Is the Espresso Martini a trash drink_

So like the espresso martinis of it all, that's like a trash drink. Having flashbacks to the Moscow Mule episode. Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey. We are going to have some espresso martinis. Time to wake up and get f***ed up. If you don't know the origins of the espresso martini, that makes no sense to you. You might think I'm a monster, but actually there's a story to be had there. The espresso martini. Is it a trash cocktail or is it a wonderful thing? Can it be both? All this and more on the Anders Ericsson channel. So like the espresso martinis of it all, that's like a trash drink. No, it's not. Espresso martinis are not a trash drink. It's like a 90s era. That's not trash. Espresso martinis are a trash drink. Are you living on a different like astral plane than me? If you are somebody who works in a restaurant and people order espresso martinis, do you think that they go, ooh, what classy folks? No. It is the vodka Red Bull of our generation. Correct. Because it's caffeine plus alcohol. And vodka Red Bull's trash. I don't know about that. Well, vodka Red Bull is trash. I don't think an espresso martini is a vodka Red Bull. Vodka Red Bull is absolutely a trash drink. The espresso martini is not a vodka Red Bull. I understand why you might think that because the whole like upper and and vodka. But there's more to an espresso martini. I think that it deserves a bit more credit than that. There's no there's no tradition in an espresso martini. There is no tradition. There is tradition in an espresso martini. What's the recipe for an espresso martini? Tell me. Vodka, coffee liqueur. What kind of coffee liqueur? Any kind and you shake it and you put it in a martini glass and then you put three, you put three, I don't know, and then you put three little beans on it. There's no actual coffee in this. There's no espresso in this espresso martini. There is maybe there is coffee. OK, fine. You're right. There is coffee in an espresso martini. There's espresso in an espresso martini. So we've got a couple of things here. Is there tradition with the espresso martini? Absolutely. There's tradition. There's a whole backstory and different variations on the drink. The fact that she doesn't know how to make the espresso martini doesn't mean much to me. She knows she enjoys an espresso martini. That's what's important. Now, is an espresso martini a trash cocktail? Is it a trash drink? That's what we're here to talk about today, because it is kind of a trash drink. But of all trash drinks, it's my favorite. I've got some thoughts on the espresso martini. I really do. I've there, you know, it's been a very popular cocktail over the years, but there have been some people that have been hating on it. And truth be told, I was one of those people years ago. There's a few things going against it. Number one is it's not a martini. It comes out of that martini era, which a lot of people kind of say is the dark ages of cocktails. It was created in the 80s by Dick Bradsell, who was a bartender. I respect rest in peace. So the fact that he created this in London in the 80s, it's got a great origin story, although we don't know that it's actually true, at least to what extent. So there's a lot going on with the cocktail, but it came out of this era of, oh, everything's a martini, even though its original name wasn't Espresso Martini. It was Vodka Espresso. And then it had another name for a short period called the Pharmaceutical Stimulant, which I kind of like. Then went back to the Vodka Espresso and then became the Espresso Martini. And it blew up everywhere. There's espresso everywhere. Because of this, I can see why it's lumped in with other trash drinks. Another thing I don't like about it is every time you make one, unless you're prepared and you're thinking ahead and batching and all the stuff, every time you make one, you got to pull an espresso. I spent the last day and a half calibrating this beast right here. This, we'll be using this today. This little beauty is actually a pain in the butt because I spent the last day and a half calibrating it, getting the pressure right. You know, you got to weigh everything. Just how long is it extracting? Has it been 25 seconds? 32 seconds? Is that too much? Is this going to be too bitter? Come on. So that's an obstacle. Also, as a bartender, vodka is one of those spirits that I just love to hate on. Vodka, as a rule, is an odorless, flavorless spirit. To really appreciate vodka, you would mix it with nothing. So in an espresso martini, you're not tasting vodka, you're tasting coffee. And you get a little burn from alcohol because that's what the vodka is there to do, is just to make it boozy so that you can get drunk. And I don't like that. That's not why I put different spirits in my cocktail. I'm a flavor guy. Just so happens, if you have enough of it, you're going to get drunk. What I do love about the espresso martini is if you have a good one made with real espresso and a nice coffee liqueur, it's actually a great drink. The vodka tones down the sweetness of the liqueur and there's a little bitterness from the coffee and it's a bold flavor and it does this nice foamy thing. And it's a it's a really good drink. So it's hard for me to hate on it. I also really like that it's a Dick Bradstow original. He has made a number of good drinks in that era when nobody else was making good drinks, except maybe Dale DeGroff. Dale DeGroff was also making good drinks in that time. But yeah, Dick Bradstow also made the Bramble, one of my all time favorites. That's a summer go to for me. And this is a very different tasting cocktail that he came up with. And it's also really good using vodka, no less. So here's the thing. I thought, why not? Why not try it with with other base spirits and see what happens? People do this. I do this. I prefer cognac in mine. I'm going to show you the one that I like. I'm going to make it with vodka. So we've got a baseline, which I know