Fifteen: Mystère

Once upon a time, Cognac was the drink of choice for the higher orders of society and the undisputed leader among spirits, but that was before phylloxera decimated French wine production allowing whiskies and rums to come to prominence, and before the British government started to promote gin over imports from a country it frequently warred with. Cognac has heritage and tradition in spades which adds to the aura of luxury around the category, but it can also make the spirit seem fussy and impenetrable. Which is shame, because that previous dominance is based on the quality of the product rather than mere terroir or aging.

So, I made a conscious choice to make something with a Cognac base which isn't something I do that often. Vermouth seemed like a no-brainer, wine-based modifier with a grape-based spirit. Keeping the complementary theme, I used some Mandarine Napoleon - a brandy-based liqueur not unlike Grand Marnier, only Belgian and more mandarine-y.

Mystère

30ml Courvoisier VS
30ml Mandarine Napoleon
15ml Dubonnet Rouge
1 lemon zest

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into an ice-filled brandy glass.

Thirteen: Medici

Lorenzo de' Medici is remembered as a patron of the arts and as a key figure in the Renaissance. His contribution to the world of spirits isn't as well known. The story goes that a brandy-based liqueur was created in his honour. And that's about it. Sorry.

The Medici link makes for good copy in a press release, but the major development came in 1938 when two brothers-in-law started producing a version of that same liqueur in Livorno, Italy. These days it's called Tuaca and thanks to American soldiers encountering it during World War 2, it's gained international exposure.

That exposure spreads as far as Britain, where Tuaca has an interesting link with the town of Brighton. In Brighton, Tuaca's become a verb.

To go out in Brighton UK and drink a ridiculous amount of Tuaca, get extremely wasted on it and do crazy things you normally wouldn't and don't remember (usually of a sexual nature!) Tuaca-ed, The Urban Dictionary

What's even more remarkable about Brighton's taste for Tuaca is that it's more or less entirely the work of just two people - Sammy Berry and Poul Jensen.

Poul said: "In 1998 the only place you could get Tuaca was in the St James Tavern. Within a year it was in about 30 pubs. Now you can buy it in 95 per cent of bars, pubs and clubs.

"Local off-licences called us up because people kept coming in and asking for it. They would turn on their heel when they found it wasn't there."

It's an amazing story. Since 2006, Tuaca has been sold and distributed in the UK by Bacardi Brown-Forman, who took on Sammy and Poul as brand ambassadors for it, and recently gained one of the greatest accolades available to spirits and liqueurs - its own Thursday Drinks Night at the Mixoloseum.

Medici

45ml Tuaca
15ml Crème de Mûre
15ml Punt E Mes
Lemon zest
Orange zest

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Garnish with an orange zest twist.

Twelve: Kitchen Special No. 1

Being honest, I'm pretty cocktailed out at the moment. We're just put the finishing touches to a new drinks menu at work - featuring some of the drinks I've posted here - and I've been making the most of not thinking about combinations of spirits and liqueurs. That said, there are still times when I do want something a little more exciting than a beer or spirit/mixer. The problem here is that I'm genuinely awful at keeping my kitchen stocked. I'd save a pile of money if I actually planned meals rather than getting takeaways or eating at work. So, using whatever I had lying around the kitchen...

Kitchen Special No. 1

45ml Amsterdamsche Oude Genever
15ml Punt E Mes
15ml Elderflower Cordial
1 dash egg white

Shake all ingredients with ice and fine-strain into chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lemon zest if you've remembered to go shopping this week.

Eleven: Spring Orchard

We've just finished putting together a new cocktail program for the Paris bar at work and everytime we take on this kind of exercise, there's a point when someone says "we need x cocktails with this spirit in them," because we're only ever going to have y drinks ready, and y is always a number less than x. But, that thing they say about necessity? It's true. This drink also ended up being a chance to use Galliano. It's one of the those bottles that seems to be on almost every backbar without seeing a lot of use, and it's one that always prompts curiosity whenever I pick it up. The overriding flavour is vanilla, but there are also hints of anise and citrus which makes it an interesting alternative to vanilla-flavoured vodkas.

Spring Orchard

1/8th green apple (muddled)
25ml vodka
12.5ml Galliano
25ml red grape juice
12.5ml lime juice
1 barspoon elderflower cordial

Muddle apple in the base of a shaker. Add the liquids and shake. Fine-strain into a chilled champagne flute and garnish with an apple slice on the rim.

Ten: Winter's End

11:44am on March 20 2009 marks the Vernal Equinox, one of the two points of the year at which the Sun is directly over the Earth's equator. Or the Earth's equator is directly over the Sun, if you want to be picky about it. See, astronomy lessons and everything. The Vernal Equinox marks the end of winter and the start of spring, unless you happen to be in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case it's the end of summer and the start of winter. If you are south of the Equator, I'm so sorry. You've got...ooh, 186 days until this post becomes topical.

And so spring is coming like a badly-driven haulage truck on an icy road, which is cause for much celebration in Northern Europe. Perhaps this will be the year when spring is accompanied with temperatures north of 20°C and bikinis for everyone, but I think that's unlikely. It doesn't mean the occasion shouldn't be marked with some kind of mixed drink.

Winter's End

40ml Amsterdamsche Oude Genever
10ml St. Germain
15ml Noilly Prat Dry Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a single mint leaf.