Pollutant of the day.
Smirniff Coconut Vodka.
Very excited to find this at Dan Murphy’s. I didn’t care much for Smirnoff’s apple vodka, but their vanilla is quite tasty and a staple at Rancho Self-Pollution. I immediately whipped up the following libation:
1 ounce Baileys
1 ounce coconut vodka
2 ounces cold milk
Dash of cinnamon
Shake in a cocktail strainer with ice. Strain and enjoy.
Self-Pollution. 
You know Sasha, I just don’t get flavoured spirits.
Aren’t they just spirits with … err … flavours in them?
Why not just have vanilla essence in your cocktail bar, coconut cream and apple juice in your fridge … just buy your Smirnoff straight and add a wrist flick to your mixing.
Bailey’s with coconut sounds interesting though.
Is ‘Spud Colada’ catchy enough?
Adds that tropical touch to your sodden bog winters.
Yes, but who knows if the flavors will be in correct proportion, etc.
That doesn’t stop me from using flavorings either. I have a whole shelf-full. I put three drops of caramel flavoring into my coffee sometimes.
Precisely. Why trust Smirnoff to get it right?
I trust them more than I trust myself with something expensive like vodka. With a cup of coffee, mistakes are cheap.
I still can’t find Coco Lopez in Australia. How do you people make proper Piña Coladas?
Proper Piña Coladas in Australia?
With very few exceptions we can’t even brew a proper beer. And that’s the national drink!
And why does the term ‘Coco Lopez’ immediately conjure an image of Carmen Miranda?
Maybe she chose the wrong stage name.
What are your favorite (note American spelling!) Aussie beers? I’m quite partial to Matso’s.
I’m strictly a real ale man, so there’s this well known brewery in Adelaide …
But what has surprised me about Australian beer ever since I was old enough to buy it is the proportion of iconic brands that are essentially identical light faux lagers with no more flavour (note non-American spelling) complexity than a can of coke.
My favourite commercial beer is one I used to buy in South India called ‘Haywards 2000’. Never seen it in Aus.
The most disgusting one is from India too, a Goan beer called ‘Ocean’. You’d be better off drinking the real thing.
(When I was a kid there was a popular Australian beer called ‘KB’ that was nearly as bad – it died a rapid death in the late 1970s at about the same time Australians stopped bringing Asti Spumante to BBQs).
India is also the only place I’ve had a real pilsner. Until I tried ‘London Pilsner’ (from Bombay) I thought pilsners were just slightly bitter lagers like ‘Resch’s Pilsener’.
I learned a lot of surprising stuff in India, but I sure wasn’t expecting to learn how crap Aussie beers (and Aussie media) are.
It won’t surprise you that the worst beer I’e ever drunk is from my native land: the dishwater-like Rolling Rock Light. On the whole, I find mainstream Aussie beers better than mainstream US beers, although when you get into craft brews there are excellent choices in both hemispheres. I’d rather drink a Toohey’s than a Miller or Budweiser.
You’ve got a point there.
I wonder who started this whole reconstituted ‘lager cordial’ thing anyway.
I’d hate to think it was Australians who inflicted that abomination on the world’s beer drinkers, but if Americans invented it then Australians proudly aped their stupidity (again) it would be even worse.
I think I’ll blame the Dutch. They don’t get enough stick and Heineken is the most over rated beer in the world.
Don’t know if you can recommend any pilsners available in Aus?
I find Tsingtao too sweet and the two or three others I tried didn’t have the hoppy ‘earthiness’ I value in pilsner.
I haven’t tried any German ones – which is probably where I’m going wrong.
German or Czech, very few duds. Have you had Pisner Urquell, the granddaddy of them all? Usually available at most well-stocked bottleshops. My local First Choice has it and I believe Dan’s does as well.
Or next time you’re in Sydney, go to the Löwebraukeller in the Rocks and have a few pints. Huge range of German beers including lots of drafts. I usually hit it for a schitzel and a pint of their (avert your eyes) mango-weizen when I’m in town.
Thanks for the tip.
I’ll swing by Cellarbrations tomorrow and see if they have it, though I’ll be waiting for a weather change before opening.