Port Morris Distillery Pitorro: The Nañejo / Nanejo

PORT MORRIS DISTILLERY:

PITORRO AÑEJO + NARANJA = NAÑEJO

Yes, we could have worked Mandarina in there somewhere, but... this seemed really catchy.





The Port Morris Distillery Tasting Room has a number of combinations which they offer, in order for you to get a good grasp of what they offer becomes when mixed with other flavors.  They favor carbonated beverages when pairing their Pitorro Añejo, and here are the main offerings you will find there:
The Uptown: Pitorro Añejo & Ginger Ale
El Toro: Pitorro Añejo & Red Bull (just FYI, alcohol + caffeine at strong levels like that can be harmful to anyone with hypertension).
Palito Libre: Pitorro Añejo & Cola

Three isn't a really big number, so we thought we would try to expand on their offerings by adding another very simple combination, and we call it: The Nañejo. It is something just about anyone can do without any fancy equipment or a whole bar full of ingredients.  You will need a few things though.

WHAT YOU NEED:

Port Morris Pitorro Añejo
Maine Root Mandarin Orange Soda
A glass to put it in.
Ice...probably.  See our post about Ice and stuff.  You'll learn stuff.

OK, so now you have your stuff together, let's see how easy it is to add 2 things together.  ...it's pretty easy.





Pitorro Añejo is one of those spirits that you are sometimes almost sad to add to a mixed drink, because it's so nice by itself.  But, unlike certain things like aged whiskeys or super-rum types, it really can play nice with others without losing its individual qualities.  It's the guy who shows up at a tango dance competition, but in the dark red tuxedo.  He definitely belongs there, but you are also definitely gonna remember him.   












While not 100% locally sources in terms of our Brooklyn location, Maine Root sodas are really some of the best ones you can find out there without having to put on a mining helmet and start really digging.  If your store doesn't carry it, see what you can do about pestering them enough to get at least the orange.






That's pretty much it.  It's a standard rum & coke type of thing.  

Next Up: 

El Ojo / The Eye.

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):

INDIGENOUS VODKA: A Storm of Apples, the Manzana Tempestad

PINKY MIXOLOGY’S APPLEJACK-OFF 2014:
Tuthilltown Spirits Indigenous Fresh-Pressed Apple Vodka

Remember when we mentioned that Indigenous Apple Vodka from Tuthilltown Spirits might go well with Sidral Mundet apple soda? Well we went and did that. We decided to mimic the style of the well-known tactic of (soda + lime) + booze = good.  We will be using Indigenous Vodka and Sidral Mundet (which is Mexican apple soda).  Sidral Mundet is imported, but it's not that hard to find in the U.S.  If your local stores don't have it, try your local Mexican take-out shops and taco places.  Chances are in the soda case there might be some.













Like many drinks, a small amount of lime juice is the make-it-or-break-it factor between good and terrible.  So don't forget this part, and it should go without saying that this needs to come from an actual lime and not a glass bottle of something.





How do we know this?  It's written on the actual Sidral Mundet label.  "Carbonated Water, Sugar, Contains less than 1% of: Apple Juice Concentrate, Artificial Flavors, Citric Acid and Malic Acid,  Sodium Hexametaphosphate and Potassium Sorbate (to protect taste), and Caramel Color."   So this isn't Martinelli's by any means.   So on the scale of "bad-for-you-ness" just think of it as the same level as a rum & coke poured from the soda gun of some local bar or something.  Actually, using Martinelli's might be pretty cool, so go buy some Indigenous Vodka and Martinelli's and try it out.








Yeah... same photo. 

A good ratio to maintain no matter what size glass you use, is to fill half with a combination of ice, vodka, and lime juice, and then the other half with apple soda. The earlier strong pungency of Indigenous Vodka we mentioned simply melts away leaving a great nose and flashy peacock tail of all that the tastes of apples have to offer.  When combined with the citrus of the lime, it cuts the sweetness of the apple soda to a nice medium, and makes this a great drink for easy drinking or just refreshing yourself on a hot day.  Screw the gin and tonic, go with the Dark n Stormy inspired name of Manzana Tempestad. Maybe just Manzana Tempest or just El Manzana ...?  This does have vodka in it, so maybe we can branch off from Moscow Mule.  Something like  Mexican Mule, (nah, that would be Tequila with lime and Ginger Beer) or Manzana Mule...? (ooo that's nice).   Someone come up with a name for this!


