The cachaça samba

While rum is da man in Central & South America, cachaça is big chief in Brazil. It’s a ol skool clear liquor produced from good ol’ sugarcane juice.

Hmmmm. Gives me ideas.

I did try to ferment sugarcane juice once but it failed coz the container wasn’t airtight. Will definitely retry soon.

Met up with Boozepimp Michelle from TWE & mixologist Ben Ng at Celsius, a stylish new bar downtown to get to know cachaça better (pronounced ka-SHAH-sa).

Yet more new stuff in town

Its similar to rum in terms of the raw product source, but rum uses sugar cane molasses, produced by boiling the juice until it turns to solids (crystals). Cachaça is made by fermenting and distilling fresh-pressed cane juice, thus it retains an intense earthy aroma. It’s used mostly for cocktails, the most popular being the world-famous Caipirinha (cachaça, lime juice, sugar), one of my faves.

If you’ve seen a red/white label bottle with a large “51” on it sitting behind bars, that’s cachaça, but a different brand, Cachaça 51.

There are more than 5,000 cachaça brands in Brazil, the majority known as a ‘poor man’s drink’, as its dirt cheap. 99% consumed domestically. But these days, better quality (and more costly) options are available. It’s Brazil’s national drink.

Maybe we should give some to our national team so they play better football.

Clear as water

Like capoeira, it’s got a long history (five centuries), but is only now becoming popular outside Brazil. Plantation owners used to give it to their slaves to make ’em work harder. Nice incentive.

One of them that TWE has brought in from Brazil is Sagatiba, which has the honour as the world’s first premium cachaça.

Had a sampling of it in several Caipirinha cocktails at Celsius, but of course a neat shot first.

It really grabs you with its strong flavours. I got some earthy vanilla hit. Its ABV is 38%.

Soon there was a Caipirinha feast goin down.

Pomegrenate Caipirinha

Spicy Mango Caipirinha

Mangosteen Caipirinha

A Cucumber Caipirinha

They’re all fruity, refreshing drinks. All that’s missing is a beach. You could add more liquor to give it some bite/resistance.

Then Ben brought out some eggs.

What's cookin?

Am not a fan of egg in cocktails, but he created a very drinkable and almost smoothie-like drink – Maracuja Sour which is from Peru, but Ben replaced pisco with cachaça.

Koktel tarik

Its other ingredients are passion fruit juice and sugar syrup.

Batida

The final one’s my favourite, a Strawberry Grapefruit Batida. A Batida is a popular cocktail in Brazil that combines cachaça with fruit juices, and sometimes coconut milk. I could drink this all day.

The Sagatiba Pura is available now at TWE (map) for about $130, as well as bars like Celsius, Traders Hotel, Elixir, Laundry, ReggaeBar, Werner’s and Friday’s. There are plans to soon bring in the top-shit premium Sagatiba Velha, which is aged in oak barrels. Lookin forward to that!

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Brain damage: 7.5/10

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New looks

Three established brands in Diageo went for a make-over.

As of this month, Smirnoff has altered the bottle to emphasize the vodka’s quality and its heritage as a supplier to Russia’s Imperial Court.

Smirnoff No.21 (alcohol-by-volume – 40%) and all its flavoured varieties will have the new look. Diageo has changed the vodka brand’s main icon from a spike to a “Regal Eagle”, which is accompanied on the bottle by a reference to Smirnoff’s supply contract with the Russian Tsars. It displays signatures of Smirnoff alongside the featured crown.

Pyotr Smirnov founded his vodka distillery in Moscow in the 1860s, pioneering charcoal filtration in the 1870s, and becoming the first to utilize newspaper ads to stifle anti-vodka sermons, capturing two-thirds of the Moscow market by 1886. Propaganda ads eh? His brand was reportedly the Tsar’s favorite. When he died, he was succeeded by his third son Vladimir Smirnov, under whom the company flourished.

Its now the world’s best-selling liquor.

As for Tanqueray (ABV 47.3%), the look is more like a cocktail shaker now. The new bottle is taller and more tapered than the original ‘fire-hydrant’ shape, and it also features elements of the brand’s heritage such as the company’s signature and an embossed Tanqueray family crest on the glass. The bottle’s labels have also been changed to give it a more contemporary look. It’s been around for a few months tho.

Tanqueray London Dry Gin was initially distilled in 1830 by Charles Tanqueray in London. Gin is  made through double-distillation of a neutral grain spirit with botanicals added during the second distillation. Its today produced in Scotland. Did u know they had a Tanqueray Malacca Gin?? Discontinued in ’04. Dammit.

The brand recently celebrated 200 years since Charles Tanqueray  was born. Where was da party?? London? How come i wasnt invited??

After 30 years, Baileys (ABV 17%) changed the look some time ago. Am sure u would have noticed the smoother, skinnier looking bottle.

Flavours available are Original, Creme Caramel, Mint, Coffee, Hazelnut and Biscotti. It’s the world’s best-selling liqueur.

