MY TAI
A drink concocted to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the death of my niece Tai, killed by a drunk and drugged driver in New Zealand.
(The name is obviously stolen from the famous cocktail Mai Tai – rum, Curaçao liqueur, orgeat syrup, and lime juice – but then everything about this drink has been borrowed from somewhere).
Basically it is an attempt to recreate the Aperitif Maison of La Tupina, world famous restaurant in Bordeaux. The menu just lists the ingredients as red wine, crème de cassis and Armagnac blanche and is a variation on Kir.
Kir, as you probably know, is a popular aperitif of white wine flavoured with crème de cassis at a ratio of 9:1 (according to the International Bartenders Association) and served chilled. Some people prefer a 5:1 ratio but it is easy to overdo the sweetness. On the other hand I’ve never seen anyone actually measure out a kir. It’s usual to put a splash of cassis in the bottom of a glass, top it up with white wine and get stuck in.
Anyway, we are doing our best to be scientific and to base our experiments on a red wine kir at 9:1.
You probably also know that Armagnac is a major French brandy producing region west of Toulouse. Most Armagnacs are aged and can set you back a lot of dosh. Armagnac Blanche is much less common and is not aged at all before being bottled and sold. Got mine online from Master of Malt, £33.54 + carriage so not cheap. On the other hand it’s 45 proof.
So we start off with a red wine kir at 9:1:
Cassis 5ml (a bar spoon)
Red Wine 45cl
and guess at:
Armagnac 20cl
All three bottles have been in the fridge a couple of hours.
Sip, sip, sip …
Sue concludes that the taste improves with slight rise in temperature/the ingredients mingling. She’s right. She also feels the amount of Armagnac is a bit intrusive. Goes against the grain but I reduce the Armagnac to 15ml. She’s right again …
There’s only three ingredients here but a change in any of them could have a big effect.
But for now it’s:
Cassis 5ml (a bar spoon)
Red Wine 45ml
Armagnac 15ml
So, have a drink in Tai’s memory and then consider making your own Creme de Cassis – far superior to the commercial stuff: Cassis
The PArtisan Baker 