Again, we'd like to thank Tuthilltown Spirits (we can now spell that right without checking... sweet) for providing this bottle of Indigenous Vodka for our use in our Applejack-off 2014, and you can see more later this year when we use it (and others) in an upcoming episode. 

Soda

As the summer comes to a close, and you would rather just drink things out of a bottle and not spend forever concocting something or whatever, we are grateful to have access to a myriad of fizzy beverages that are made with actual taste in mind and not by some giant faceless company who shoves high fructose corn syrup into everything. 

Now we know that every region has their own local soda that everyone likes, and if we leave yours out then... too bad, we can't go get everything.
























Pig Iron Cola

Fentiman's

If you like a really strong sharp cola taste, the Pig Iron is a really good example of that.  Unfortunately, Pinky Mixology HQ is a bit far from Seattle, so our local suppliers don't always have it on hand.  The Fentiman's has the unfortunate distinction of being liked by the New York Times and being rated #1 in their list of colas, but despite being liked by the newspaper equivalent of a retired food co-op manager, this stuff is a very nice change of pace and goes well with stuff like fish or salad.




















Moving on to Birch Beer











Brownie Caramel Cream


Manhattan Special Sarsaparilla


Boylan's; a soda company that's still close to our hearts, but the Birch Beer just seem to miss the mark for us.  Maybe it's because we used to spend so much time in Wayne County PA.




Now maybe you might be wondering, where is the Dublin Dr. Pepper?  Well, it's dead.  It was murdered by friggin Snapple, which is owned by Schweppes, which is owned by Cadbury.  So now you can never taste Dr. Pepper as it was originally invented and stayed that way for almost 100 years.  Snapple, Schweppes, and Cadbury have decided that you can't have that because they are all a bunch of total assholes.   So as sad as it makes us, we won't be buying anything from these fucktarded companies again... even the amazing cream eggs.  So sad.









Unless it is kept extremely cold and still before opening, Manhattan Special does have a habit of kerploding out of the bottle instantly upon opening.  There are 2 methods of dealing with this that don't involve getting soda all over you.


Small Bottle: Open it as fast as you can and shove it in your face before it has a chance to overflow (this takes some practice, but eventually you'll be able to pull off this move while walking down Brooklyn streets with the soda in one hand and a slice in the other).


Large Bottle:  You may have seen the large bottle of Manhattan Special featured in our Ice Cream Float Valentine's Day Specialaganzatacular.  Due to the nature of the cap, there is no way you are getting it off fast enough, so we usually just let a little pressure out at a time while keeping the bottle on ice in the sink in case of overflow.

Manhattan Special is always worth hunting down, but you may want to avoid their coffee variations if you have a heart condition or other caffeine sensitivity.   Their Orange and Vanilla flavors are naturally caffeine free. 









Manhattan Special


Moxie


Fentiman's weirdness.


















Cheerwine

Nesbitt's

NuGrape






Now, we're a little late on this one, and that's because we were trapped way in the wilds of upstate New York in such a forested area that there was no internetseses (we were lucky there was indoor plumbing).  So a week of living the Amish life basically has set us back a bit.  On the plus side, there was moonshine.








See you next time, when we bring you:

SRIRACHA LEMONADE (With bonus cocktail).

We really did want to make this a bonus episode for this month, but that week away really killed us.  Also we're short on booze money right now (FYI that means send us some... Money or Booze it really doesn't matter).  You you all will have to wait until Oct. 1 to see how to make the ultimate Sriracha Lemonade.  Also we made a martini version:

The Sriracha Martini awaits.
That's the bonus cocktail I was talking about
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