Why Start ShaknNotStirred?


2014 is the year of manliness, so what better way to enhance your lifestyle than recreating a spectacular drink for yourself, or a few mates? I decided to create this blog for entertainment usage and to satisfy everyones inner bartender - Not to mention educating you a bit on some of the most common drinks and cocktails out there. I'm not perfect, so this will be a community effort thing and hopefully a learning experience for everyone who ventures over ;)

I'll try to keep these posts daily.

- Nik

Friday 17 October 2014

City Space Bar, Moscow

Alright, so this MAY perhaps be just a little over the top in terms of cinematics, music, dramatic shaking and ridiculous garnishing, however I do believe to a certain extent that when a good bartender (when I say good, I mean passionate) creates you a drink, it's more than just another mixture. This is an art that takes more than just throwing some random ingredients together in a metal shaker and going full on psycho with it. It's something special, every time.



Chef's, Barbers, Tailors, Leather Smiths, they are all cut from the same cloth. This passion is what separates the swell from the magnificent. Although at times, when one happens to be quite gifted, the douchebaggery creeps in and usually ruins an outstanding performance/product. Regardless, think about that the next time you order that daiquiri, or that manhatten, or go for that trim. We give you great service because we love what we do. To most it's work, but to us.. it's an infinitely enjoyable experience.



Grip n' Sip friends. 






Grip 

&

Sip 

Saturday 24 May 2014

Battle Of Brews - PALE PILSNER

I'll come back to write a full review on this Pilsner, however, it is quite pleasurable to drink. At 3.50$ a pop, 680ml @ 5% alcohol is a bargain.


Friday 16 May 2014

BATTLE OF BREWS: ROLLING ROCK

It has been sometime since I've updated anything on here, so I shall try something new. I usually kick back at the end of the week with a brew or two however, I enjoy trying new ale's every now and then to spice things up. 

I decided to pick up Rolling Rock simply because it happened to be one of the products that I sell at work. It's really difficult, as you can imagine, to make the sale of a product you have never tasted, seen and or been in contact with. Bullshittery only gets you so far.

Regardless, this post will be the start of my personal "diary" for my beer sipping adventures.

First we'll start with some history (via wikipedia).



Rolling Rock is a 4.4% abv pale lager launched in 1939 by the Latrobe Brewing Company. Although founded as a local beer in Western Pennsylvania, it was marketed aggressively and eventually became a national product. The brand was sold to Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis, Missouri, in mid-2006, which transferred brewing operations to New Jersey.



From 1939 until July 26, 2006, Rolling Rock was brewed at the Latrobe Brewing Company in the Pittsburgh suburb of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. As stated on the bottle, it was brewed in large glass-lined tanks, which were considered state-of-the-art at the time of its introduction (in part due to sanitation concerns).



On May 19, 2006, Anheuser-Busch purchased the Rolling Rock and Rolling Rock Green Light brands from InBev for $82 million and began brewing Rolling Rock at its Newark facility in mid July, 2006. The final batch of Rolling Rock was shipped from Latrobe on July 31, 2006. Union leaders in Westmoreland County organized a nationwide boycott of Anheuser-Busch and InBev brands because of the move. Anheuser-Busch has said that Rolling Rock's original pledge on the label will be preceded by these words: "To honor the tradition of this great brand, we quote from the original pledge of quality." In July 2008, InBev reached a deal to acquire Anheuser-Busch, thereby returning ownership of Rolling Rock to InBev, now known as Anheuser–Busch InBev and based in Belgium.

In 2009, Anheuser-Busch InBev announced that it was exploring the sale of the Rolling Rock brand.

Original "pony" bottle of beer

A 7 oz. bottle of beer that became known as a "pony" was originally brewed for Rolling Rock Beer by Latrobe Brewing Company of Latrobe, PA.[citation needed]  The 7 oz. beer was served because when prohibition was repealed in 1933, America was still coming out of the Depression and the smaller size beer was for the working man who could not afford a full 12 oz. beer.  The 12 oz. bottle has a picture of a horse on it, so, when coming into a tavern or pub, the customer would ask for either a horse or a pony, meaning a 12 oz. beer or a 7 oz. beer respectively.

Pony Bottle

The number 33 is printed prominently on all bottles of Rolling Rock. Many have speculated on the significance of the number 33: that the "33" refers to the founding year of the Pittsburgh Steelers (who have their team practices in Latrobe); that 33 degrees is the proper temperature to keep beer; that Latrobe test-brewed 33 batches of beer before coming up with the final formula for Rolling Rock. (A Pabst Blue Ribbon's advertising campaign from the late 1930s through the early 1940s asserted that Pabst "blended 33 beers" to get its final product. Yuengling, like Rolling Rock, brewed in Pennsylvania is also reputed to have mounted a similar ad campaign, touting a similar amount of "rough" brews blended to make the final product. Other theories concerning the number 33 are that there were exactly 33 stairsteps from the brewmaster's office to the brewing floor in the original Latrobe brewery. Also that the PA fish and game commission at the turn of the century numbered the streams within the commonwealth and the water that was used to brew this beer was taken from the stream numbered 33.

