The Wild Drink Blog

This month Doug at The Pegu Blog is hosting Mixology Monday and as usual it is our task, as fellow bloggers, to come up with drink recipes so that we can all laugh at each other.

Doug’s theme is Made From Scratch and what an awesome theme! - Particularly for me, because I absolutely love making my own ingredients!

Which leads me to a bit of a quandary: Which homemade ingredient is my favourite and which am I most proud of? To choose from I have the likes of Tonic Water, Cola, D&B, Rosehip syrup, Rhubarb Liquor, Vermouth, Bitters and that’s just the stuff that tasted ok!

In the end I decided to go for a cocktail which has not had much of a mention from me in the past.

An easy choice would have been my GT Turbo, which is one of my favourites and uses my tonic syrup and a simple formula to make an espresso of G&T. For anyone that likes to taste the gin in their G&T or who would prefer their drink to be shorter whilst still retaining balance, this is a good drink.

But the cocktail I went for in the end is a drink I created called The Libero Dairquiri, and here is the recipe:

• 50ml Pampero Especial
• 25ml Good Quality Real Ale
• 15ml Homemade Cola Syrup
• 15ml Fresh Lime

Shake that little lot up and double strain into a chilled martini glass, garnish with a good twist of orange peel.

This drink is kind of a cross between a Cuba Libre and a regular Daiquiri, but with the addition of beer. I love Daiquiri’s but the main flaw with them is that there are no bitter ingredients in the drink. For me, a great cocktail (or a great drink in general) is a balance of sweet, bitter and acidity. The Libero Daiquiri has all of these, not to mention the fact that cola adds a wonderful aromatic touch to ale, whilst the caramels of Pampero provide a neat canvas, on which the other flavours can work.

The recipe for the cola syrup is here.

EDIT: It has just occurred to me that Doug has asked for cocktails (existing) that have been improved by a homemade ingredient, but I have submitted an original recipe. Bashed knuckles for me, but it is loosely based on a Cuba Libre!