Category: Cocktails

Cocktails

Whisky of the Week experiment with many of the well known cocktails to look at their history, and the best ingredients to use. I experiment to find out how easy it is to make them at home. From an Old Fashioned cocktail to a gin martini and even some of the tropical cocktails such as a Cuba Libre.

The Don Pedro Cocktail

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 10/06/2016

In Cocktails

Don Andy Don Pedro with Three Ships 5 yo
It was a special treat to go out for dinner as a student. If you still had enough money left over at the end of the meal, the dessert choice was always a Don Pedro. I assumed that Don Pedro is a standard dessert throughout the world. It is only when I started travelling abroad that I realized, it is not known outside of our beautiful country.

Asking for a Don Pedro in Amsterdam was met with much bewilderment. I tried again in Paris in broken French and sign language, and my request was met with frowns and growls. I did not even try when I arrived in Moscow. To me, whisky and ice cream was a natural fit. For the rest of the world, apparently no quite.<

For my non-South African readers, a Don Pedro is not something your uncle Pedro is famous for. It is an adult milkshake. Vanilla milkshake with a tot (or 2) of whisky or liqueur.

Like milkshake, you sip it with a straw. I am not sure if it is more a cocktail or a dessert, but I know one thing; it is tasty!

What is a Don Pedro?

According to Eat Out, the first Don Pedro was made by Danny Ferris at Belinzona in Blouberg, Cape Town in the 1970s. The basic ingredients are always some vanilla ice cream, cream or milk and some liqueur. Many restaurants have their own version of the classic and name them based on the liqueur used.

A popular option is to use Amarula cream liqueur (a very popular South African marula fruit flavoured liqueur) or Frangelico or even a Bailey’s Irish cream.

At a fancy restaurant, you might not find it on the menu, but a good South African barman should have no trouble in whipping you up a tasty Don Pedro without looking for his cocktail book.

Don Andy Don Pedro with Three Ships 5 yo

In honour of this truly South African dessert, here is a simple recipe for Don Pedro. Keeping with the South African theme, I made it with some Three Ships Premium Select 5 yo. I specially chose this peaty expression as the peat adds a different dimension to the Classic Don Pedro.

Because this whisky is made by the well-known Master Distiller Andy Watts, I have dubbed my expression, Don Andy. He released the Three Ships Pinotage Cask Finish whisky and has become a South African whisky legend over the last couple of years

Don Andy Don Pedro with Three Ships 5 yo

Also Read: Three Ships 10 yo Vintage Single malt

Don Andy with Three Ships 5 yo

Ingredients

Serves 2

6 scoops of vanilla ice crea
60 ml peated whisky (I used the Three Ships 5 year old whisky)
50 ml cream or milk
grated dark chocolate
2 cherries

Method

Pour the first 3 ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Or use a stick blender and wiz away.
Pour the mixture into 2 glasses.
Top with a cherry and grated dark chocolate.
Serve immediately and enjoy.

Note: You can replace the Three Ships 5 year old with any whisky (or liqueur for that matter) of your choice. A peated whisky adds an interesting dimension to the drink; I recommend that you try it. It is delicious.

Also Read: Nectarine Bourbon Smash Cocktail

Bourbon and Coffee

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 09/07/2016

In Cocktails

Bourbon Coffee Evan Williams Kentucky Bourbon
Coffee – the magic beans that get me going in the morning. I love coffee. What smells nicer than opening a bag of freshly ground coffee beans and inhaling deeply? No wonder it is one of the most popular drinks in the world. Coffee has been the magic bean getting people going for a long, long time. There is evidence of coffee drinking around the middle of the 15^th century in Yemen.

Small artisanal coffee roasters have sprung up everywhere, offering their special blend of the roasted magic bean. According to some research, there are more than 150 independent coffee roasters in South Africa. That is a lot of magic.

Just give me a nice hot double caffè macchiato in the morning. Serve it in my beautiful red Le Creuset Espresso cup with one of my Dutch silver spoons and my day starts perfectly.

My coffee machine has been in for maintenance for the last week, and getting up in the morning without my double shot of espresso has been difficult. But it is coming back today! Let’s make a Bourbon and Coffee to celebrate.

