Hot & Cool – Kota Pandan Liqueur
To be honest, I am not the biggest fan of pandan. Yet, the Kota Liqueur for itself is definitely a high quality ingredient. Especially, if you use it in an Old-Fashioned variation.
The Kota liqueur is the brainchild of bartender Nico de Soto. Gabriel Boudier produce the liqueur from pandan leaves in their distillery in Dijon. It is bottled at an ABV of 18 %.
Rice with a bit of coconut
Pandan always reminds me of rice which got stuck to the bottom of the pot. Not in a bad way, but it gets a bit overwhelming in some spirits or liqueurs. However, the Kota is quite well balanced. Apart from the “fried” rice flavours, the liqueur also shows vanilla, coconut and a hint of caramel. Yes, the Kota is sweet, it is a liqueur after all, but it is not cloyingly sweet.
A clear Old-Fashioned
For the drink, I combined slightly aged rum from Barbados with the Kota as well as some lime bitters. For a sweetener I went with salted Demerara syrup with a bit of vanilla extract in it. Nothing special so far, but I decided to stir and to serve the drink on a frozen coconut water ice cube.
2,25 cl Kota Pandan Liqueur
2 Dashes Scrappy’s Lime Bitters
0,75 cl Salted Demerara Syrup
Stir – strain – Old-Fashioned glass over prepared ice cube;
Garnish: Rose petal, Lemon Twist
Song: Absynthe Minded – Hot And Cool;
Through the coconut water ice cube the coconut flavour of the Kota is matched in the Hot & Cool. Yet the flavour profile continues to change and intensify over time. In fact, I really enjoyed this drink!
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. I received the liqueur for free from Ferrand Deutschland.