Bailey’s (Ireland) starts life in happy Irish cows, all 40,000 of them. They’re happy coz they aint kept in a pen, but get out to graze nine months a year. Their milk is added to Irish whisky within hours, followed by cocoa nibs, vanilla pods, caramel and sugar.

Goes real nice as a dessert, poured generously over vanilla ice-cream.

Daamn.

Thanks buddy!

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Absinthe-food pairing

Absinthe paired with a multi-course dinner?? Gosh. I’ve been to countless wine dinners, but an absinthe dinner is unheard of. In fact, it was supposedly the first in Asia!

Obviously i didnt dodge it. Mainly coz Alan Moss was in town to host the dinner. Alan is the distributor of La Clandestine and Angelique, good stuff dat was launched last year.

It was titled “A Decadent Affair”.

La Clandestine is distilled using a 1935 recipe, in Couvet, Val-de-Travers, Switzerland. Using botanicals from the region, La Clandestine is distinctively hand-crafted in the birthplace of absinthe, meaning its not mass, machinery-produced like other absinthes. In fact the owner himself still makes it in his basement!

Moonshiner.

Double trouble

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We began the evening at Vanity Mansion with a sweet, easy-drinkin cocktail – Petale, with peach syrup as its main mixer.

Pre-starter

Knocked quite a few of this before we sat at the tables for the five-course dinner. A greenish cocktail called Le Perroquet (Green Parrot) greeted us. Its Angelique, green mint syrup + water. Back in da day in Paris, the codeword for havin absinthe was “to strangle a parrot.”

Huh?

Eager diners

The Clandestine Caipirinha accompanied the excellent starter of ravioli. Its like a caipirinha, but with absinthe instead of cachaca. A well-received drink. Clandestine + lime + sugar.

Cheese-stuffed ravioli

dsffgsdfgsfd

D line-up

kjljhlkhl

Alan addressing the diners

Next came Hemmingway’s fave, Death in the Afternoon, a cocktail dat combines champagne with absinthe. Not d easiest drink to swallow, but gets u there. Smoked salmon suits the drink well.

Smoky

Gettin crowded at the 4th course

Gettin crowded at the 4th course

Soon it was time for the Classic Serve. Cold water slow-dripped into absinthe over a cube of sugar. This is probably d best way to truly appreciate absinthe. It produces a nice louche as the water releases the herbal oils from the absinthe.

Water tower in dahaus

Originally the chef proposed rabbit stew with the Classic Serve, but due to fear that some pussies wont eat rabbit “coz they’re cute”, we had chicken.

Tastes like chicken

The highlight for me was the dessert, deceivingly called the Tiramisu Shooter. It’s a tray of three shot glasses, to be downed left to right.

Yum

Glass 1 – Strawberry swimming in white chocolate; Glass 2 – absinthe + Baileys + caramel; Glass 3 – dark chocolate goo.

It was an awesome combination n d perfect end. I asked for another tray but they were out. Dam.

Young chef Amin did a great job comin up with d pairing menu. I never dreamt of havin absinthe cocktails over dinner, but this experiment proved dat its very possible and in fact quite successful! The absinthe did not overpower the meal, as obviously u dont take it neat. With a combination of drnking styles, absinthe can be pretty versatile.

O yea, there was one last finale – the aged absinthe. Alan has aged some absinthe in barrels back in the HQ for a few years (only 1,000 bottles for d world), and he brought some. It looked like cognac! Taste-wise, its less intense and herbal that usual, and smooth, but maintaining most of its alcohol. Alan’s wife doesnt drink absinthe, but she loves this one.

The night's surprise

Very interesting. Alan is experimenting and plans to age it longer.

Chef Amin

Bravo chef! Good job. In d foreground are the herbal ingredients dat go into absinthe, which Alan brought from Switzerland

With Alan

Petite wormwood??? Looks more like Grade A Skunk to me

Brain damage: 8/10

Starter

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Bacon vodka?

I’m all for variety in drinks, but this might be pushing it. There’s been flavours marketed like bubble-gum, tea and grass (not weed, tho an acquintance is workin on dat, the criminal).

But checkit –Bacon-flavoured vodka is d new rage in Seattle.

Wats the mixer for it? Mafuckin mustard??

Goddam.

Drink your meat. No need for lok-lok after boozing anymore

Talk about double-haram.

Mmmmmm…… baaacoonn. I luuv bacon man, wat it being a hangover cure n all. Its da shit. But aint sure bout gettin drunk on bacon. And dont know how many bacony beverages i could down.

We’ll need to create a new phrase to replace pissed drunk:  pigged drunk.

Mabuk babi?

I’d rather keep my meat on d plate and outta my fuckin glass. But then again, it could be soo dam good dat i’d OD, n die.

Bakon vodka is by Black Rock Spirits, Washington. There’s an FB group too. More than 6,000 meat-hungry fans. Its only available in US at d mo. Supposedly it makes a good bloody mary.

I bet d bacon will taste fucked once u eat it

But its dead easy to make yourself. There are DIY tips online. If u do, pls lemme try.

I’ll bring d mustard.

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