Archive for the ‘Liquor, Beer & Wine’ Category

Cordial/Liqueur -a strongly flavored highly sweet liquor usually drunk in small quantities after dinner as a digestif.

 A cordials flavor can come from many sources: fruits, herbs & leaves, flowers, nuts, seeds and beans, roots and barks.   Cordials must contain at least 2.5% sugar but usually contain far more.  Honey, maple and corn syrups are also used as sweeteners.  Cordial and Liqueur as words are interchangeable.

 The base alcohol varies:  neutral grain spirits are common.  Many liqueurs, however, are made from a specific spirit, such as, Scotch in Drambuie, Cognac in Grand Marnier or Irish Whiskey in Bailey=s.  Others are distilled from the primary ingredients themselves.

 Cordial comes from Latin: cor which means heart.  Cordials were originally made by alchemist or monks as a health remedy or elixir to soothe weary travelers.  Liqueur comes from the Latin: liquefacere, meaning to melt or dissolve (which is how most cordials are made!).

 Cordials are produced by cold or hot methods.  Cold methods include infusion, maceration and percolation.  Distillers use infusion and maceration for fruits which might be damaged by heat.  During infusions, crushed fruits are soaked in water for as long as a year. The liquid is strained, sweetened and added to alcohol.   In maceration, the crushed fruit is soaked directly in alcohol.   After the liquid is strained off, the remaining fruit is distilled and the distillate is recombined with the infused liquid.  Liqueurs commonly made this way include: triple sec, cassis, cointreau; Grand Marnier.   Percolation is often used for flavorings such as herbs and leaves.  Ingredients are placed in a basket or strainer and the alcohol is pumped up over them.  This process, similar to brewing coffee without heat, may go on for months until all  flavor is extracted.  Ingredients may be distilled afterward.   Drambuie, Irish Mist, Chartreuse are made this way.

 Hot methods include distillation in water and distillation in alcohol.  Water distillation is used for delicate herbs and flowers.  Once distilled, the flavored water is added to an alcohol base.  Ingredients such as seeds, nuts, bark or orange peel are more often distilled in alcohol. They are first soaked in alcohol, the distilled with additional spirits.

Even More Fun Things To Do With Vodka

 1. To remove an adhesive bandage, saturate with vodka.  It will dissolve the adhesive.

 2. Clean caulking around tub and shower by using a spray bottle of vodka.  It kills mold and mildew.

 3. Spritz your eyeglasses with vodka and use a clean cloth to wipe dry.

 4. Prolong the life of  razors by putting the razor in a cup of vodka after shaving.  It will kill germs and prevent oxidation (rust) from the blade reacting with the air.

 5.  Spray vodka on wine stains and blot till dry.

 6.  Using a cotton ball, apply vodka to the face as an astringent to kill germs and tighten pores.

 7. Add a jigger of vodka to a 12 ounce bottle of shampoo to help leave the scalp clean.

 8.  Use a spray bottle of vodka to kill ants and wasps.

 9.  Put ½ cup vodka and 1/2 cup water in a zip lock bag then freeze for a slushy cold pack for aches, pains and bruises.

 10.  Fill a clean empty mayonnaise jar with freshly picked lavender flowers, fill with vodka and seal tightly.  Set in the sun for three days and then strain.  The resulting tincture will help when rubbed on bruises, aches and pains!!

 11. To relieve a fever, wet a washcloth with vodka and rub over forehead, chest and arms

 12.  To cure foot odor, wash feet with vodka

 13.  Vodka will disinfect and alleviate pain for a jellyfish sting.

 14.  Pour vodka over the affected area when you come into contact with poison ivy.

 15. Swish a shot of vodka over and around hurting tooth.  Allow the vodka to dull the ache and pain. 

What is a cordial? 

Cordial/Liqueur -a strongly flavored highly sweet liquor usually drunk in small quantities after dinner as a digestif.

 A cordial=s flavor can come from many sources: fruits, herbs & leaves, flowers, nuts, seeds and beans, roots and barks.   Cordials must contain at least 2.5% sugar but usually contain far more.  Honey, maple and corn syrups are also used as sweeteners.  Cordial and Liqueur as words are interchangeable.

