"shaken, not stirred" was it Dry Martini or Martini Dry?

Cutting Edge Martini

The exact origin of the martini is unclear. Numerous cocktails with names and ingredients similar to the modern-day martini were first seen in bartending guides of the late 19th century.One popular theory suggests it evolved from a cocktail called the Martinez served at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco sometime in the early 1860s, which people frequented before taking an evening ferry to the nearby town of Martinez. Alternatively, the people of Martinez say the drink was first created by a bartender in their town. Another theory links the first dry martini to the name of a bartender who concocted the drink at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City in 1911 or 1912.

but one thing for certain, do not confused the bartender with Dry Martini and Martini Dry you've ordered, both are aperitif but the one  called "Dry Martini" definitely is a cocktail


which you poured all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice cubes, stirring it gently until the ingredients are mixed then strained and served "straight up" (without ice) in a chilled cocktail glass and garnished with either a green olive or a twist of lemon (a strip of the peel, usually squeezed or twisted to express volatile oils onto the surface of the drink) .
Although there are many variations, in modern practice the standard martini is a mix of gin coupled with dry vermouth usually in a five-to-one ratio. Shaker mixing is common due to influences of popular culture, notably the fictional spy James Bond, who in movies always asked for his vodka martini to be "shaken, not stirred". However, stirring has a long history. Harry Craddock's prescribes stirring for all its martini recipes. 

But now we can even push the way of making Martini's to the limit, otherwise cutting edge style, not to worry if its stirred nor shaken, what you could do is to prepare your Martini with a new way to where its never been seen in any place you've visit & the truth is by only placing Vermouth into sprayer gun (parfume's alike tube) and spray it into the glass so that the vermouth flavor coat the inner glass evently and of course it should be done before you chill the glass with full of ice, rather than you poured the vermouth in the first place into the mixing glass with full of ice and than you strain it out just enough to coat the ice cubes and then again you pour the Gin into vermouth coated ice cubes, its too complicated and time consuming, so why don't start practice this brilliant idea at your own, its looks more fancy though and you know since the beginning I'd love to see something different and more buzz going on behind the counter, is that makes sense to you?

However in the mid-1990s saw a resurgence in the drink and an explosion of new versions.

Some newer drinks include the word "martini" or the suffix "-tini" in the name (e.g., appletini, peach martini, chocolate martini, espresso martini); however, these are simply named after the cocktail glass they share with the martini and do not share any ingredients in common other than vodka (in most cases), and therefore should not be considered variants of the martini.

More to come next time.......

Cheers,

D' Agisna R

Molecular Mojito

Cuba is the birthplace of the Mojito, although the exact origin of this classic cocktail is the subject of debate.One story traces the Mojito to a similar 19th century drink known as "El Draque", after Francis Drake. It was made initially with tafia/aguardiente, a primitive predecessor of rum, but rum was used as soon as it became widely available to the British (ca. 1650). Mint, lime and sugar were also helpful in hiding the harsh taste of this spirit. While this drink was not called a Mojito at this time, it was still the original combination of these ingredients.

Some historians contend that African slaves who worked in the Cuban sugar cane fields during the 19th century were instrumental in the cocktail's origin. Guarapo, the sugar cane juice often used in Mojitos, was a popular drink amongst the slaves who helped coin the name of the sweet nectar.

but let us now think more advance rather to debate for its originality, a solution came up when Bacardi has teamed up with molecular mixologist Eben Freeman to put an avant-garde twist on the Bacardi Superior Mojito.

His modern take on the classic drink developed by the pioneers of mixology in 1800s is a bold move, following in the footsteps of famed molecular gastronomists Ferran Adria and Heston Blumenthal, whose scientifically innovative culinary creations have been celebrated the world over.

Pureed mint leaves and limejuice are laced with gelatin and frozen in liquid nitrogen to form pearls. These are then added to diluted and sweetened Bacardi rum thickened with Xanthum, to create a unique drink in which the lime and mint pearls appear suspended in the liquid.

