Saturday 17 September 2016

Cocktail No 54 - Fraquiri

Its been over a year, but the muse has struck again.

You may struggle to find the ingredients for this one, as it uses Eau de Vie de Frais (Strawberry brandy), which I made myself. You can buy it, but it is expensive in Britain. It a variant of the daquiri family, substituting the strawberry spirit in place of rum.

Its a classic eau de vie, if you have tried grappa or kirch or poire william, you will recognise immediately that harsh kick on first taste of the neat spirit, followed by a burning glow throughout the body. Whilst a popular digestif after dinner in Europe, this one is completely transformed when diluted in weird and wonderful ways. Adding 3 parts water to 1 part spirit removes that harshness and leaves a wonderfully mellow white spirit with the taste of strawberry leaves (or how you think they taste when you smell them). Adding tonic brings out a sweetness that was undetectable in the raw or diluted spirit.

The Fraquiri combines the bitterness of the lemon with the astringency of the eau de vie. The strawberry is definitely there. Triple Sec doesn't have enough sweetness to really play its part and Cointreau would be a better balance.

A bit more experimenting needed I think - perhaps reduce the lemon juice to 1/2 the volume and replace with water to balance the sweet / sour aspect.



1 part Eau de vie de Frais1 part Triple Sec (suggest Cointreau)1 part lemon juice (suggest 1/2 lemon juice + 1/2 water)Shake on ice and add to Martini glass.

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