Taste of Victory – the Drink

Today is the last day to register for the Beluga Signature 2017 cocktail competition, and so I wanted to share here the recipe I created for it.

Beluga is a high-end russian vodka, very neutral to the nose, with very smooth taste. For its contest, the rules implied :

• Using an ingredient from your country of origin
• Revisit a classic cocktail according to Beluga’s values and heritage.

First, I needed a context for the cocktail and I saw that Beluga was a sponsor for the RC44 yachting race series. I’m a long time fan of racing, and even though I’m more inclined to motorsports than yachting, there’s definitely some good starting points and values in both : Attention to detail, the sum of work needed by a team to get this precious seconds, minutes that make the difference between the winner and the second… Also : Champagne.

 

From the bottle you throw against a boat when it’s put afloat to the one you spray at the end of a race, it’s a key element. The other ingredient of context I wanted to use was laurel. To put both in a drink I made a champagne infusion, with the side effect of the slow cooking making the wine quality of the champagne really shine. One point though, was to use a very light, absolutely not acidic champagne, with a composition of only chardonnay and pinot noir. No pinot meunier.

For the local ingredient, I went to the little known fact that France produces over 300 different kind of peaches. Almost more than cheese. So no wonder I could find the taste I was looking for to add some smoothness and fruitiness to the drink.

White peach, chosen because it’s more smooth than sweet, I used under the form of extracted aroma, a natural way to add flavour, here to a “light” simple syrup (1:5 proportions) to not give the drink a candy-like taste.

And so we get the smoothness of the peach first, then the complexity of the champagne, followed by the strength of the vodka to finish.

Exactly what I wanted.

Recipe

Beluga Noble – 6cl

Laurel infused champagne – 3cl

Peach flavored syrup – 2 cl

Making It

Place all ingrédients in a shaker full of ice and shake. Served in a chilled coupe.

Now that you have this delicious drink, how about a soft cloud cake to match the flavours ? RIght this way : http://bartisserie.net/?p=23&lang=en