More than once in the past I have stated that I really love the Negroni to death. Its countless variations are therefore always a welcome change in my glass, but from time to time I’m also experimenting around a little bit in order to find a new potential favorite or at least simply a good twist. Read More
Not only in Spain but actually in almost the entire Spanish-speaking world the Gin & Tonic is perhaps the trend drink in bars and clubs. Although “trend” is not the right word anymore, rather the Gin & Tonic has become a real institution in these countries and is even more popular than you might think. I also encountered the presentation in a wine glass or the special “Copa Balon” with the addition of various herbs and citrus peels for the first time in a Spanish hotel. So it is no wonder that more and more new gin creations have recently also emerged from South America. Read More
I have not counted every single reference to one of the most famous cocktails in the world here on the blog: I am talking about the Daiquiri. And it’s not so long since I’ve dedicated an own blog article to the drink. Personally, however, I prefer to have that cocktail in a slightly varied way, the so-called Chupacabras Daiquiri. But before I go into detail here, I first want to write about a certain bottle of rum. Read More
Maybe you have heard about the famous French dessert “Poire belle Hélène”, also known as Birne Helene in Germany. In Germany there is a very famous movie (almost everybody knows it) made by a famous comedian in 1991 where a dispute about the proper recipe for Birne Helene is one of the running gags. But I’m not telling you this because I want to discuss the correct ingredients for this dessert but rather to explain where the idea for today’s cocktail came from. Read More
The drink I would like to present today is the result of a quite unusual approach. I was guided by a simple association of colors and quickly decided to try wherever it’ll lead me. Finally I ended up with a slightly modified variant of a classic, what is not a bad thing, of course, since it is often a classic that becomes the inspiration for new ideas. And that’s what happened with today’s Tobiume cocktail. Read More
I have been looking forward to writing about this bottle for a while and I was very excited how it would perform in the tasting. It is once again an article about a mezcal, although it is a mezcal which has one or the other special feature and definitely promises a lot of quality. And by the way it offers a really eye-catching and very beautiful design. Read More
Today’s spirits lead us to Baden-Württemberg, to the idyllic Badische Achertal on the edge of the Schwarzwald, where the peaceful village of Kappelrodeck is located. Throughout the whole region various fruit varieties grow in orchards for a long time due to the larger amount sunlight (at least compared with the conditions in other parts of Germany). It is therefore no wonder that the craft of distilling has a long tradition which is in particularly specialized on fruit brandies. In today’s article I would therefore like to introduce a series of fruit brandies from the region which I will also critically review here. Read More
Calvados – the barrel-aged apple and pear brandy from the French Normandy region has always been a classic ingredient in the history of bar culture, but it has recently lost some of its popularity. Like Cognac, Calvados has gained the reputation of being a little outdated what is definitely the wrong way of looking at this particular type of spirit. At least it absolutely meets my personal taste regardless of what some people might think. Read More
The variants of the Moscow Mule are unquestionably numerous and there are quite innovative ones among them, no doubt about that. While the drink has been part of the established bar repertoire for decades in the USA, it is still a “brand-new” trend cocktail in Germany and other parts of Europe, which is due to the previously poor availability of ginger beer. Nowadays there are of course also other variants of this drink on the bar menus and sometimes even older drinks find their way back into common knowledge, such as the Mamie Taylor. Read More
The Scheibel distillery from the Black Forest region in Germany is above all known for its high quality fruit brandies. Since 1921, the banner of traditional fruit distillates has been held up by the family company which is now led by Michael Scheibel. But also other, innovative and contemporary spirits (such as vodka, barrel-aged gin etc.) are produced there. However, if you are a little interested in the world of spirits, you might have heard about a specific fruit brandy that has come to quite some fame in Germany in the recent year: Scheibel Moor-Birne. Read More
Gin & Tonic has, of course, long since overcome its existence as a drink of older British gentlemen and also a gin & tonic is no longer the niche product in bars outside of Britain it once was. The times are gone when you got 2 cl of Gin with plenty of tonic in a longdrink glass. The opposite is now the case: Gin & Tonic has become a science in itself and the number of gins and tonics is not manageable any more. But of course, Gin is not the only spirit that harmonizes with tonic. Have your ever tried Tequila & Tonic? Read More
Today’s article could easily seem a bit like an article that was written out of embarrassment because basically the recipe presented here is neither particularly elaborate nor anyhow innovative or trendy. It is a very ordinary sour and those are probably the simplest cocktails to make. You can actually mix sours with almost any spirit or liqueur you choose and at least in its basis that’s really not a high art I’m talking about. But it does not always have to be high art. Read More
If a Dortmund resident like me is writing something about the city of Stuttgart in these days, in most cases this will probably have to do with football. And in 90% of these cases it is about Kevin Großkreutz, a former Borussia Dortmund player who is now playing for 2nd Bundesliga team VFB Stuttgart. And even though I can at least say that I have managed to somehow mention the name Kevin Großkreutz in a more or less meaningful way on a cocktail blog, today it is neither about football nor about the said player. Read More
If you have fallen sick for a few days, you are usually drinking a lot of tea at this time. At least I am. I also like tea on a regular day but nonetheless I usually drink far less tea when I’m in good health. And when such a sickness has vanished, there is always something left behind. In this case it was simply the idea, to play around a little bit with typical tea aroma and to create a suitable drink. And even if Earl Gray is not necessarily a tea you’d drink when you’re sick, it is still the sort of tea which a lot of people think of first. Read More
