exhilarating Cocktails
Ambrosia
[Champagne, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, turbinado sugar, amarena cherries, toasted coconut shavings]
Fleur de Champagne
[Champagne, Skyy passion fruit osmanthus infusion, elderflower cordial, lemon juice]
Negroni Sbagliato d'Arancia
[Campari Bitter, Roasted Orange Vermouth, Sparkling Wine]
Spume Bellini[Champagne, peach foam, brandied peach compote]

ikandy Signatures
Frozen ikandy Mojito
[home spiced rum, fresh lime juice, sugar, mint, finished with soda & float overproof rum]
Posh Mojito
[10Cane rum, fresh lime juice, fresh mint, sugar, champagne]
Coco Daiquiri
[Bacardi 8 años, lime, homemade coconut milk syrup, grilled pineapple-chipotl-turbinado compote, roasted coconut shavings]
Pink'opolitan
[Pinky Vodka, Citrónge Liqueur, lime juice, sence rose cordial]
Una Margarita mi Sarah por Paloma
[Patron silver, Grapefruit infused Curaçao, Lime, Chili-Salt Rim]

Couture Cocktails
Rose Julep
[Pinky Vodka, Stevia, Sence Rose, Nectar, Rose Petals, Mint]
Peach & Turkey Sour
[Wild Turkey 8 years, Lemon Juice, Maple Syrup, Peach Foam]
Kumquat Crushed
[Osmanthus infused Skyy Passion Fruit, Kumquats, Limes, Honey]
Audrey Saunder's Gin² Mule
[Bombay Sapphire, Lime, Rich Syrup, Mint, Ginger Beer]
Tequila Pom-Hibiscus
[100% agave Tequila, Hibiscus-Pomegranate Infusion]
Pura Caipirinha / Skyy Caipiroshka
[Sagatiba pura / Skyy Vodka, Lime, Sugar]

Highballs & Long Drinks
Classic G&T / Skyy & Tonic
[Bombay Sapphire / Skyy Citrus, Tonic Water, Lemon & Lime]
Rejuvenating G&T
[Hendrick's Gin, Tonic Water, Cucumber Spa Mix, Rosemary, Lemon & Lime]
P&T
[White Port, Tonic Water, Lemon]
Paloma mi Amante
[Strawberry infused 100% Agave Sauza Hornitos, home-made Grapefruit Soda, Lime]
Dark n' Stormy / Moscow Mule
[Gosling Black Seal Rum / Skyy Vodka, Ginger Beer, Lime]
Pimm's Cup
[Pimm's No.1, Cucumber Spa Mix, Ginger Ale]
Cotton Cuba Libre
[Bacardi 8 años, Coke, Cotton Candy]
Raspberry Cape Cod
[Skyy Raspberry, lime, J2O Raspberry, Soda]

Shooter / Esprit du Cocktail
Margarita
[Sauza Hornitos 100% Agave Tequila, Citrónge Liqueur, Lime Juice]
Esprit du Daiquiri
[Bacardi Superior, Lime Juice, Sugar]
Esprit of a Rusty Nail
[Money Shoulder, Drambuie]
Esprit Kamikaze
[Skyy Vodka, Citrónge Liqueur, Lime Juice]

Sober Drinks
Piquante Soda
[Home-made Grapefruit Soda, lime, Chipotl Chili]
Ipanema
[Lime, fresh passionfruit, sugar, ginger ale]
Virgin Mojito
[Monin Caribbean, lime juice, mint, club soda, sugar]
Fruit Punch
[Orange-, Pineapple-, Lemon Juice, Fruit Puree, Monin Pomegranate]
ikandy Pañca
[Orange-, Mango-, Lemon Juice, fresh Passion Fruit, Peach Foam]
Chaste Coco Daiquiri
[Monin Caribbean, home-made Coconut milk syrup, lime juice, grilled pineapple-chipotl compote, roasted cocunut shavings]
Rose Julab
[Sence Rose Nectar, Rose Petals, Stevia, Mint]

This is it. Off course there are also wines and beers [...] but how creative can you be in Dubai with those things?

However the cocktail selection is in my eyes pretty amazing...
...you will ask yourself, what demon drove me to include so much vodka... well on one hand I need to meet the guest preference in such an outlet as ikandy... on the other hand, are we sponsored by Skyy...

Please, I know your hesitance make any comments, but it is so important to me to get your feedback: what do you think of this menu? Is it tempting, or ridiculous?
I am sure, that I can include some nice cocktail pictures the next time I am touching this topic...

feeling like an accountant...

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:36:31 +0400

Hey - I haven’t posted a lot these days...

Reason is, that I need to do quite a lot of budget_number_planing_accountant_style_of_work...
Basically I need to disclose my strategy to achieve the budget for the beverage revenue for all outlets of the hotel.

And it is not, that it is about just showing and blowing into the wind... it is more like referring any number to another one, wether it be the past [last years actual], the forecast, whatever...
Then I need also to bring the savings into play...