 The base alcohol varies:  neutral grain spirits are common.  Many liqueurs, however, are made from a specific spirit, such as, Scotch in Drambuie, Cognac in Grand Marnier or Irish Whiskey in Bailey=s.  Others are distilled from the primary ingredients themselves.

 Cordial comes from Latin: cor which means heart.  Cordials were originally made by alchemist or monks as a health remedy or elixir to soothe weary travelers.  Liqueur comes from the Latin: liquefacere, meaning to melt or dissolve (which is how most cordials are made!).

 Cordials are produced by cold or hot methods.  Cold methods include infusion, maceration and percolation.  Distillers use infusion and maceration for fruits which might be damaged by heat.  During infusions, crushed fruits are soaked in water for as long as a year. The liquid is strained, sweetened and added to alcohol.   In maceration, the crushed fruit is soaked directly in alcohol.   After the liquid is strained off, the remaining fruit is distilled and the distillate is recombined with the infused liquid.  Liqueurs commonly made this way include: triple sec, cassis, cointreau; Grand Marnier.   Percolation is often used for flavorings such as herbs and leaves.  Ingredients are placed in a basket or strainer and the alcohol is pumped up over them.  This process, similar to brewing coffee without heat, may go on for months until all  flavor is extracted.  Ingredients may be distilled afterward.   Drambuie, Irish Mist, Chartreuse are made this way.

 Hot methods include distillation in water and distillation in alcohol.  Water distillation is used for delicate herbs and flowers.  Once distilled, the flavored water is added to an alcohol base.  Ingredients such as seeds, nuts, bark or orange peel are more often distilled in alcohol. They are first soaked in alcohol, the distilled with additional spirits.

What is Vermouth?

Vermouth is a fortified wine drunk as an aperitif in Europe and avoided in martinis in the United States. Originated in the 1700′s in the kingdom of Savoy (Southern France and Northwest Italy), winemakers added herbs and spices to improve the flavor of the area’s wines. The first branded vermouth was a spicy red made by Carpano in Turin, Italy in 1786; 14 years later, in the Mediterranean town of Marsellian, Joseph Noilly introduced the first French dry vermouth.

They remain today the two principle styles: white, dry French style and red, sweet Italian style.

Today, most vermouth is made from white wine flavored with herbs and spices and fortified with neutral spirits. Dozens of herbs and spices may be used creating layers of flavors.

Vermouth is more famous for not being used than for anything else.  In the United States, martinis, especially vodka martinis, are made with straight vodka and a swirl of the vermouth bottle close to the martini glass giving just the right amount of vermouth to the drink…that is, none.  In the 1930′s and earlier, martinis were equal parts gin and dry vermouth. Each decade saw less and less use of vermouth so that by the 1990′s and 2000′s, if vermouth was actually added to the drink at all, it came as an atomized spray like an expensive perfume. It was wafted over the glass and whatever minute essense landed on the glass was the right amount.

In 2008 and 2009, bartenders and drink mixmaster starting increasing the amount of vermouth used in Martinis.  Still, it was just a splash because o f the complex flavors involved. 

Quady Winery in California under the Vya label produces excellent vermouths.

Noilly Prat in France still produces vermouth aged outdoors in oak one year.

Carpano still produces a bittersweet vermouth but most Italian red is produced by the giant Martini and Rossi or by another Turin based company, Cinzano.

Red – served over ice with orange slice

Red – used in Manhattan-bourbon,sweet vermouth; Negroni- gin, sweet vermouth, campari

Duplex-equal dry and sweet vermouth, lemon squeeze

Dry – 1930′s Gin Martini – equal gin and dry vermouth, dash of bitters

Vermouth Cassis – dry vermouth, splash of cassis, club soda

Jose Cuervo Christmas Cookies

1 cup of water
 1 tsp baking soda
 1 cup of sugar
 1 tsp salt
 1 cup or brown sugar
 4 large eggs
 1 cup nuts
 2 cups of dried fruit
 1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila
 
 
 Sample the Cuervo to check quality. Take a large bowl,
 check the Cuervo again, to be sure it is of the highest quality,
 pour one level cup and drink.
 
 Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter
 in a large fluffy bowl.  
 
 Add one peastoon of sugar. Beat again. At thispoint
 it’s best to make sure the Cuervo is still ok, try another
 cup just in case.
 
 Turn off the mixerer thingy.
 
 Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the
 cup of dried fruit.   Pick the frigging fruit off the floor.
 
 Mix on the turner. 
  
 If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaters just pry
 it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the Cuervo to
 check for tonsisticity.
 
 Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who
geeves a sheet. Check the Jose Cuervo. Now shift the
lemon juice and strain your nuts. 
  
 Add one table.
 
Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you
can find.
 
Greash the oven.
 
Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall
 over.
 
Don’t forget to beat off the turner.
 
Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish
the Cose Juervo and make sure to put the stove in the
 wishdasher. 
  
 Cherry Mistmas !

What is Port?

Port is a fortified wine produced only in the demarcated region of the Douro River in Portugal and the terms Port or Porto refer only to these wines. Just as Champagne only comes from the Champagne region of France, with everything else called sparkling wine, so to does Port only come from Portugal. A fortified wine means that brandy has been added to the wine at some point in the fermentation process.

Port is still made the same way and, in most cases, with the same equipment of over 100 years ago. While aging in wood, port wine’s fruity aroma develops through oxidation to create a bouquet of dried fruit, toasting, wood and spices. The aging process adds to its smoothness and the color become increasingly more golden with a greenish tint to the older wines.

Port takes its name from the city of Oporto located at the mouth of the river Douro or the River of Gold. Wine was produced along this river valley from before the Roman occupation and shipped downstream to be exported around the known world. In 1678, England declared war on France and the English navy was large enough to blockade the French ports. This created an instant shortage of wine. Britain was a traditional trading partner and ally of Portugal since 1373 so it was natural that the British looked to Portugal for wine.

Unhappily, wine making was not a serious art in Portugal and the quality the British desired was lacking. So, the British decided to help things out and went to Portugal to improve the winemaking. In order to stablize the raw red wines and stop any fermentation, the British took to adding “a bucket or two of grape brandy” to every barrel shipped to London. This early wine from Porto was not praised and it’s popularity depended more on availability. So, early sales fluctuated with the warming and cooling of the British – French relationship.

The early shipments to London were simply red table wine but, sometime between 1678 and the early 1700′s, someone decided to add that bucket or two of grape brandy earlier in the process stopping further fermentation and producing a wine still sweet, fruity and strong. In 1756, a new company was chartered in Portugal which ended the British monopoly. This company had broad powers to regulate production, fix prices and arbitrate all disputes. This company, the Old Wine Company, defined the wine producing regions and all vineyards and even elderberry trees were uprooted in every other part of Portugal.

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By the mid 1850′s all the major Port producing houses had been established: Warre, Croft, Taylor, Sandeman, Offley, Forrester, Kopke, Van Zeller, Burmester, Graham, Guimareans, Cockburn and Dow.

Port is different because of its above average alcohol content ranging between 19% and 22% in volume.

Ruby – label given to younger wines that display a deep color, fairly fruity and are, on average, 2 years old, usually a blend of several years harvests, does not usually say Ruby on the bottle label

Tawny – blended wines that have spent about 6 years in cask, can vary considerably in quality, some are blend of ruby and white port but the best Tawny Ports have acquired their amber brown or tawny hue from the wood ageing. Flavor is drier and nuttier.

Aged Tawny with an Indication of Age – blended from wines of different years, expressing the nature of the wine as regards the characteristics that are given to it through aging in wood. So, a “20 Year Old” wine has the color, testure, aroma and taste of a wine that has aged in wood for 20 years. By decree, the ages are 10, 20, 30 and even more than 40 years.

Colheita – Dated Port – wines from a single year can be sold after they have aged at least 7 years but most are aged longer. Label indicates the year of bottling and should be drunk within one year of that date. Fairly rare.. These are labeled Dated Port.

White Port – made from white grapes in the same way. Usually sweet and served on the rocks or up as an apeeritif.

