Queen Dot Kong – Liebl Banane
Traditionally, eau de vies are distilled from local fruits and vegetables. However, some distillers experiment with more exotic ingredients. For instance, the Liebl distillery from the Bavarian Forrest produces a banana eau de vie. This was the perfect ingredient for a tropical cocktail in combination with smoky single malt, rum and an Amaro. Let us see how that powerful flavour combination turns out.
Liebl distils their banana eau de vie from Ecuadorian bananas. The fruits are fermented under temperature control and then distilled twice. Furthermore, the spirit rests for two years in small glass demijohns. In the end, Liebl bottles the eau de vie with an ABV of 42 %.
Bananas, bananas, bananas
The taste of the Liebl Banana Eau de Vie combines different banana flavours: Ripe fruits, banana purée and overripe fruits. Additionally, you can find some spice notes in the form of allspice and cloves. The eau de vie delivers a lot of fruit flavours, but of course without any sweetness and with some menthol notes.
Young and feisty
On top of that, I chose the Ardbeg Wee Beastie as the base spirit for the cocktail with the banana eau de vie. At just five years, the single malt is the youngest whisky in Ardbeg’s standard range. Nevertheless, the whisky makers set out to create one of the smokiest Ardbegs. The whisky uses ex-bourbon and Oloroso sherry casks. Concerning the taste, the single malt delivers what you expect: A lot of peat and bonfire smoke, some spices, gooseberries, vanilla and caramel. However, what you will not find in the taste is a youthful metallic note. I guess, the smoke, the alcohol and the sherry casks hide those notes pretty well. I enjoyed the five-year-old Ardbeg surprisingly well.
Tropical smoke
The recipe with the Liebl Banana Eau de Vie took several iterations. It started off with just a rum base of Burke’s Seamaster and Plantation O.F.T.D. Rum. When I replaced one rum with the Ardbeg, I also switched out the sherry of my initial idea for some Amaro. To enhance the fruity notes, I used the d’Arbo Passionfruit and Orange Syrup in the drink.
1,5 cl Plantation O.F.T.D. Rum
1,5 cl Liebl Banana Eau de Vie
0,75 cl Amaro Montenegro
3 cl Lime Juice
1,5 cl d’Arbo Passionfruit Orange Syrup
Shake first six ingredients – strain – Longdrink glass over ice cubes – add bitters;
Garnish: Lime Twist – Dried Dragon Fruit Wheel;
Song: The Dø – Queen Dot Kong;
Obviously, the “Queen Dot Kong” tastes of smoky whisky notes. Yet, after the initial sip, you can taste a lot of exotic fruits. The banana flavours perfectly blend in with the passion fruit and orange notes of the syrup. Additionally, the rum and the Amaro form a great base for the other flavours. I enjoyed the tropical cocktail with a smoky twist very much.