All in all - it would be understated to say, that it is an elaborate and time consuming [and absolutely not a pleasant] occupation.

I am pretty good in calculation of beverage costs etc - but this strides even my orbit.

However: soon I need to finalize the testing of the ikandy menu - and before that, I will show you and will ask for feedback...

And then there are the funk-tastic and sometimes crazy concoction of ikandy I can write about...

But first things first: filling small excel fields with accountant figures...

brewdog - world’s strongest, most expensive & strangest beer

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:20:48 +0400

The guys of Brewdog are always good for a surprise. And you would need to have a bit of a thick skin, to enjoy their black humor.

Now they stroke again; after the Tactical Nuclear Penguin [a freeze fortified beer] and the even stronger “Sink the Bismarck”, which were previously awarded as world’s strongest beers with 32% and 41% abv] they are now releasing a hyper exclusive and outlandish beer, called “The End of History”.
Only 11 bottles were produced - the bottles are all dressed in stuffed animals, which were roadkills... [squirrels and stoats].

“Of course” they are already sold out, despite of the price of £ 500 respectively £ 700 [the squirrel was more expensive].

It was brewed as Belgium ale and was flavored with juniper berries and Scottish Highland nettles and it was again freeze fortified. This time the alcohol reached a staggering 55% abv!

The fractional freezing is a bit of a cheat - as it is not really beer anymore - it is rather a freeze distilled beer-spirit. But anyway they show a lot of effort to do this and due to the method they are actually using an equivalent of 200 bottles normal beer for 1 “The End of History”.

The only thing, I am not sure of: you can’t separate methanol with the method of fractional freezing - hence there supposed to be a serious amount of it in each bottle. While it won’t be harmful [otherwise I expect, that it wouldn’t get the ok to be sold] it might give you [if you were one of the lucky ones, which got a bottle] a serious hangover the next day!

But c’mon - you just consumed it just out of a stuffed squirrel!!!

coke old fashioned

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:07:52 +0400

One further:

In the event of making cocktails for Sebastien, I came to a certain point; well I had this even before, when he visited me in Vu’s Bar; a point of no return...

Anyway - it is an apex, when things become wild and my creations become a bit... edgy.

Well - Nabiel, my current F&B director [after they had altogether Whiskey Sours- with egg white] ordered a Jack Daniel’s & Coke. I am still a bit clueless, why so many people assume, that Jack Daniel’s is a decent Whiskey...but anyway...
Coke, Tennessee Whiskey... ice... altogether let to a sudden inspiration - why not trying a Coke Old Fashioned.

First I took some normal coke and added sugar. I didn’t had coke post mix on hand - might be an idea to try this out...
I added the syrup to the glass, added few hearty dashes of Angostura Bitters and then Jack Daniel’s and ice cubes and I stirred and added more Jack Daniel’s and ice and stirred again and added another time Jack Daniel’s and ice and stirred.
Then I sprayed the oils of a lemon twist over it and served it.

I tried a bit and was quite surprised about the cool result. The taste was Jack Daniel’s with a hint of root spice aromas and a hint of cola nut. It was not the usual X & coke concoction... definitely worth a try.

Would I prepare it for myself at home? Rather no... not that it is not tasty; but if I anyway need to go through the pain of doing an Old Fashioned, I rather would drink a classic one...

However it would be interesting as special drinks. People like to order something they now - and they now Jack Daniel’s and they know coke.

I am not totally convinced of these kind of cocktail, but kinda like the idea, to play with the perception of guests...

I thought to offer for ikandy shots of vodka with a Red Bull sphere... I actually hate energy drinks - but if guests are anyway asking for it, why not doing something completely different with it?

spanish julep

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:58:48 +0400

I have announced few short posts about drinks...

Here we have number two, the Spanish Julep.

The short story about its creation goes like that: Sebastien, former F&B director of the Shangri-La Hotel Dubai and former regular guest in Vu’s bar was in Balcony bar [at the Shangri-La] and like in good ol’ times asked me, to do some drinks - something new...

I always despised the situation, when I have to create impromptu a drink; however it is also a good challenge [some brain works].

One creation, which is quite interesting, is the Spanish Julep.

Well - I hadn’t got Julep cups, but wanted to serve it a bit more... rustic. So I used the tins of cobbler shaker; filled them up with crushed ice. Used another cobbler shaker, added mint leaves, fino sherry, sugar and Spanish brandy and dissolved the sugar, while incorporating the mint aromas.

I strained then the drink onto the crushed ice of the other cobbler shaker and used lots of mint sprigs to garnish the drink. Voilá!

The fino sherry just brought another interesting dimension to the drink, this slightly saltiness and grapiness, of a fresh fino sherry.
Is it better than a classic Mint Julep? If you use a decent Bourbon, definitely not. I would say, that the Spanish Julep is almost too complex; in my eyes a Julep supposed to be robust, indigenous and comforting.

But it is an interesting alternative.

Next up: the Coke Old Fashioned.