Cocktails are all about taste. Which can be influenced by a dish, temperature or of course a particular ingredient. Some ingredients fit well together, others don't. It's a matter of trying and continuing to experiment. And once in a while you come across a special combination of flavours. We'll list four of them here.

#1: Liquorice + passion fruit (or other yellow fruits)

Liquorice is sweet, while passion fruit is both sweet and sour. These two go very well together. Think of other yellow fruits such as oranges or mango. Other variations on this: mango and chili - delicious for a cocktail without alcohol. Or liquorice with a pinch of salt!

#2: Cardamom + passion fruit + white chocolate + ginger

This was a great success during the Jenever Festival in Amsterdam. In combination with the gin of Baker's Best we developed a prebatch cocktail for their stand at this festival. The gin is made of old bread, which turned out to be a perfect base for the gin. Chris the baker and Nico the chemist made a beautiful product together. The four distinct and strong flavours in the brebatch cocktail are all intertwined like a puzzle.

#3: Alcohol + lavender

Cocktails with lavender may sound strange, but can be very interesting. This proves Super Lyan, a new cocktail bar in Amsterdam. The "Panacea" is a cool lavender cocktail made from Johnnie Walker Black (smoky), a blended Scotch (with 40 types of whiskey, including Cardhu, Coal Ila & Talisker whiskey) and a homemade honey-lavendelshrub, lemon and sage. This is a delicious thirst-quenching cocktail with light tones of peat, mandarin and raisins. The lavender gives it just that refreshing twist and lets the other ingredients come into their own.

#4: Octopus + kiwi

Last but not least, a combination you would never think of yourself: octopus and kiwi. Kiwi tenderizes the octopus. The former Little Buddha Amsterdam dared to take the plunge and bring this cocktail outside. Very special and definitely worth a try!