Here are five cocktails from the award wining bartenders of the country
Earlier this year, Tulleeho.com, India’s most authoritative website on alcohol and cocktails, invited 16 of the country’s most respected and award-winning bartenders to create a special cocktail each, which would `shake, rattle and stir in 2015’. With names such as Pecore Negroni, Last Tango in Modena and Walk The Talk, each of these creations belong on the top rung of any mixology list. In fact, one of them, The Optimist, by Devender Sehgal , the bartender at the Hong Kong restaurant, Otto e Mezzo Bombana, won the prestigious Hong Kong & Macau final of the Bacardi Legacy Global Cocktail Competition last week. We asked Tulleeho.com founder Vikram Achanta to pick five of his favourites, presented here.
The Optimist By Devender Sehgal, 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana, Hong Kong
Ingredients
52.5 ml Bacardi White
11 ml ginger syrup
11 ml honey water
A handful of basil leaves
22.5 ml lime juice
Method
Add all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake well. Double strain in a coupe glass and garnish with a thin slice of cucumber. Rinse the glass with yellow Chartreuse before pouring your cocktail.
Last Tango in Modena By Sandy Verma, Sandy’s Bar and Kitchen, Gurgaon
Ingredients
60 ml tequila
10 ml passion fruit puree (Monin)
10 ml passion fruit juice
20 ml fresh lime juice
5-6 fresh basil leaves
1/4 green chilli
A few slices of assorted bell peppers
Garnish
1/2 fresh passion fruit, 1 orchid flower and basil leaf
Method
Muddle, shake and double strain into a margarita coupette glass.
Cointreaulicious By Ami Shroff, Flair Bartender and Winner La Maison Cointreau, India, 2014
Ingredients
45 ml Cointreau
20 ml Remy Martin VSOP
4 tsp chopped overripe pineapple
15 ml spiced jaggery syrup
8-10 ml fresh lemon juice
Garnish
Half an orange slice, lemon slice, 1 tsp chopped (overripe) pineapple, tiny pinch of cinnamon powder, a stick of lemongrass and straw
Method
Prepare spiced jaggery syrup (heat 100 ml water with ginger, lemongrass and cinnamon. Add approximately 100 gm of jaggery until it melts completely. Take off the fire and add 20 ml honey). Add all the ingredients. Muddle the pineapple well in a shaker. Fine strain over crushed ice in a rock glass
The Queen by Dibyendu Chaki, Someplace Else @ The Park, Kolkata
Ingredients
45 ml Bombay Sapphire
15 ml Martini Bianco
½ bar spoon gulkand
Caol Ila to rinse glass
1 dash orange bitters
Garnish
1 rosepetal
Method
In a mixing glass add gin, bitters, vermouth and gulkand. Add ice, stir well and pour into a pre-chilled coupe glass, rinsed with Caol Ila.
Pecore Negroniby Prahlad Sukthankar, Black Sheep Bistro, Goa
Ingredients
1 oz Campari
1 oz sweet vermouth (Martini Rosso)
1 oz “Cazulo” — a copper pot double-distilled Goan coconut feni, which is used instead of gin
3-4 drops of cashew feni infused with orange
Method
Stirred on ice in a rock glass, with a flamed orange peel