Vintage Character – also referred to as Super or Premium Ruby. Blended from several years harvest and aged 4 to 6 years before bottling. Characteristically have more body and fruit than a Tawny but lack the concentration and complexity of a true Vintage Port. Usually sold under brand names like Sandemans Founder’s Reserve, Warre’s Warrior, Grahams 6 Grapes, Fonseca’s Bin 27 or Taylor’s First Estate

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L.B.V. (Late Bottled Vintage) – Port from a single year but that year has been judged to be of excellent quality but not deemed good enough for a Vintage and is aged in wood and bottled between the 4^th and 6^th year after it is made. Red in color, full-bodied and smooth. Usually more gentle and full-bodied than the vintage Port of the same year. Can throw sediment so carry carefully.

Vintage – wines of superior quality, produced in exceptionally great years from distinct areas or sub-zones within the region. Vintage port is kept in wood for 2 to 3 years before bottling then matured in the bottle for up to 15 to 20 years. Usually very full-bodied and deep-colored. Usually throw sediment so carry carefully. Serve with ceremony and style

Best Vintages : 1994, 1992, 1991, 1985, 1977, 1970, 1963, 1955, 1948, 1935, 1931, 1927 and 1912. Port can be very sweet, sweet, semi-dry, dry or extra dry. Sweetness is determined by when and how the wine maker interrupts the fermentation process.

Fortified Wines

Port, Sherry and Madeira

Sherry

“Fortified” means a distilled spirit is added to the wine. Some assume all fortified wines are sweet. Not true. Many are but there are many dry versions, too. In general, dry starts a meal and sweet ends it with foods as well as fortified wines.

Fortified wines usually have more body than regular wines because they range in alcohol content from 13 to 20 percent. This creates a structure which can stand up at dessert time. Chocolate’s intensity and oiliness challenges standard wines but can be easily overcome by the fuller bodied fortified wines such as late-bottled Vintage Port or a Malmsey Maderia.

Dry Maderias such as those made from sercial or verdelho seem perfect for soups.

Fino Sherry and its cousin Manzanilla usually accompany Spanish style tapas.

Sherry is divided into Fino and Oloroso. Fino is always dry (usually) and Oloroso is always sweet (usually). Fino aged long enough is bottled as Amontillado and is often sweet. Oloroso is really almost always sweet but there is Lustau’s version: think roasted walnuts.

Wine chosen for Oloroso is fortified to about 18 percent alcohol and left to age in barrels.

Wine chosen for Fino is fortified to about 15 percent and the barrel won’t be filled to the top. Soon the empty space above the wine is filled with a yeast growth called the ‘flor’, Spanish for flower. But, it looks like pond scum…. The purpose is pretty, however: it protects the wine from oxygen and adds a nutty, almond-like character. It is this light, almost delicate, character which is a favorite. No small feat at 15 percent alcohol!

A version of Fino called Manzanilla has been aged in the Portugese coastal town of Sanlucar de Barrameda. The nearby ocean feeds the flor like nothing else. The flor can grow here to a half foot tall or more!

Sometimes the growth of the flor is made to seem mysterious and miraculous. Actually, it is very simple: the barrels have previously held flor-laden Sherry. The barrels are place near open windows where the ocean breezes feed to flor. And, the flor grows because 15 percent alcohol allows it to while 18 percent added to Oloroso kills it.

As soon as the flor dies, the Fino Sherry begins to change. It gains in richness and becomes an Amantillado. Based on the story so far, Amantillado should be dry. Oh, if it were only that simple…. By tradition, some Amantillados are slightly sweet because a sweet wine is added made from moscatel and Pedro Ximinez grapes (PX grapes)

To make things even more complicated, instead of the sweet wine, sometimes unfermented sweet grapes will be added. And, sometimes, the grape juice is cooked down to a sweet paste which is added. AND, SOMETIMES, a small amount of that sweet paste is added to the wine to make the wine seem older and richer than it might actually be.

Olorosos, the great Sherry dessert wines, start life dry. But it is aged for years, sometimes decades, in barrels and then the sweet grapes or sweet paste are added and the wine gains outrageous sweetness as well as a dried fruit character and complexity.

For all its history, something new is afoot: Sherry has two new designations VOS and VORS.

