Q: Something I've never quite understood is soda water vs sparkling/fizzy water? Is it all essentially the same thing? I usually buy a 1L plastic bottle of supermarket "Soda" water, use maybe 250ml and bin the rest once it's gone flat. I don't have a soda stream and I can't find soda water in small cans as I can for tonic. Should I just buy sparkling water? Should I stop worrying and just have another drink?
I loved this post - thanks for the challenge, Richard! I really wanted to use 9 Di Dante Inferno vermouth for this - I opened a bottle yesterday and it’s a delicious vermouth. However, it would have been too sweet to pair with my chosen liqueur, so I went for Noilly Prat instead. The liqueur was Ginja, from Alcobaça. Ginja is a Portuguese sour cherry liqueur, traditionally made in the regions of Alcobaça and Óbidos, apparently created by the Cistercian monks who grew Morello cherries in the area. It’s dark and sweet, with hints of cinnamon (and sour cherry, obviously). The M.S.R. brand, from Alcobaça, is in my opinion the best, by far.
To balance the sweetness, I added a dash of lime juice and topped it off with soda water, ending up with The Monk’s Creation (I was going to call it the Monk’s Habit, but it looks like that name is already taken):
#11 Casa Mariol Vermut. Just for the bottle design alone. Thanks for this! Vermouth and Soda is the best for us older drinkers looking for lower alcohol combinations. 🙏
Could you suggest any tonic water that is sweetened with actual cane sugar as you don’t seem to like the Fever Tree which was my favourite one so far? Thanks
Belated: I have a bottle of Ramazzotti Aperitivo Rosato, which looks a lot more amazing than it is. Or at least, I was struggling to work out what to do with it until I was rummaging through your posts for what I might do with mandarin juice (life is such a struggle sometimes) and ended up here.
So should someone else end up with a bottle of the stuff, I can report that it is perfectly delightful over ice with equal parts fresh citrus juice (I tested both mandarin and orange) and tonic.
Q: Something I've never quite understood is soda water vs sparkling/fizzy water? Is it all essentially the same thing? I usually buy a 1L plastic bottle of supermarket "Soda" water, use maybe 250ml and bin the rest once it's gone flat. I don't have a soda stream and I can't find soda water in small cans as I can for tonic. Should I just buy sparkling water? Should I stop worrying and just have another drink?
I'm drinking a Microlite, for a slight resemblance to the Aviation ... Vermouth, Maraschino and Soda Water, with a cherry garnish.
I loved this post - thanks for the challenge, Richard! I really wanted to use 9 Di Dante Inferno vermouth for this - I opened a bottle yesterday and it’s a delicious vermouth. However, it would have been too sweet to pair with my chosen liqueur, so I went for Noilly Prat instead. The liqueur was Ginja, from Alcobaça. Ginja is a Portuguese sour cherry liqueur, traditionally made in the regions of Alcobaça and Óbidos, apparently created by the Cistercian monks who grew Morello cherries in the area. It’s dark and sweet, with hints of cinnamon (and sour cherry, obviously). The M.S.R. brand, from Alcobaça, is in my opinion the best, by far.
To balance the sweetness, I added a dash of lime juice and topped it off with soda water, ending up with The Monk’s Creation (I was going to call it the Monk’s Habit, but it looks like that name is already taken):
60ml French vermouth
20ml Ginja de Alcobaça
A dash of lime juice
60ml soda water
#11 Casa Mariol Vermut. Just for the bottle design alone. Thanks for this! Vermouth and Soda is the best for us older drinkers looking for lower alcohol combinations. 🙏
Could you suggest any tonic water that is sweetened with actual cane sugar as you don’t seem to like the Fever Tree which was my favourite one so far? Thanks
Belated: I have a bottle of Ramazzotti Aperitivo Rosato, which looks a lot more amazing than it is. Or at least, I was struggling to work out what to do with it until I was rummaging through your posts for what I might do with mandarin juice (life is such a struggle sometimes) and ended up here.
So should someone else end up with a bottle of the stuff, I can report that it is perfectly delightful over ice with equal parts fresh citrus juice (I tested both mandarin and orange) and tonic.
Vermouth in fridge. And a use for all those vacuum stoppers. Finally! I suppose Dubonnet etc and amari should go in the fridge too?