Mikka
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2006
I have time, so here's another review!
This was also a load of fun!
This is what sat between our seats: a bucket of ice, a bottle of gin, a bottle of bourbon and club soda. There was also an egg separator (I'm not sure what they're actually called- a thing to get the whites from an egg without getting the yolk) and you can see the very edge of a citrus squeezer.
And this is what was in front of us: snacks (more on them in a few), egg, lemon and mint. Shaker and glasses, and then more glasses. Paper. Cucumber simple syrup, sour mix, regular simple syrup. Homemade orange bitters. A measurer and a strainer. Silverware. Water. An eclectic mix of things, basically.
And then a premade drink. This was St. George Street Punch. Made with: 1.5oz St. Augustine Rum, 1/2oz triple sec, 1oz fresh pressed oj (I'm pretty sure store bought would work fine), 1/2oz sour mix, 1/2oz cinnamon simple syrup, 3oz water, 5 dashes orange bitters. Despite mom again claiming she didn't like rum punch, she sure drank this right up. It was actually really tasty. The lips straws (they had mustache straws, too) were adorable.
The snacks, which we were to eat at our leisure. On the left is crab on top of... something. (I'm sorry: the snacks aren't on the printout I have, and I was too busy making drinks and drinking them to take notes.) Mom didn't like it, but I did. In the middle were bread stick twists. On the right was an absolutely perfect deviled egg (I may have eaten a few more of them- they were sitting out at seats that weren't filled, so they were left at the end of the session). These weren't a meal by any means, but just something to munch on while drinking.
Finally, at the front of the room, there was the presenters space. This setup was much brighter then the sushi and sake pairing was, and felt a bit more informal as well. The presenter gave us a history of cocktails (focusing specifically on Prohibition in the US) and then guided us in making our first.
This is a Cucumber Southside Fizz. It's made by muddling 1 sprig of mint with 3/4oz cucumber infused simple syrup. Then we juiced a lemon in to said glass, added 2oz's of Gin and filled the glass with ice. Then we shook the glass, strained it over fresh ice, and topped with 3 tbsp of club soda.
Only not exactly, as mom used Vodka instead of gin. She's allergic to orris root, which is found in most commercial gin's. Luckily, we have a local distillery that makes good gin without it. Mine was all gin, though.
Anyway, this was tasty. I've long been muddling cucumber and mixing it with a base spirit, lemon and carbonated water, but the cucumber simple syrup is a nice touch. I should make some. I should also add mint once the season comes around. You usually think of mint to be used with rum, but it's good with anything. If it's fresh, anyway: I hate artificial mint.
After our first drink, we split up in to two groups. We went over and learned about ice first. Ice is an extremely important part of cocktail making, and not one we spend enough time paying attention too, apparently (at least, that seemed to be the general gist of the conversation). I'm being sort of blase about this, but it was educating.
We then headed to the other half of the room, and learned about bitters, syrups and shrubs. Shrubs is something mom and I have been making for a long time, but I'd never infused my own simple syrup or made my own bitters before, so I found this more interesting. However, my bottle of bitters is huge and will probably last me the rest of my life, so I'll probably never have a chance or reason to do the latter.
We then went and made a Whiskey Sour. This was 1.5oz bourbon, 1oz sour, 1/2oz simple syrup and ice in a shaker, then shook and strained in to a coupe glass. We then separated egg white in to the shaker, shook that up to make it frothy, and put that on top of the bourbon mixture. Then we added '4 to 6' drops of orange bitters.
Sour's are one of my favorite cocktails, so of course I loved this. Mom was leery about using egg whites, but after the presenter reassured her we weren't going to drop over dead, went with it. Apparently, if there's any problems, they'll be in the yolk, not the whites. In any case, I wish I had one of these oh, right... now.
...I definitely feel like making a classic cocktail tonight. (If anyone cares, lately I've been obsessed with the Bee's Knees cocktail. Supposedly, you can get one at Bluezoo at the Swalfin (you can probably get one anywhere there's a full bar that would have honey, really), though I've yet to try their version.)
Also, no one pointed out that in the Swalfin Sushi review I said we had a pot of wasabi instead of a pot of soy sauce!
I'm keeping that there, as it amuses me. 
Next: the Causeway at the Swalfin Classic. That's going to be really hard to review, as it's basically a massive Party for the Senses!
SWALFIN CLASSIC COCKTAIL SEMINAR
This was also a load of fun!