VOS – Very Old Sherry – blended from wines not less than 20 years old

VORS – Very Old Rare Sherry – blended from wines not less than 30 years old

Sherry unlike Ports and Madeira are hardy stock and can be opened and consumed over weeks.

PORT

Old vintage Port doesn’t live as long as Madeira. Vintage Port needs twenty or thirty years to be come drinkable but, once ready, it needs to be consumed. The greatest Ports may only offer their greatness for a few hours. That fragility has more in common with wines that are not fortified. Indeed, some bars in Portugal do not pour vintage Port by the glass for this reason.

However, just like the rest of this story, there is ‘on the other hand’. Not all Port is that fragile. Vintage Port accounts for only 3% of all Port wines. A vintage Port aged twenty or more years is likely to be as fragile as any table wine of similar age.

Vintage port is aged in barrels like most red table wine – usually about a year and a half in barrels before they are bottled. Most Port spends much more time in barrels. Ports are just a complicated as Sherries. There are two broad categories: Ruby and Tawny. (Sound like dancers in a strip club?)

Ruby means it is ruby in color. Tawny Port is light brown to light orange in color.

Under Ruby, there are Vintage Ports, Late Bottled Vintage Ports and Single Quinta Ports.

Vintage Ports are aged 18 to 30 months in barrels before bottling.

Late Bottled Vintage Ports are aged 4 to 6 years in barrels before bottling making these softer and rounder than Vintage Ports and ready to drink upon release.

Single Quinta means single vineyard and is aged just like LVB Ports. The difference is that LVB Port is made from a mix of vineyards while Single Quinta comes from just one. The idea is that great LVB Ports are made only in great years, blended from several excellent vineyards. In a less than stellar year, individual vineyards may bottle on their own. It will age more quickly, cost less and offer less complexity that LVB.

Tawny Ports are the popular Ports in Portugal. Typically, they are sold by age – 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. The 10 and 20 year Ports offer a complex interlay of fruitiness and nutty, aged character. The 30 year versions are usually less interesting.

Now, the 10 year, 20 year and 30 year thing is a little misleading. There is no guarantee that the Port is actually as old as the label indicates. The 10 year old might be only 8 year old, with a little 12 year old thrown in. The idea is to match a pre-existing style and is less concerned with being able to tell someone the bottle contains a certain percentage of this vintage. Rather, the blender wants to be able to say that this 10 year old Tawny Port tastes just like the one made last year.

Each Port house fashions their Tawny Ports as a balancing act between young fruit and aged nuttiness. With 10 year old Tawnies, fruit tends to dominate. With 20 year old, the nuts seem to come through strongly.

Madeira

Madeira is usually an extravagant dessert wine. But, as confusing as Sherry or Port, Madeiras can be dry as well. Sercial and Verdelho are the grapes most associated with dry Madeiras and can be lemon tart and as racy as a green apple. Terrentez, bastardo, malvasia and especially bual and malmsey grapes are rich and sweet and provide the basis for sweet Madeiras.

Vintage Maderia can be opened and last for months, years and even decades then enjoyed glass after glass. That is not normal wine! What makes Madeira Madeira? The answer is Madeira.

Madeira is an island off the coast of Africa. Wines made from grapes grown on the volcanic soils of the island have an unnerving amount of acidity. It is that acidity that makes the wine eternal.

Madeira is a fortified wine that is then warmed up. The first exports were warmed by the long ocean voyage across the center of the globe and the warm equatorial temperatures. Often Madeira lies in barrels that are never topped up or filled to account for evaporation. For all wines but Madeira, topping up prevents the wines from spoiling due to oxygen exposure. With Madeira, however, this seems to bring forth even more fruitiness.

This wine is amazing. Once opened, a bottle of great Madeira lasts forever. What could be done to it that hasn’t already been done. Exposed to heat and oxygen, it seems to thrive. An old bottle of vintage Madeira is rarely a risky proposition. Purchasing a bottle of 1900 Vintage Madeira then selling a 2 ounce glass for $75.00 would be a great investment since theMadeira would last the year or more it would take to sell all of it.

Christmas Cocktails From The Double Eagle

 Enjoy!!

