A stiff drink for the cold, rainy night. Whiskey, strawberry liqueur and dry vermouth.

After that cold ride back home, I needed a stiff drink. Real stiff. This did it. A Comforting Tiger is Cognac with the whiskey Southern Comfort.

Remember the honey based mead from Lithuania that is supposed to be one of the oldest alcohols that I got last week? Made a variation of the Bee’s Knees today. Tried first without the citric acid. Will try with lemon juice tomorrow. Instead of gin, used Bourbon.

Sharmila feels orange goes well with honey. Will try a variation with triple sec too.

Four Roses Bourbon and the Lithuanian Mead.

Strong on the palate – which fit the cold weather fine and very rich with honey on the nose.

Used the liqueur from cactus that we had brought from Malta!

This has Bajtra liqueur, vodka, cointreau and lemon juice.

Picked this up from Difford’s Guide.

White rum, Gold rum, Benedictine, Red vermouth and lemon juice.

This is a variation of the Amatitan Monk.

You may remember how my friend – Mauricio Flores – from El Salvador who lives in Portugal had his brother get me a bottle of the local alcohol – Chaparro Flor de Fuego – when I visited San Salvador.

It was Mauricio’s birthday last week. To celebrate our friendship, I opened the bottle and made the “Salvadorean Monk”. This is Chaparro Flor de Fuego, Elderflower liqueur (used St. Germaine), Benedictine and lime and lemon juice.

Turned out to be very tasty.

The alcohol itself was closer to mezcal than tequila. Milder to the nose though.

Remember the prickly pear liqueur I got from Malta. Found a cocktail to be made with it. Irish whiskey, honey liqueur and prickly pear liqueur. Sweet on the nose and palate.

This is the first of the Indian themed cocktails. It is take on the Purple Ruby. It has pomegranate juice (to give it the Indian touch, used Spicy Pomegranate juice), Honey liqueur (Barenjager), Lime juice and for Vodka, I used the Smoke Lab Classic Vodka from Punjab in India!!

Came out nice!

Do you see the connection among the four bottles? That is a gin, vodka, single malt and a liqueur from India. Thinking of doing a few cocktails with India theme. I guess to keep up with times, I should strictly say “Bharat” theme. If you have some ideas about recipes, let me know!