One widely held belief is that it marks the repeal of prohibition in 1933.

James L. Tito, former CEO of Latrobe Brewing, opined that the "33" signifies the 33 words in the beer's original pledge of quality, which is still printed on every bottle:

Rolling Rock - From the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe, we tender this premium beer for your enjoyment as a tribute to your good taste. It comes from the mountain springs to you.

—Current pledge written on the Rolling Rock bottle

While the original wording on the label was somewhat different, it also contained the 33 following words:

A little nip from the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe. We tender this package as a premium beer for your delight and economical use. It comes from the mountain springs to you.

—Original pledge written on the Rolling Rock bottle

This was followed by the "33". The current pledge is on the 12 oz. bottles, while the "little nip" pledge is from the 7 oz. bottle version.

A founding executive is said to have written "33" at the end of the slogan to indicate the number of words it comprised as a guide for the bottle printers. They assumed it was part of the text and incorporated it into the label graphics. Hence, the first batch of bottles carried the number "33" and they remained that way since they were continually collected and reused.

Tito admitted, however, that there is no hard proof for this theory, and that at this point no one really knows what the true origin of the "33" may have been. Nonetheless, the tradition of the printing explanation has been sustained by the company as the wording on the labels has changed over the years, and the verbiage is carefully structured to retain a length of 33 words. The Rolling Rock nomenclature on the bottles is painted on, not paper or plastic. However, In New Hampshire in the 1980s there were bottles with printed paper labels. These bottles were a bit shorter than the long necks served in bars and taverns. The original pledge and "33" were printed on the backside of the paper labels, therefore being readable by looking through the beer from the back of the bottle. They followed the 33 word pledge printed above.



**For my can... I was only able to locate 23 words. Perhaps "33" really did stand for something else?**


BOTTOM LINE/REVIEW



Taste: 

This ale has a very sweet aroma, although one should note that its scent happens to be faint. I found the taste to be rather inviting with no actual bitter aftertaste. A very 'creamy' ale if you may, with notes of lemon, ginger and a smidge of orange peel. I would recommend this to any beer drinker.

Rating: 7.9/10



Pros - Good, full bodied taste, great value per can (@ 4.5% - 437ml), sweet aroma.

Cons - No 'kick', reminiscent of soda water, visually, not appealing, one dimensional in terms of taste.

Tuesday 28 January 2014

WHITE RUSSIAN

I was eating ice cream again today when I came across this idea. As a result, I did a bit of research, and discovered this article;

View Article Here

fortunately, if you cram ice cream full of alcohol, it won't freeze. If only there were a way... Meet Valerie Lum and Jenise Addison. They figured out how to stabilize the alcohol using gelatin. After countless nights of trial and error these two awesome women (who should win Nobel Prizes) have come up with a system that will allow you to incorporate a cup of 80 proof booze into a quart of ice cream. That nets ice cream that's approximately 13-percent alcohol by volume. The duo came up with 50 recipes for boozy ice creams and sorbets in their book Ice Cream Happy Hour




Ingredients 


  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 packet (1 tablespoon) gelatin
  • 1/4 cup cold water
  • 2/3 cup cold (refrigerated) vodka
  • 2/3 cup cold (refrigerated) Kahlúa

Procedure 

View video Here

Notes 


• You want to scald the milk/cream/sugar mixture, not boil or simmer it. Overheating the milk may cause curdling.

• The reason for the tempering is that if you add the eggs to the hot milk too quickly they can cook, which would give you chunks of egg yolks in your ice cream. No bueno.

• Once the custard is made, you have to let it cool and set in the refrigerator for about 8 hours. Patience, my friend (or advanced planning, at the very least).

• The strainer is important, especially when you're transferring the booze/gelatin mix into the custard. Ideally, it won't have solidified much, but there will almost certainly be some very strong-tasting chunks that you don't want to end up in your ice cream.

• This stuff is ready to eat straight out of the ice cream maker, but if you want it to be a little firmer, then you can put it in the freezer for a bit, as in the video.

Now the only question would be ... how creative can you get? 





Thursday 23 January 2014

CHOCOLATE MOOSE

I was craving a milkshake earlier today + wanted to experiment with some basic ingredients. Long story short, I came up with this: 

Drink

Chocolate Moose

Origin 

There probably is a real milkshake that goes by a fancier name with a monumental historic past attached to it, but for the sake of feeling "original", this idea came to me while debating what to cook for lunch.

Glassware 

I used a glass mug however, you can get away with a Collins glass.