is going to be good. I've made that a billion times before. And then I'm going to make it with rum, tequila. Those will be good. Pisco, I think will be interesting. Bourbon, I'm not sure if that one might be a little bold. And then gin. I don't know that all of them are going to work, but I think it's going to be a fun experiment. And this is what it's all about. Workshopping. We'll be right back after this. Today's video is brought to you by Zbiotics. I'm here to tell you about this game changing product for a night out with drinks. It's called Pre-Alcohol by Zbiotics. Zbiotics Pre-Alcohol Probiotic Drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was engineered by PhD microbiologists to break down acetaldehyde, an unwanted byproduct of alcohol metabolism. Make pre-alcohol your first drink of the night. Drink responsibly and enjoy your next day activities. Zbiotics has sold more than 14 million bottles and earned the trust of thousands, including me. I often have to test multiple recipes for my videos. That's where pre-alcohol comes in handy. I'm intentional about what and how much I drink, especially when I know I've got things to do the next day, which I always do. Try it yourself. Don't don't lick your butthole on camera. She's licking her foot. Yeah, that's OK, right? Try it for yourself. If you're unsatisfied, they'll refund your entire order. No questions asked. Zbiotics is a partner of mine. So if you head to Zbiotics.com slash Anders and use code Anders at checkout, you'll get 15% off your first order. Give it a shot. See what you think. And as always, drink responsibly. Thanks Zbiotics. On to the film. Yeah, I'm going to raise the bar like I do every day of my life. I'm constantly raising the bar. You should too. Every day. I do this every day. OK, so we're going to make this a few times. I'm going to show you my way with the cognac. I know it's traditionally made with vodka. We'll get to that, of course, with all the other ones. But because this is my favorite, this is the one I'm going to show you now. So we are going to want cognac, coffee liqueur, a rich Demerara syrup, espresso, which will go in this cup. This is just to, you know, symbolize espresso. And then also have yourself a little lemon. We're going to use the oils inside the peel to make it extra special. That's a Jeffrey Morgenthaler thing that I think was very good, which is one thing I love about cocktails. You know, bartenders can tweak things and pass it along and other bartenders can make changes. And this is how we get better and better at cocktail making. So let's build. And after that, we'll make all the other ones. Actually, I should make the espresso first. That's going to take a while. This is this is actually one thing I don't like about the espresso martini is the whole like, all right, we got to make an espresso. And if we're going to do it right, which I am, it takes time. This is where we truly get to nerd out. All right. You want an espresso martini? Hold on. I'm doing it this way because I can. I have the luxury of time and I have the the space and the machine to do it. But in a busy bar, when I was at the bar and we would get busy, we didn't have espresso service, so we didn't have this whole setup. We had this little mini one with an espresso pod that you put in. It was really quick and it was good for workflow. And it still made, you know, a decent enough espresso for the espresso martinis. But when when people start seeing those espresso martinis go out and somebody else wants it and then they start backing up. And if you're having to do this for every single martini, martini, that's what I'm talking about. Twenty nine point seven seconds. The pressure right at nine. Beautiful crema. And all right, so let's make this. I'm going to start with base. Start with one ounce of cognac to that one ounce of coffee liqueur. And I am using Mr. Black, not sponsored or affiliated. Last time I made this cocktail on the channel, I was. But I happen to like Mr. Black because it's a drier, a robust coffee liqueur that works really well in the drink. And I get to add the sugar. If you have another coffee liqueur, that's going to be just as great. You're just going to have to balance it out with the sugar. One ounce of coffee liqueur. Quarter ounce of our rich Demerara syrup. The Demerara sugar goes really well in this drink with the coffee. It's a nice richness. And then our shot of espresso. We roughly an ounce. Oh, and I almost forgot. We're going to do one swath of lemon. Express the oils into the tin. No need to drop the peel in. It's kind of a half regal shake. All right, now we can add ice and shake. Let's double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. I'm now going to express a little bit of lemon oil. Don't say it like that, Anders. I'm now going to express a little lemon oil across the top. And the traditional three coffee beans is a garnish right on top. One, two, three. Health, wealth, happiness. There it is. Cheers. Look at that. We got nice frothiness here. I'm going to take one sip. I know that I like it. But while it's fresh, I'm going to take a sip and then we are going to go ahead and make all the other ones. So cheers. Oh, yeah, that's good. Someone used really nice espresso. That's really nice. What's there to say about it? It tastes like coffee. You know, it's a big, strong coffee flavor, but there is a nice roundness, a depth to it from the cognac. It doesn't you don't drink it thinking, oh, this is a cognac cocktail. You drink it and you think this is a coffee cocktail, which is what makes it really special and why it works with vodka. You know, if we've already drinking like, OK, yeah, this is clearly a vodka cocktail. That means there really isn't anything else going on in the drink. It's really good. So now I'm going to make this with all the other bottles and I'm going to do it all at once so that I can taste them all at once. And you don't have to watch me make each one. The only thing I'm switching out is that base