Not An Alcoholic

  El Presidente Cocktail Review     Absolutely beautiful color. I don't know how well it really shows up in the photo, but in real life it is a spectacular and rich orange color. Looks a bit more amber in the photo, but it really is quite red in real life. I'm not really a great photo editor, nor did I want to spend too much time on it, but in real life, it looks a bit more like this. It really is vibrant.      It smells of the sweet demerara rum (I'm using Appleton Estate 12 Year Rare Cask) with a bit of the oak coming through as well, but there's also some florally grape notes from the lillet blanc. I've started freezing my citrus lately in order to preserve it for longer, and thawed citrus doesn't like to peel very well. But traditionally, this would have a swath of orange peel as well. The mouth feel is considerably more full than I was expecting. It looks rather thin imo, but it is actually pretty full. The first flavor I get is oranges, but those...

  Negroni Sbagliato!     Ok what is a Negroni Sbagliato and why have you heard so much about it lately (or 3 months ago because I'm out of touch and this trend already past)? A Negroni Sbagliato is Campari, sweet vermouth (like a normal Negroni) but the gin is substituted for sparkling wine. I expressed lemon oil over the top of mine, the bright lemony smell and flavor help to combat the bracing bitterness of Campari. Mine smells like that lovely lemon oil, followed by some red grape smell, and then a whiff of some deeper herbal complexities. You'll want to get this drink very cold, as cold as you can get it. The mouth feel is cold, at first thin, and a tiny bit bubbly, then this sweeping herbal note comes in from the vermouth, matched with the bitterness from the campari. As the bitterness mellows, I get oranges, maybe a bit of the lemon oil helping to draw that forward, then the sparkling wines flavor comes through, maybe aided with a bit of sweetness from the verm...

 Nothing crazy tonight, sweet vermouth on the rocks with a twist. The expressed lemon oil is front and center on the nose. I also get a bit of some vanilla. Smooth, soft mouth feel, lots of vanilla, some cherry, fig, a little herbal note. Lovely sipper. 9.5/10 Carpano antica formula is a very nice sweet vermouth. If you're going to be mixing, you can go a lot cheaper. But if you just want a glass of vermouth on it's own, what a wonderful glass it is.

Made a non-traditional Manhattan tonight. It honestly doesn't smell like much, but it's smooth, silky, the alcohol flavor arrives late, but the front is a lot of warm vermouth flavors, little bits of cereal from the whiskey, the bitters soften the edges. 😙👌 9/10

 Manhattan that I made for a friend at a party