|
D
Destro100
Posted
posted
on
Sat, Jul 9, 2016 5:39 PM
Baby-break Drink 73:Test Pilot Ingredients I used: Fresh lime Juice It’s true, I have been neglecting my journey for quite a while. You can find the reason in the picture below. But now that our new addition finally seems shelf-stable, I can return to my worthy quest.
I always look forward to trying out a tiki classic. I am especially thrilled when it manages to surprise and differentiate itself from other tiki classics. The Test Pilot falls more into a sour style of drink, rather than your typical tiki citrus punch-based styles (combinations of Lemons, limes, oranges, and pineapple). This drink may actually turn off those looking for a sweet tropical libation, but sour fans will love it. Specifically, the combination of lime, falernum, Pernod, and Angostura come together to form one mighty sour-tart-bitter sensation. It lasts throughout the entirety of the drink and may be a bit extreme for some. Confession: my limes were a bit old and may have added a bit of unnecessary tartness. The Jamaican rum mixed with the light Puerto Rican rum blends well together, but any subtlety is lost to the sour-power that dominates the drink. I do wish the falernum stood out more but that could be a reflection on the quality of the Fee Brothers brand. I do realize that many experts recommend it, but I think this may be my first and last time using it. The crushed ice helps provide a refreshing sensation that allows you to sit with the drink for a while. This is great because most classic sour-style drinks end up in coup glasses and only last about 15 minutes. Furthermore, as the ice slowly melts and works its way through the drink, some of the sour notes mellow and help round out the drink. An enjoyable drink overall but there are better. My personal rating: ***1/2 (3.5) out of ***** (5) SCORECARD: 4.5 ALMOST PERFECT - 3 drinks so far 4 - EXCELLENT - 12 drinks and counting 3.5 - VERY GOOD - 24 drinks and counting 3 - GOOD - 20 drinks and counting 2.5 - ABOVE AVERAGE - 4 drinks and counting 2 - AVERAGE - 8 drinks and counting 1.5 - BELOW AVERAGE - 2 drinks and hopefully not too many more |
|
A
AdOrAdam
Posted
posted
on
Tue, Jul 12, 2016 12:28 PM
Congrats to you in your new addition, ours has been changing our drinking habits for two years now! Cheers :) |
|
D
Destro100
Posted
posted
on
Tue, Jul 26, 2016 7:02 PM
Simple is better Drink 74: Spindrift Jr.
Ingredients I used: The first thing that struck me was the interesting merger achieved by this concoction. It is the perfect drink to give someone looking for an overly-sweet boat drink without shaming yourself or your bar. The drink is sweet. Fortunately, I make my passion fruit quite tart and that helps to tame some of the sweetness. Additionally, I love passion fruit and this drink has a pronounced passion fruit flavor. The orange and lemon seem to work to help enhance the passion fruit and add complexity and balance rather than dominating the drink and creating a typical tiki citrus punch. While sipping’, I noticed nice background notes of vanilla that contribute a novel candy-like memory to my noggin. I did not have any vanilla bean handy and decided to try the vanilla extract method of making vanilla syrup. I have to admit, I think it works. It might add a little too much sweetness, but using a very good extract does manage to bring out adequate vanilla flavor to the syrup. Further testing and comparisons to come. A very good rum definitely helps the drink stand out. I love the El Dorado 12, perhaps better than the 15, and I think it works great in this recipe. Strangely, in comparison, I may favor the Jr. rather than the original Spindrift. I think its simplicity is an asset as the flavors all manage to share the spotlight and not get lost within each other. It doesn’t help that the origin Spindrift has quite a few ingredients and therefore can be quite time-consuming to create. The amounts called for in Remixed definitely create a drink that is too small. I had to add a ridiculous amount of ice just to make the drink look right. It’s definitely safe to double everything. I noticed that reviews on the Grogalizer were all over the place and couldn't’t figure out why. I don’t think the drink is top tier, but I do think it is “dare I say?” delicious. I will say that the drink is a bit one-note and doesn’t develop over time with dilution. It tends to maintain the same flavor throughout the drink. This is both good and bad. Good, because it’s a yummy drink, bad, because the sweetness tends to linger a bit too long. I did make this drink a second time for a dinner party of six with some minor adjustments. I added an additional 1/2 ounce of rum and a dash of Angostura. I also used El Dorado 8 instead. A little splash of soda water also brought a little fun fizz to the drink. I found that these changes worked out quite nicely. My personal rating: ***1/2 (3.5) out of ***** (5) SCORECARD: 4.5 ALMOST PERFECT - 3 drinks so far 4 - EXCELLENT - 12 drinks and counting 3.5 - VERY GOOD - 25 drinks and counting 3 - GOOD - 20 drinks and counting 2.5 - ABOVE AVERAGE - 4 drinks and counting 2 - AVERAGE - 8 drinks and counting 1.5 - BELOW AVERAGE - 2 drinks and hopefully not too many more |
