Best way to drink Brandy???
Todd
I received a nice bottle of Korbel Brandy as a gift. I have never realyy
drank brandy before and was wondering what the best way to enjoy this bottle
would be (besides straight)
Thanks
Todd
DrCocktail
A simple answer..... I love a good made-from-scratch Sidecar: equal portions
brandy, FRESH lemon juice, and Cointreau (or triple Sec if you're on a budget.)
Like, say, an 1-1/2 oz of each in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake and
strain into a Martini glass. --Doc.
DrCoc...@aol.com Cocktail Historian and archivist. Host of the AOL Spirits
Boards. Rabid bibliophile.
Rogue Warrior
Heat a tall glass.
Rub the rim of the glass with the cut side of a fresh lemon and
dip the rim into sugar so that it becomes frosted.
Pour in 20 ml of white rum, and add freshly made hot coffee and
15ml of Kahlua.
Warm the cognac, flame it, and pour it into the
glass.
Float a layer of fresh cream on the top.
On Wed, 30 Dec 1998 18:22:06 -0600, "Todd" <tasp...@danville.net>
wrote:
>HI,
>I received a nice bottle of Korbel Brandy as a gift. I have never realyy
>drank brandy before and was wondering what the best way to enjoy this bottle
>would be (besides straight)
>
>Thanks
>Todd
>
James Adrian van Wyk, PE, PP
be good), inhale the fumes, sip it slowly, let it trickle around your
tounge and mouth and down the throat.
javw
Robert B. Hess
>> drank brandy before and was wondering what the best way to enjoy this
bottle
>> would be (besides straight)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
One of my favorite "Brandy Cocktails" is the Sidecar. When properly done, it
is almost smooth as velvet.
As the story goes, the Sidecar was developed during WWI, when a certain
regular cusomer arrived at the Ritz on his motorcycle (replete with
sidecar), and asked the bartender for a cocktail that would help take off
the chill. A drink to remove a chill would appropriatly be brandy, but
brandy was traditionally an after dinner drink, and his patron was wanting
something before dinner. So he combined cognac, cointreau, and lemon juice
to mix a cocktail whos focus was on the warming qualities of both the
brandy, and the cointreau, while the lemon juice added enough of a tartness
to make it appropriate as a pre-dinner cocktail. So a properly made sidecar
should betray its roots as a drink that warms your palate if not your bones.
If you look through your cocktail books, you will most likely find that each
of them provide a slightly different recipe for the Sidecar. Brandy (or
Cognac) should always be the base spirit, but some will substitute Triple
Sec for the Cointreau, and some will substitute lime or Sour Mix for the
fresh lemon juice.
I've done some fair amount of experimenting with the Sidecar, and it has
proven to me that you can not do this cocktail justice unless you use
Cointreau, and -fresh- lemon juice. No Triple Sec, no bottled lemon juice,
and most certainly never, ever, Sour Mix.
The ratios of these ingredients also can vary quite a bit. Some recipes will
request equal parts of all three ingredients, some others will list two
parts Brandy to one part of each of the others. I have found that too much
lemon juice makes this drink a little too rough, and it really benefits from
being a little smoother to bring out the best of both the Brandy and the
Cointreau.
Here then is what I have arrived at for the recipe that I use for the
Sidecar:
[ Sidecar ] --------------------------------
2 ounces Brandy (or Cognac)
1 ounce Cointreau
1/2 ounce Lemon Juice
Shake with cracked ice. Strain into frosted cocktail glass and serve.
If you choose, you can rub a lemon around the edge of the edge of the glass
and then coat with superfine sugar prior to pouring the drink.
And some other good brandy based cocktails are as follows:
[ Brandy Alexander ] --------------------------------
1/2 ounce Cream
1/2 ounce Creme de Cacao brown
1/2 ounce Brandy
Shake with cracked ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a
sprinkle of nutmeg.
[ Coffee Nudge ] --------------------------------
1/2 ounce brandy
1/2 ounce coffee liqueur
1/2 ounce dark crème de cacao
5 ounces coffee
whip cream for garnish
In a pre-warmed coffee mug, add the brandy, coffee liqueur, and crème de
cacao. Pour in the coffee (decaf can be used if desired) Top with a dollop
of whip cream. Optional: sprinkle grated chocolate as a garnish. Serve with
cocktail straws.
[ Combustible Edison ] --------------------------------
2 ounces brandy
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
In a shaker full of cracked ice, combine Campari and lemon juice. Shake and
strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Heat brandy in a chafing dish. When
warm, ignite the brandy and pour in a flaming stream into the cocktail
glass.
If the brandy is chilled and shaken rather than ignited, the drink is known
as the Edisonian.
-Robert
www.DrinkBoy.com
Stahler & DeShazo
Thank you. I LOVE sidecars, even before I knew they had that name.
Do you think it is a waste to make them with Courvoisier? ~~Kim
____________________________________________________
T H E S T A I N E D A P R O N
By & for disgruntled food servers wso.net/apron
------------------------
From: "Robert B. Hess" <Rober...@spamslapper.msn.com>
Subject: Re: Best way to drink Brandy???
Tom Mayer
Stahler & DeShazo <staine...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Please recommend a good house brandy! I am working on my bar stock!
>Thank you. I LOVE sidecars, even before I knew they had that name.
>Do you think it is a waste to make them with Courvoisier? ~~Kim
Well slightly off subject, but I always liked Humphrey Bogart's
response in The Big Sleep to the question "How do you like your
brandy sir?". His reply "In a glass".
Personally I think using any top quality spirit or wine for a
mixer is a waste of money. All of the nuances get lost.
Tom Mayer
NCAR, Boulder, Co.