The Webtender
Forum and Chat

 Message 19741 of 20656 in Recipe Exchange
 Share on Facebook |  Save to del.icio.us  
Subject: Re: blue drink
From: apetail
Posted: Sun Jul 12. 2009, 15:48 UTC
Followup to: "Re: blue drink"  by UKPhantom  (Sun Jul 12. 2009, 13:44 UTC)
I can add that if you still insist on blue, for whatever reason, that you 
might want to think about expectations consumers might have about the drink. 
The preference of the flavour might turn out to be higher if it matches the 
expectation. Many times bartenders create drinks without thinking about these 
expectations and don't create drinks guided by consumers wishes but instead on 
random trial and error accompanied by artistic intuition. Artistic intuition 
may be nice but it is very personal and subjective and my not always result 
into something which complies with consumer demand. Are you making this drink 
for your own pleasure or for pleasing consumers and increasing profit?

My experience is that blue colour matches the less sweet drinks or at least 
drinks with some good dose of sourness or astringency (Producers of blue 
sports drinks have it wrong. The red ones and the orange match the taste much 
better. And they are better.). It may be associated with exploration and also 
with risk. People who choose to drink something blue might tend to prefer 
strange and new flavours (hence the fantasy flavour in blue sports drinks). 
There would be disappointment if your blue drink points out to be a drink 
which is little dynamic and has simple flavour. 

I would personally use blue curacao to create a blue drink. Hypnotic is 
another popular blue ingredient/drink. But, besides low availability in my 
area it tends to be less interesting for mixed drinks (It is a good ingredient 
to create drinks but it is already a lot polished and is, as such, not a good 
building stone for ones own creations. Especially when one has restraints like 
the need to use pineapple and gin as well). Other blue ingredients are rare 
and pure colourants are not my (unfounded) personal preference.

A problem with pineapple might be that it is very turbid and has a strong 
yellow colour. Combinations of blue curacao and pineapple might turn green. 
You may want to think about a layered drink or use low amounts of pineapple.

Another reason not to use a blue drink for a drink competition (besides the 
ones put forward by Merlin): Competitions are decided by the opinions of only 
a few judges. Their taste preferences are personal and subjective but also, 
highly influenced by circumstances. One of these circumstances are 
preconceptions about how drinks should look like. If a competition drink 
deviates too much from what people commonly believe is good drink then they 
will rate it as less high. A blue colour is not a common colour (especially 
for drinks believed to be fashionable and haute cuisine) so there is a 
reasonable chance that the judges will rate it a less high because of the less 
common colour.

For inspiration, look at those websites which have a feature to search in a 
drink database by selecting ingredients. The bolscocktails.com database lists, 
for instance, 20 recipes with, bc, pine jc and gin among which the blue canary 
(1 part bc, 2 parts gin, 3 parts pine jc). This website, 
http://www.webtender.com/cgi-bin/inmybar , boast a very large list of drinks 
(select the three ingredients and use the option 'can miss three'). Keep in 
mind that these databases are often such large that they are almost as close 
as containing every possible drink to be made. They are not always a proper 
standard for good (beyond nice) drinks.


 Current thread (3 messages):
 Message options:
 

Get everything you need for your bar from
The Webtender's BarStore.

Home · Drink Recipes · Bookstore · Barstore · Handbook · Web Index · Feedback

Copyright © The Webtender.
About | Disclaimer | Privacy policy