A group of Madrid Teachers discuss cocktails and how to make them, which gives us a chance of going over the strategies native speakers use in oral communication.
What's your favorite cocktail and you’ve got a favorite cocktail?
To be honest it really depends on the situation and for me it comes down to what kind of liquor am I trying to drink, white or brown and if it's white I have to go a gin martini dry unless it’s bad gin then I’ll go to dirty, but if it is Brown it’s gonna be a Manhattan.
A Manhattan and so what's a Manhattan?
They call it the king of cocktails. It’s… nowadays bourbon although I think it started as wry and a little bit a red vermouth and so angostura bitters, a dashing too.
I'm not a big fan of cocktails but I generally have a screwdriver, you know, vodka and orange
It’s a refreshing drink!
Yeah! I actually looked it up on the Internet the other day, I was actually finding out about the origins of the screwdrivers. Engineers in the States they used to have orange juice in their break, their work breaks, and then they used to put in a bit of Vodka, engineers in their breaks seemed to have vodka, orange juice in their breaks and then they used to put in a bit of vodka and then they would stir it with their screwdrivers.
Oh, there’s the name!
Screwdriver, yeah.
Thanks man I’m going to remember that.
Next time you ask for a screwdriver ask for a real screwdriver too so that you can stir your drink.
What about you, Duncan?
I don’t know… and they've all got such funny names these cocktails. My favourite is probably a Bloody Mary.
Ah, that’s great in the morning.
Yeah, it’s a great one in the morning.
Do you have yours with Tabasco or Worcestershire sauce?
A little bit of tabasco, a little bit of Worcestershire sauce, tomato juice I do something, a stick a celery to stir it around.
Of course.
That’s a classic.
There’s just so many wonderful drinks with a… with gin, I mean, the Tom Collins is it a wonderful refreshing drink…
And it's quite funny that there’s different versions of the Tom Collins.
Yeah, of course.
… like the Juan Collins is like the same thing but with tequila instead of gin, I think that’s funny too.
Tequila is fantastic too.
And then the American Collins. They put fruit in it.
Fruit, and they keep the gin…?
That’s with gin but they add the fruit.
Okay, the American Collins and then the…
Never heard of that.
… sort of quite funny. And the John Collins is with bourbon.
Ah, okay.
I’d like to give that a try.
What’s the difference between a bourbon and a whiskey?
I was just about to ask that. I’m sure our American friends here will be able to tell us the difference.
I I know that there's something having to do with the, the distillation process but really the difference that you notice in the glass is the bourbon is a lot smokier because they use the American oak barrels to age it.
Okay.
And American oak is a burned oak rather than the French oak which is a lot smoother and older, so it
imparts a really different…
Because it’s got a very different taste.
Yes, they do, they are certainly worth.
Interesting.
Interesting.
So you’ve got a favorite cocktail?
Well the only the only thing I drink is a little bit of Bailey's with my coffee.
I do like Bailey’s. Bailey’s is good. Have you ever had an Irish coffee?
No, I haven’t had hardly anything…
Oh, you’ve got to try real Irish coffee.
…it’s all over my head.
The best Irish coffee I’ve ever had was sitting outside, it was in December, it was in a plaza, in a square… really, really cold day in the morning having an Irish coffee that was the best Irish coffee I’ve ever had.
Where were you?
In Segovia
The best Irish coffee you’ve ever had was in Segovia?
A bit strange, yeah. It was more the setting being outside and it was really cold, it was just like sitting outside in the bar, wrapped up and then drinking this Irish coffee. So it set me up for the whole day. It gives you that nice warm inner glow plus the coffee gives you a boost.
…coffee house this Irish coffee has in it?
It’s got whiskey.
Whiskey.
And this special and then cream I think there’s a special way of pouring the cream that is when you pour…
I used to work in a in a café, so I have actually made Irish coffee
Oh, tell us how to make Irish coffee!
So, yeah you will start with the whiskey at the bottom of the glass, add the coffee…
Yeah.
…and then the trick: if you get the cream in an empty plastic bottle, for example, shake it first so it’s slightly thicker and then pour it over the back of the spoon and it floats on the top, and that’s how you get the black coffee with the white flan on the top. Just shake it and....
I’m telling you it’s a killer drink.
And does the whiskey stay at the bottom, does it?
No, no, the whiskey mixes in.
It mixes in.
More shitty
I just saw, I just saw a photo the other day of Irish coffee and looked like the whiskey was at the bottom, the coffee was in the middle and the cream on the top.
Really?
Well maybe you don’t stir it, I’m not sure.
