Half Forgotten Projects in the Basement and Lithuanian Cocktail Guides

While doing a load of laundry this morning, I noticed that I still have some half completed projects going in the basement. A quick list;

- Krambambuli- I made this for the Distillers Festival Competition but it was so godawful I didn't use it. Now, 6 months later, it seems to have really mellowed out into something Benedictine-ish. It'll need to go through a coffee filter to strain all the sediment out, but it just might be salvageable.

- Rose Liqueur- Started this one at the tail end of summer. I'm going to need a lot more roses, so I'll start this back up when the flowers at our house begin to bloom again.

- Grapefruit/ Tomato Bitters- Yep, they are still down there. The aroma is amazing, I really should just get around to finishing these off so that I can play with them. I think its going to be liquid summer in a bitters bottle.

- Ukrainian Plum Brandy- Not much to do with this really, except wait. Its dark, dense and syrupy sweet, but should make for a nice aperitif at Christmas. It should be ready at the end of the week.

I also received a little something from Ebay yesterday. I bid on, and won, a Lithuanian bartenders guide,published in 1973, "Kokteiliai". Definitely very Soviet era, the few pictures of cocktails inside seem rather grim and unappetizing, but I'm always curious what other cultures are pouring. I don't speak/read/understand Lithuanian, so translating this could be a challenge, but I'm sure I can rise to the occasion. Anyway, I'll leave you with a Lithuanian cocktail recipe from the book. I believe the numbers next to the ingredients are proportions and "iseiga" seems to mean total.

Kokteilis "Geltonsnapis"

Degitine 20
Apelsiny likeris 40
Apelsiny sultys 40
Puse apelsino griezinelio 5
Ledo gabaliukas 25

Iseiga 130

Visus gerimus sumaisyti su ledo gabaliuku ir ipilti i taure, kurious krastai papuosti cukrumi. Po to i taure ideti puse apelsino griezinelo.