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today we're gonna review this
it's called discarded it's a sweet
vermouth flavored with cascara or
cascara I have been trying to get hold
of this for a year they launched it over
a year ago now but though a couple of
cafes were serving as part of like a
cocktail program you you couldn't buy it
anywhere and I couldn't get a hold of
any despite contacting them because I
think I upset them because I complained
about their Instagram account and kind
of how they portrayed farmers maybe
that's not it I don't know but I stand
by my criticisms and we'll come back to
that in a second what we have here is a
sweet vermouth flavored with the dried
sort of husk of a coffee cherry cascara
they're making a play on this based on
the fact that it is thrown away it's not
really used we have millions of fruit
farmers growing coffee we ultimately
don't use or eat to the fruit we throw
the fruit away we keep the seeds we
roast the seeds we grind and drink the
seeds and we have a good time but the
fruit the fruit not so much right and I
like the idea of doing something with
the fruit it's an additional revenue
stream now in the UK and in Europe right
now cascara has been determined to be
not yet legal it hasn't really gone
through the rigorous checks that all
food should go through before we certify
it's safe for human consumption that is
slowly happening slowly slowly slowly
but it would appear that you can sort of
short-circuit that if you distill with
it right if you're not eating or
drinking it but you're taking a
distillate of it well that is going to
be food safe there's just no chance that
something could survive the distillation
process and I think that's how they've
done this I have some hopes for this as
a beverage I don't really know what to
expect so I'm gonna crack it open and
have a little sniff
now what's weird to me that is nice
what's weird sorry I should say what's
weird to me about this is that that the
front says it's
made with natural cascara berries what
what is a kiss Guerra berry like no no
cascara is is the Spanish word for the
kind of rind of a fruit that can appeal
like orange peel would be cascara you
don't get cask or berries it's not a
type of thing it is indicative of this
kind of weird lack of understanding of
this ingredient that actually is a
common theme throughout their kind of
website as well as the bottle itself
gotta say it's must be good I need to
get some ice so it gets - lets just
drink this over ice let me get some ice
tons tons of like stone fruit apricot
plum fig right there is that little hint
of like ferment that you get in any
formal cascara that you know it is fruit
that died it was plucked it has gone
through some sort of ripening and it is
now kind of past its best and that's to
some people - charming quality of it
some others you get it in natural
coffees they're kind of deeply
unsettling quality to it
it's very Figgy that is surprising from
a textural perspective there's very
thick very viscous
it's got God dam and what does that
flavour I can't quite put my finger on
it there's not a ton of that kind of
rose hippie tamarind type flavor that
you get from cascara quite often I mean
it's certainly sweet there's no question
there it is very sweet this would be
something we're gonna mix with this in a
little bit you'd want to play a pretty
delicate touch with the booze is nice
it's much more upset alcohol and by now
substantially less than that sort
indulged it a little bit a nice level of
bitterness in there they're kind of
bitter orange bitterness that's very
pleasant I think that's a it's a pretty
well composed
vermouth just the beginnings actually of
oxidation in there already which is
surprising just I have a real issue with
them with oxidizing spry no means bad
I'm not necessarily excited about it but
I don't make a ton of vermouth on its
own I tend to drink mixed drinks so I'm
gonna put together I think a Manhattan
because I I think that's something that
I drink fairly often and I'm curious to
see how it would do in a Manhattan
look I'm aware that making a cocktail on
this channel is gonna open up some
conversations about what a good or bad
Manhattan is I don't I get too deep into
the conversation today it's a good
conversation but it's not for today I'm
going to use the Woodford Reserve as my
whiskey I think it is a lovely mixing
bourbon that is absent of any defects it
is sweet and super approachable and
taste is just very bourbon it doesn't
have a ton of character and it's the
absence of character actually that makes
it I think particularly good for mixed
drinks it'll also be a pretty neutral
testing bed for something like this to
see what shines through so it's just
gonna be Woodford this Angostura stood
down over ice and and I forgot the
cherries forgot the cherries hello
darkness my old friend
so no garnish for me okay let's just
let's just let's just mix down a
Manhattan
let's drink man taste that see how we
feel about it and then I'm gonna wrap up
is this some more to talk about
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get rid of this for now now just looking
at this particular drink we can see that