Ingredients 


  • Chocolate Ice Cream 
  • Milk
  • Bailey's Cream (I used Jamaican Rum Cream) 
  • Chocolate (for garnishing) 


Procedure 

1.    Put glassware into freezer to chill 



2.    Put 3 scoops of ice cream into blender 



3.    Pour 8oz of milk into blender 



4.    Pour 2oz of Rum Cream into blender and blend.
5.    Pour contraption into glass/mug, garnish with a piece of chocolate and enjoy. (Makes one drink - roughly 10oz/300ml)


Monday 13 January 2014

HOW TO: MUDDLE

First, let me explain to those whom are not familiar with the term "muddling".

Muddling is a bartending/mixology term for crushing fruits or herbs to release their full flavour into a cocktail in the same way a chef would use a pestle and mortar to prepare food ingredients.




And now a short in-depth tutorial from CHOW on how to do it...the RIGHT way.




Interesting 



Muddle away mes amis!

B&B

Drink

Brandy & Benedictine


Origin 

By Tim Rodgers

"Last year (2011) marked the 500th anniversary that the French Benedictine Monk Dom Bernardo Vincelli concocted Benedictine.   It was lost over the annals of time before another French merchant discovered the Benedictine recipe that is is a subtle alchemy of 27 different plants and spices.  According to the producers of (B&B) Benedictine D.O.M. in 1863, in the process of sorting out some very old family papers, a wine merchant in Fécamp, with the evocative name of Alexandre Le Grand, came across an old recipe book that has been tucked away in his library for years.  Although he had extensive knowledge on how to produce wine and spirits, it took him years to unravel the secret recipe of the monk Vincelly. He also chose to keep the indication D.O.M.,  the motto of the Benedictines standing for Deo Optimo Maximo (God infinitely good, infinitely great). It also refers to the Latin word Dominus (Master) given to Benedictine abbots.

Even today, the recipe for Benedictine is a closely guarded secret.  On a side note, I think Benedictine is used to make a Singapore Sling.  But I prefer mixing it with Brandy.  Essentially, what we know as B&B today was invented in the 1930′s by a bartender in the famous Club Twenty One in New York who thought to mix this interesting Benedictine Liqueur with Brandy. Thus, B&B as we know it was invented.  It was originally 86 proof up until the late 1970′s and today it is an even 80 proof spirit.

I was first introduced to B&B some time ago amongst some family members with a slight dusting of alcoholism who sought to run up the bar tab at some function.  Not having much of a developed palate at the time and being relatively young, I still enjoyed the liqueur.  The sweet and spice of the Benedictine really enhanced the nice burn of the cognac.  Today, B&B is one of my favorite after dinner drinks."

 Early bottle of S.A. Fecamp Brandy & Benedictine
Glassware 


  • Cordial Glass

Cordial glasses small, stemmed glasses generally used to serve after-dinner liqueurs. Alternatively, they may be used to serve drinks at a party, reception or other gathering. The use of fine cordial glasses lends a touch of elegance to any gathering.



Cordial glasses are smaller than a typical wine glass, holding approximately one and a half ounces (± 45 ml) and are often (though certainly not always) made with thinner, more delicate glass.

Cordial glasses are also (incorrectly) known as pony glasses; a pony glass is not stemmed, despite holding the same amount of liquid, and is more commonly known as a Shot glass.

Ingredients 

  • 1/2 oz brandy
  • 1/2 oz Benedictine herbal liqueur

Preparation 

  1. Pour Benedictine in cordial glass 
  2. Float brandy on top of Benedictine without mixing
  3. Serve 

AMERICANO

Drink 

Americano

Origin 

This not-too-strong drink is the first cocktail James Bond orders in Ian Fleming's first-ever Bond book, Casino Royale. In later books, he famously switches to martinis, and the Americano has been largely forgotten as a Bond drink. The Americano was created in the 1860s in Italy and was originally named the Milano-Torino because it was made with the bitter red liqueur Campari, which comes from Milan, and the red vermouth , which comes from Turin. Bartenders noticed that the drink was particularly popular with visiting Americans, so they renamed it the Americano, and the name stuck.

Let your mates drink their Jäger bombs and have yourself a classy man's drink. Don't worry, Bond approves. 

Glassware 


  • Collins glass 




Ingredients 


  • 1 oz. Martini & Rossi Rosso Vermouth 
  • 1 oz. Campari 
  • Club Soda 
  • Lemon or Orange (garnishing)



PREPARATION


  1. Pour the Campari + Vermouth into a highball glass filled with ice
  2. Add a splash of club soda
  3. Garnish with an orange or lemon twist 


Try making one yourself, or order one the next time you're at the bar for some European greatness.


