Chilled Apple Cider

Cider can be of two types, alcoholic and the non-alcoholic apple cider, of the alcoholic ciders, there are two varieties. One being, Hard Cider, which is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from apple juice, hard cider is akin to beer and is less alcoholic than wine. The other is, Dry Cider, which is also a fermented liquor made from apple juice, but the dry cider is allowed to ferment almost all of the sugar in apples and has less than 0.5% residual sugar and is more acidic and less sweet than Hard Cider. The yeast consumes the natural sugar of cider and makes the dry cider less sweet and highly alcoholic.

Chilled Champagne

Champagne is a sparkling wine produced in the Champagne region of France. Modern champagne is guided by the rules of appellation, which is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown. The grapes Pinot noir, Pinot meunier and Charodonnay are used to produce champagne.

Much ahead of the creation of the sparkling wine, still wines from the Champagne region were known since Medieval France. The Romans established vineyards in the Champagne region and these vineyards started to produce a light, fruity red wine that was a contrast to the heavier Italian brews.

Later Church owned vineyards started producing wines for ceremonies and festivities like the coronation, but the wine makers of Champagne were envious of the reputation of their neighbouring Burgundy wine makers, but the cooler climate of Champagne was a challenge to the production of red wine, and the grapes would struggle to ripen fully, and would have bracing levels of acidity and low sugar level, that would result in lighter and thinner red wines.

The oldest record of sparkling wine is Blanquette de Limoux, a wine invented by Benedictine monks in the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire, near Carcassone. Sparkling wine is created by bottling the wine before the fermentation has ended and another method is by addition of sugar and yeast to trigger a second fermentation in a finished wine.

However, despite the accidental invention of sparkling wine in France outside the Abbey, and despite recording of the in bottle second fermentation process of a finished wine been recorded in the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire by English scientist Christopher Merret in 1662 and noted as a process in use by the Benedictine monks since 1531, wine makers in Champagne were unable to use what is now known as the méthode traditionnelle or particularly méthode champenoise in Champagne until the 17th Century.

This was because glass manufacturing in France was not advanced enough to manufacture bottles that could withstand the internal pressure of the carbonation process. They used Méthode rurale, the early method used by the monks that created Blanquette de Limoux, in which the wine is bottled before the first fermentation is finished, and the yeast sediment after fermentation remains in the bottle.

The méthode champenoise which alternatively is known as méthode traditionnelle outside Champagne uses a second fermentation by adding a little sugar and yeast and then the sediment is slowly removed after an elaborate process of riddling and then disgorging, a process of removing the lees, the sediment that has settled at the neck near the cap of the inverted bottle.

So, in short, sparkling wines are produced outside Champagne too, and like Limoux can be of exquisite quality, but the Champagne due to early clever marketing, became associated with royalty in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and thus became a popular drink for the middle class too. Which created the legend of Champagne and now, with successful Geographical Indication Appellate, Champagne as a name and the name méthode champenoise can only be used by Champagnes that meet the requirement of the Appellate, and are from Champagne and Champagne only.

Sliced And Hulled Strawberries 1 kg

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

Sugar

Brown Sugar is a sucrose sugar with a distinctive brown colour from the presence of molasses, it is a partially refined or unrefined sugar containing sugar crystals and residual molasses giving it a distinctive taste and flavour of crystallised molasses or toffee. The taste of dark brown sugar is described as a caramel taste with a deep molasses flavour.
Brown sugar is used in cocktails where a caramel candy or toffee flavour is expected.

Caster Sugar is finely ground granulated sugar. It is not as fine a powdered confectioners' sugar and has a little grit to it. It is somewhere between confectioners' sugar and granulated sugar, and melts in mouth with a mild spicy feel to the tongue

Vanilla Sugar is the regular granulated sugar infused with vanilla flavour, by using vanilla pods and seeds to flavour the sugar. A home made alternative is to use vanilla sticks or pods in a jar of sugar and leave it sealed for 4 weeks to allow the vanilla flavour to infuse. Or to use granulated sugar and vanilla extract and blend in a mixer, although this ends up in powdered sugar.