So after a few days of having the flu I finally would like to present an article to you that deals with a very special topic: liquorice. But of course it is not just about liquorice, but liquorice (or “Lakrids”) in combination with spirits. This is an idea that I first had to get used to but turned out to be of such an aromatic substance that I could not withstand its seductive nature. The “Lakrids” I am using here comes from the young Danish entrepreneur Johan Bülow from the isle of Bornholm, where he originally opened a liquorice store in the town of Svaneke. Read More
Today is once again a premiere day here on the blog because today’s article deals with a topic that has not yet been on the agenda before. It’s just three days since I dropped the name “Appeljack” as part of the Helter Skelter cocktail, which is essentially an American fruit brandy. Applejack is often used as an ingredient in American cocktail recipes. In Europe, instead of Applejack, however, people usually use the nobler Calvados. And that is exactly what today’s article is about. Read More
If you take a look at the huge range of internationally available cocktail recipes in times of the Internet, you will of course realize that a lot of recipes are strongly dependent on the availability of certain products. This phenomenon can be witnessed in both classical and modern recipes. In some cases, this led to the creation of certain substitute spirits, which should compensate for the limited availability of some brands. Thus you will sometimes find yourself in the funny situation to substitute a substitute product with the original one. Read More
Today I’d like to write a few lines about a cocktail that I really like very much and which I got to know quite late actually, I hope you will forgive me that. It was already invented in 2011, which basically once again demonstrates that I am definitely the wrong address if you’re up to staying exclusively in touch with most modern and brand-new trends in the cocktail world. But then again this blog is all about good cocktails and corresponding spirits, so what’s the matter? So today I’d like to present to you, many years after its creation: the Buttermilk Margarita (or Buttermilch Margarita as it’s called in German). Read More
The name of today’s product is indeed one of the biggest imaginable for anyone who deals with cocktails or who is interested in bar culture. It’s not possible to imagine a well-stocked bar without Angostura bitters as well as you can’t imagine it without mixing glasses, shakers or bar spoons. I wonder if there is any standard work about cocktails in the world in which the name is not printed about a hundred times. But today we are not dealing with the classic Angostura Bitters but with an Amaro instead, a bitter liqueur. And when such a bitter liqueur comes from the house of the great bitters-manufacturer, this naturally arouses some curiosity. Read More
Well, I was actually really looking forward to today’s article since a few days. Just as I am also looking forward to the addressed drink every time I’ll get the chance to order it in a bar or just to make it for myself. It is once again a real classic cocktail which goes back to the year 1857 (at least) and it simply delivers exactly what I love about a cocktail: the wonderful experience of enjoying high-quality spirits in a great combination with a refined aromatic twist. Read More
When it comes to matured spirits (or at least those who can potentially become matured spirits), you can apparently witness a quite obvious phenomenon: the longer the spirits have spent in a cask, the higher the demand for it (as well as the price) and the better its reputation. Sometimes this may even become a little bit odd as it is often the case for example with some whisky bottlings which suddenly come at horrendous prices. However, some spirits are a little bit different in this respect or even tend towards the opposite. Read More
One of the most famous cocktails based on Cognac surely is the sidecar. And although I have not yet written an article about that classic drink, I may do so in the future. The sidecar consists mainly of cognac, cointreau and lemon juice. Well, the cocktail that I would like to present today is essentially nothing more than a more complex variation of this basic formula. However, one that has convinced me completely. Read More
After the Aloha Gin from Heilbronn, today it’s another article about gin. But this time, however, it is about a gin that is not from Germany or another European country. Quite on the contrary, this gin has already collected a bunch of flight miles before it reaches Germany. And yet it is close a relative of another gin that I have already presented here in the past. I am thinking of the Peruvian GIN’CA, which comes from the same Peruvian distillery as today’s Gin listening to the name “Amazonian Gin Company Cantinero Edition”. Read More
Today it’s once again gin time. And I guess you will be little surprised by the fact that it is once again a gin from Germany where it has become the trendiest spirit of these days (as in many other parts of the world, too). This is of course not only the case because of the ever increasing number of gin start-ups and the correlating spirits, but also because of the inexorably high demand for gin & tonics. The increased interest for tasting seminars on the subject of gin (and tonic) fits the mould. Read More
The inspiration for today’s cocktail came during the writing of the reviews for two spirits that I have recently tasted and presented here. On the one hand the really beautiful Clément Rhum Vieux Agricole VSOP and on the other the Meteoro Joven Mezcal. The initial thought behind the idea of combining these two spirits is also reflected in the name of the cocktail, “El Meteor en el Barril”, which means “The Meteor in the Barrel”. Read More
I would like to finally welcome the new year of 2017 here on the blog with an article about a special product, which also is the first of its kind that I am reviewing here: I’m talking about the Pierre Ferrand Cognac 1840 Original Formula – the first Cognac to be reviewed on Galumbi – Drinks & More. Today, Cognac enjoys an ambivalent reputation. For some, it is a slightly outdated spirit of past days, for others a still appreciated barrel-matured spirit for quiet moments at the fireplace and for others it’s a high-priced prestige object sold in stylish bottles which can easily compete with those of the perfume industry. Read More
