With the Cardenal Mendoza Clásico Solera Gran Reserva I did present a representative of the category of Brandies a few days ago. More precisely, it was a Spanish Brandy de Jerez. Personally, I appreciate Brandy very much for its flavor profile, which is very much in line with my personal taste, and against this background, I am particularly happy today to introduce an even more noble representative of this genre. Read More →

Without question, tiki drinks often offer a visually stunning effect. On the one hand, they serve common cliché expectations many people have regarding cocktails, on the other hand, well-made representatives of this genre also manage to overcome existing negative stereotypes of mere juice concoctions with rather questionable finesse. Furthermore, you can expect a real firework of flavors – if the right rum is of the party. Read More →

And off we go with a new article from a series about Italian bitter liqueurs. I have already written about Amari in general and delivered some in-depth information about that particular spirit type in the course of my review of the Nardini Fernet. So today, I can deal with a very special and very attractive species among the Amaros: a Rabarbaro. Read More →

If I had to draw up a list to show which cocktails guests in my private domain most frequently request, the White Russian would for sure be among the top five. This is certainly due to its big popularity and its place in popular culture, which was largely influenced by the cult movie “The Big Lebowski”. Personally, I have nothing against a good White Russian, but I have to admit that I never actually prepare it for myself. Read More →

Today the time has finally come and I’m going to publish an article that has been on my mind for a long time. Although I have already used brandy as an ingredient in various cocktails in the past, I did not present a specific brandy here or wrote about the topic in general (apart from various cognacs). Therefore, we will see that brandy is not always brandy and that there is no way to avoid some basic definition work here. Read More →

Today it is time again for rum – and as we all know, rum time often means “Tiki time”, which is why I have also implemented two slightly tongue-in-cheek Tiki-style recipes. However, the main part is about the characteristics of two particular rums, which I would like to briefly introduce here and of course review them in terms of quality. Both rums undertook a long journey from the Caribbean to France beforehand. Read More →

Today I would like to stay in the realm of Italian liqueurs. In my last article, I introduced a Fernet as a particularly bitter and spicy representative of the Amaro liqueur category, which is the reason why this time it will be about another type of liqueur. Not only in color, but also in taste. However, whether we are dealing with an Amaro here after all is often the subject of discussion. Read More →

I would like to begin today’s article with a fundamental commitment: I love bitter liqueurs! Certainly that won’t be a surprise to anyone who is following my blog for a while because my preference for bitter cocktails and accordingly also bitter cocktail ingredients can be found in many articles and recipes (and thus has also played a crucial role in the creation of many of my own drinks). Of course that does not mean that I’m only writing about bitter stuff, but I like to do so for sure. Therefore, it is long overdue to take a closer look at Italian Amari. Read More →

It’s been a while since I reviewed the “The Choya Single Year” here on the blog, an Umeshu which is part of the premium segment within the product range of Choya. And with the Choya Umeshu Gold Edition I also wrote about an ultra-premium Umeshu which even comes with floating gold-flakes inside the bottle. Today it’s about another representative of the Japanese traditional liqueur genre that is about to conquer the bar world. Read More →

Fat Washing – For a long time I gave a wide berth to this technique. It seemed to me as time-consuming as making your own syrups, infusing spirits or other gimmickry that expand the flavor palette of your bar. In the meantime, I have to say: It really is not that much of an effort. But I also have to admit: it needs a little planning in advance nonetheless. But hey: it’s not more effort than doing a milk punch. Read More →

It’s once again time for a rum review here in the blog! It is about a bottle of rum from a series of rums which was able to almost always convince me of its quality in the past, so also today my expectations were quite positive. But high expectations are accompanied by a higher potential for disappointment – that’s a fact you’ll always have to keep in mind. Especially when it comes to a rum from such a prestigious rum nation as Guyana. Read More →

Today it’s time for cognac again – for a rather unusual cognac, to be precise. It’s a cognac that comes up with some special features. And of course I would like – as usual – to present a cocktail in which such a cognac can be used. But first I would like to go into detail on the pure Cognac, which is advertised with a term that has to be investigated: Rancio Charentais. Read More →

The Bulleit brand is not necessarily the oldest and most traditional brand in the world of Bourbon whiskey. Although there are also many much younger Bourbon brands, compared to some long-established heavyweights the Bulleit brand (which is named after former lawyer Tom Bulleit) is relatively young: it only exists since the 1990s. However, the bottle which I want to put to the acid test today only exists since 2017. Read More →

