Akvavit can be a very crude product. It is, basically, a neutral spirit flavoured with different herbs and spices like cumin, araway seeds, anise, dill, fennel and coriander seeds. It's a somewhat nice thing to drink with rich food, especially fatty fish ...or you can just drink it as shots, although much less enjoyable - an aqquired taste, to say the least.
I recently had to explain the phenomenon to a british reporter and -to try and give him a sort of idea of what kind of spirit akvavit is- parallelled it with gin, in as much as it is a neutral spirit flavoured with different botanicals. Of course, I know that the two products are only distant cousins: granted, both are in some form neutral spirit flavoured with botanicals of some sort, but the botanicals are very different, the flavouring process is different, the after-flavouring treatment is different, the overall result is different... Never the less, for the sake of giving him a direction, I decided to go with this comparison.
Anyways, reason why I brought up this british reporter - oh yes, there was a reason!- is that I wanted him to try a cocktail of mine, the '...before you go go'; a rich combination of akvavit, espresso, sugar syrup and baileys, with some tricks and trinckets on the side. Now, he had never heard of this 'akvavit'-thing. An explanation was required and the only parallel I could think of was 'gin, only with cummin as main ingredient.' Oddly enough, the combination of espresso and cumin didn't really strike him as a winning one, I could tell from him facial expression. I figure d I could win him over, but the more I revealed of the ingredients, the more he decided he propably wouldn't like it... I finally destroyed all hope of getting him to actually order one when I told him that I garnish the drink with liquorice crystals. In restrospect definately a bad idea, then again, how could I have known that, earlier, he had tried some danish liquorice( 'piratos'! - really harsch stuff! ) that had nearly killed him. In his mind he kind of just put one of those on top of a drink that couldn't possibly work as it where. No way was he ever going for that one!
He did, however, let me make the drink for him just as a taster. He told me afterwards he was really glad he did :D
'...Before you go go'
20 ml Aalborg jubilæums akvavit ( one that's not too heavy on the cumin! jubilæum is nice and mild)
20 ml Bailey's
35 ml cold espresso
20 sugar syrup
- start by chilling your cocktail glass: leave it in a freezer for half an hour before use, or second-best: fill it with crushed ice and a little water and leave it while you make you drink. Now, everything goes in the shaker, shake with ice for about 5-7 seconds. Empty the glass of ice before straining the drink into it. As garnish I use high quality liquorice crystals from Johan Bülow Liquorice which really brings it all together and emphazises the different flavours more than just adding a layer of liquorice.
I have different reactions when I serve this but non of them have been negative, I'm happy to say. It has taken me by surprise the times that a guest has asked for more akvavit in it - some find that the akvavit is too masked; If it's an akvavit drink they're having then akvavit should more or less stand up out of the glass and punch them straight in the mouth. Should that be the case with you just add another 5 or 10 ml ( or more!) to the recipe, or trade in the Jubilæum for a heavier flavoured akvavit.
...
... while we're on the subject: here's a cocktail using a much more heavily flavored, cummin based akvavit:
Basically, it's a danish mutation of the 'gin gin mule', a contemporary classic cocktail made by the libation goddess Audrey Saunders from New York's Pegu Club. ...Except, it's not a mule, as the name reveals: it's a cow! A danish cow, and an angry one at that - kicking, and breathing with gingery fire.
'Red Cow'
6 mint leaves
50 ml Rød Aalborg Taffel akvavit
15 ml lime juice
15 ml sugar syrup
10 ml unsweetened, uncut ginger juice ( ginger - put through a juicer)
'Fever Tree' ginger ale
-Shake, not too roughly or you'll kill the mint!, for about 5-7 seconds, close the strainer tight ( or finestrain) and strain into a highball glass/ double rocks. Fill with ice cubes and top off with ginger ale ( I now use fever tree). Served with a mint sprig in your face and a lime wedge on the side.
Two very different, but very nice cocktails using akvavit... enjoy!
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