8.11.2010

Tales of the Cocktail with Mandarine Napoleón

Hey guys. I’m here with your D4TH riddle of the day: A (super awesome) PR manager comes to New Orleans with 3 full, unopened bottles of Mandarine Napoleón XO Reserve – a product not currently available in the states. She shows off the bottle to industry bloggers and consumers alike. How many bottles does she return with?

Answer: One. But it’s empty. And I have no inkling as to who took the other two hand-etched bottles as keepsakes of this BEYOND limited edition product. Lucky bastards. (Not that I’m bitter I only got one dram of it on the rocks or anything like that...)

In all seriousness, Steve and I had a great time in New Orleans working with our clients Marc de Kuyper and Albert de Heer of the brand Mandarine Napoleón. Within an hour of checking in at the Hotel Monteleone, we were all on our way to the Mixoloseum House to have an informal meet-and-greet with the bloggers behind the Thursday Drink Night chat room. If you haven’t been before, you must check it out on Thursday nights (obvious enough..)! All photos below are courtesy of Carson Grey Photography.

What a full bottle of Mandarine Napoleón XO Reserve looks like before you let it loose with bloggers. 15 minutes later...

...no need to adjust your computer screen. That bottle is now half empty.

On the Thursday afternoon of that 5-day stint at Tales, Mandarine Napoleón was available as a sponsor during the Summer in Paris luncheon held at the legendary Antoine’s, complete with that notorious, but oh-so scrumptious Baked Alaska. Mandarine Napoleón fit beautifully into the French-inspired menu and accompanying spirits, with the product’s deeply-rooted history with Napoleon Bonaparte himself over a century ago.


Arno Van Eijmeren (bartender extraordinaire in Rotterdam) and I (the, uh, non-bartender extraordinaire) crafted up beautiful Mandarine Sour cocktails with the simple recipe below. The traditional Egg Sour recipe from The Savoy Cocktail Book actually calls for a 1 part of brandy; however, since the macerated oranges (or tangerines as they are called in Europe) are distilled with fruit brandy, you get your – albeit much smoother – boost to a 40% abv distillate.


Mandarine Sour
2 oz. Mandarine Napoleón
1 oz. Fresh lemon juice
½ oz. Fresh egg white
3 dashes of Angostura Bitters
Thoroughly shake all ingredients and pour into an Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with a cherry.


Some other highlights from our time with the Dutchmen:

·
Me and the boys grabbing a steak dinner at Dick Brennan’s Steakhouse. I looked like such a wimp drinking my Whisky Sour and eating my 8 oz. steak next to their humongo-ginormous-extra-huge 24 oz. slabs of meat.
·
Grabbing some cocktails at Bar Tonique. We had sort of an unfortunate experience there as the place was super packed (as it should be) with just one lone man behind the bar (bad call during Tales week).
·
Empathizing with their recent loss in the World Cup finals. Trust me, even a month after it’s all been said and done, they’re still reaming…
·
Lounging in the Carousel Bar into the wee hours of the morning. Those guys tormented the poor waiter in the lounge on night when he repeatedly came back trying to understand exactly what I wanted in my Blood & Sand and then failed to produce one. Sigh… Until next year, Tales...

As the Dutch always says, Groet!
Steph


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