Fiesta Mexicana !!!

Mr. Próspero @ the Bar

Wot do you get when you mix the musician Pedro Mariani and the bartender Mr. Próspero, in a Mexican Night ?

I tell you wot you´ll get, you´ll get a night of stunning entertainment. Thats wot happenned last thursday night at Dunas douradas Beach Club .
Bettween the live music, the jokes and the Margaritas, Mr. Próspero put on a great bartending performance, with his flying shaker and bar tricks. Playing a Mexican bartender called "Juanito Camiñante", Mr.Próspero mixed the "créme de la créme "of the tequillas, cointreau and fresh squezzed lime or fresh strawberries and mangoes.

The Algarve has a new cocktail place and its called the Dunas Douradas Beach Club Resort, combining the finest accomodations with the finest cocktails and cuisine, the Beach Club is a place not to miss when visiting the Algarve in Portugal .

For more about the resort, please visit http://www.ddbc.pt/ or the dunas blog .

Mixology Monday - Local Flavours

Penny Royal Basil martini

2 oz Portuguese Penny Royal liqueur

1 oz Spiced Rum

1/4 oz Simple Syrup

1 Lime wedge

2 Orange wedges

3 to 4 Basil leaves

Dash of orange bitters

Muddle the lime together with the orange, the basil and the simple syrup, add the rum and the penny royal liqueur, shake well and double strain into a chilled martini glass, add a dash of orange bitters.

Decorate with a basil leave and serve.

This recipe is a tribute to Mixology Monday- Local Flavours and this months host, "Save the Drinkers", the Tales of the Cocktail 2008 and the city of New Orleans.

Hope you´ll enjoy it.

Courtesy of myself for DiDis martini bar @ Dunas Douradas beach Club / Algarve

"She's from Mexico, Senores, and her name is the Margarita Cocktail"

There are many stories about the Margarita's creation, some from as far back as
the 1920s and some from as late as the second half of the 1950s.

With 1953 being the cut-off point for possible claims to the creatorship of the
Margarita, it is time to turn our attention to earlier recipes, made with the
same ingredients, but with different names.
The earliest citation for a cocktail recipe that is comprised of Tequila,
Cointreau (i.e. Triple Sec), and lime juice is from 1937, and was listed in the
Cafe Royal Cocktail Book, by W. J. Tarling.

"Tequila Cocktail", "Tequila Sour", "Tequila Side car", "Tequila Fizz", "Tequila
Martini", "Tequila Gibson",
A Tequila Side-car is what most people categorise the Margarita cocktail as,
especially when trying to explain how cocktails develop over time.

"ALL THE BEST IN MEXICO", by Sidney Clark, 1949.
"...in Taxco, where a famous tequila cocktail called the "Bertha" is an
established feature of life..."
"The Bertha, made with lime juice and simple syrup, looks like a Tom Collins
but tastes remarkably like a Daiquiri."

In closing, no matter who you choose to believe actually invented the
Margarita, you are probably using your own preference as the actual recipe
that you serve to customers. Historical recipes are one thing, but the best
tasting recipe is usually a completely different story. Below is a table of
Margarita recipes and their proportions/ ratios:
3:2:1 = 6:4:2 (50% tequila, double as much Triple Sec than fresh lime juice).
3:1:1 = 6:2:2 (60% tequila, 20% Triple Sec, 20% fresh lime juice).
2:1:1 = 6:3:3 (50% tequila, 25% Triple Sec, 25% fresh lime juice).
1:1:1 = 6:6:6 (33% tequila, 33% Triple Sec, 33% fresh lime juice).

Check out the Margarita madness happy hour @ DiDis lounge bar on Dunas Douradas Beach Club Resort .

Also check out the Mexican Buffet night, featured in our Dunas Blog .

St. Croix cruzan Rum

Cruzan Rum is a rum producer located in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Their distillery was founded in 1760 and claims the distinction of "the most honored rum distillery in the world." For three generations through various change in corporate ownership the distillery has been managed by the Nelthropp family. V&S was sold to Pernod Ricard of France in 2008 but Pernod Ricard has announced that their plans are that the rum remains a product made in St. Croix under the management of the Nelthropps.
Cruzan Rum manufactures several varieties of rum, namely:
Cruzan Estate Light: aged two years.
Cruzan Estate Dark: aged two years, available in both 80- and 151-proof.
Cruzan Estate Diamond: aged five years.
Cruzan Single Barrel: aged up to 12 years.
The winner of the title "World's Best Rum" at the 2000 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Cruzan Clipper: an overproof amber rum.
Cruzan Tropical Rums
Available in raspberry, coconut, mango, vanilla, pineapple, banana, orange, black cherry, citrus, and guava.
Cruzan Rum Cream: a blend of Cruzan light rum, pure Irish cream, caramel, vanilla and other flavors.
Cruzan Black Strap: a traditional, heavier rum made from the blackstrap molasses of sugar cane, noted for its low content of fusel alcohol.
The distillery is also the largest supplier of American private and distributor label rum.
Cruzan Rum also makes a pure cane distillate alcohol (in 189-proof), which can be found for sale in the medicine sections of many grocery stores in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Cruzan Mango Mojito

1 part Cruzan Mango Rum
4 chunks of fresh mango
A dash of fresh lime juice
A splash of simple syrup
4-6 mint leaves
Club soda
Muddle mint and mango chucks with simple syrup in
a tall glass. Add lime juice, Cruzan Mango Rum and
ice. Stir, and top with club soda. Garnish with a
mint sprig.