 Champagne Cosmo

 .75 oz Vodka

1.0 oz Cranberry Juice

Splash Grand Marnier

4 oz Champagne

 In champagne flute, pour vodka, cranberry juice and grand marnier then fill will chilled champagne.  Garnish with an orange peel twist.

Ginger Snap

 1.5 oz Captain Morgan Spiced Rum

5.0 oz Egg Nog

1/8 tsp Ground Ginger

 Pour over ice in a shaker, shake three times and serve in a chilled glass and sprinkle a pinch of nutmeg over the top for garnish

Cranberry Kiss

 1.5 oz Captain Morgan Spiced Rum

4.0 oz Cranberry Juice

1.0 oz Sweet N Sour Mix

 In a tall glass of ice, pour rum, cranberry juice and top with sweet n sour mix.  Stir well and serve with a lemon wedge for garnish

Minty Mistletoe Martini

 1.5 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream

1.5 oz  Peppermint Schnapps

 Pour over ice in a shaker, shake three times and serve in a chilled martini glass with a peppermint stick for garnish.

Bailey’s Espresso Martini

 1.5 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream

2.0 oz Espresso or Dark Coffee, cooled

 Pour over ice in a shaker, shake three times and serve in a chilled martini glass with a three chocolate covered coffee beans for garnish.

Cinnamon Toast

 1.5 oz Captain Morgan Spiced Rum

3.5 oz  Apple Cider, warmed

 Pour hot water into a coffee mug to warm then pour out the water.  Add the rum and the cider.  Stir with a cinnamon stick for garnish.

Mango Splash

 4 ripe Mangoes or 2 cups Mango Puree

1/3 cup Triple Sec

3 Tbsp Lime Juice

3 Tbsp Sugar

2 bottles California Sparkling Wine

 Peel and pit mangoes and add flesh or puree to blender cup.  Add triple sec, lime juice and sugar. Puree till smooth.   Add 2 tbsp of puree to champagne flute and top with sparkling wine.  Makes about 24 glasses.

Mesilla, New Mexico – Chaucer Winery of Santa Cruz, California has added a Pomegranate Sangria recipe created at the Double Eagle Restaurant in historic Old Mesilla to its Drink Recipe Booklet.  The booklet is tagged onto every bottle of Pomegranate Wine they produce and is shipped nation-wide.  In the booklet, the Double Eagle is credited with the recipe.  Chaucer has never before accepted a recipe for publication said Regional Manager Jim Vaughn but they found this concoction “brilliantly fresh.”  Chaucer is recognized nationally as the premier producer of dessert wines, especially non-grape wines such as the Pomegranate.  The family has been in the wine business in California since 1933.

 Production of pomegranate wine was a hallmark of the Chaucer line even before the surge on interest in anything pomegranate due to the anti-oxidant properties.  While the anti-oxidant properties survive the fermentation process, it was the taste that first attracted Win Ritter, Beverage Manager at Double Eagle Restaurant. But, “Wine sales with dessert is a pretty small niche in Las Cruces so I looked for another way to market the wine.” said Ritter.  An obvious partner for a sweet wine was fruit and Ritter began experimenting.  Citrus proved to be the perfect ‘tart’ to pair with the ‘sweet’ of the pomegranate wine and the Pom Sangria was born. 

 The taste proved a winner with lunch, afternoon and dinner guests and Ritter ordered cases and then more cases of the wine.  Such a sudden spike in New Mexico sales drew the attention of Chaucer Production Manger Jim Vaughn who contacted his distributor to congratulate them on their sales efforts.  The distributor confessed that it was actually only one business ordering most of the wine – the Double Eagle.  Vaughn booked his flight to New Mexico that afternoon.

 “I was a little surprised to find the tiny town of Mesilla had a restaurant in a historic building filled with art, antiques and crystal with a nationally recognized wine list, award winning margaritas and its own beef ageing room.  Wow!” said Vaughn as he sat at the Imperial Bar with Ritter and sipped the Pom Sangria.  In early October, the winery sent out an initial production run of 24,000 bottles with the recipe booklet tagged around each neck.  The response to the Double Eagle recipe has been immediate and positive commented Vaughn.  “It’s very exciting to listen to customers across the country say the same thing about the drink: wonderful!”