Blood Pact – Gänstaller Burned Malt
The third and last installment in my little beer cocktails series is a twist on the Blood & Sand. Obviously, there is scotch in the mix, but I went for a non-peated version. Instead, I added a bit of smoky flavours through the Gänstaller Burned Malt smoked beer. So, let us see how this little experiment turned out.
Gänstaller brew their Burned Malt beer in cooperation with the Sakiškių Alus in Lituania. The beer style is a “Märzen”, so a medium bodied lager style beer originating from Bavaria. On top of that, heavily smoked malt is used for the beer. Apart from that, the beer comes with 30 IBU and an ABV of 5,5 %.
Strong, but delicate smoke
Even with the first whiff, the Gänstaller Burned Malt shows what it is made of. You get a strong bouquet of smoke, smoked ham and roasted flavours. However, at the same time the beer is well balanced and the noticeable hop notes keep the beer from becoming too smoky. Sure, you have to be a fan of smoked beer with this. Yet, this clearly is not the smokiest of smoked beers from Bamberg.
Blood & Sand topped off with beer
The idea behind this drink was simple. I just asked myself the question what would happen if you would top off a Blood & Sand cocktail with a smoked beer. Apart from that, I always differ from the original recipe and use a bit more scotch in the mix. Furthermore, I guess I should not have to tell you this, but fresh orange juice is key here. Maybe even throw in some blood orange juice if you have it on hand.
2,25 cl Vallendar Sour Cherry Liqueur
2,25 cl Casa Mariol Vermut Negre
2,25 cl Orange Juice
Shake first four ingredients with ice – strain large Cocktail glass – top off with beer;
Garnish: Orange Twist;
Song: Sea Wolf – Blood Pact;
Similar to the Gänstaller beer on its own, the first thing you will notice with the “Blood Pact” is the smoke. Next, you get typical Blood & Sand notes. It is a familiar combination of scotch, cherries, oranges and vermouth. In this case, the flavours work very well together and they add to instead of overwhelming each other.