This is what sat between our seats: a bucket of ice, a bottle of gin, a bottle of bourbon and club soda. There was also an egg separator (I'm not sure what they're actually called- a thing to get the whites from an egg without getting the yolk) and you can see the very edge of a citrus squeezer.
And this is what was in front of us: snacks (more on them in a few), egg, lemon and mint. Shaker and glasses, and then more glasses. Paper. Cucumber simple syrup, sour mix, regular simple syrup. Homemade orange bitters. A measurer and a strainer. Silverware. Water. An eclectic mix of things, basically.
And then a premade drink. This was St. George Street Punch. Made with: 1.5oz St. Augustine Rum, 1/2oz triple sec, 1oz fresh pressed oj (I'm pretty sure store bought would work fine), 1/2oz sour mix, 1/2oz cinnamon simple syrup, 3oz water, 5 dashes orange bitters. Despite mom again claiming she didn't like rum punch, she sure drank this right up. It was actually really tasty. The lips straws (they had mustache straws, too) were adorable.
The snacks, which we were to eat at our leisure. On the left is crab on top of... something. (I'm sorry: the snacks aren't on the printout I have, and I was too busy making drinks and drinking them to take notes.) Mom didn't like it, but I did. In the middle were bread stick twists. On the right was an absolutely perfect deviled egg (I may have eaten a few more of them- they were sitting out at seats that weren't filled, so they were left at the end of the session). These weren't a meal by any means, but just something to munch on while drinking.
Finally, at the front of the room, there was the presenters space. This setup was much brighter then the sushi and sake pairing was, and felt a bit more informal as well. The presenter gave us a history of cocktails (focusing specifically on Prohibition in the US) and then guided us in making our first.
This is a Cucumber Southside Fizz. It's made by muddling 1 sprig of mint with 3/4oz cucumber infused simple syrup. Then we juiced a lemon in to said glass, added 2oz's of Gin and filled the glass with ice. Then we shook the glass, strained it over fresh ice, and topped with 3 tbsp of club soda.
Only not exactly, as mom used Vodka instead of gin. She's allergic to orris root, which is found in most commercial gin's. Luckily, we have a local distillery that makes good gin without it. Mine was all gin, though.
Anyway, this was tasty. I've long been muddling cucumber and mixing it with a base spirit, lemon and carbonated water, but the cucumber simple syrup is a nice touch. I should make some. I should also add mint once the season comes around. You usually think of mint to be used with rum, but it's good with anything. If it's fresh, anyway: I hate artificial mint.
After our first drink, we split up in to two groups. We went over and learned about ice first. Ice is an extremely important part of cocktail making, and not one we spend enough time paying attention too, apparently (at least, that seemed to be the general gist of the conversation). I'm being sort of blase about this, but it was educating.
We then headed to the other half of the room, and learned about bitters, syrups and shrubs. Shrubs is something mom and I have been making for a long time, but I'd never infused my own simple syrup or made my own bitters before, so I found this more interesting. However, my bottle of bitters is huge and will probably last me the rest of my life, so I'll probably never have a chance or reason to do the latter.
We then went and made a Whiskey Sour. This was 1.5oz bourbon, 1oz sour, 1/2oz simple syrup and ice in a shaker, then shook and strained in to a coupe glass. We then separated egg white in to the shaker, shook that up to make it frothy, and put that on top of the bourbon mixture. Then we added '4 to 6' drops of orange bitters.
Sour's are one of my favorite cocktails, so of course I loved this. Mom was leery about using egg whites, but after the presenter reassured her we weren't going to drop over dead, went with it. Apparently, if there's any problems, they'll be in the yolk, not the whites. In any case, I wish I had one of these oh, right... now.
...I definitely feel like making a classic cocktail tonight. (If anyone cares, lately I've been obsessed with the Bee's Knees cocktail. Supposedly, you can get one at Bluezoo at the Swalfin (you can probably get one anywhere there's a full bar that would have honey, really), though I've yet to try their version.)
Also, no one pointed out that in the Swalfin Sushi review I said we had a pot of wasabi instead of a pot of soy sauce!
I'm keeping that there, as it amuses me. Next: the Causeway at the Swalfin Classic. That's going to be really hard to review, as it's basically a massive Party for the Senses!
), I think I could safely say she enjoyed this one. I sure did. We have a pretty high alcohol tolerance, but I don't see any reason why this couldn't be enjoyed by two instead of four. One may be pushing it, but, well, I'd personally give it my best try...