Also Read: Cuba Libre Cocktail

Bourbon Coffee Evan Williams Kentucky Bourbon
Hot coffee in winter is great. It warms me up while I relax and watch reruns of The Big Bang Theory on the Series Channel. But in summer, hot coffee is not ideal. How to get all the comfort without the heat?

I decided to play around with coffee and bourbon to see if I can find the perfect cold coffee with a kick. And after a bit of testing and re-testing, this was my favourite recipe – bourbon coffee.

Also Read: Mint Julep Recipe

Bourbon Coffee Evan Williams Kentucky Bourbon
Using a traditional Kentucky coffee idea where you add bourbon and cream to a hot coffee, I kept the coffee cold. It is summer in the Southern hemisphere after all. I added some cacao powder to enrich the coffee and bring out the sweeter notes in the whiskey. Hot or cold, bourbon and coffee is always a winning combination.

Bourbon Coffee Evan Williams Kentucky Bourbon

Bourbon and Coffee Recipe

Ingredients

10 ml brown sugar
15 ml hot water
2,5 ml cacao powder
60 ml bourbon (I used the Evan Williams bourbon)
90 ml strong coffee
50 ml heavy cream

Method

For Cold Coffee (Perfect for hot summers day)

Put serving glasses in the freezer an hour before the time.
Dissolve the sugar in the hot water. Allow to cool.
Brew the coffee and allow to cool down.
Add all the ingredients except the cream to a shaker with some ice and give it a good shake.
Pour into the iced glass and top with heavy cream.
Sprinkle the cacao powder over and enjoy.

For Hot Coffee (If you need something warmer to heat you up)

Brew the coffee and dissolve the sugar directly in the coffee.
Add the bourbon and stir.
Top with the cream and sprinkle with the cacao powder.

Also Read: Slate blended bourbon

Peach Bourbon Smash

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 09/01/2016

In Cocktails

nectarine bourbon smash cocktail header 2
What do you get when you combine Spring in the Southern hemisphere with bourbon heritage month in the Northern hemisphere? Lots of bourbon cocktails!

Cocktails to celebrate Spring with and bourbon food pairings to try. What an amazing month! Let’s start Spring off with a delicious Peach Bourbon Smash. A fresh, easy way to start celebrating.

September – Spring in the Southern hemisphere. My favourite season! There might still be a few cold days ahead, but the days are becoming longer and warmer.

New green leaves are coming out everywhere, and the birds are returning to the garden. After a grey, blustery winter, new life is growing everywhere and slowly turning the dry garden green.

Nectarine Bourbon Smash Heaven Hill Old Style Bourbon
Another benefit of September is bourbon heritage month. What better way to celebrate the turning of the season with some bourbon-based cocktails? The U.S. Senate created bourbon heritage month in 2007. It designates September as the month to celebrate the “distinctive product of the United States” –bourbon. Not that I need an excuse to drink bourbon.

Also Read: Manhattan Cocktail

Over the last year, I have expanded my whisky collection to include many more bourbons. I fell in love with the sweeter, softer vanilla notes offered by bourbon. Bourbon is versatile, and there have been a few exciting and affordable releases into the South African market.

Nectarine Bourbon Smash Heaven Hill Old Style Bourbon

So, in celebration of Spring and #BourbonHeritageMonth, I start with a wonderful cocktail made with fresh seasonal ingredients. Later in the month, I have a delightful whiskey chocolate pairing, as well as a delicious take on a bourbon coffee, lined up.

Peach Bourbon Smash Recipe

Nectarine Bourbon Smash Heaven Hill Old Style Bourbon

The recipe is adapted from The Little Epicurean and slightly modified.

Ingredients

1/2 peach (cut into bite size pieces)
4 mint leave
5 ml lemon juice
60 ml bourbon (I used Heaven Hill bourbon)
30 ml water
15 ml grenadine syrup
Ice

Method

Add the ice in the cocktail shaker or a large glass.
Add all the ingredients into the shaker / glass and give it a good muddle with a muddle stick (lightly bash the ingredients together to release the flavour of the nectarine and mint leaves).
Pour into a glass and decorate with a mint sprig and a nectarine slice.
Makes 1 cocktail.

Also Read:How to make Sangria