Research and learn about liquor, liqueurs, mixers, sweeteners, flavorings, fruit, and many other ingredients for drink recipes. Use reviews, flavor profiles, and brand information to hone in on the perfect ingredients for your favorite cocktails. More...
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liquor/mixer
By traditional definition, Jaguar vodka is a rum since it is made from sugar cane. Jaguar is much sweeter and fruitier than a vodka made from grain, potatoes, or rye. Dry vodka aficionados will want to take this into account before trying Jaguar.
If you approach Jaguar as a rum, you will be pleased. The flavor profile above is for Jaguar vodka. Looking at Jaguar as a rum, the flavor ... 5/18/2012
liquor/mixer
Tennessee whiskey differs from bourbon because it is filtered during production. Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack Tennessee Whiskey is charcoal filtered twice--once before barrel aging--and once after aging. This is opposed to the original No. 7 Jack Daniels (black label) which is filtered only before aging and not after.
Because of this, Gentleman Jack is smoother than its cheaper cousin. I ... 5/18/2012
liquor/mixer
Chocolate mint liqueur is similar to normal chocolate liqueur only with spearmint flavor added. This product tends to be cream based (shelf stable cream) like Bailey's but if you can find a straight version that omits the cream go for it. Most recipes that use chocolate mint liqueur already have cream in the recipe.
If you can't find chocolate mint liqueur or don't want to stock it in ... 5/17/2012
liquor/mixer
Passion fruit juice is usually found in the marketplace blended with other fruit juices and sometimes sweetened. You rarely find 100% pure passion fruit juice all by itself. These blended/sweetened passion fruit products are also called passion fruit nectar.
The blended products will usually list how much passion fruit juice is used and you usually want to go with the one that has the ... 5/17/2012
liquor/mixer
Chambord liqueur is a black raspberry flavored liqueur produced in the Loire region of France. Red and black raspberries are stepped twice in spirits to extract color and flavor from them. Then they are crushed to extract as much juice as possible. The two steeping spirits, the juice, honey, citrus peel, vanilla bean, Cognac, and additional ingredients are all blended together to create ... 5/16/2012
liquor/mixer
Rich Gum Syrup
What is rich gum syrup?
Rich gum syrup is a double strength dark syrup with gum arabic added. It is based on the rich syrup that Dave Wondrich writes about in [Source:31]. You can think of rich syrup as cane syrup like the kind that comes from Martinique.
To this rich syrup I have added gum arabic to get some extra viscosity and ... 5/16/2012
liquor/mixer
For years, the standard for cranberry juice in the U.S. has been Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice. Ocean Spray has been making cranberry juice since 1930 and uses a cooperative of over a thousand cranberry growers.
Back in my college years in an effort to save money, I used the cheaper store brands. I thought I was getting the same thing, but upon switching back to Ocean Spray Cranberry ... 5/16/2012
liquor/mixer
For the purposes of this site, when brandy is specified in a drink recipe, we mean a dry, aged brandy such as Cognac, Armagnac, Brandy de Jerez, or any other quality German or California grape brandy.
Brandy (Asbach Uralt)
What is brandy?
Brandy is a distilled spirit made from wine and often aged in oak barrels. Brandy as we generally recognize ... 5/16/2012
liquor/mixer
Beef bouillon is a concentrated beef broth used in some savory drinks. It is also called beef stock.
Quality beef bouillon is usually made from scratch. This involves cooking down beef scraps and bones into a rich broth. If you are using bones, paint them with tomato paste and roast them for a short time first. You really have to like a Bloody Bull or other drinks that have beef bouillon ... 5/15/2012
liquor/mixer
What is bourbon?
Bourbon whiskey is an American whiskey primarily made in Kentucky though it is produced in several other states. Bourbon's most identifiable characteristic is that it is made mostly from corn (usually around 70% corn). This lends a soft sweetness to bourbon that is not present in other whiskies.
For a spirit to be classified as bourbon, it needs to meet some legal ... 5/15/2012
liquor/mixer
Blanco Tequila is a 100% blue agave Tequila that is not aged and clear in color. You will also find it called silver, plata, or platinum Tequila. White Tequila (at least on this site) usually refers to an unaged mixto Tequila that is not made from 100% blue agave.
Blanco is the cleanest form of Tequila showing the agave fruit aromas and flavor more clearly than it's aged brothers ... 5/15/2012
liquor/mixer
What is Calvados?
Calvados is a French brandy made from distilling hard apple cider. For over a thousand years cider has been brewed in northwest France, specifically the Normandy region. Eventually the French took to distilling their cider as many other societies did with their fermented beverages.
This was mostly a local operation until the phylloxera epidemic devastated grape ... 5/15/2012
liquor/mixer
Blackberry brandy is a blackberry flavored liqueur found in some drink recipes. Though referred to as a brandy, it is really a flavored liqueur. It is not nearly as commonly used as some of it's cousins such as apricot, cherry, and peach brandy. I know of no examples of a true blackberry eau de vie but one might exist somewhere.
Most blackberry brandies you will find are pretty low ... 5/15/2012
liquor/mixer
This Cabrito Tequila is a fine value especially if you can find it in Mexico (where I found it). You can sort of tell because the proof is below 80. A lot of Tequilas in Mexico go a few points below 80 proof, while Tequila in the United States would be 80 proof.
I found Cabrito Reposado Tequila at a Walmart in Puerto Vallarta. It does the job as a Margarita Tequila, and you can sip ... 5/15/2012
liquor/mixer
Applejack is a distilled liquor made from apple cider. You can think of it as a fruit-based brandy made from apples. It was hugely popular in Colonial America, so much so that it was used as a form of currency in some of the northern colonies (especially in New Jersey).
Apple cider was ubiquitous during this time because the water was so bad people tended to drink cider ... 5/14/2012