So far it has been a fun journey, with two solid performances and a classic cocktail that is worth having a second go. This time around we have another brandy drink, apple brandy, queued up and ready for testing.
Using CocktailDB to source drink ideas is always a fun and illuminating experience (try the random drink generator one day when you are drawing a blank for a little inspiration and fun) and a search under drinks containing orgeat yielded several options including the Puerto Apple. On paper this one looks interesting – applejack, rum and orgeat paired with lime … The CocktailDB version is much lighter on the orgeat and lime then some other versions of this recipe that are floating around and my initial thoughts were that this sounded a little more balanced versus the two spirits (i.e. supporting roles for each instead of being the front men).
Puerto Apple Cocktail
Recipe adapted from the CocktailDB
• 1 1/4 oz applejack (Laird’s bonded was used)
• 3/4 oz light rum (El Dorado 3-year was used)
• 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
• 1/4 oz orgeat (Trader Tiki brand)
Garnish: lime wheel
Glass: cocktail glass
Tools: mixing glass and tin (shaker), Hawthorn strainer and fine mesh tea strainer and a small kitchen knife for carving the garnish
Assembly: Combine all ingredients in the shaker with ice and shake like there is no tomorrow until well chilled. Double strain into the serving glass and garnish.
The verdict: Not bad … not the best I have ever had but not bad. It reminded me of an apple daiquiri of sorts. The aroma is a light mix of apple and vanilla. The taste is strong on the citrus at the start with a slight medicinal taste (and after taste). The apple follows behind the citrus and blends very lightly with the vanilla, spice flavor from the rum. The orgeat is all but masked here – if I were to do again I would up the orgeat to at least a half an ounce and experiment with a stronger flavored rum.
theSpeakista’s Rating: 2 3/4 stars (out of 5)
Next up … another sour-style drink with gin making its debut
