BFC’s Substitute Teacher Cocktail of the Week: What’s Up in Belgium?

It’s been three weeks of me filing in for Sharky, and I have good news for you–your long national nightmare is over (after this one). Sharky will be back next week in his regularly scheduled time slot, and you won’t have to worry about me anymore. Once he’s back, he better let me know if he can ID the bar in the banner image these past few weeks…

In the meantime, I quite like the theme of the world tour I’m taking you all on during my stint in charge here. Take out your globe and give it a spin…

Stop waffling, let’s go to Belgium!

A couple years ago, Lady BFC and I found ourselves in Brussels.  Were we mainly connecting from a trip anchored elsewhere? Yes. But were we going to make sure we found a good cocktail bar while we were there? Also yes. Enter La Pharmacie Anglaise. If I’m being honest, it was weird. Like, frogs in jars and taxidermied bears in hats weird. I’m being literal here.

Reviews online about this place are mixed. Some people, like me, thoroughly enjoyed it, and others found it overpriced and overkitschy. Some asked why there were so many bottles of Hendricks on multiple levels of the building. Regardless, I had one of the most interesting cocktails I’ve ever had there. And since that trip a couple of years ago, I have wanted to recreate the cocktail. Problem is, I didn’t take a picture of the menu, can’t find where I wrote down the components, and the bar updates their menu so often I can’t find it on the interwebz. All I have to go on is a picture and a memory that the key components were Ardbeg whisky and carrot juice. Here’s the pic (another BFC original):

Fucking gorgeous. But like I said, I can’t remember what’s in there and don’t even know what it was called, so it’s time to go from copying recipes to creating one.  I decided to anchor on the peaty scotch and carrot juice and then play around. What goes well with carrot? Ginger. After that, it’s guessing and hoping. Here’s what I decided to try–

1.5 ounces Islay scotch (I used the Costco Islay Single Malt rumored to be from Caol Ila)

.5 ounces Domaine de Canton (ginger liqueur)

.75 ounces carrot juice

.25 ounces lemon juice

.25 ounces honey syrup

Garnish with cinnamon stick and expensive cherry

Yeah, I ditched the rosemary and the carrot carving. I’m a pretentious douche but even I have limits. Or at least limited garnish inventory. Let’s give this sucker a taste.

Not bad. Strong peat notes on the nose, I wish it had more carroty-ness. It’s a little thin, both literally on texture and in terms of taste profile. No depth, just basically a whisky and carrot juice mashed up. It’s….fine, but nothing special and nothing I’d go to the trouble of seeking out and/or making again.  Let’s see if we can do better, shall we.

2nd attempt

1.5 ounces Islay whisky

.5 ounces Domaine de Canton

1.5 ounces carrot juice

.5 ounces lemon juice

.5 ounces honey syrup

1 dash ango

Honestly, this is more appealing from go both in terms of visual and the taste. Better balance on the sweetness. I regret upping the lemon juice a little but it doesn’t ruin it. The ango makes a big difference in terms of both color and depth of flavor. More importantly, you don’t lose the smokiness of the islay whisky while getting more carrot, which ostensibly should be good for my eyes and heart whilst getting tanked. I can’t say I’ll regularly seek this out, but if you have carrot juice and an Ardbeg equivalent, I recommend fucking around and finding out how it works for you.

I’ll tell you one thing, if I’m ever back in Brussels, I’m going back to this bar to ask them for the recipe for that original drink.  They never got back to me when I messaged them on instagram, and I can’t take a hint.

This was a fun experiment, and thanks for letting me keep your seat warm, Sharky. As for the rest of you sots, I recommend all of you give home bartending a shot. I hope you’ve enjoyed our little trip around Europe as much as I have. Until next time, if you’re thirsty, make yourself a fucking drink. BFC out!