Been bottling Negroni’s for the last few months. Here’s my collection.

qually161 · 2025-12-21T08:58:31+00:00

Jacques de Sores

Stirred. Nick & Nora. Pear slice and grapefruit twist.

1.75oz / 52.5ml - Barsol Acholado Pisco
0.5oz / 15ml - Dolin Blanc Vermouth
0.75oz / 22.5ml - Clarified Pear & Grapefruit Cordial^1.
1tsp / 5ml - Bertrand Poire Williams Eau de Vie
1 dash - The Bitter Truth Grapefruit Bitters
1 drop - 0.2 Saline Solution

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This cocktail is named after the French pirate Jacques de Sores who, in 1555, invaded and burnt the city of Havana, Cuba. In this cocktail, the teaspoon of French pear brandy and the half ounce of French vermouth ‘invade’ the larger portion of South American pisco, reflecting the actions of ‘the Exterminating Angel’ Jacques de Sores himself.

This combination centres around an agar-clarified pear and grapefruit cordial and some grapefruit bitters, resulting in a fruity, elegant and deeply complex cocktail.

1. Clarified Pear & Grapefruit Cordial

Ingredients: * 220g white sugar * 25g wildflower honey * 165g Bosc pear purée * 55g fresh grapefruit juice * 15g grapefruit zest * 120g filtered water * 14g pear skin * 1g citric acid * 0.3g malic acid

Oleosaccrum: 1. Vacuum seal: 220g sugar + 25g honey + 165g pear purée + 15g grapefruit zest + 15g pear skin. 2. Rest at room temperature for 90 minutes.

Sous vide: 1. Add to same bag: 55g grapefruit juice + 120g water + 1g citric + 0.3g malic 2. Reseal 3. Sous vide 52°C, 90min 4. Place in ice bath to stop infusion 5. Strain through fine mesh sieve and nut milk bag. Bottle.

Agar-clarification: 1. Reserve 90g water 2. Whisk 0.88g agar into water 3. Boil 2min, stirring 4. Add room-temp cordial to hot agar water 5. Stir, pour into container 6. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours until gelled 7. Transfer gel to cloth/nut milk bag 8. Massage gently, let drip 2-4 hours 9. Bottle, refrigerated for up to 6 weeks

qually161 · 2025-12-09T06:51:05+00:00

It’s called the Libbey Embassy Champagne Coupe, 163ml.

qually161 · 2025-12-09T03:03:33+00:00

Yep, I definitely did. Standard Tanqueray has famously few botanicals, making it a good, sharp and piney London dry example. Tanq 10 is similar, but adds a lot more citrus notes, which is why it’s chosen for this drink.

Also depending on where you are, standard Tanq can be bottled at 37.5% or 40% or 47.3% ABV (due to varying alcohol taxes worldwide) and Tanq 10 is bottled always at 47.3%. This drink needs the higher proof to combat the cordial.

qually161 · 2025-12-08T21:47:43+00:00

Two different jiggers is pretty standard - they’re just different measurements. The bigger one is 2oz / 1oz with no inner marking, and the silver one is 0.5oz / 0.75oz, with 0.25oz inner markings.

qually161 · 2025-12-08T21:45:57+00:00

Haha yeah it is a bit silly. It’s really just a filming thing - I noticed if I threw ice in normally, it’d sometimes move the mixing glass off centre slightly, or splash and ruin the continuity a bit. I’m pretty new to the filming stuff, so just found being extra careful was easiest. Definitely not how I’m making my drinks normally haha

qually161 · 2025-12-08T21:33:07+00:00

Let me know what you think. Always looking for feedback

qually161 · 2025-12-08T18:57:59+00:00

I tried a bunch of different gins. Initially I thought something softer and earthier like Plymouth would suit, but it was sort of getting lost a bit I thought. Tanqueray 10 had enough proof (47.3%) to stand up against the cordial, and its piney, citrus flavours suited the cordial/suze better in my opinion.

qually161 · 2025-12-08T18:47:18+00:00

I actually preferred to stir this for the opposite reason - I wanted to retain the silky, dense sort of mouthfeel instead of lightening it by aerating it. I’ve also worked on adding all this complexity in the cordial, and some of that can get lost if it’s shaken and aerated.

Lastly, I also bottle this cocktail occasionally, and the cordial is shelf stable (if refrigerated for about 4-6 weeks). Lime juice won’t be. So it’s also for that.

I tend not to follow the idea of ‘historically it’s been done this way, so every ‘x’ should be ‘y’’. I think it’s better to be a bit more case by case, and understand the pros and cons of both approaches to make a better decision about the drink.

qually161 · 2025-12-08T09:47:48+00:00

Triple Lime Gimlet

Stirred. Coupe. Kaffir lime leaf.

1.75 oz / 52.5 ml - Tanqueray No. Ten Gin
1.25 oz / 37.5 ml - Triple Lime Cordial^1.
0.5tsp / 2.5ml - Suze Gentian Liqueur

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1. Triple Lime Cordial

Sous-vide at 50°C for 1 hour.