The special cocktail is only available a handful of exclusive bars in London, New York, Paris, Melbourne and Chicago but you may also now start practicing at your own bar with the method I wrote at early article, do some stuff different than other will you.... cheers

Valentine's Day Cocktail Ideas

Undivided Love

Did you remember your last Valentine? Did you ever think to celebrate valentine an undivided forever?  Valentine's Day is just one week away and with that people everywhere are going wild for all the sweets they can get their hands on. Chocolate truffles, cuddly teddy bears, mushy Valentine's cards, you name it and someone's buying it.

But what if you or your sweetie is more spirits-minded? Hoping to share the evening over a few flirty drinks instead of the traditional romance movies and heavy dinners. You've come to the right place!

We've put together a list of easy and beautiful go-to cocktails for this Valentine's Day, great to impress your date before Valentine's Day dinner or whip up for a holiday gathering with friends.

List below is a selection of cocktails for you to celebrate Valentine's Day as we always wanted "undivided love"

Sweet undivided love

Vodka 50 ml

Citron liqueur 10 ml

Orange liqueur 20 ml

Cranberry Juice 60 ml

Fresh lime squeeze

Method:

Pour all ingredients in boston glass over ice and gently shake until your hands feel cold than pour through fine strainer into champagne flute glasses.

Give orange’s spiral on the top with a rose on the side

(2 glasses)

The true love martini

Vodka 50 ml

Sweet vermouth 10 ml

Gin  50 ml

Dry vermouth 10 ml

Method:

Pour Ciroc vodka and sweet vermouth and  Tanqueray no.10 and dry vermouth in different boston glass. Shake gently the first boston and stir the second one. Take 2 chilled martini glass from your fridge than pour one by one.

Give lemon twist in the Ciroc vodka and olive in to Tanqueray no.10

“Leave and die together in love”

Undivided

Dry Gin 60 ml

Lychee liqueur 10 ml

Passion liqueur 10 ml

Lychee syrup 10 ml

Passion syrup 10 ml

Watermelon juice 30 ml

Lychee fruit

Fresh ginger

Fresh lime squeeze

Method:

Pour the first ingredients (Tanqueray gin 30ml, lychee liqueur 10ml, lychee syrup 10ml, lychee fruit, fresh ginger and squeeze of lime) in boston glass over ice, muddle and shake gently  than pour into champagne flute.

Pour Second ingredients in other boston glass (Tanqueray gin 30ml, passion liqueur and syrup, watermelon juice, fresh ginger and squeeze of lime)muddle and shake than pour into second champagne flute.

Give orange’s spiral and lime’s spiral on the top

  

Flirtini

Champagne

Fresh pineapple Juice 60 ml

Vodka 10 ml

Orange Liqueur 10 ml

2 pieces Pineapple

Preparation

Muddle the pineapple pieces and cointreau in the bottom of a mixing glass. Add vodka and pineapple juice and stir. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and top with Champagne.

(2 glasses)

Unforgettable love

Champagne

Simple Syrup 10 ml

Fresh lemon Juice 10 ml

Fresh Strawberry fruit

Home made elderflower Liqueur 10 ml

Gin 30 ml

Preparation

Shake and strain over fresh rocks in a collins glass. Top with Champagne. Garnish with strawberry.

(2 glasses)

Nothing in perfect, stop looking for it may be she/he in the seat next to you.

Home Made Bitter

I found this bitters recipe in The Joy of Mixology, by Gary Regan, heaps of information's though, you may decide to where you see your self would be if you  wish to take your cocktails knowledge to another level of bartending creativity, so here it goes;

Orange Bitters Recipe No. 5

Allow four weeks to prepare this bitters recipe.

• 8oz Dried Orange Peel, Chopped Very Fine
• 1 Teaspoon Cardamom Seeds (taken out of their pods)
• 1/2 Teaspoon Caraway Seeds
• 1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds
• 1 Teaspoon Quassia Chips
• 1/2 Teaspoon Powdered Cinchona Bark 
• 1/4 Teaspoon Gentian
• 2 Cups Grain Alcohol 
• 4 1/2 Cups Water, Divided Into 1/2 Cup, 3 1/2 Cups, and 1/2 Cup
• 1 Cup Granulated Sugar

Place the peel, cardamom seeds, caraway seeds, coriander seeds, quassia, cinchona bark, gentian, grain alcohol, and 1/2 cup water into a half-gallon mason jar and push the ingredients down so that they are covered by the alcohol and water. Seal the jar.

