Hi, friends of cocktails. Today will be one of those episodes
where we take a classic cocktail and switch up the base spirit, I’ll show you how to make some
homemade ingredients, we’ll use a specialty food ingredient, and then we make a delicious cocktail. In three words, It’s cocktail time. The Piña Colada. A de-facto summer cocktail,
which has already been made by several of my YouTube friends, with
many different techniques and recipes. I’ll leave links to their
channels in the description below. I’ll make a version that’s more an all-year
pina colada. With scotch and no coconut, but you won’t even know it’s missing.
I know this because I used this cocktail in a cocktail competition and the judges
couldn’t believe there’s no coconut in it. I finished second, so I tweaked
the recipe just a bit. Here are the ingredients. To sub the rum I’ll use 13-year-old
scotch Chivas Regal Extra. This has been selectively matured in sherry casks,
which adds extra layers of rich and intense flavor and aroma. We’ll play on the sherried notes in the recipe. Horchata is a plant milk drink that is often
described as a sweet rice milk beverage. It’s most popular in Mexico where it’s usually
flavored with cinnamon and vanilla. Today it will replace the coconut
in this fake Piña Colada. This is the biggest tweak in the recipe
- I originally used lime juice, but the vinegar in the shrub adds complexity to the sour
component of the cocktail and it works great. We’ll make two things from the pineapple -
fresh pineapple juice and pineapple fruit leather from the leftover pulp. That will be the garnish for the cocktail. Xanthan gum is an optional ingredient.
It will make sure the texture and flavor of our cocktail stay the same for longer, without the cocktail
separating into layers too fast. If you have it, use it. If you don’t, just drink faster. These aren’t all the ingredients - we’ll also add
a bit more sweetness and play on the sherried notes of the Chivas, so wait for the full recipe. As with any cocktail recipes, you can use this
as a guideline, and make your own twists. You can use a store bought Horchata,
if you can get one, or just lime juice instead of the lime shrub,
like I did in the original recipe. Or use this video and learn how to
make awesome homemade ingredients, like this delicious horchata or pineapple fruit leather. Let’s put the apron on and make them. I’ll start by saying I haven’t tried any other horchata
than the one I’ve made, but I love this recipe. For the homemade horchata I’ll start by weighing
and rinsing 200 g of long-grain rice. Rinsing it washes away some of
the starch from the surface. I’ll then place it in a bowl and cover it with
750 ml of water and let it soak overnight, making it soft and easier to blend. I’ll also soak 75 g of almonds and 0,75 g
of ceylon cinnamon. If you can crush cinnamon with your fingers
you know it’s the ceylon kind. Make sure all the almonds are covered
with water, then add a pinch of salt. Give everything a quick stir and
it’s ready to soak overnight. The rice water goes in the fridge, and
the almonds can stay at room temperature. After 12 hours we’re ready for the next steps. We’ll drain the almonds, since the water is full
of tannins from the almonds and cinnamon. Give the water a tiny taste, to see what I mean.
Add the almonds to a blender, followed by all of the rice and the water it was soaked in.
To speed up this process you could probably use almond and rice milk. If that’s sacrilegious
in Horchata making, por favor, perdóname. For the added flavors and sweetness that's needed
in the horchata, I’ll add 0,6 g of a vanilla bean and 150 g of sweetened condensed milk. You can of course play with
the flavors you like at this part. You could even add pumpkin spice,
as we get closer to Halloween. Then blend everything to get it well incorporated,
blending for at least 1 minute. Then comes the long process of straining. And if you’re wondering about my ultra
super professional mixology equipment, I’m using an upside-down holder from a sous vide,
a funnel strainer for making big batches of pasta, a muslin cloth that was meant for baby care,
and a fine mesh strainer with a broken off handle. If you don’t have these you can use a nutmilk bag
or strain it twice through a fine mesh strainer, the second time using a muslin cloth
as well, and you should be good. Have patience with the straining, because
the starch from the rice really clogs up the strainers. After it’s mostly filtered I’ll just give it
an additional squeeze, to get out the last part of the liquid
that’s trapped in the filter. The bowl will have some more starch left on the bottom
so don’t mix up the horchata before you bottle it. Store it in the fridge and use
it within a couple of days. Since I’m not sure about traditional Mexican
horchata recipes I’d love to hear your recipe, if you’re making it at home! On to the next ingredient,
the clarified lime shrub. I’ll start by peeling organic limes, removing the
white pith, and juicing the limes. I’ll need 8 g of lime peels,
and add that to the blender. To make it a balanced shrub we’ll add sugar,
vinegar and lime juice. 105 g of sugar, followed by
150 ml of apple vinegar. This is a great choice since both apples
and limes contain malic acid. So the final ingredient is of course
the lime juice, 90 ml. Give it a good spin in the blender, to break
down the lime peels and incorporate everything. Then comes another straining,
this time it’s a bit faster. When the shrub is filtered it’s ready
to be bottled and used in cocktails. But in true Cocktail Time fashion I clarified
the shrub with agar-agar, using the same process I showed in the Clear Mojito episode. This way
I can use the shrub in clear cocktails as well. To make the fresh pineapple juice and
fruit leather I’ll start by removing the skin and chopping the flesh of half a pineapple.
