SANTA FE SPIRITS APPLE BRANDY: The Stormy Orchard

Pinky Mixology Presents: Applejack-Off 2014

SANTA FE SPIRITS APPLE BRANDY:

The Stormy Orchard

The mixing of spirits and carbonated beverages is almost as old as distillation itself (think 11th Century) and this is one of many varyations on the Dark n Stormy, which has been more or less claimed by Gosling's Rum.  But the Stormy Orchard is the go-to cocktail whenever someone is over at Santa Fe Spirits, and here's how they do it.














We are gonna mention this every time.  Use real actual fresh limes.  You will seriously mess this up with anything else.  For this drink we will be using a hand-squeezer like this one. You've seen it here before. 





Despite what some people may say, this is in fact a London Dock wine glass (sometimes doubles as a Port wine glass).  There is also a toddy cocktail that is called the London Dock as well, and oddly enough it's served in an Irish Coffee Mug (because it's a Toddy, duh), and is not one of these glasses.  These glasses were used by merchants to quickly sample wine when it was unloaded to make sure it didn't suck.  Do not let yourself be told otherwise. 


















Santa Fe Spirits recommended both Q and/or Fever Tree.  ...We've never had much love for Fever Tree either.   We're not saying it's bad, but both are weak in the ginger area as far as we are concerned.  It comes together well, but lacks the ginger-burn.  For us, that's a deal-breaker, but for many people that's exactly what they want, so this is something that they would really like.  The thing is, we are huge Gosling's fans (as you can see) and have had many a Dark n Stormy over the years, so we're set pretty deep in the way we specifically like it, which is with Caribbean style ginger beers known for having a strong burn, which Q does not.   So, we just like our ginger beer dry and on fire, but if you don't, then this is for you.

The following are brands that are all in the same family of softer tasting ginger beer / ginger ale:  Q, Fever Tree, Bundaberg, and Boylan's.  So if you know someone who runs away from hot sauce or doesn't ever put pepper on their salad, then this might be the stuff for them. 

While Q fell a little short with us, we should mention that a little dash of Angostura Bitters made this thing totally 3 dimensional and much more interesting.  Also the grapefruit soda made by Q is actually amazing just by itself.






We had tasted other Fentiman's here on Pinky Mixology, but never their Ginger Beer.  Since Canada is mostly just England with lumberjacks, we figured it would be closer to the U.K. ginger beers that are out there.   Turns out this stuff is just weird.










The herbal qualities seemed to fight both the citrus and the Apple Brandy.  Not physically, but like how girls are mean to each other in the locker room or something.  There's really no other ginger soda we can compare this to.  It's kind of interesting by itself, and might only go well with something like some kind of Amaro. 












Ginger People brand drinks are very widely distributed in the USA and rather easy to find.  This was our safety that we knew we would most likely prefer.

Brands of this more searing ginger nature include: The Ginger People, Reed's, Maine Root, and D&G Jamaican Ginger Beer (the one w/o High Fructose Corn Syrup that you can only find in like... Florida).





Here is our home-made ginger beer episode.  We only left this for a few days, so we're pretty sure it didn't ferment much, but you can jack this stuff to levels of 6% ABV or higher if you're nuts.





It was kind of over the top, and like an elephant at the opening of an Abercrombie & Fitch, our ginger beer just kicked over everyone else there and made a bit of a mess of things with impunity. 




We would recommend this as a great way to introduce people to Santa Fe Spirits Apple Brandy and most Applejack for that matter, but only if they already like a Dark n' Stormy.  If someone isn't a ginger fan, they aren't really gonna like this no matter what. 

NOTICE:  We suggest avoiding the following ginger beverages; Canada Dry, Seagram's, Schweppes, Goya, store-brands, Adirondack, Polar, and sadly Gosling's Stormy Ginger Beer.  These all contain High Fructose Corn Syrup (Gosling's even has the balls to write "all natural" on their friggin cans).  Even forgetting the health issues, HFCS straight up ruins carbonated drinks, and also it straight up ruins any cocktails it ends up in.  Don't believe us?  Here, take it from an expert (skip to 5:30):