spirit. Let's build again. Oh, by the way, I want to show you the bottles I'm using vodka. That's the original espresso martini calls for vodka. Any vodka will do rum. I thought about it. I wanted to go with a lighter rum, but I want one with flavor. So I'm going with the Probitas, also called Veritas outside of the United States. Really like this rum quite a bit. Pisco, going with a Peruvian Pisco. I really like this a lot. And I think that this is going to be similar to the cognac. It's going to add a touch of fruitiness, but without the barrel notes. So it might be a little brighter. We got all the tequila. Tequila and coffee is a good combination. I'm going with a reposado, a little smoother, a little softer. Actually, I was going to go tequila here. I think bourbon right there. That will will definitely taste the barrel notes in that, I think. And then gin going with the classic London dry style gin, because I have a lot of beef eater right now. That's the only reason the two that I'm not sure of. Actually, there's one that I'm not sure about, and that's the gin. The I think that the bourbon is going to be good, but I think it's going to taste like a bourbon cocktail. And I don't want the base spirit to really take on a big presence in the cocktail. I want it to support the coffee and the sugar in the drink. So I think it's going to work, but I don't know that it's going to be my preferred version. All right. So we're going to go down the line, starting with the vodka. Having flashbacks to the Moscow Mule episode. OK, telling me espresso martinis don't have tradition. What am I doing right now? The three coffee beans, you have to put it on there. What I don't like right now is while I do this, each cocktail is warming up and dying. So I'm going to go down the line, take a sip of each one while they're cold. I'm not going to say anything. And then I'll come back to each one and elaborate. Does that sound like a plan? Because that's what I'm doing. All right. Starting with the vodka in the classic martini glass. This was the rum. Yes. Tequila. Ooh. Pisco. Bourbon. Gin. Well, thank you all for watching. Appreciate you being here. Till next time. I am surprised by some of these. They are they're all good. I got to admit, I was not expecting the gin to be good at all, but it actually tastes really nice and slightly light. The finish is a little a little interesting for me. Not in a bad way. It's just you get this nice, bold coffee and then there is a nice moment of brightness in it. So I really I like that aspect of the London dry gin in here. But the finish is a little, I guess, vegetal kind of piney or it's like a foresty note, which isn't bad. The vodka, obviously, that's good. It tastes like coffee. And that's that's what everybody loves, right? The traditional espresso martini. The rum was outstanding. I went with a rum with a bit of flavor and that flavor really held up nicely in this cocktail. So I think that was a good choice of rum here. I think you could even go with like a stronger flavored Jamaican rum and it would still be good. Tequila was smooth, really smooth. In fact, the tequila wasn't very pronounced. I might go with a Blanco, a silver tequila, if I were to do that again so that you can taste a bit more of that. But it was very good. The Pisco had the fruitiness I was expecting when it made the coffee taste slightly fruity. This one, the bourbon one, that was that to me isn't quite an espresso martini because that bourbon, you notice it. You can you know you're drinking a bourbon cocktail and the finish on it was probably my favorite out of all of them. That nice toasty barrel note. But in the coffee, who am I kidding? Like whiskey and coffee go really well together. All these things go really well together, and I'm so surprised by the gin. But I'm going to try to rank them number one. Actually, though, let's let's go bottom up. Coming in at number seven, I would say our gin espresso martini only because it had a weird finish, even though this is probably the closest to an actual martini because it actually has gin in it. But gin and coffee, it's not bad. But it's not my favorite. Number six. I'm already struggling here, but I'm going to go with the vodka as a number six, because I think that with a drink like this, there's so much room for for other flavors. That's a lot of fun. And that's that's what we proved here. Number five, probably Pisco. It is fruity. It's a little little too fruity. I think you can try it with different Piscos and could have a lot of fun with it. It's good. I do like it. But that's what I'm going to say. Number five is number four. I think I might actually go with number four is bourbon. Actually, as it warms up, I'm liking it less. That first step, I really liked it. But now I'm tasting more of the bourbon and a little bit less of the coffee. Yeah, I could re rank these when they're warm, but I don't want to do that. So I'm going to say number four is the bourbon. It did surprise me. I do like the finish. Number three. Number three, I'm going to say tequila, but it is a close tie. Number two would be the rum. Number one is the cognac, as I had anticipated. But I knew that I liked it. I like the toasty notes of the barrel. There is the fruitiness like the Pisco with the cognac, but it's not super fruity. It just it works really well with the coffee. I think Dick Bradstow is onto something really good with his original vodka espresso, and I like the way other people have have tweaked the recipe and made it their own like I did. Similar to the espresso martini is another cocktail called the Carajillo. What do you think? Should we do that one on the channel? Let me know in the comments down below. If you need any of these bottles, go grab them at House of Bitter Bear, powered by Curiata, curated by me. Cater to the recipes here on the channel. A great place to get booze delivered right to your face. I'll see all of you next time. Thank you, Z Biotics, for sponsoring today's film. Hasta la vista, baby.