Juicer redux

Last week we looked into whether using juice from a squeeze juicer vs. a twist juicer made a difference for oranges and grapefruit. Turns out it did. We then became curious if the same held true for lime and lemon juice. We’ve always used the squeeze juicer because that’s the utensil that fits that size of citrus. Was our cocktail world about to be shaken to the very foundations? 😉

First up, we decided to try lime juice. And yes, we are familiar with Dave Arnold’s seminal work on the subject. However, we could never be told anything as children (we’re not much different as adults either), we always had to try things for ourselves. This was no different. We settled on the Backrub cocktail, one of our originals, because it has some nice complexity, but the lime juice still manages to hold its own.

Backrub

• 1 oz whiskey
• 3/4 oz lime juice
• 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
• 1/2 oz peach liqueur
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into a glass. Enjoy!

Squeeze juice

• Nose: Peach, malt, nutmeg, little bit of chocolate, little bit of lime.
• Palate:  Subtle peach on the intro, with more of a bitter almond/peach pit flavor than the twist version. Malt and gingerbread on the mid-palate along with a green, bitter, herbal notes at the end of the intro and into the mid-palate. Peach more pronounced at the beginning of the finish. Bitter finish with flavors from the bitters and the lime peel. Carpano is more pronounced and it has a heavier mouth feel than the twist version

Twist juice

• Nose: Very similar to the squeeze version, just not quite as strong.
• Palate: Peach and vanilla to start, followed by malt and ginger bread. Lime comes up on the mid-palate and into the finish. Slightly bitter, spicy finish. Ginger bread carries over into the after taste. Little bit lighter and fresher with more fresh peach flavor than the squeeze version.

Both versions are quite nice. The 50/50 blend is the best of both worlds. Nice fresh peach and lime flavor, but with the added complexity of bitter green herbal and peach stone flavors.

Next up, we experimented with lemon juice. For this one, we chose Robert Hess’ take on Paul Harrington’s Jasmine cocktail. Again, we felt it is an interesting drink where the citrus is well-represented, in this case as a balance against the bitterness of Campari.

Jasmine

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 1 oz Cointreau
• 3/4 oz Campari
• 1/2 oz lemon juice

Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into a glass. Enjoy!

Squeeze juice

• Nose: Orange from the Cointreau, bitter herbal from the Campari, lemon, sloe berry, juniper.
• Palate: Big hit of bitter orange on the start with the sharp, slightly chemical sweetness of candy apple shell. Really fruity, bitter sloe berry on the mid-palate and into the finish, along with lemon and more orange. Little bit of juniper and lemon peel on the finish. As it warms up, the more herbal notes of the Campari start to stand out on the finish.

Twist juice

• Nose: Identical to the squeeze version.
• Palate: Same flavor profile, but less complex, less bitter, more sweet. Citrus flavors are more muted. Gentler, but less balanced and less interesting, kind of one-note.

For us the squeeze juicer is the nicer and more interesting of the two. The twist version is OK but not our preference. The 50/50 blend is better than the twist version, but still not as good as the squeeze version in that it still doesn’t have the full citrus punch to balance the sweet and bitter flavors of the drink.

This week the differences weren’t quite as clear.  For the lime juice, if we had to pick we’d go with the squeezed juice, assuming you don’t want to bother doing a mix of both. For the lemon juice, the squeezed juice was the clear winner. Our best guess is that the flavor profile of the drink will have a lot of influence. If there are other strong flavors, you will probably want squeezed juice with its peel elements. For more subtle cocktails, twisted juice may be a good bet. As always, we recommend you experiment with both to see if you have a preference.

Filed under: campari, Cointreau, lemon juice, lime juice, peach liqueur, sweet vermouth, whiskey Tagged: 3 howls single malt whiskey, backrub cocktail recipe, brockmans gin, jasmine cocktail recipe
SOURCE: Booze Nerds – Read entire story here.