London Calling Vol. 1

I recently visited our nations capital with some collegues on a two part mission; visit Imbibe Live at Earls Court 2 and sniff out the best examples of modern day cocktail making and service in London. A fabulous time was had by all and I wanted to share my thoughts with the bloggosphere!

Over the two days we were in the city we visited various styles/theme of venues and I personally was delighted by them all… some more than others but all were enjoyable experiences.

My first glimpse of alcohol this week was being thrown a clear plastic bag by what appeared to be a bearded woman! The bag contained a translucant liquid of ‘Fish House Punch’ which when drunk from a fairground style goldfish bag seemed quite pleasant but not sure if sat in PURL in Marylebone I would appreciate it! Although I have a distinct memory of Zack Galifinikis drinking from a similar vessel in Hangover 2, so maybe street cocktails are coming to the UK? :o)

My Legacy

The Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition has come round again… this time as a self confessed Bacardi convert, I have entered a cocktail to be considered, tried, tested marketed and scrutinised as a new classic cocktail.

The competition is a year long program to develop the ‘three most promising’ cocktails into marketable machines that will hopefully become the new ‘must serve’ cocktail to sit alongside such dynastic favourites as the Daiquiri, the Cuba Libre and the Mojito…

The current finalists or ‘three most promising’ are Ago Perrone with his Mulata Daisy, Sam Dean with his Amalie and Marcis Dzelzainis with his Amandine; these cocktails are three from two hundred and fifty and have been showcased all over the world by their respective creators. Ago, Sam and Marcis have also been to Miami, Puerto Rico, New York and New Orleans as part of the ‘three most promising’ team, which with some hard work maybe I can visit this year.

My Bacardi Legacy cocktail is named El Coco, in rememberance of the palm tree that grew outside Bacardi HQ in Cuba as symbol of their heritage on the island.

EL COCO

60ml Bacardi Superior
25ml Pago Banana Nectar
10ml Caramel Syrup
Bsp Passion Fruit Puree
Dash Angostura Orange Bitters

Served in Fluted Cocktail glass
No Garnish

Add all ingredients to Parisian style Shaker with double frozen ice blocks and shake for around 15-20 seconds.
Double strain (UK) or strain into chilled glass. No garnish neccesary.

Great Scott!

I was recently reacquainted with an old friend… a friend who I haven’t spoken to for around three years, maybe more! In catching up, I found out she has had a baby girl by the name of Georgia, who is the cutest little thing you have ever seen! In my creative wisdom, and as I do with most presidented events in my life, I looked to create something for mother and daughter to show that I care… and if its true that “its the thought that counts” then my gifts are rich in expense.

I have created this little pairing for them, you know who you are…

Great Scott

40ml Johnnie Walker Green Label
15ml Kahlua Liqueur
Bsp Passion Fruit Puree
Bsp Mango Puree
35ml Pressed Apple Juice
10ml Starbuck’s Caramel Syrup

Served in Hi Ball glass
Garnished with Slice of Caramelised Mango

accompanied by

Georgia Crumble

50ml Pressed Rhubarb Juice
Dash Madagscan Vanilla Extract
2 Bsp(s) Cow & Gate Apple Pie Baby Food
Bsp Sweet Cinnamon Syrup
25ml Ambrosia Devon Custard

Served in Plastic Beaker (with straw)
Garnished with Vanilla poached Rhubarb Stick & Grated Nutmeg

The Morning After…

I have entered the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup every year so far, and never so much as got a call back… this year I was not going to take no for an answer! I trialed, tested, scrutinised and deliberated over my drink for weeks, finally settling on an adaptation of an old ‘Obsidian’ favourite, The Morning After Martini. Created by my best bud, mentor and phone a friend, Jamie Stephenson the ‘Morning after’ was a simple twist on the Kangaroo with Cointreau and Maraschino with Pink Grapefruit zests; a recreation of sweet and dry citrus fruits found in Marmalade. My adaptation took this idealogy and simply expanded with a touch of 42 Below bravado!

I started with the idea of a morning routine I used to use after a heavy night (usually in Mojo) on the beer… I would make myself

The Morning After Martini

42ml Buttered Toast infused 42 Below
5ml 42 Below Manuka Honey
5ml 42 Below Passion Fruit
10ml Cointreau
10ml Teisierre Pamplemousse
10ml Pink Grapefruit Dolin Chambery
3 drops Homemade Bergamot Bitters

Stirred in a teapot and served in an Mini Marie Antoinette glass.

Garnished with a Lemon Zest and the undeniable smell of hot toast!

