White Rum

In the making of Rum, the produce of the fermentation and distillation process of molasses is a transparent spirit, which is then aged in vats or barrels and the end result of the ageing is Rum.

White Rum differs from Dark Rum in this process of ageing, while to produce a Dark Rum, the distillate is aged in a large charred oak barrel, White Rum is aged in big stainless still barrels.

There are no legal categorisatoin of Rums and it's just a matter of practice that dark rum is used in cooking or is drunk straight or with a Cola , white rums are mostly used in cocktails.

White Creme De Cacao

Creme de Cacao is a chocolate liqueur that has probably been produced and sold in France since as early as 1666. In America a Chocolate wine was popular in the 18th Century, it's ingredients included sherry, port, chocolate and sugar.

A modern recipe for chocolate liqueur at home lists the ingredients as chocolate extract, vanilla extract and simple syrup and in purest form, chocolate liqueur is clear and colours may be added.

Creme de Cacao can be consumed straight and as an apertif, in cocktails and in desserts, in dessert sauces, cakes and truffles.

Green Chartreuse

If there is any liqueur shrouded in mystery and steeped in history of European medieval culture of alcoholic medicine making, be it eau de vie or uisce beatha, the history of the monks of different orders who spent their time in identifying herbs and their benefits, Chartreuse would be the forerunner.

Chartreuse gets its name after the monks of the Carthusian Order head quartered in Grande Chartreuse monastery, located in the Chartreuse Mountains in Grenoble, France. It is a distilled alcohol aged with 130 herbs, plants and flowers, with a recipe that's to this day, a closely kept secret that only two monks can know, at any given time. These are the monks that mix the botanicals.

The recipe of this Elixir Vegetal was presented to Carthusian monks by François Hannibal d'Estrées, a marshall of artillery, during French King Henry IV, in 1605. Since then, through ups and downs, exiles and returns, the monks have held to their secret tightly and once were producing Chartreuse in exile from Spain.

After their exile in 1793 the Carthusian monks returned to France in 1816, and the manuscript to the elixir that was secretly passed on when the monks carrying it were arrested, were passed on back to them, they started producing Chartreus from the Monastry.

They were exiled again in 1903 and they took refuge in Tarragona, Catalonia and the monks started producing it with the label Liqueur fabriquée à Tarragone par les Pères Chartreux, until their return to France and regaining control of the distillery at the Monastry a few decades later.

Pineapple Juice

Rich in antioxidants, this juice pressed from the pulp of the Pineapple is a good protection against cell degeneration, It contains bromelain, a group of enzymes known to reduce inflammation, improve digestion and boost immunity. In drink mixing, there is nothing like the tropical flavour of pineapple juice to add that tropical freshness and nuance to a cocktail.

In drink mixing pineapple having a fruity tropical aroma pineapple juice is a good companion for tropical fruits such as mango, banana, passion fruit, and also pairs well with oranges and grapefruit juice.

Pineapple juice is the juice pressed out of the pulp of the pineapple fruit, several varieties of pineapple are used to manufacture commercial pineapple juice. High on Vitamin C and enzymes that have been shown to activate healthy immune response, it’s a good juice to start a day. The enzyme bromelain in pineapple juice, triggers analgesic response in the body to fight pain and reduce swelling. In cocktails, Pineapple juice goes best with Vodka and is often a regular juice in many Vodka cocktails.

Lime Juice

Lime Juice being rich in Vitamin C is an excellent remedy for sore throat and aids in digestion and controls blood sugar, and also promoted weight loss. It is used for various culinary and non-culinary purposes all over the world. Lime juice is known to reduce or even reverse the effects of excessive alcohol consumption and intoxication.
The difference between Lime Juice and Lemon Juice is that although the sweet and sour Lemon and the bitter and sour Lime are two different fruits, they have similar properties and tastes similar too, the Lime, unlike the sweet and large Lemon, is used raw and is usually plucked green and has more bitterness and sourness in it's taste, and is grown better in tropical and sub-tropical climates.
In drink mixing, fresh lemon juice brings a tangy zing to so many classic drinks and in fact, it's the most used ingredient in drink mixing other than the liquors of course.

Crushed Ice

Ice is so obvious in most drinks, be it a straight drink or a mixed drink, that we often forget it's importance or even reason behind using a crystal clear good quality ice in a glass of whisky, or crushed ice in a tall glass to enjoy a cocktail.

Ice tempers a hard liquor, and as is in the case of whisky for example, if you prefer the flavours of whisky reach your nose without the hard note of spirit lingering around, or want to avoid the mild sting of a neat whisky, a cube of ice mellows the strength down a little and as it melts slowly, the aroma and flavour is released from the whisky slowly and makes whisky progressively weak, lingering and palatable.

Ice in Vodka helps release the little flavour a Vodka has, slowly, instead of letting the Vodka hit your nose all at once,

In mixed drinks, ice plays an important role in creating the perfect temperature a certain drink requires and bartenders use ice in several different ways, crushed ice for long drinks that will allow the cocktail to slowly water down like a Mint Julep, Moscow Mule, Rum Swizzle, Sherry Cobbler and other Tiki drinks, a large block or cubes of ice for drinks that are spirit heavy, such as the Old Fashioned, Negroni, and Manhattan