*Drink responsibly* 

Saturday 11 January 2014

APPLETINI

Drink

Apple Martini

Origin 

Well... there really is not a definite history for the Appletini, simply because it is a variation of a basic martini. So... yea *shrugs*

Glassware 


  • Cocktail Glass


A cocktail glass is a stemmed glass which has a cone-shaped bowl which is rounded or completely flat on the bottom and placed upon a stem above a flat base. Though they are often referred to as martini glasses, they differ from martini glasses in that they have smaller, narrower bowls with rounded or flat bottoms, while martini glasses generally have larger, wider bowls which are fully conical at the bottom.
It is mainly used to serve cocktails. Its form derives from the fact that all cocktails are traditionally served chilled and contain an aromatic element. Thus, the stem allows the drinker to hold the glass without affecting the temperature of the drink, and the wide bowl places the surface of the drink directly under the drinker's nose, ensuring that the aromatic element has the desired effect.

A standard cocktail glass contains 4.5 US fluid ounces (13 cl).





Ingredients 


  • 1 part of Vodka
  • 1 part of Apple Schnapps
  • 1 splash of dry Vermouth
Preparation 

  1. Add ingredients to shaker with ice
  2. Strain into a chilled glass
  3. Garnish with an apple slice 

TOM COLLINS

Drink

Tom Collins 

Origin

Most people know that a Tom Collins is a type of gin cocktail made with lemon juice, soda water, and sugar.
But you probably never knew that it's named after a really lame joke from 1874.

Here's how it went: A man would approach his friend and ask, "Have you seen Tom Collins?"

"Why no!" the second man would say. "I have never made his acquaintance."

"Perhaps you had better do so, and as quick as you can, for he is talking about you in a very rough manner — calling you hard names, and convincing people there is nothing you wouldn't steal short of a red-hot stove."

This would upset the second man, who would stomp off to go looking for this rascal Tom Collins, but — twist! — he didn't actually exist.

It's a pretty lame joke, but it went viral and became all the rage in New York and Philadelphia. It was so popular, in fact, that it was dubbed "The Great Tom Collins Hoax of 1874."

Seriously — some newspapers at the time even printed stories containing false sightings of Tom Collins, and several songs were written that memorialized the joke.

Eventually, one intrepid bartender caught on and named a drink "Tom Collins" so that if anyone came rushing into his bar seeking revenge and asking for Tom Collins, they would unknowingly have ordered a tall gin drink instead.

Oh, and just to remind you what people looked like in 1874, this was the height of fashion:


(article by Megan Willett)

Glassware 

  • Collins Glass 

No...it's not that "one mug" you have tucked away in your cabinet for special drinking occasions. A collins glass is a glass tumbler which typically contains 300-410mL (10-14 fluid ounces). It used primarily to serve mixed drinks, especially, as you've probably guessed, Tom Collins cocktails. It's cylindrical in shape and narrower than a highball glass. 

Typical Collins glass 



Ingredients 

  • 1 Whole Lemon
  • Sugar 
  • Gin
  • Shaker 
  • Ice Cubes
  • Carbonated water or soda (7up, Sprite) 
  • Stir Stick
  • Cherry (for decoration) 


Preparation  

  1. Cut the lemon in half, and squeeze juice into shaker. 
  2. Add one teaspoon (tsp.) of sugar to shaker. 
  3. Add 2 ounces of Gin to shaker.
  4. Shake with ice and strain into collins glass.
  5. Add several ice cubes, fill with carbonated water, and stir. 
  6. Decorate with slices of lemon, orange, and a cherry. 
  7. Serve with straw. 

Annnnnd your done. 

Now you can show all your friends how cool you are. 







- Enjoyeth and drink responsibly. 

SEA BREEZE

Drink 

Sea Breeze

Origin 

In Dale Degroff's  book, The Craft of the Cocktail, he says that "The Sea Breeze was created as a promotion by the Ocean Spray Company in the 60's to take advantage of the growing popularity of vodka. They even participated in the release of a new spirit product called Tropico (not to be confused with today's Bacardi Tropico) that was a blend of Don Cossack vodka and cranberry juice. The Seagram Company used the Sea Breeze to promote its aged Ancient Golden Gin in the 60's and set the stage for the tremendous popularity of the Cosmopolitan."


Glassware 

A highball glass, a glass tumbler, contains 8 to 12 fluid ounces (240 to 350 ml). It is used to serve highball cocktails and other mixed drinks.

A highball glass is taller than an Old Fashioned glass, and shorter and wider than a Collins glass.

Ingredients 


  • 1 3/4 oz vodka
  • 3 oz cranberry juice
  • 1 oz grapefruit juice
  • Grapefruit slice for garnish

Preparation 


  1. Pour the vodka and cranberry juice into a highball glass with ice cubes.
  2. Stir well.
  3. Top off with the grapefruit juice.
  4. Garnish with the grapefruit slice.