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Orujo

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on May 24, 2010| 1 Comment »

This post was graciously written by Il Digestivo’s chief digestivo correspondent, Il Dottore, after his recent visit to Spain. Enjoy.

The Spaniards don’t do after dinner drinks quite as well or as often as their neighbors to the north/east.  In Spain, the most common digestive to see at the bar was Fernet Branca, although I never saw it ordered by a Spaniard.

My first glimpse at what might be an after dinner drink culture came in the form of a blackberry cordial that we were served (without ordering it) after a large midday paella meal in Madrid.  It was sweet, not bitter at all, and was served chilled.  A nice way to end a meal.

My next encounter with an after dinner beverage was at Commerce 24 (http://comerc24.com.mialias.net/) in Barcelona, a trendy nouveau cuisine spot with an apparently celebrity chef.  I asked for an after dinner drink and their dessert menu actually included a few grappa choices.  It also included several “Orujo” selections.

We received a generous pour of a yellow-colored and a crystal clear Orujo which the wine steward recommended I try.  This beverage is apparently more popular in northwest Spain, particularly in Galicia.  According to this man, Orujo is made from the last press of a grape and is a very alcoholic spirit.  To me, the clear Orujo de Galicia tasted more like a higher alcohol saki actually.  The yellow one was decidedly more refreshing given it’s herbal character.

The next night in Barcelona, we stumbled into another extraordinary dining experience, a restaurant called Passadis Del Pep (http://www.passadis.com/cat/index.htm), where there are no menus and they just bring out plates of clams, snails, ham, and shellfish you have never seen before.  Alongside unlimited cava (champagne), this felt like the quintessential Spanish dining experience.

At the end of the meal they just brought over three bottles of orujo.  They just let you pour as much of whatever you wanted, it was fabulous.  The yellow bottle had a delightful herbal character, very refreshing.  They served these digestivos chilled.

Our last encounter with orujo was at our favorite bar back in Mardid on the last night of the trip.  Yet another refreshing herbal orujo, here served on the rocks in a snifter.

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Mirto

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on May 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Last night after a splendid dinner with the in laws at a Sardinian restaurant, I of course reached for the delicious, yet extemely underappreciated, Mirto. Distilled from the gentle Myrtle flower berry and generally indigenous to Sardinia (although some other islands, most notably my favorite of them all, Ponza, also produce their own varieties, as can be seen in the photo), Mirto is a standard digestivo that runs the gauntlet somewhere between Fernet and cough syrup, sweet at first but then followed by a little kick.  Regardless of this medicinal characteristic, I have been drinking this for years, having first discovered it in 2005 at the now-closed Osteria del Sole restaurant in the west village. Mirto is rarely found outside of Sardinian restaurants so don’t miss the opportunity to order it when you can.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

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Mandarino

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on May 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I just realized that I never wrote about the orange flavored digestivo, Mandarino, we had after lunch at one of my favorite places in Rome, Del Pallaro. There are no menus at this place -the waiters just bring you whatever is fresh that day-and we had a pasta mix of carbonara and amatricana followed by rabbit and vegatables. I can’t quite remember our dessert, but I do remember the digestivo in the picture to the below: a fairly sweet, yet potent, elixir. Unfortunately I didn’t get the name or a shot of the bottle.

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Schnappi

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on March 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

After a sensational day of skiing on Saturday, we hiked up the mountain to a cozy Swiss German restaurant complete with old wooden skis and boots and other alpine paraphernalia littering the walls.  After our main courses, my good friend ordered a couple of bottles of Kirsch Schnapps, a potent cherry liquor meant to warm you up on cold days in the mountains. The way we warmed up was by singing a little song that my friend knew from childhood and re-appropriated for this evening’s festivities. Before every shot we would all sing,

“Schneee Schnaaa Schnaaaappy, das kleine Krokdil”

(see video here)

Needless to say, I have a hard time remembering the exact taste of the digestivo in question, except that it reminded me a grappa that was distilled from cherries, which is essentially what this is. Other than that, I can’t be of much help until I return to Klosters for more Schnappi. What a weekend.

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Underberg

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on March 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

So this past weekend il digestivatore traveled to the land of Schnapps and other Swiss/German delights for a ski weekend.

The first digestivo of the trip was Underberg, first tasted at a fabulous restaurant called Oviedo, in Buenos Aires. This old German stalwart was created in 1846 by the blending of different herbs from 43 countries in a secret proprietary recipe devised by Hubert Underberg-Albrecht. In keeping with their motto of “semper idem”, the recipe has remained the same until this day.

Although il digestivatore was happy to get his hands on some during this jaunt (Underberg is not sold in the US), the taste didn’t live up to it’s reputation. It is reminiscent of Fernet, but not nearly as tasty.

(more…)

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