Boat to an Island – Liebl Pink Grapefruit
I am almost too late for this month’s Home Bar Awards . I simply made a lot of beer cocktails a few weeks ago and I just was not in the mood for more. Nevertheless, I managed to come up with a Hemingway Daiquiri variation which not only includes a double IPA, but also a pink grapefruit eau de vie.
Yes, I am completing my collection of citrus eau de vies with a grapefruit one. The Liebl Distillery produced their eau de vie in 2015 from a maceration of pink grapefruits in neutral grain alcohol. After distillation, the eau de vie spends four years in small demi-johns before being bottled at an ABV of 43 %.
Typical grapefruit notes
At first glance, the Liebl Pink Grapefruit delivers a bunch of pink grapefruit flavours. Additionally, you can find a lot of citrus flavours in the bouquet and taste, which reminded me of lemons. There are some spice and floral notes in the eau de vie, but they are lingering on in the back of the taste. Apart from a certain grassy note, I tasted coriander seeds and rose petals. All in all, the eau de vie nicely conveys the grapefruit flavour with not a lot of distractions from the top note.
Basically, a Daiquiri with beer
For a “beertail” I chose the Hemingway Daiquiri as a template. Simply put, I just had too much fresh grapefruits on hand. Therefore, I replaced the Maraschino in the recipe with pink grapefruit eau de vie. On top of that, I added a splash of double IPA from Crew Republic and basically the recipe was complete. I especially, chose the 7:45 Escalation double IPA from Crew Republic because of its intense hop notes. Apart from that, the beer still is nicely balanced with a lot of grapefruit flavours and light malt notes. Crew Republic uses Columbus, Simcoe, Amarillo and Chinook hops as well as Pilsner, Munich and caramel malt. The finial IPA has an ABV of 8,3 % and 83 International Bitter Units.
1,5 cl Liebl Pink Grapefruit Eau de Vie
2,25 cl Lime Juice
2,25 cl Grapefruit Juice
1,5 cl Simple Syrup
Shake first five ingredients – strain – chilled tropical Cocktail glass – top off with beer;
Garnish: Slice of Lime – Grapefruit Twist;
The drink starts off with typical daiquiri notes. The Veritas nicely shines through and works well with the pink grapefruit eau de vie. Next, you get a combination of grapefruit and beer– flavours. The double IPA accompanies the flavours of the drink quite well. In spite of the powerful flavours, the drink still manages to be refreshing.