"Caribbean Flavours from Barbados"

Malibu Rum has its beginnings at the beautifull island of Barbados. Located in the southeast corner of the west Indies,the distillery overlooks the beach and white sands of black rock.

Barbados is tradicionally regarded as the birth place of rum, where for more than 350 years rum has been produced. Barbados rums are lighter and more delicate with subtle sugar cane and soft butter rum notes. This proved to be the perfect background to blend exotic flavors.

My visit to barbados and the Malibu distillery took place in 2003 when i was bartending onboard cruise ship "Serenade of the Seas" from Royal Caribbean Cruise line. its an amazing island with friendly islanders, the trip starts with ride on malibu's personnal van, decorated with the Malibu colours and logos, once you get to the distillery, thats when fun starts, after seeing how the rum is produced, you end up right at the beach, with rum barbeques, rum exotic cocktails and clear caribbean water,besides all the water sports and fun you can enjoy a fresh coconut water brought and cut from one of the locals. Indeed an amazing island experience not to be missed when travelling to the caribbean. I also recommend a visit to one of the oldest rum distilleries, the "Mount Gay Rum", set just a few miles from Malibu distillery, right on the corner of one of the main roads. Oh and dont forget to bring some samples and island souvenirs like the Malibu lip stick, or tradicionall island music.

Waloe

1 1/4 oz Malibu

3/4 oz Cointreau

2 oz Fresh orange

1/2 oz Simple syrup

4 Fresh mint leaves

1/4 oz Fresh lime

Muddle gently the mint leaves together with the simple syrup, then add the rest of the ingredients, shake well and serve in a frozen pineapple with crushed ice.

For more Malibu recipes visit www.malibu-rum.com

Cachaça Boom Times!!

Brazil's First National Invention

Cachaça was the first Brasillian invention decades before Bartolomeu de Gusmão's revolutionary hot-air balloon or Santos Dumont's airplane. Though records of its creation are sketchy, it is certain that its invention coincides with the cultivation of sugar cane, the country's first mass crop.


The first seedlings of sugar cane came from Asia in ships commanded by Portuguese coloniser Martin Afonso de sousa arround 1532.Records indicate that the drink was first created in a plantation arround São Vicente, on the southeastern coast of São Paulo,Brasil.


Rum (made from the distillation of molasses) was being made well before the first sugar cane seddlings reached land in the Americas. This drink was eventually produced in Brasil untill someone, by curiosity or clumsiness, filled the still not with molasses, but with fermented sugar cane juice. The result was a less sweet drink with an intense, pleasant aroma. There, one of the world's main spirits was Born: Cachaça.

Sagatiba Wallpaper

1 1/4 oz Sagatiba pura Cachaça

3 bsp of vanilla sugar

3/4 oz of passion fruit

1 small slice of chilli pepper

Mix and stirr all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and double strain into a chilled martini glass.

Garnish with chilli pepper and a vanilla stick.

Courtesy of "Cachaça Sagatiba, pure spirit of Brasil" http://www.sagatiba.com/

Pomegranate Martini

DiDi's Pomegranate Martini

2 oz Pama Pomegranate liqueur
1 oz Absolut Ruby Red
1/4 oz Monin pomegranate
Splash of Sweet & Sour

Pour the pomegranate syrup in a mixing glass, then add the vodka and the pomegranate liqueur, finally add the splash of sour mix and ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled martini glass. To decorate, flame an orange peel and twist it into the glass and serve.
Instead of the syrup you can also use the pomegranate seeds and muddle them with a hint of simple syrup to give a more real flavour to the cocktail.

Passion for pomegranates

Punica granatum L.

Punicaceae

Common Names: Pomegranate, Granada (Spanish), Grenade (French).

Related Species: Punica proto-punica.

Origin: The pomegranate is native from Iran to the Himalayas in northern India and was cultivated and naturalized over the whole Mediterranean region since ancient times. It is widely cultivated throughout India and the drier parts of southeast Asia, Malaya, the East Indies and tropical Africa. The tree was introduced into California by Spanish settlers in 1769. In this country it is grown for its fruits mainly in the drier parts of California and Arizona.

Mr. Próspero Cocktail selection for 2008 summer season at Dunas Douradas beach Club/Portugal.