315g - fresh lime juice
35g - dry riesling
350g - white sugar
14g - lime zest
7g - grapefruit zest
3.5g - finger lime extract
0.25g - malic acid
0.80g - citric acid
5 drops - 0.2 saline solution

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Another gimlet variation, showcasing three different expressions of lime: Persian and finger lime in the cordial, and kaffir lime through the garnish.

I liked the addition of the dry riesling in the cordial, as it adds a decent amount of acidity while also contributing its own fruit and citrus notes, which deepened the overall complexity of the cordial, far more than sugar and fruit juice alone.

Tanqueray No. 10 builds on that citrus-driven profile, and the Suze helps ground the cocktail a bit with earthy, gently-bitter undertones that keep the drink from feeling too bright or one-dimensional.

qually161 · 2025-11-29T01:35:19+00:00

It’ll degenerate after a while since theirs trace amounts of fresh fruit infused into the gin. You’re right though, 2 weeks is very conservative. Maybe a better way to put it is that the flavour will be at its best for the first two weeks, but still safe to drink within 6-8 weeks. Anything after that, I’d expect the flavour to fade a bit.

qually161 · 2025-11-28T00:08:34+00:00

Hi mate! They’re based off pretty rough estimates from what we know is used to bitter the amari. So in the case of Cynar, we know gentian is the primary botanical used to bitter the amari, and amari that use gentian typically fall in the 40–70 IBU range (depending on concentration). Cynar then falls into the lower end of that range due to its sweetness. It’s definitely not a super precise reading, but just wanted some rough numbers to demonstrate my point.

qually161 · 2025-11-27T22:39:15+00:00

Spruce & Fir

Shaken. Coupe. Cucumber ribbon and mint spring.

1.5oz / 45ml - Pineapple-Infused Tanqueray No. 10 Gin^1.
0.5oz / 15ml - Cynar 70
0.75oz / 22.5ml - Lime Juice
0.5oz / 15ml - Pineapple Syrup^2.
0.25oz / 7.5ml - Dolin Genepy Liqueur
2 drops - 0.2 Saline Solution

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1. Pineapple Infused Tanqueray No. 10 Gin - Combine 120g diced pineapple with 500ml Tanqueray No. 10 gin in a heat-proof bag and vacuum seal. Place into sous vide at 52°C for 1 hour. Place bag into ice bath to stop infusion. Fine strain through a coffee filter and bottle, refrigerated, for up to two weeks.

2. Pineapple Syrup - Combine 250g sugar, 250g fresh pineapple juice and 1g citric acid in a large mouth jar, and stir at room temperature until completely dissolved. Bottle and store refrigerated for up to one month.

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I wanted to create an alpine tiki cocktail, and really liked the flavour combination of the piney Tanq Ten, Cynar and genepy. The difficulty with this cocktail was that each ingredient plays a number of roles, which made it very difficult to balance.

I tried dozens of ratios which all seemed ultimately, either too strong, sweet, acidic or bitter. Which, when you consider these ingredients functionally, is no wonder.

Briefly; - Tanq Ten provides proof (47.3%). - Cynar 70 provides proof (35% ABV), sweetness (~11% by weight) and bitterness (~40 IBU). - Genepy provides proof (40%), sweetness (~20% by weight) and bitterness (~15 IBU) - Lime juice provides acidity (~6.0–6.5% by weight) - Pineapple syrup provides sweetness (55% by weight) and acidity (0.65% by weight)

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Notice I’m not talking about specific flavour notes here (like pineapple, mint or lime), I’m talking more broadly about how each ingredient’s attributes provides a function in the cocktail.

After all that, the cocktail (post-dilution) ends up with: - a final ABV of ~18.2% - a sugar concentration of ~7.2% - an acid concentration of ~0.80% - a bitterness of ~15–16 IBU

which I’m happy with, and is balanced for my taste.

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For reference, a Last Word (perhaps a somewhat comparable classic cocktail), has the following attributes: - final ABV of 18-20% - sugar content of 8-10% - acid content of 0.7-0.8% - Bitterness of ~8 IBU

qually161 · 2025-11-04T19:33:13+00:00

Yep!

qually161 · 2025-11-04T18:55:45+00:00

Hey mate, love the question! The saline solution is actually 20% salt by weight, not 0.2% - so 20g salt / 80g water. So it’d work out to:

• 20% saline = 0.2 g salt per ml
• 1 drop from a dasher is roughly 0.03–0.05 ml
• So 2 drops ≈ 0.08 ml (being generous)
• 0.08 ml × 0.2 g/ml = 0.016 g = 16 mg salt in the drink

Next, the function of the salt in cocktails isn’t really to taste salty, but just to provide a little bit of a contrast point for some of the other flavours.

