THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TIPPLE, BY GORGE

LOOKING to buy that special someone a top-notch bottle of spirits for Christmas?

Geelong cocktail king Gorge Camorra reviews two of the latest winners. So you have a party to go to this weekend and would like to buy a good bottle of whiskey as a gift but unfortunately you don’t have a huge budget?

There are so many bottles on the shelf at your local shop and it is really confusing, so which one do you choose?

Well, let me make it easier for you.

At the $50 price range most whiskies available are blends, however the outstanding performer for price and quality I suggest is Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, a blend of three great single malt whiskies and no cheap grain spirit added.

I love the versatility of this whisky. I love it on ice, with a mixer I suggest ginger ale and a wedge of orange or in a cocktail such as a Whisky Sour or the Monkey Jam Sour. Setting up a drink cabinet can be a very expensive and daunting experience.

With hundreds of liqueurs and spirits to choose from, what is the most versatile liqueur to buy that you can use in many types of alcoholic beverages?

Hands down Cointreau is the one. This French orange-flavoured triple sec has been drunk as a aperitif and digestive tipple since 1875.

I love it on ice, with soda and lime, with fresh lemon juice as a sour and even layered with coffee liqueur and baileys in the famous old school shot The B52.

It is the liqueur mostly used in cocktails ranging from the Daiquiri, Margarita to the Cosmopolitan and the White Lady and is a must for your cabinet at home. Give it a try.