I get a lot of PR e-mails that are deleted as soon as they arrive. The majority are cocktail recipes that are said to be much better when made with this or that specific brand of whisk(e)y. Most of them seem to be related to American holidays, assuming the whole world lives up to Memorial Day or Kentucky Derby. The last one was about some barbecue professional, but hey, somewhere down the line he marinates meat with whiskey. This blog is not a lifestyle magazine, sorry!
Anyway, sometimes the PR is done right. They’ve actually seen your website and they send you something you can use, even when it’s not my core business, so to speak: not just a recipe but a ready-made whisky cocktail. The other day Cutty Sark sent me a miniature of their newish Cutty Sark Storm, together with a can of Appletiser. It doesn’t seem to have a global distribution, so for those of you who don’t know the brand: it’s a sparkling apple juice soft drink, originally from South Africa.
I have to admit I didn’t know what to expect. I like a whiskey sour or a Blood & Sand, but this could be too sticky. Not true: both drinks are complementary. The Cutty Sark Storm is a vibrant blend with fruity notes of apple and gooseberries and these go well with the sparkling apple juice. Pineapple is highlighted as well. The benefit of using whisky instead of other mixers is the influence of the oak of course, which brings a certain dryness instead of making it excessively sweet. Taken with enough ice, a very refreshing combination indeed.