as a vermouth well it's clearly not
really a red vermouth it's too sweet
vermouth but it's not a red murmur it
the color of this drink the color of it
generally suggests that it was not kind
of fortified red wine that was kind of
given interesting aromatics I don't
really know what the base of it is but
but it is not a red wine base so it is a
sweet than with not a red vermouth I
don't know how that's going to work out
as a Manhattan but let's find out hmm
because it was really quite sweet I went
for a slightly different ratio that I
might typically use this was 55 grams of
bourbon 23 grams I've discarded and then
about a gram and a half of Angostura
because you need a lot of Angostura in a
Manhattan I firmly believe this it
produces actually quite a light to drink
lacking a little bit of depth it's okay
it really gets sort of knocked about by
the Bourbon hearing that even though
what if it's not particularly
characterful it's not a great Manhattan
it's not it would not replace either
with other moves that I use currently I
think it actually is not a particularly
memorable drink they recommend putting
it in a boulevardier I think because
they're like that you could call it a
discard ei this very little if any
cascara coming through here I'm not
saying it's unpleasant it's really not a
coffee related drinks that I've drunk
this is pleasant this is enjoyable to
drink but it doesn't really taste of
cascara not in the way that I know
cascara and that I've experienced cask
over the years it's nice I just I just
feel I just feel that it smacks a little
bit of bandwagon jumping and I just want
to talk about that I feel like this is a
big company like it's from William
Graham's and Sons they are a 1.2 billion
pound business they are a bunch of
brands you may know Hendrick's Gin
amongst them and a bunch of other sort
of whiskey brands too so this is a big
big company it's family-owned but it's a
big big big company doing this and and
and I was a bit upset about that
Instagram
in that I felt that they used images of
producers without really seeing who they
were and in fact if you go to the
website on the front page there's a
picture of two people one is a producer
and one is picture of their brand
ambassador only one of those two people
gets a name and that's not the producer
you know like like the producers are
sort of totemic they're not real people
in there and and there's a couple of
other things in there that sort of
unsettled me let me just bring it up
real quick this is this page on the site
that talks about the age of
disposability being over and a problem
the fact they talk about cascara going
to landfill which is just weird
along with that they talk about several
factors that affect cascara developing a
good flavor the plants are well
nourished so all of the sugars are
preserved in the cascara okay and I just
let it go I'll let it go the second is
that we don't use water in the process
of making the coffee which means that
all of the sugars are preserved in the
cascara and the flavor isn't weakened
through using water in the process what
are you talking about what are you
saying are you saying that this is the
result of a natural processed coffee
because the picture next to it looks a
lot like freshly pulped coffee you know
what I mean like I just the third is the
passion with which we make the coffee
the way we plant and harvest the coffee
means that we only end up with mature
coffee and that means the cascara
contains all of the sugars it needs is
that not point one is that not the first
thing you said I just don't understand
it you have these images of producers
but you never give a farm name you never
give a producer name but don't like this
sort of use of imagery to be honest it's
just I mean that's just me you may feel
differently about it right but I kind of
feel like it's weird that you talk about
cascara berries which aren't a thing and
then you talk a bunch of nonsense about
why your cascara might be good you show
some unrelated pictures and and I just
don't think you understand coffee
cherries right and you've made a nice
drink no one's gonna take that away from
you it's fine it's totally okay I'm not
angry about it it's fine you could mix
drinks with it and maybe they'll be fine
I don't think they're better for having
cascara in it but they're okay I don't
know how much Castro goes into a bottle
but by the taste of it not very much so
I struggle to really cheer this on as a
brand as a product because I don't
deeply trust it now you go and look at
the website make up your own mind right
like like maybe I'm too cynical I could
believe that
I could believe that I've lost it and
just become pure cynicism but I I'm just
not sold what do you think if you tried
it I'd love to hear your thoughts if you
had one of these drinks have you served
it do you work in somewhere that stocks
it what do you think what does it taste
like to you what does it go with what is
its best application do you have
questions - I would love to hear your
thoughts down in the comments below as
always thank you so much for watching
have a great day
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