Binge - Swig Some Cocktails and Forget the Pig

And you thought you’d never see the day when pigs could fly. Well they did, didn’t they? Swine flu wings its way around the world and we’ve got our first confirmed case in Asia now. With WHO declaring a pandemic imminent, it’s time to whip out our trusty thermometers again and consider staying home.

But the weekend’s round the corner, you cry, Feminist Mother Mentor has been ousted and Mother’s Day is in sight. One needs must have the weekly celebratory martini!

Let me be the voice of calm and reason. There’s no need to go cold turkey just because the pigs are mucking about. Here are a few tips I picked up along the way…

Cassis Cocktails
I recently discovered Lejay Lagoute, a brand of French liqueurs to hit Singapore. Their Crème de Cassis and Double Crème de Cassis, both sweet blackcurrant liqueurs, are smooth, plump and lush, and they make a gorgeous Kir Royal. The authentic French way to do this apparently is to mix 1 part cassis with 4 parts Champers or Prosecco. If you are out of bubbly, all is not lost. Mix a Kir thus: 170ml dry white wine, 1 tbsp cassis, a few ice cubes and a twist of lemon peel. Drop everything into a large wine glass and stir elegantly. (I was told Bourgogne Aligote is the traditional wine for this mix, if not, an unoaked Chardonnay is just fine.)

The Japanese are Asia’s biggest cassis drinkers, and what they do is mix 1 part cassis with 3 parts chilled oolong tea. I tried it with the bottled Pokka oolong which is unsweetened; strange as the combination sounds, it was really rather good. Try it!

By the way, I’m told that Lejay Legoute’s liqueurs roll out from their plants relatively fresh as they IQF their blackcurrants after harvesting and send the fruits for maceration only when they have to…rather than macerate en mass at harvest and then store the liqueur over long periods. Apparently not many liqueur companies do that. (Available at Booze Wineshop@Republic Plaza, from S$42)

Pedro Ximinez with Ice Cream
What else to imbibe? Well, Indra Kumar, the beverage supervisor at Ritz Carlton shared a couple of secrets with me, including an irresistible bar dessert: Serve some seriously good vanilla ice cream with fresh raspberries and blueberries, and slosh on a healthy glug of MV Lustau ‘San Emilio’, Solera Reserva, Pedro Ximénez, a sweet fortified wine from Spain. The result is a dessert made in heaven, and like Indra says every time he whips it up: “It’s so simple….Soooo simple you can do it yourself at home.” It’s not on the menu at the Chihuly Lounge, but perhaps you can sweettalk him into assembling one for you?

Chambord Liqueur
Another well-kept secret Indra offered is a liqueur I would imagine stands as a rival to cassis. It’s called Chambord, a black raspberry and blackberry liqueur that comes in an elaborate bottle with a crown for its cap – always found at a full bar but rarely used, he says. Served neat and on the rocks at a sample tasting for a few of us, it was fabulous! Rich, luxurious, moderately syrupy, an intense and luscious libation that’s oh-so drinkable. I did some research on the website and found that Chambord has been around for 300 years, created in Loire Valley by the same family since King Louis XIV’s time. It’s made from a maceration of black raspberries, vanilla, honey, herbs and other berries steeped in Cognac. You can mix Chambord and Champers for another delicious cocktail, but in that case don’t call it Kir Royal, a term which, by the way, is trademarked to Lejay Lagoute.

Serve up these drinks and chinny chin chin!

by ew