You can use the leaves as garnish, but we’re not doing that today so I’ll put
them in the freezer, and the skins to make tepache or oleo saccharum.
Click the link to see how I used that for a pineapple cordial. Then juice the pineapple,
separating the juice from the pulp. If you don’t have a juicer you can try blending
the pineapple then straining the juice. Bottle the fresh pineapple juice, place in the
fridge and let’s start making the fruit leather. For that we’ll use the leftover pineapple
pulp, which I’ll first mix with sugar. Weigh the pulp so you can add the right amount of
sugar - one third the weight of the pulp. If your pineapple is super sweet add a bit less. To melt the sugar I’ll place on low heat
and mix until fully dissolved. Once the sugar dissolves I’ll add half a teaspoon
of matcha green tea powder. Adding it through a fine strainer prevents clumps
from forming, and the green color will make the fruit leather on top of the glass resemble
the color of pineapple leaves. Once it’s well mixed we’re ready to spread
the pineapple pureé on a parchment paper, ready for the dehydrator.
Make sure to spread it out evenly and thinly, to get the best results.
This will then run on 65°C, or 150°F, for about 8 hours. If you don’t have
a dehydrator you can dehydrate it in the oven, set to the lowest temperature. Instead of waiting, we’ll just use
the swap-in I made yesterday. As for the shapes, you can cut this up
any way you want. We used triangles for the Club Clover cocktail,
I’ll cut circles for this one. And cutting with the parchment paper makes for easier
storage and handling. Fruit leather is a great snack for kids as well,
and should be good for quite some time if stored in an airtight container. Let me know in the comments if you’ll try this
with any other fruit. One extra ingredient, that will pair nicely with Chivas,
and lift up the whole cocktail, is Fino Sherry. As you may have noticed,
I love using sherry in my creations. Before you start making the cocktail make sure
all the ingredients we made are cold enough, because we’ll measure the amount of ice we use. Now let’s make the Scotch Sherry Horchata
Lime Shrub Piña Colada. With Pineapple fruit leather. You could make the cocktail shaken, but using a blender
will result in a creamier and silkier drink. I’ll start with Scotch, 52,5 ml
or 1.75 oz of Chivas Extra. Even though this was selectively
matured in oloroso sherry casks, I decided to use fino sherry for this recipe.
15 ml of 0.5 oz of Tio Pepe Fino Sherry. Next, 52,5 ml or 1.75 oz of our
homemade horchata. This can of course be enjoyed on it’s own, over ice,
for a refreshing drink on a hot day. Piña Colada literally means "strained pineapple"
so we can’t forget about pineapple juice. 45 ml or 1.5 oz. A bar spoon of gomme syrup will add
just the right amount of sweetness. Check out the Basic Syrups episode to see
how to make it, or use a 2:1 rich syrup. And for the sour sour component,
15 ml or 0.5 oz of lime shrub. I’m adding this almost last, since I don’t want the acids
to curdle horchata before blending. And that’s also the reason I’m adding
0,4 g of xanthan gum. If you’ll make this as a shaken cocktail it’s probably better
to skip xanthan since it might be harder for it to fully dissolve. And lastly, ice. This time we’re
measuring the amount of ice we add, since it will melt completely. This way we can
control the amount of dilution, while still making sure the cocktail is sufficiently chilled.
Leave the blender running until all the ice melts and you see a nice froth forming. I’ll serve this in a cup that just
caught my eye for this drink. The foam and the fruit leather garnish on top
will look great in this cup. As for the garnish, I’ll leave this for a future project
and just go with the circle. Perfect. After a long episode it’s finally
time to take a sip. Cheers! The creamy & foamy presentation with pineapple
on the nose easily fools the senses to make you think this is a classic Piña Colada. But instead of the sweet pineapple & coconut flavor-bomb
I first get nutty notes with cinnamon and subtle vanilla from the horchata,
with pineapple, lemon shrub and the dry sherry all adding layers to this unusual version of the classic. The shrub of course makes the sour component more complex,
and it’s almost surprising how well the whiskey stands up to all of the flavors. The fruity aftertaste with gentle spices
will keep you coming back for more sips. And like I said, if you’re not sitting under a palm tree,
you won’t miss the coconut in this drink. So.. *If you like pina coladas* you’ll love this. Thank you if you made it to the end, and please
let me know if you like seeing the homemade ingredients for signature cocktails. And when you try any of them,
please let me know how they turned out! Until next cocktail time, cheers!
