Barrel aged Cocktails: First batches of "Int. Padovani Cocktail" & Negroni at THE TASTING ROOM

"Clear Water - after 60 hours aging"

So, after 60 hours of watering my first two new made limousin oak barrels, it was time to fill them. I decided to go for two drinks. Padovani and Negroni. First of all, I had to empty my water soaked barrels. Damn, and I made a surprise. The cristall clear water changed to amber, golden water. In just 60 hours. Smell like Wood, taste like Wood. The producer recommanded 24 to 48 hours of watering but I didn't made it on Sunday to the bar, so finally it was around 60 hour. And also, I get a little bit respect for my Idea to use NEW limousin barrels. Jeffrey and all the other I read about, started with used Whisky/Port etc. barrels. The NEW oak may give a real big impact to the liquid inside and I am a little bit afraid, that it is hopefully developing into a tasteful expirience. Otherwise, I just ruined a few hundreds Euro of Liquid and two barrels. Did I made a mistake? Time will show.

My first drink I like to barrel age, finally it was created in this bar, is the PADOVANI Cocktail. A Mixture of Scotch Whisky and St. Germain. For this drink we use 50 ml Malt/Scotch and 20 ml St. Germain, stirred, served on solid ice rock. So, I was thinking about, which Whisky I should buy? And finally, walking in my storage room doing my orders, I came up with the Idea to mix my own blend. Ladies and Gentleman, from today on, the IINTERNATIONAL BARREL AGED PADOVANI is resting in a barrel of THE TASTING ROOM. This is my mix:

THE INTERNATIONAL BARREL AGED PADOVANI COCKTAIL

• 1400 ml Nikka ALL MALT
• 1400 ml Bell's blended Scotch 12 Years
• 1400 ml Johnyn Walker Black Label Limited Edition 2009
• 1400 ml Clynelish - Destilelrs Edition
• 1000 ml Bushmills Malt
• 1400 ml Distillery Edition Glenfiddich 15 Years - 51 Vol%
• 1400 ml Solera 15 Years Glenfiddich
• 1400 ml Old Canada
•   700 ml peated Cask Strength Connemara
•   300 ml Glenmorangie Finealta
• 4200 ml St. Germain.

I took 2 liter of this mix "by side" the compare with the aging one.
The other 14 liters I put in barrel No. 1

The next drink ist the great Negroni. As we all know, classic service is equal part of each. But also we know, that we love it a little bit on the extra gin side. I decided to go for a great value for money gin, a great underdog, very well know in germany: Finsburry Platinum 47 % Vol. Also, I twisted it with 2 liter bottles of Finsbury 60% Vol. A great, strong, classic Gin type. Next twist: I changed Campari to Gran Classico. An finally, to give this drink the "Bar de Paris" touch, I decided to go for Noilly Prat rouge as a vermouth. So, equal parts of each. And I added 1400ml of my secret Ingridients. I will tell you in the future, what it is - maybe...

THE BARREL AGED NEGRONI

• 2000 ml Finsbury 60 % Vol.
• 3000 ml Finsbury Platinum 47 % Vol
• 4900 ml Gran Classico Bitter
• 4900 ml Noilly Prat Rouge
• 1400 ml of the secret Ingredients 38% Vol. 

2 Liter also by side as a reference, rest in barrel no. 2. So, I set this barrels up this morning and now it is time to wait. I think my first "Tasting" will be on Thursday. Jeffrey Morgenthaler said, that there is a magic moment after 5 to 6 weeks when it is the perfect age. But, as I use new barrels, I am quite not sure how this will work out. To be continued...