As you know, I watch way too much of a show called Deadly Women on the Investigation Discovery channel via Netflix. I made you watch an episode under duress once. You'll remember Candice DeLong, the FBI profiler who hosts the show, who has a deadpan one-liner for every situation.
Like Anise Starr, our cozy mystery heroine, I was a teeny tiny bit nervous about drinking your brandy. I could picture, just for a second, you being featured on an episode of Deadly Women. I would, of course, be played by a handsomely aging Mark Paul Gosselaar. Since, in this scenario, you are the would-be killer, you'd almost certainly be played by someone less attractive, unless they decided this was one of those situations where a handsome older man wooed a young innocent damsel, only to bump her off later.
No, dear. I don't think you're trying to kill me.
But your first brandy, while it had a really gorgeous dark caramel color, with hints of red and orange, tasted funny. It smelled like almonds and cherries and the strong cherry aftertaste was nice. But the immediate taste on my tongue was rather...medicinal. Medicinal, almonds...it really does sound like what cyanide is supposed to taste like. That's not to say it was entirely unpleasant, and who would give me cyanide-laced brandy in such an adorable jar?
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| Yeah, I'm pretty lucky. |
For a brandy that had such earthy flavors - cherry and almond (my guesses were right!) - it was surprisingly thin-tasting. The cherries and almonds were present, but it wasn't rich or viscous like my brandies were - I suspected it was because you'd used almond extract. I, too, thought about infusing with nuts but it looked way too complicated. I'm really impressed you persevered. I also wonder if the cherry flavor was light because you used Morello cherries, which were already preserved and didn't have a lot of flavors to bring to the brandy party.
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| Brandy #2 on top, Brandy #1 on bottom. |
Your second brandy, though, was pretty awesome. It was a really gorgeous amber color - both of your brandies came out a lot prettier than mine.
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| Look how pretty brandy #2 was! |
This smelled so much like vanilla - it was a really lovely sweet, deep smell to round off some of the brandy's natural bite. Here are my notes from the initial tasting, typed here for legibility's sake:
Joe forgot himself and gave me a hint, but it is no use. All I get is brandy and vanilla. Supposedly there is a fruit here. It's not citrus or berry. Good God, I hope it's not something like honeydew. Are kumquats a fruit? What do they taste like? How do I spell them?
What IS this?I also guessed you'd put in allspice or nutmeg. Alas, I was wrong: you had made a pear-flavored brandy, too! The pear in both of our brandies was not very pronounced which, in hindsight, makes sense - pear is a bit of a weak flavor when compared to brandy. The flavor of your brandy though, is very subtle and delicious. I could see us with snifters of this curled up by the fire some weekend when we get snowed in, with our cats, Ouiser and Dr. Bombay, curled up in our laps.
You'll look deep into my eyes and I'll wink at you, pour more brandy in your glass and say "Darling, be sure to drink up now! We don't want any of your delicious brandy to go to waste." And I'll smile, maybe laugh a little bit and set my glass down on the hearth. And you'll look at your glass, look at me not drinking mine, and remember this post and those episodes of Deadly Women. And maybe you'll wonder, for a split second, what I've infused into our latest round of brandies. And I'll look at you lovingly...
...and ask: "What's wrong, Joe dear? I used your very own recipe..."*
We ended up with some lovely brandies this time, cyanide or no, and I can't wait to do this again with you. I'm already excited about our theme next month, and about making some of these infused liquors again next fall.
Maybe we can watch an episode of Deadly Women while we taste?
Yours,
Dave
*Okay, just in case anyone's concerned: I'm kidding. I certainly wouldn't blog about my mariticidal plans before I carried them out.
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