Not An Alcoholic

  Jägermeister Review     The nose is very nostalgic, there's a strong note in there that reminds me of good root beer. I'm also picking up what I perceive as mustard seed, it does smell more sweet than bitter, I find the smell very comforting.     Mouth feel is thinner than I was expecting, high sugar content often means syrupy mouth feel, especially with lots of herb oils. But pleasantly thin mouth feel. Lots of sugar when it first hits my tongue. The first flavor I distinguish is a bitter cough medicine note, but it doesn't linger. Follows with a root-vegetable note, followed by a fresher woody note, like a birch note. I get a cherry in there somewhere, and a late candied orange peel perhaps. Beautiful complexity, absolutely dances around your mouth. Frankly I was terrified of trying J ägermeister with it's reputation as being a bitter herbal spirit that college students drink while disliking. But it's really lovely, like, I might try it with sparkling water ...

  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...

  Attempting to make my own drink.     This might stray a little from a normal review of mine, as I'm not working with a set recipe. I'm going to attempt to explain my thought process as I attempted to make my own variation of a drink. I'll start off by saying I knew I was going for a variation of a French 75. I knew it was going to have sparkling wine, and I also wanted to try something with pisco. Pisco is a grape brandy, just like cognac, which is used in some specs for a French 75. But Pisco is a lot more earthy and bright, where cognac is quite raisin-y and deep. I thought that with the use of the Pisco, a lime juice made more sense than lemon juice, I wasn't trying to cut through the darker tones of the cognac, I wanted to play with that Pisco. So I started with an oz of Pisco, a half an oz of simple syrup, and a half oz of lime juice. Then I went to add sparkling wine, I was shooting for around 2oz, but I probably added closer to 4. But, it was in the glass now, ...

  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...

Aperol Spritz               Smells sweet and light, almost like a candy. Lightly orangey, bubbly, not too sweet, not to dry (using a brut sparkling wine for all of these). Absolutely drinkable and refreshing, unfortunately I wasn't able to chill my glassware today, but that would make it even more refreshing I'd imagine! 8/10 Chambord Spritz     Smells like sweet berries, reminding me of baking some sort of pie. A bit sweeter and more tart than the aperol spritz, I find this one personally more enjoyable. Both are light and easy to drink, and fine celebratory drinks. 9/10 Elderflower Spritz     Harder to get a nose from. Still smells a bit sweet. Tastes exactly like a elderflower gelato that I've had before. Sweet, tasty, floral, a tiny bit tart. Excellent. 9.5/10  My Spec Brief Note: To avoid binge drinking, I will only be making half servings of each of the following drinks. The specs I have listed are for a full si...

The Division Bell Cocktail Review     Smells lightly smoky, maybe a bit of citrus from the Aperol and lime juice. Mostly just the smoke though. Mouth feel is pretty nice, I unfortunately had to let it sit for a moment, so it's not as cold as I would've liked. It's a little tart, a bit of sweet, with a mildly smoky mezcal finish. Perfectly drinkable, particularly if I had gotten to it when it was colder I'm sure. I did serve mine with ice because I knew I would be unable to drink it right away, usually you would serve this drink "up" (without ice) and with no garnish, though I think a bit of citrus oil expressed over the top wouldn't do any harm. If you serve this with ice, keep in mind that the ice likes to melt and create a separation layer of water above the drink itself. Perfectly sippable, lightly tart and sweet. Not too smoky, might be a good introduction to mezcal if you're curious. 8/10 My Spec My spec is: 1oz Mezcal 3/4oz Aperol 3/4oz Lime Juic...

Aviation Cocktail Review     Lemon and a hint of violet on the nose. Not much from the gin at all. In person, especially when it's a bit dimmer, the purple from the Creme de Violette comes through a bit more. I would describe the mouth feel as light, it almost took me a minute to realize it was there. The flavors involved are also really delicate as well. I'll say that this isn't a drink for everyone. A lot of people don't like gin already, and some people are really adverse to the Creme de Violette, calling it "soapy". I can understand how people detect soap in this. To me, while I could interpret that as soapy, it's not really chemically, and the texture and natural rejection of getting soap in your mouth is not present, so I get some flavors that some people associate with soaps, but I do not mind it. It is a very airy, almost wispy flavor. You're not working with any "heavy" flavors here. Everything is light. It really is hard to detect m...

  Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur Review     Unbelievable nose, a lot of things where I'm not only struggling to determine what exactly I'm smelling, but I'm wholly unfamiliar with the smell itself. I get some honey, a definite smoky spicy note, a little something musty, which I have smelled with some poblano peppers (the pepper that when dried becomes an "ancho chile") before. There's also a sort of sour milk note that I wasn't expecting, and maybe even a bit of mango. But beyond all the things I could identify are a range of spices I don't know how to place. The mouth feel was thick, a bit syrupy even. Being a liqueur, that's not out of place, but I was expecting a lot thinner. Immediately it's all of the flavor of an ancho pepper WITHOUT the spice. It's smoky, it's warm, it's a bit chocolatey, it's got a little earth. Then I get overtaken by that honey note again, metallic, sweet, then the spice from the ancho finally sweeps back i...

 Smells slightly of bitter oranges, but a lot of herbal and earthy notes as well. Immediate mouth feel is thick, almost syrup, incredibly dry. In Italy, this is often served as an "Aperitif" or a drink that's supposed to wet ones appetite. So as I'm drinking this at 9pm having ate dinner already, it's a bit late for a glass. However I have this bottle for cocktails primarily. The flavor is obviously dry as stated before, but I get a lot of herbs, and a lot of orange peel, maybe a slight floral component, perhaps violet? Very strong aperitif, especially compared to it's other common aperitif cousin Aperol. 6/10

The Paper Plane! The camera doesn't capture it well, in person its a lovely pink color. Smells softly of lemon and a little bit of bourbon. It's super balanced, a tiny bit tart, then I get warm bourbon flavors, a bit of orange, a bit of soft apricot flavor and then it does it all over again, it's got a super long and smooth evolution. In all honesty, probably the best cocktail I've had to date. I'd say 9.8/10 Equal parts (3/4 oz recommended) Lemon Juice Bourbon Aperol Amaro Nonino (which I found incredibly hard to open, idk if I got a defect bottle or something) Shaken with ice, strained and served up, with a typically 1/2 size paper airplane garnish Just for transparencies sake, I took this out to my mother because I was so impressed, and she was incredibly displeased with it. For reference, her usual go-to is a Margarita, on the rocks, with a half-rimmed glass. Or she likes a little baileys from time to time.

Yes I need to clean some glassware Soft nutty smell, but it's a bad glass for smelling. Thick mouth feel, sweet, a little nutty, a tiny bit of cherry, bitter finish. Really coats your mouth. Essential in a home bar, 7/10

Smells super strongly of oranges, technically this is an apertif not an orange liqueur, but orange is certainly its most dominant flavor/aroma. Mildly sweet, with bits of orange peel notes, it really does taste a lot like orange oil, honestly really drinkable. 9/10

Forgot to do one yesterday, so a double feature. Smells like soap, incredibly floral (makes sense). Sweet, very subtle flavor, it doesn't taste soapy, it's incredibly delicate. But rather one note 6/10

Very dry, bitter, lots of notes from the peel of the orange. It almost smells chocolatey. 6/10 but super important behind a bar.

Incredibly specific smell, but it smells like a local gelato shop in my area. Taste is sweet, fruity, a little floral, but it's super smooth, silky even 8.5/10