Cocktail 1

Recently I worked up some cocktails for a hen-do. After a little fact finding I found out that the bride-to-be really liked cherry and was a fan of Italian cooking. There's a whole load of extra info that necessitated the need to use some jam jars too. This one was intended to be clean and fresh, to be drunk in the warm outside in the early afternoon. I'll post the other ones later.

Christina's Basil and Lemon Fizz.

Serves 2.

1/2 Orange
1/2 Lemon
Basil
4 Vodka
2 Limoncello
2 Blood Orange Juice.
Soda Water
Jam Jar

Half orange and lemon and cut to a couple of segments. Add 6-8 Basil leafs. Muddle them all in a large glass or shaker.
Add Vodka and Limoncello and Orange Juice.
Add a few cubes of ice and shake.
Taste and adjust the balance as needed.

Fill jam jar half with ice. Add 3-4 Basil leafs. Top up with ice.
Screw on lid and quick shake to bruise the basil but not to pulverise it.
Double strain the liquid and half fill the jam jars.
Top up with soda water.
Quick stir to mingle the drink.
Garnish with lemon and orange slice with fresh basil leaf in between.

There's a slight variation where you can add some triple-sec if the balance isn't to your liking but that's up to you guys.

Here's a picture of me during some intense research.

Plantation Panama 2000

Nose - Sweet fudge and toffee. Thick and chunky. Herby. Thyme. Touch of bbq fish or more like Paprika crisps. Young pineapple.
Taste - Continues the same themes as the nose. Light dusting of spice. Eucalyptus (as stated on the label) shines through. A touch toasty. Slightly wooded vanilla. A hint of bitter. A lick of smoke.

Finish - Mellow with glistening sugars. Spices continue and fade slowly. In all something quite lovely with enough body and sweet/spice/savoury/bitterness combo to keep it interesting and moreish.

Recently

I quite like the fact that the last few posts I made were when slightly under the influence. I guess it is called Jeffdrinks for a reason. Obviously they are a complete mess - the Smith and Cross one lacks capital letters and any reasonable punctuation for a start. I suspect that it was just a draft I decided to publish. And why not. The Blair Athol I certainly did consume with my friend Alex last night. And I do remember it being a lot more sherried than the last time I had it. But then maybe the last time I had it was at the distillery, and that was a wee while ago now. Certainly very tasty though. I've been thinking about restructuring the blog anyway. Now I'm involved in helping out the whisky sheffield peeps http://whiskysheffield.wordpress.com/ then maybe this should be more about what I drink and also used  to tell what has been going on in the tastings that I run. Also some more pictures too. Now that I've learnt to steal them off the internet!

smith and cross

instant and unmistakable aroma of unripe and then rotting bananas says that this is a jamican rum through and through. and then you know full well that there is probaby only one distillery that could produce this and that is the pots at hampden. longpond may have the column stills to give your rum a certain lightness but the dunder and the depths mean that it has to hampden. it's almost sickly in it's approach, it's like a rum on steroids. too beefy too concentrated. it's a classic example where it's not about the abv strenght but about the esters. about the long fermentation that;s built in the the flavours. about the pot still that makes it oh-so heavy. like the jap doom rockers. sustined deep distort chord

there;s the sweetness and the pungency

it's been described as camabert which in the scheme ofd things isn't that really far off the mark
its a lot-it of loathe it rum (although I'm personally not convinced that the second categoryt exists for this rum) - ok it's full bodied and if you hate strong flavours then this is not for you. but it's esters mean that it can pretty much resist anything flavour wise - bbq smoke and chilli yeah this rum will beat it down and then give it a warm hug before seeing it on it's way. It smells amazing but it smacks you around the mouth quite considerably. That's the beauty.

 it's always going to come over the top, this one. the alchol is pretty on top too. but no matter what you've eaten or what you've drank this is going to wade through your palate. now i

thick treacle, and huge custard.

it's

Blair Athol

Well apparently this is the 12 YO F&F.
But it's so dark.
So much more sherry than I remember it to be.
There's a lot going on, on the nose we decide.
Sherry. Xmas Cake, Nuts and lots and lots and lots of dried fruit.
Hazelnuts, Frangepan, Dates.
On the palate it's a lot more subtle.
Gentle waves with no real spice kicking in.
Mocha, coffee.
We've been given this blind and so we can chalk out what it's not.
Well it's deeply, deeply sherry for a start and it doesn't have anywhere near the body of a Glenfarclas. Nor the spritely layers of an Aberlour.
It doesn't begin with a glen or start with a "m".
So slightly tumbled when it's a Blair Athol.
Now this is a distillery I've visited before but, as above, I so don't remember this profile. At all. Nowhere near like the ones I've got stashed away.
In any case, the nose is sumptuous. Deep, complex, inviting and layered. Maybe the palate fails to live up to that nose but it's steady and holds no surprises. Perhaps a tad short but everything that is there is worth the money. I would have thought more a Mortlach than a Blair Athol personally but then I didn't pour it. A great, possibly classic nose that doesn't live up to it's promise on the palate.
I'll go find out if it's a F&F. But I'm still not so sure.
J