Category Archives: Drink

Hot Takes on Kombucha

March 28, 2020 allansuddaby Leave a comment

Hot Take #1: You don’t need a SCOBY to make kombucha.

Okay I’ll clarify right off the bat: if by “SCOBY” we simply mean “symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast”, then yes, of course you need a SCOBY to make kombucha. If by “SCOBY” we mean the infamous, gelatinous raft that floats on top of the liquid, then no, you emphatically do not need a SCOBY to make kombucha.

As with “mother of vinegar”, the term SCOBY is confusing. In both vinegar and kombucha production, the micro-organisms at work form a raft that floats on the surface of the base liquid that is being fermented. In vinegar production most online sources call this raft the “mother of vinegar”, and in … Continue reading.

Drink

Kombucha

February 16, 2019 allansuddaby Leave a comment

I have come to realize that I am quite resistant to new ideas. For me, new ideas are anything that I didn’t grow up with or study in school. For years I scoffed at modernist techniques and equipment like immersion circulators, xanthan gum, and anti-griddles. (Actually I’m still not convinced of the usefulness of that last one). I was even more vehement in my opposition to hippie fads like veganism, raw food, and more recently, kombucha.

In retrospect it is crazy that I didn’t look into kombucha earlier. For a couple summers I sold homemade raw apple cider vinegar at the 124th Street Grand Market. To my surprise, about 90% of the people who bought vinegar from me were … Continue reading.

Drink, Spirits

Cocktail Equipment and Technique

July 17, 2018 allansuddaby Leave a comment

We often describe cocktails as “mixed drinks”. In this post we will discuss the two main ways we mix drinks -stirring, and shaking – and the equipment required for each.

Before diving in, two important points on consistency: the dry build, and accurate measures.

Dry Build

Whether shaking or stirring, best practice is to “dry build” your drink, that is, combine all of the liquid ingredients together before adding any ice.
This is a technique from professional bars where consistency is paramount. The idea is that you want total control over the time that your drink spends on ice, so that you control the dilution and the final concentration of the drink.
If you were to put ice in the

Coffee and Tea, Spirits

Kona Breeze Cocktail

January 29, 2018 allansuddaby Leave a comment

I could hear it coming, rustling softly through the coffee trees, stirring the monkeypods, and sighing through the sugar cane.

For no reason besides my own creative enjoyment I am developing a set of Hawaiian-themed cocktails.

From the start I knew that one of my Hawaiian cocktails was going feature coffee, and it didn’t take long to settle on the other components, all classic Hawaiian flavours that pair well with java: dark rum, macadamia nut, and orange.

Kona is a city and region on the western, leeward side of the big island. For many it has the perfect weather: warm days, cool nights, infrequent rains, and a nearly constant, gentle breeze. There is a lengthy description of Kona’s balmy … Continue reading.

Drink, Greek, Spirits

Ouzo

January 8, 2018 allansuddaby Leave a comment

Ouzo is a strong, clear, anise-flavoured spirit made in Greece. The taste may remind you of liquorice candy, or other anise spirits like sambuca, pastis, and Pernod. The term is a protected regional designation within the EU, meaning that if it’s not made in Greece, it can’t be called ouzo. It is usually about 40% ABV.

Ouzo is made by infusing a relatively neutral spirit with anise and other botanicals. The neutral spirit is a grape pommace distillate, just like Italian grappa or French marc. In most of Greece this grape pommace distillate is called tsipouro, though the Turkish word raki is also common, especially on the islands of Crete and Cyprus. Tsipouro has been made for centuries, and over … Continue reading.

Coffee and Tea, Dairy, Drink, Spirits, St. Patrick's Day

Irish Coffee

March 15, 2017 allansuddaby 1 Comment

Originally published March 18, 2012.

Cream, rich as an Irish brogue;
Coffee, strong as a friendly hand;
Sugar, sweet as the tongue of a rogue;
Whiskey, smooth as the wit of the land.

-a traditional toast accompanying Irish coffee

Irish Coffee with Floated Cream

The Irish coffee typically served in restaurants here either has cream stirred into the drink, or whipped cream floating on top. The traditional way to enjoy the drink is to gently pour heavy cream onto the surface of the coffee so that it floats, then sip the coffee through the cream.

Let’s discuss ingredients.

The Coffee – Use good coffee. Brew it strong.

The Sugar – Irish coffee is made with brown sugar which has a distinct, cooked, molasses-like taste. … Continue reading.

Cider

Merridale Cider

January 23, 2017 allansuddaby Leave a comment

A couple years ago I visited Merridale Estate Cidery in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island. With so many folks around Edmonton making cider, and many of them looking for the fastest, most efficient way to produce a year’s supply, I thought I’d post some details from a commercial operation.

The apples at Merridale are all old-world cider varieties, basically inedible out of hand, and absolutely nothing like North American grocery store apples. They have names like Dabinett, Chisel Jersey, and Hauxapfel. The varietals are categorized as either sharp, bitter, bitter sharp, or bittersweet. Here “sharp” refers to acidity and “bitter” refers to tannin and astringency like you find in red wine, tea, and walnut skin, not true bitter flavour … Continue reading.

Spirits

Blood and Sand Cocktail

June 22, 2016 allansuddaby Leave a comment

This is the tedious origin story of a cocktail, or rather my version of a cocktail.

I’ll start apologetically and admit that I don’t know very much about cocktails. I read one book about them last year (Imbibe!), and then started mixing them at home. Probably no book has had such a deleterious effect on my liver and general health. Anyways, I think the drink described in this post is delicious, but I acknowledge that it’s a bit over the top. I have absolutely no idea how it would play in the real world with real bartenders and patrons.

Blood and Sand is a classic cocktail, typically composed of equal parts blended scotch, orange juice (often blood orange … Continue reading.

Cider, Drink, Spirits

River City Kir

June 21, 2016 allansuddaby Leave a comment

The River City Kir: sparkling hard apple cider with a splash of cherry liqueur. Something so simple shouldn’t need a complicated origin story.

[Pauses awkwardly, before rapidly relating a complicated origin story]

A Kir is a French cocktail, a glass of white wine with a bit of crème de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur). There are a number of common variations. The Kir Royal, for instance, uses Champagne instead of still white wine. The Kir Breton uses hard cider. So this most recent invention was inspired by the Kir Breton.

I’ve tentatively titled this drink the River City Kir. I’m open to other suggestions. This is the first cocktail I tried with my homemade cherry liqueur. It’s a knockout. … Continue reading.

Drink, Fruit, Spirits

Homemade Cherry Liqueur

June 20, 2016 allansuddaby 1 Comment

In retrospect this is a pretty straight-forward homemade cherry liqueur, but it was actually inspired by a drink from Normandy called pommeau. To make pommeau, Normans combine two parts fresh apple juice with one part Calvados (apple brandy), then age the resulting mixture in barrels for several months before bottling. You can purchase this traditional, aged pommeau at fine liquor stores, but fresh pommeau made with just-pressed cider and consumed without barrel-aging has become one of my favourite parts of the cider season.

This formula (two parts fresh juice, one part spirit made from that juice) occurs in a number of other places. Pineau de Charentes is another famous example, made with grape must and Cognac.

So I wondered if … Continue reading.

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