Halloween 2026 – Orange Blood
When it comes to holiday-themed cocktails, I usually come underprepared. This time, I threw some ingredients together the day before Halloween and poured the mixture into a pumpkin-shaped mug.

The Next Level of Homemade Drinks
When it comes to holiday-themed cocktails, I usually come underprepared. This time, I threw some ingredients together the day before Halloween and poured the mixture into a pumpkin-shaped mug.
I discovered the Moric Jagini through the Wein fuer Wein podcast and their interview with Hannes Schuster. Luckily, I managed to get my hands on the 2011 vintage. The second wine was the Moric Zagersdorf / Cogrštof Ried Krčsi 2011. I chose this wine, because it was the same vintage as the Jagini.
I really enjoy Redbreast whiskies. So, I was pleased to have the opportunity to review the 15 Year Old here on the blog. Of course, I also tried it in a short drink.
Yes, I do enjoy pinot noir, but my favourite red variety is Blaufraenkisch. The reason for that is that I have a very personal connection to the variety, the Burgenland and the Heinrich vineyard in particular. I remember playing with leftover wine labels as a child.
I thought I revive the Silvaner Sundays category since I am done with the German wine regions and before starting with the Austrian ones next year. In this case, I opened a bottle from Stefan Vetter who is famous for his very distinctive style.
Another great spirit from Florian Faude is his damson eau de vie. While this is a great sip on its own, I decided to use it in a Manhattan variation. This also gave me the chance of opening my bottle of Faude Vermouth.
Even when visiting the Casa Eva for the first time in 2024, I knew that I had to mix drinks with Stefan’s fennel liqueur. So, I used the Vieux Carré as a base of some sorts for this drink.
For Negroni Week 2026, I created a drink that is loosely based on the original but incorporates a variety of additional flavours. The reason for that was, that I wanted to work with a lemon liqueur from Faude. This required a bunch of changes to balance the drink.
If you are in Berlin, you simply must visit the KaDeWe. The food aisle in particular is full of interesting things to discover. This time, I tried a black tea with coffee beans and bought some immediately! Of course, I also prepared a cocktail with it.
The alphabetical last German wine region in this series is Wuerttemberg which stretches from a part of the Taubertal to the Lake Constance. I chose the typical red grape variety Lemberger which is known as Blaufraenkisch in Austria.