Cloches d'Église

1 1/2 oz Gin
3/4 oz Crème de Cassis
1 Barspoon Bénédictine
1 drop rose water

Bénédictine is a French herbal Liqueur developed by monks of the Benedictine Order in the 19th century. 

Chill a glass and leave it aside. Pour your ingredients in a Boston Shaker and fill it with thick, dry ice cubes. Give your drink a hard shake and make sure you hit the right level of dilution. This step is crucial for this recipe as your only ingredients are alcohol and the level of dilution can make or break the drink. The center of attention on this cocktail is the odour, therefore I don't garnish it and let it work it's magic. 

Never let an opportunity slip away. Life is futile, unless you fill it with memories and values to live by.

The Deadly Perfume

1 1/2 oz Plum Pálinka
1/3 oz Apple Juice
1/4 oz Violet Syrup
1 fresh sage leaf

Sage is a very potent medicinal herb. It gives freshness and bitterness to a drink at the same time and can, if combined with the right ingredients result in a beautiful harmony of distinctive odours and tastes.

Whenever you find yourself browsing through a flea market pay attention to the glasses sold there. You might find some interesting things for your Home Bar. 

Chill one of your fancy glasses and leave it a side. Pour your ingredients in a Boston Shaker. Give your sage leaf a gentle tap on the back of your hand to release the oils and fill your boston shaker with thick, dry ice cubes. Give your drink a hard shake and double strain it into your chilled glas. Garnish your drink with violet petals and serve.

Enjoying Cocktails is all about doing it in good company and at your own pace and ease. Therefore it might become in a certain way a sense of life.

Suburban Beauty

2 oz White Rum
1 1/2 Radermacher Woodberries
1/2 oz fresh lime juice

The Radermacher distillery is one of the oldest in Belgium producing iconic spirits such as the Woodberries which is typical for the carnival time when people dress in costumes and become very folkloric. It is a sweet liquor and hence shouldn't be mixed with syrups. 

Chill a coupette glas and leave it a side. Pour your ingredients in a shaker and top it off with dry Ice cubes. Give the drink a hard shake and make sure you hit the right level of dilution. Strain it in your coupette glas and garnish with a few wild berries. Your drink should be purple to lilac. 

Fulsomely adventurous combinations of flavours can be dangerous at times, what matters is the final product and the company of your suburban beauty...

Greenpoint (Michael McIlroy, Milk & Honey Bar, 2005)

6 cl Rye Whiskey (Bulleit)
1,5 cl Sweet Vermouth
1,5 cl Chartreuse jaune
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
2 dashes Orange Bitters

Bourbon Whisky is known to be rather sweet which is why Bartenders substituted it with Rye Whisky over the time for Cocktails such as Manhattan and Old Fashioned.

Chill an old fashioned Champagne Glass and leave it a side. Pour your Ingredients in a Stirrer, top it with thick, Dry Ice cubes and stir until you reach the right level of dilution. Strain your Cocktail into the Glas. You may flame an orange zest on top of your Cocktail and serve.

Modern Cocktails are often very sweet and have a lot of fruits in them. But going back to basics is a wonderful experience and a pure journey of distincive tastes. 

A Worker's Fairytale

1 1/2 oz Bulleit Bourbon
1/2 oz Apricot Syrup
Cherry Bitters
Lemon zest

Bulleit is a beautiful, smooth and very affordable Kentucky straight Bourbon. Quite hard to get in Europe but worth every drop.

Chill a Tumbler and leave it aside. Pour your ingredients in a shaker, even the lemon zest, and top it with thick, dry Ice Cubes. Make sure not to cut of the white skin of the lemon as it will make your drink too bitter. Give it a hard shake and strain the liquid into the Tumbler. Garnish with a dark cherry and serve. 

After an honest day of work you'll feel like in Paradise.

Armeniaca

1 1/2 oz Three Sixty Vodka
1/2 oz Lillet Blanc
1/2 oz Apricot Syrup

A very simple way of handcrafting your Apricot Syrup is to cut a few mature Apricots in half. Put them in a copper cooking pot, add sugar and top with water. Cover with foil and let it sit for 12 hours. This way the fruits deliver all their flavour to the water. Then at boiling point take the fruitflesh out of the pot and reduce your mixture by half. Since you're working without precise measurements you should be tasting your syrup several times, always keeping in mind that it has to be that sweet. Strain your Syrup multiple times and bottle it.

Chill a Fancyglass and leave it aside. Pour all your ingredients in a shaker and top it with thick, dry Ice Cubes. Give it a Hard Shake. Empty your Glass and pour the liquid on a single thick Ice Cube into your Fancy Glass. You may garnish your drink with a Lemon Twist.

This isn't supposed to be a women's Drink, men can enjoy one just feeling as drinking an Old Fashioned.

Carribean Almond

1 oz Pyrat XO Reserve Rum
1 oz Amaretto
1 oz Coconut Water
1 oz Fresh Pineapple Juice
1 oz Fresh Lime Juice

Hoti is the Zen patron saint and protector of fortune tellers and bartenders.

Chill a Longdrink Glas and leave it aside. Pour all the ingredients in a Shaker and top it with thick, dry Ice Cubes. Give it a Hard Shake. Empty your Glass and pour the liquid on some Ice Cubes into the Longdrink Glas.

You might enjoy this Drink on a hot day outside during a cozy evening with some friends.