Actually, I have little to tell you today, except that I recently mixed a very nice drink, and I’d like to share the recipe with you here. The idea came to me when I watched my little son fall asleep, while the turquoise blue light of a plush turtle that plays ocean sounds filled the room. The turtle is called “Tranquil Turtle” and after the mission “Falling Asleep” was accomplished, I simply created a drink of that name for me. Read More →

Today I would like to introduce a drink that is the result of an experiment. Actually, I wanted to experiment a little bit in the Tiki segment – and while on the one hand I was looking for a blueberry themed cocktail, on the other hand I was also eager to use some rather unusual, Italian ingredients. The result is the present, rather crazy cocktail, which is named Tiki Radicale. Read More →

Today I would like to add another recipe. In my last article about the Cherry Blossom Milk Punch I had presented a cocktail from the category of Clairfied Milk Punches for the first time here in the blog and I was absolutely thrilled by the result of this preparation method. And now I want to introduce yet another recipe here which was able to win a lot of praise when I served it to some friends of mine. And it is a recipe that is inspired by an old acquaintance. Read More →

Despite an intense engagement with cocktails, regular reading in contemporary and historical bar handbooks as well as various online magazines, blogs, etc., there are always things you did not really try to do or simply had no points of contact with. That’s exactly what Clarified Milk Punches were for me. But now I have changed that – and I am very delighted! Read More →

And again it’s about gin today and again it’s a French one and also again it’s a Citadelle I’d like to take a closer look onto. However, it’s a gin that I was really excited about. It is certainly a symbol of the friskiness and also progressiveness of a supposedly saturated market, but I am definitely not conservative in this regard, on the contrary: the gin promises to fully meet my taste preferences: Today it’s about the Citadelle Extreme Gin N° 2 Wild Blossom. Read More →

At several occasions in the past I have hinted that I have a certain penchant for Cola. I’m always saying that with a subtle justifying undertone because Cola does not necessarily enjoy the most prestigious reputation among the classic “fillers” behind the bar. Rather, it is often laughed at as a concession to the choice of the masses or simply seen as a necessary evil for a few cocktail classics. But here I strongly disagree! Read More →

Today’s article is once again all about a gin. And it is a gin to which I have a special relationship here in the blog, since it was the first gin I blogged about in the humble beginnings of Galumbi – Drinks & More. Well, that’s not entirely true because I wrote about the Citadelle Reserve Gin back then, while today it’s about the unmatured Citadelle Gin, but still this gin is special for me. But is it also able to convince even beyond personal nostalgia in the tasting? Read More →

Admittedly, the cocktail I’d like to present today would have been the ideal topic for a Christmas related article, but usually I do not connect my articles strictly to certain occasions in the calendar. Well, since the real winter is just around the corner, this cocktail fits into this season nonetheless. It is a perfectly warming, pleasant-spicy taste experience, which inspires me every time I make it. Read More →

The world of rum is a dazzling, chaotic and of course fascinating section of the international spirits market. It’s hard to tell you exactly the year when I first became really interested in rum, but I was one of those people who finally found their way to rum by originally having been a whisky drinker. And since then a lot has happened on the rum market. Both in terms of offer and demand. Read More →

Against all doubts, Gin remains the trendy spirit of these days. Hardly any other spirit enjoys such a popularity at tasting seminars, hardly any other type of spirit generates new brands on an almost daily basis. And against this background, even some bizarre trends arise that lead to even more bizarre products. Read More →

First I’d like to say sorry to all of you who have been waiting for a new article here on the blog during the last days. I was simply not able to continue writing new articles because I was sick. But shortly before Christmas it is getting a little festive here, at least if it comes to the visual appearance of a product. I would once again like to write a post on the topic of Japanese Umeshu, which is about a very special Umeshu indeed. And even if it may remember a bit of a notorious European herbal liqueur, it has very little in common with this one. Read More →

Unfortunately it tends to happens again and again during the Advent time of the year: there is an increased danger to fall sick and be bed-stricken. And that’s exactly what happened to me these days, which of course is annoying in many ways (and of course I’m not drinking alcohol). However, one of the few bright spots is that since I cannot do lots of things, I finally have some time to continue writing on some long-planned articles. Read More →

Cognac went a little short here in the blog so far, but to be honest there is really no good reason for that since I really like this spirit type very much and also the range of classic, cognac-containing drinks is not small at all. So it’s time to once again write about the French white wine distillate. Read More →