Tuaca

I noticed at a bar that there is a Tuaca machine where the Jaggermeister machine used to be- one of those cooling machines with fancy glowing lights on it to encourage you to try it. I figured they were out to capture the post-Fernet market so I had better try it. It's my job to know these things.
Tuaca is an Italian liqueur that tastes like the artificial vanilla that you sampled when you were a kid because it smelled good, and then you learned your lesson about doing that because it's kind of nasty. The bartenders said it's better warm than cold, so that's how I tried it. It was still gross. Generally I don't like many liqueurs, but I especially don't like this one.

*update* A Tuaca representative contacted me after reading this blog entry and said that it's much better cold and wanted to know what bar served it to me warm because the staff needed some re-training. I declined to reveal the identity of my source (of liquor) but did go back for a second taste. My bartender insisted that room temperature is better, so we did a side-by-side taste test.

It tastes much better cold. My bartender and I had to agree to disagree on that point. Cold it tastes like butterscotch sundae topping on vanilla ice cream. The lowered temperature takes much of the sting of the sweetness out of it, though it's still very sweet. Given the novelty of the cold serving temperature, Tuaca seems like the Jaggermeister/Fernet shot for people who want the ceremony of the shot without the taste of medicine.

Batidas

I did some cursory research on batidas, which is the other drink that specifies cachaca instead of rum (other than caipirinhas, in case you missed it). It turns out that the batida is a category of tropical fruit cocktails rather than just one drink. This website tells a little bit more about them and gives some recipes. This website has less information but simpler recipes for both the caipirinha and a couple of batidas. It seems the tricky part is locating the proper juices such as cashew juice and passion fruit juice. I have a Mexican grocery on my block so I should be in luck. There are dozens of juices there whose fruits I don't recognize and without any English translation on the boxes I was at a loss as to what they were. Now that I'll know a couple of words to look for, I'll finally have an excuse to try them out.

I am Dumb When it Comes to Rum

I’ve been contacted recently by the team behind Aqua Luca, a Brazilian cachaca, as they’re launching the brand in San Francisco with a big party Sunday at the Bambuddha Lounge. This new brand was created by two east coast banker types who were looking for a new venture.

I was curious as to why they chose a cachaca, when the only drink that calls for it is the Caipirinha. When I looked into it, I learned that I didn’t have a clue what cachaca is.

Cachaca is just rum made with sugarcane juice instead of molasses. I did not know that. According to Wikipedia, some other rums are actually made with sugarcane then flavored to taste like molasses. I’ve heard that Oronoco is actually cachaca but it’s labeled as rum.

They sent me a (very pretty) bottle of it in the mail to try. Now, I don’t claim to be a rum connoisseur (since I didn’t even know about a whole category of the stuff), but here are my impressions on tasting Agua Luca.

The nose of this cachaca is very much more sharp and alcoholic than the rums I’m used to. It’s almost medicinal like rubbing alcohol rather than giving off coffee notes like Bacardi, though after nosing it enough I can smell baker’s chocolate. It’s also hot and thin in the mouth- not as creamy and slow as other rums, and it’s sharp in the mouth after swallowing, but not in the throat.

The bottle says it has a “lively finish,” and they’re not lying. The flavor is very compact and flies past the pallet so fast that your brain has a hard time capturing the flavors as they speed past. The main thing I taste is something between a barrel and tea, like a woody stalk of a plant (not that I’ve been sucking on many of those lately). I also taste ink, but I haven’t had too much of that lately either, though I clearly remember the flavor of the Scripto erasable pen from sixth grade.

Anyway, on my first cachaca tasting I’d have to say that I prefer regular rum to sip. The next step will be trying each in Caipirinhas and other mixed drinks. Because, you know, I have to be thorough.

Hanging and the Hangar

Yesterday I visited the Hangar One and St. George Spirits Distillery in Alameda. It was a business trip, of course. I wanted both to visit the place to write about the distillery, and also to try the Hangar One Infused Vodkas for an article I'm writing about flavored vodkas for the (soon to be relaunched) CHOW website.

For ten bucks, you get to sample about 12 different spirits: A couple of Eau de Vie, five vodkas, some liqueurs, and a whisky. I was really surprised by the Qi liqueur, bottled as its own brand name. I haven't tried any of the green tea vodkas, assuming they were gross. This liqueur isn't sweet, but has a dark smokiness and complexity associated with a whisky. I couldn't help picking up bottle on the way out. I also liked the St. George Spirits whisky and bought some of that with all the money that I don't have.

The Hangar One infused vodkas I thought were mostly fantastic. The lemon citrus one was my favorite, which was a surprise to me because I think of lemon as such a simple, easy flavor. But the way these flavors are made using real fruit (as opposed to flavoring) makes a real difference in the outcome. That was the question I was there to answer for my story. And the answer was delicious.

Called It

I read on my friend Marcia's weekly Tablehopper email that Winterland restaurant is closing. I was there about a month ago and could tell it was going down the crapper. I heard that it was supposed to be all innovative and exciting, but it looked half-empty and depressing. I was visiting the restaurant researching my Guardian story on exotic cocktails, but decided not to include it because I didn't figure it would be open much longer. Guess I was right about that.

Spec's

Yesterday I was in Spec's in North Beach to meet my book club. Spec's is a great place to meet with groups, as they have big round wooden tables that can fit 10 or so people at each. If I remember correctly, they used to only carry really bad beer on tap- Bud and Miller. But now they've expanded (or maybe the always had it) and stock Sierra Nevada and a Hefeweizen and a couple other brands.

But Spec's is definitely a beer bar, or the kind of place where you drink whisky straight. It looks like a whaling museum in there and those drinks just seem to go with the place. I suppose rum would too but I can't think of any good rum drinks offhand.

But they carried a bottle of rye, and having been to Rye the day before for one of their awesome rye Manhattans, I decided to order one at Spec's. This was a mistake. The bartender put in far too much sweet vermouth and you could only barely tell the difference between this quality rye and any other whisky. Live and learn.