Special) Concoctions Round 2 Finish

Happy New Year!

I bet you forgot about those concoctions I made back at the end of June. Concoctions Round 2

I nearly did. I just remembered the 28th, and lo and behold, that's exactly six months later.

In examining the bottles everything seemed generally fine with them. The liquids had changed colors and then upon opening the first, I realized the blue of the glass threw off my perceptions. I started with #4 Bing Cherries and Christian Brother's Brandy. The cherries appeared almost ghostly through the glass.

Ghost Cherries? 

#4 Bing cherries and Christian Brother's Brandy) I pulled a cherry out and the color had been sucked out of it. It reminded me more of a split olive than a cherry. The actual taste of the brandy hadn't been changed much by the cherries, and after putting the concoction alongside some fresh Christian Brother's Brandy, I can say that it hasn't been improved. The resulting cherry brandy liquor gained faint cherry touches that only muddled the crispness of the brandy. Still good, just not an improvement on the original product.

Just looks like an olive

#6 Dragonfruit and Cut Spike Vodka + #7 Dragonfruit and Suzume Shochu)

Next I got into the two Dragon's Fruit mixtures. Or rather I cracked them open and proceed to recover from the smell. I did eventually end up tasting them, but much to my regret, both of these failed. I should have opened them a lot earlier. Decay or mold or something had set into the fruit matter and each smelled like someone's potted plant had been rendered six feet under someone's armpits.

Looks can be deceiving. These dragon fruits never hatched.

I might try and do some short interval experiments with dragon's fruit in the future, but six months was too long.

#3 Coconut and Blackheart Rum 

Floaties from the coconut. 

First of all, the odd floaties forming a raft on top of the rum worried me, but the aroma had the right punch to it. Isolating some of the raft, I determined the bits were coconut oil that had congealed. Thankfully nothing threatening and something that actually tasted yummy.

The coconut sucked the color out of the Blackheart

The coconut gave a sweet and robust fresh coconut flavor to the backdrop that didn't compete with the cherry like aspects of the blackheart rum. However, the coconut pieces absorbed the color from the rum leaving it to appear almost clear in comparison to the heavy caramel of the original.

Ignoring the coloring reduction, I call this one a success.

#1 Coconut (light) and Cut Spike Rum + #2 Coconut (heavy) and Cut Spike Rum)

Left to Right: Heavy Coconut and Light Coconut

Having done this already before (Umeshu-inspired Concoctions), I have to say that it turned out the same. Despite one having nearly double the coconut in it, I think I wouldn't be able to discern which was which in a blind taste test. This confuses me since one should have been more potent than the other. However, I can load as much coconut into the mixture as a I want because my guess is that time acts as an equalizer in conjunction with the limitations of the absorption of the alcohol.

Here's the brief rundown of these six:

#1 Coconut (light) and Cut Spike Rum) Good ☆☆☆

#2 Coconut (heavy) and Cut Spike Rum) Also good ☆☆☆

#3 Coconut and Blackheart Rum) Super enjoy ☆☆☆☆

#4 Bing cherries and Christian Brother's Brandy) Okay ☆☆

#6 Dragonfruit and Cut Spike Vodka) Unsurvivable ☆

#7 Dragonfruit and Suzume Shochu) For my enemies ☆

Thanks for reading, and I hope your New Year is wonderful!