The start of December saw Rebel Badge book volume 2 arrive. I will confess to feeling a little envious (and perhaps also a little out out) when I saw people posting all about their progress for the new badges, and I was waiting for my copy to arrive - I held out for the hardback edition, so had to wait longer.
Anyway - so many lovely new badges to have a go at - including Geocacher (which I am certainly doing, as I am not Geocaching newbie - coming up to 10 years of membership). I was absolutely delighted to see some really interesting (and comparatively easy) badges in the Grown Up section - Sommelier, Mixologist….
Christmas seemed like and ideal time to do the Mixologist badge, and I looked at the components of the different cocktails before deciding which to try, as I didn’t want to buy a whole load of alcohol that then wouldn’t get used. The gin wasn’t really a problem, as I’d bought a basic bottle ready to make sloe gin (which we didn’t get round to making last year).
Armed with a standard metric jigger, 3 cocktail books, ingredients and a lot of enthusiasm I set to mixing. Only there were a few hurdles in my way…my cocktail books didn’t contain recipes for some of the cocktails I had chosen. I looked online - and used Wikipedia for the research about the origins of the cocktails, and on those pages was the IBA recipe. There came the second hiccup…some strange measurements like 15ml, 20ml, 30ml - not 25ml or 50ml which the standard jigger accommodates.
Not to be dissuaded, I overcame the problems using equivalent amounts - e.g. one measure or two measures.
I started the badge in December. First up was the Gin Fizz - gin, lemon juice, sugar and soda water. Despite it being a new bottle of soda water, it wasn’t very fizzy. I used lemon juice from concentrate, rather than using fresh lemon juice, but all in all it was quite pleasant. I hadn’t given much thought to the type of glass to serve it in, so went for a flute style - as we usually drink fizz from them!
Next up was the Margarita - which I forgot to take a photo of. This was a very pleasant drink - we had this one without the salt rimmed glass. The recipe calls for triple sec - which isn’t so very easy to find in my area. It also calls for fresh lime juice, but I went with lime juice from concentrate for it - I’m not so much of a connoisseur that I could tell the difference.
We didn’t drink so much over the immediate Christmas period, and it wasn’t the case that I made a different cocktail each night. A couple of days after Christmas I made us a Cosmopolitan (recipe not in my books). I followed the recipe as nearly as I could (those pesky measurements that don’t match my jigger). I did think about getting a martini style glass to serve it, but as we only had one of that style in our upstairs living room, I didn’t fancy going downstairs to get another one and so add to the growing collection of glasses we already have upstairs. I was pleasantly surprised by this cocktail - very easy to drink - although maybe I should have doubled up on the quantities, as it doesn’t seem to go very far. This is a recipe that I did use fresh lime juice for (what a faff that was - especially as I had no juicer - I just used my fingers) - and still not a connoisseur but we enjoyed this one!
Next up was the Bloody Mary which was not a hit. Maybe I overdid the Tabasco sauce, or perhaps I was a little too enthusiastic with the freshly ground black pepper. I didn’t have any celery salt, and serving it with celery seemed a bit of a waste. Whatever went wrong with it, it was enough to put us off. Husband isn’t a fan of tomato juice anyway, so I was left to finish his (I don’t like the idea of pouring alcohol down the sink). Will I try making it again? Maybe one day, but it isn’t likely to be anytime soon.
The next cocktail was the start of a new year (albeit in the evening). I was a little stuck wondering how I was going to get some fresh mint leaves, but our local park has a sensory garden which contains herbs which are available for all to use - so I harvested some from there (we did have some mint in our garden, but husband was a bit too enthusiastic in containing it / cutting it back). It was only me having this cocktail. Again, I used lime juice from concentrate. The soda water was not very fizzy, but that did not detract from the drink. I did find a bottle of simple syrup - which seems to be needed for a few cocktails, including this one. I hadn’t been prepared enough to allow the mint to infuse with the lime juice and syrup - and I don’t have a muddler to be able to muddle the leaves, but hey ho - I managed somehow, and very tasty it was.
The final cocktails were made on Friday night - when we had a weekend to ourselves. The Piña Colada just HAD to be made - all the while thinking about the song of the same name - also called ‘Escape’. The making of this cocktail required the purchasing of crushed ice, and I was pleased to have my smoothie blender (bought in Aldi some years ago), as it made light work of blending it all. My husband’s comment about this one was: “Has it got any alcohol in it?” - I tasted it and could taste the alcohol, but couldn’t really taste the pineapple. I shall be making this one again (possibly quite soon) - if for no other reason than that I’ve got an open carton of coconut cream!
As we had the weekend to ourselves we went for the cocktails - next up was Long Island Iced Tea. I had already researched the first six cocktails, and when I discovered that I had all the ingredients for this one I thought I might as well try it. I used lemon juice from concentrate, and it was good to find a recipe that called for simple syrup again. We liked this cocktail - I used a standard jigger (25ml) for the measures - the IBA recipe on the Wikipedia page has the alcohol measures being 15ml - which is probably a better option. My measures made it rather alcoholic (understatement!) but didn’t taste it!! My husband approved of this one, so that is another one we can have again! We might need to either rethink the size of the measures, or have a bigger glass next time.
The final drink was a basic champagne cocktail - champagne and a sugar lump soaked in Angostura bitters. Firstly - it was cava and not champagne. Secondly, no sugar cubes - so I used simple syrup, and a few drops of Angostura bitters, and it was very tasty!
I really enjoyed doing this badge. For some time I’ve liked the idea of cocktails, but you do seem to need a fairly well stocked drink selection. This is the first time in my life where I’ve been in a position to be able to indulge in the different ingredients - and why not? After all, we do have quite a selection of different gins at home. I’ve got the notes about the origins of the cocktails written in my Rebel Badge notebook - you remember the one? It is one of my Harry Potter notebooks.
First badge of 2023 completed - oh, and I’ve decided I’m in Bader patrol!
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