Shake the jar vigorously once a day for fourteen days.

Strain the alcohol from the dry ingredients through a cheesecloth. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth to form a pouch and squeeze tightly to extract as much alcohol as possible. Place the dry ingredients in a strong bowl or mortar; reserve the alcohol in a clean mason jar and seal tightly.

Muddle the dry ingredients with a pestle or strong spoon until the seeds are broken.

Place the dry ingredients in a nonreactive saucepan and cover with 3 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a boil over a medium-high heat, cover, turn the heat down, and simmer for 10 minutes. Allow to cool, still covered (about 1 hour).

Return the dry ingredients and water to the original mason jar that contained the alcohol, seal, and leave for seven days, shaking vigorously once a day.

Strain the water from the dry ingredients through a cheesecloth. Discard the dry ingredients and add the water to the alcohol.

Put sugar in a small nonstick saucepan and place over a medium-high heat. Stir constantly until the sugar becomes liquid and turns dark brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool for two minutes.

Pour the sugar into the alcohol-and-water mixture. At this point the sugar may solidify, but it will quickly dissolve.

Allow the mixture to stand for seven days. Skim off any bits that float to the surface and carefully decant the clear liquid to separate it from any sediment resting on the bottom.

Measure the bitters; thee should be about 12 fluid ounces. Add 6 ounces of water, and shake thoroughly. Pour the bitters into a bitters bottle and now you can store it for up to twelve months.

By D'agisna Ramdhani

Barlordz

2012 Cocktail Trend Predictions

What will be hot this year?

As the New Year begins, lists start to pop up all over the web, filling us in on the hot trends of the year past and those to emerge in the year to come.

Many of these tend to focus on fashion and food, with the two becoming ever more interchangeable as foodie dining becomes more and more "in fashion" itself. With that growth in novelty eating, the popularity of unique cocktails and liquors is growing as well.

As we enter 2012, this interest in more peculiar and novel liquors will continue to grow, bringing along with it plenty of new cocktail trends. Of the possibilities, we've put together a list of those which we feel are sure to catch on in 2012.

Herbal infusions

While we’re on the subject of the health implications of drinking (and just to return to the first point, I’m sure we’re all in agreement that responsible, moderate drinking can be part of a healthy lifestyle), I think we’ll see more herbally infused beverages and cocktails in 2011. Not only are these complex flavors appealing and still in their novelty stage but they can be used to create drinks that are less sweet than fruit-based cocktails and may pack in potent curative powers.

Better bitters

The Angostura panic of 2009-10 launched a slew of new bitters. Couple this with the resurgence of herbal infusions and you have the perfect storm for better bitters. The selection of new and inventive bitters, most creatively playing sweet against savory, is not only arming mixologists the world over, but it’s allowing home bartenders to make cocktails that once were the provenance of the pros. As shown in our Booze and Weight Loss article, bitters are a great way to add a bit of flavor to a cocktail without overloading on calories. For both this and their more interesting use in unique drink recipes, bitters-based cocktails will gain popularity through 2012.

Aged Tequilas

2011 was the year of aged whiskeys and rums, and we see aged tequila following suit. With the popularity of barrel aging increasing across the board, these aged, more flavorful tequilas are sure to make their mark on the market during 2012.

Adult cocktails

While we’re at it, I think we’ll see more pre-mixed cocktails that riff on nostalgia-based drinks. I’m thinking Yoo-hoo with alcohol, punches made for adults (look for goji and acai super fruit flavors, so we can feel good about drinking them), and “healthy” cocktails sweetened with alternative sweeteners such as agave syrup, cane sugar and stevia.

Herb and spiced Martini

A simple, classic martini for any occasion. If you order a martini, without any other instructions, this is what you should get. You can turn this into a dirty martini by adding a splash of olive brine.

If you are looking for a vodka martini, we have that too, but shhhh, don't tell the old school martini drinkers. They refuse to call a drink made with anything but gin a martini!

It has been invented around 2007, when some mixologist was trying to twist the classic to sophisticated drink. Combination local product and botanical would be the best choice to mix by hand of Mixology.