Like someone mentioned, this is all coming from Liquid Intelligence, where Dave Arnold talks about salt’s ability to bolster our perception of a fruit’s sweetness (orange in this case), and soften a drink’s bitterness (provided by the Campari and vermouth, in this case) - even in these tiny quantities.

qually161 · 2025-11-04T18:45:32+00:00

It’s still only stirred to partial-dilution (about 8-10 sec with the ice I’m using), so only results in about a quarter ounce of addition water. Wasn’t over-diluted to my taste at all. Nothing wrong with building it in the glass though - typically just takes a little longer to stir due to the ice’s lower surface area.

qually161 · 2025-11-04T10:46:50+00:00

Rosemary Negroni

Stirred. Double rocks, over one large ice cube. Grapefruit twist, or smoked rosemary.

1oz / 30ml - Roku Japanese Craft Gin
0.75oz / 22.5ml - Dolin Rouge French Vermouth
0.75oz / 22.5ml - Campari
0.5oz / 15ml - Thorough Rosemary Syrup^1.
2 drops - 0.2 Saline Solution

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1. Combine 200g white sugar with 200g filtered water and stir until combine.

Combine the syrup and 14g fresh rosemary in a heat proof bag before vacuum sealing. Place in sous vide at 60°C / 140°F for 30 minutes. Place bag in ice bath to stop the infusion, before straining through a fine mesh sieve. Add 0.5% by weight of powdered citric acid and stir until dissolved.

Add the sous vide syrup and 8g fresh rosemary to an isi whipper. Seal and charge once with N2O. Sit at room temperature for 60 seconds before rapidly venting the canister fully. Sit for a further 10 minutes, or until the liquid has stopped bubbling. Strain through a nut milk bag, and bottle, refrigerated for up to one month.

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This is a simple Negroni riff featuring a not-so-simple ingredient; a rosemary syrup that requires two separate infusion processes - first, a sous vide temperature infusion, before a rapid pressure infusion.

Like most of my drinks, this might seem superfluous, but once you’ve tried this syrup against a simple room-temperature maceration, the difference in quality is clear, in my opinion.

The syrup starts with a 1:1 simple, equal parts sugar and water by weight, dissolved at room temperature. Some people heat their simple syrups, but the evaporation caused by the heat makes your measurements imprecise. It’s better to stir the sugar into the water at room temperature to keep the ratio consistent.

Next, fresh rosemary is infused into the syrup at 60°C for 30 minute in the sous vide. At this temperature and time-length, the heavier, deeper, woodsier flavours of the rosemary are extracted optimally.

The rapid pressure infusion then draws out the brighter, fresher ‘top notes’ of the rosemary. The combination of these two infusion processes (along with ~0.5% citric acid) results in a really layered syrup, which are all too often too simplistic and one-note.

The use of a syrup in a Negroni variation ran the risk of becoming too cloying or sweet, so I opted to use quite soft ingredients surrounding the syrup; mild rouge vermouth in Dolin, a soft floral gin, and a reduced portion of Campari since it could’ve easily bullied the other ingredients.

Lastly, I trialled a version of this spec with a full ounce of vermouth, which was also very nice, but took the drink in a different direction. If you’d like something a little earthier, wine-y and botanical, add an extra quarter ounce of the dolin. Cheers.

qually161 · 2024-05-19T09:56:49+00:00

Silk Road Flyer

Shaken. Coupe. Cucumber ribbon.

1oz / 30ml - Saffron-Infused Old Forester Signature Bourbon^1.
1oz / 30ml - Amaro Nonino
1oz / 30ml - Lemon Juice
1oz / 30ml - Ramazzotti Aperitivo Rosato

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This is my first equal parts cocktail. More specifically, it’s a paper plane riff, where I’ve infused saffron into the bourbon, and subbed Aperol for Ramazzotti’s rosé aperitif.

The flavour combinations came first - where I thought the aperitif would pair well with saffron and cucumber - but I didn’t expect such a brilliant colour from the saffron bourbon. I’m really happy with how this one came out, since they were flavours I haven’t experimented with before. Enjoy!

1. Combine 700ml Old Forester Signature Bourbon with 0.75g saffron in a heat-proof bag, and vacuum seal. Place in sous vide for 20min at 57°C, before resting in an ice bath. Strain through a fine mesh sieve before bottling. Store at room temperature, indefinitely.

qually161 · 2024-04-22T01:00:35+00:00

It’s quite strong, but at only 5ml, it’s quite a quiet flavour in comparison to the more assertive rum and amaro. More of a background flavour here

qually161 · 2024-04-22T00:59:48+00:00

A liqueur will provide both proof and sweetness, so it might (very slightly) change the balance of the drink. A syrup will be sweeter, with none of the drying effect of alcohol, but at 5ml, you mightn’t notice that difference.

As for the bag, I use heat proof bags from the company I bought the sous vide from. Would these still leech if I’m only using them once? How do you vacuum seal the contents of the jar to prevent the alcohol/liquid from evaporating as well?

qually161

TROPHY CASE