Molecular Mixology

Art of Drinks


Molecular mixology is the long-established bartending practice of layering ingredients in cocktails at the earliest time. This experimentation with the density and viscosity of fluids uses the principles of scientific investigation that are fundamental in creation of greater intensities and varieties of flavour combinations and different ways of presenting drinks, for example using gels, powders, foams, atomised sprays where the scientific equipment and techniques of molecular gastronomy were used. Today it's popular and consider as 'The Art of Drink' belong to the cutting edge bar lover's worldwide, 


Lately cocktails have been in a renaissance. There has also been an increased interest in making them a culinary equal. Molecular mixology is one of those trends that is being mirrored from the molecular gastronomy is the food equivalent. The basic idea, about both of these techniques, is to apply scientific analysis and techniques to cooking and mixing and mostly working with foams and gels to create unique drink textures and flavours. For example the Fat Duck, a Michelin three star restaurant, combines oysters and passion-fruit jelly as one dish, where as another dish combines spice bread ice cream and crab syrup. Odd combination's, but supposedly they taste very good together.


Molecular mixology, so far, is just being developed and the principals are a little more basic. The first example of molecular mixology would go back many, many years and would be the layering of drinks (density and viscosity), so the pousse cafe was probably the first example of the principal. Currently, it looks like molecular mixology is mostly working with physical properties of drink. This is done by making foams, gels and mists, looking at vapour concentrations and using an appropriate glass, determining cooling properties with ice and also applying heat to caramelize sugars. Some of these creations border between food and drink, much like a Bose-Einstein condensate, which is a unique state of matter. 


Here's an example; if you extract the albumen protein from an egg white, and then dehydrate that protein to store it for an extended period, does that make it synthetic or unnatural? Does it only become unnatural when it is rehydrated and added to a Ramos Gin Fizz? From the stand point of molecular mixology, this is a perfect solution to getting the chemical compound needed to create a good stable foam. From a culinary standpoint, you would be missing all of those "extra" compounds that add flavour and texture. When I read about molecular mixology, I see a chemistry or physicists approach, which, in the lab, means working with pure components or specific physical conditions to create a new and unique compound or solution. It's not unnatural, just very precise in what we work with.


There is some dubious hoodo-voodo going on with some of the molecular mixology stuff, or at least from my perspective as a chemist. Foods and drinks contain thousands and thousands of unique compounds, and even if they contain similar compounds, there might be compounds that react to form other less desirable combination's when combined. For a lot of this, it will go back to trial and error with flavours. Also, everyone has different tastes so a lot of this will be subjective. But out of a thousand failed experiments, there will always be one or two significant discoveries. This is exactly what science is, trial and error.


The true area where molecular gastronomy and mixology will shine is in applied techniques and methods. Using science to perfect cooking is a sound idea. For the most part, I like the principal of science and food, I think it makes a lot of sense. In the future I will see what I can do to combine my chemistry and bartending experience.

1. 
   

Red Berry Caviar

Been thinking how to have a delicious caviar without killing Beluga or Salmon fish, today you may enjoy your sustainable caviar with any fruit flavour, herbs even spicies.

These how we do it

ingredients

Textura Algin 1 g 

Red Berries juice 200 ml

mix all ingredients using baloon whisk
you may also change the juice with any flavoured liqueur, herbs even spicies

Textura Calcic 3,25 g 

Water    200 ml

mix all ingredients using baloon whisk

Method

Step 1 

place the first two mixed ingredient into bottle squeeze

Step 2

place the second two mixed ingredient into a bowl as #1

Step 3

start to squeeze the mixed juice carefully to create a single caviar in every drop  into a bowl #1 and let it soak for about one minutes (note; more longer the liquid soaked in the bowl, more solid you'll get the result)

Step 4

in another container/bowl, pour fresh water to rinse the caviars for about two minutes and strain

Now the caviar is ready to enjoy

Cheers,

Bar lordz


Espuma Champagne

By D'agisna Ramdhani

barlordz

Old Fashioned

ZACAPA OLD-FASHIONED –

Ron Zacapa rum, orange and angostura bitters, sugar