Served with Berocca, Glaceau ‘Citrus’ Vitamin Water and 2 Advil…

Natchez on the Hill

Whilst attending this year’s BAR.09 exhibition at Earls Court 2, I sat in on some very interesting lectures from various cocktail luminaries from around the world. One such lecture was titled Evolution & Revolution and was chaired by the one and only Dave Wondrich.

Throughout the two hour slot, Dave, an American cocktail historian and enthusiast, walzed through history picking out key points in time and cocktails to showcase cocktail making at that time. I have to admit I found the entire thing very, very informative and very enjoyable. I sat scribbling like a crazy person, jotting down every recipe, anecdote and date I heard; but one stuck in my head from the beginning! The story of a gentleman named George Weneger Holtz, a german immigrant bartender who found himself in Natchez, Mississippi. The story tells of George, a bartender who worked/owned two venues in Naches, one was a high class affair, frequented by ‘the sporting fraternity’ named Naches on the Hill noted for its fine drinks, and the other was a grog shop or skullduggery, frequented by the lower social classes of the time, named Naches under the Hill. Mr. Wondrich, talking of the origins of the Julep was explaining to the room of the social stature of American Whiskey at that time, with it being seen as ‘drunk by the common set’ with the upper classes only drinking imported libations such as Cognac, Rum or Sherry. He went on to describe a Julep of sorts, drunk by ‘the sporting fraternity’, he gave it no name and gave no reference to written record but on making this adhoc scribbled recipe, I was stunned by its complexities. As a tribute, I have named it Naches on the Hill.

Naches on the Hill

45ml Courvoisier VSOP Exclusif
15ml Skipper Demerara
15ml Hidalgo Oloroso Sherry

Served in a Julep Cup
Garnished with Mint Bush (bleeding)

Photographs below are of Mr. Wondrich regailing the room, and smashing the hell out of his lewis bag for our Juleps! Enjoy

Seasons Greetings

My love for the Christmas Period is unrellenting… I just the festive cheer, everyone in jovial moods, christmas shopping, visiting the european markets for a hot mug of Glußwein, the smell of pine needles when you walk through your front door, the seasonal lights in every town and village but most of all I love the food and drink associated with this magical time of year!

I have been creating Xmas Cocktails since I started bartending with typical ingredients like Cranberry Sauce and Brandy Butter but the cocktails below are the ones that will make you jump out of your seat and shout ‘Merry Christmas’!

Mince Pie Margarita

50ml Herradura Reposado
25ml Fresh Lime Juice
15ml Robert’s Essence of Christmas*
1 Tbsp of Robertson’s Vegetarian Mincemeat

Served in UrbanBar Margarita glass
Garnished with Mini Mince Pie

Merry Mojito

50ml Pine Needle infused Bacardi Superior
15ml Fresh Lime
10ml Pure Sugar Cane Syrup
4 Mint Leaves
1 Pine Needle Branch

Served in Hi Ball
No Garnish

Christmas in Manhattan

50ml Woodford Reserve
10ml Vya Sweet
10ml Robert’s Essence of Christmas*
Bsp Griottines Syrup
Dash Angostura Orange Bitters

Served in Marie Antoinette
Garnished with Griottines Cherry

All the Trimmings

30ml Roast Turkey infused 10 Cane
30ml Sausage infused Maker’s Mark
15ml Homemade Cranberry Cordial
Dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters
Dash Sage Tincture

Served in Old Fashioned glass
Garnished with Christmas Cracker

Seasonal Mar’tree’ni

50ml No. 209
10ml Dolin Chambery
Dash Miclo Eau de Vie Quoing (Holly)

Served in UrbanBar Cocktail glass
Garnished with Candy Cane and atomisation of Clear Creek Distillery Douglas Fir Eau de Vie

R-L: Mince Pie Margarita, Merry Mojito, Seasonal Mar’tree’ni, All the Trimmings

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Chambord Liqueur de Royale recently partnered up with the soon to open, Truman Copote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The adaptation of the 1961 movie has been written by Playwright Samuel Adamson, directed by Sean Mathias and stars Anna Friel as leading lady, Holiday Golighty.

Chambord along with Intelligent PR launched a competition ‘The Hunt for Holly’ in a bid to find their ‘Holly Golighly Cocktail’ which will be served at the Theatre Royal Haymarket for the run of the show. The finalists (of which I am one) were picked from 110 hopeful entries and are currently being voted on by the public at The Hunt for Holly and will be one quarter of the total score added together with scores from UKBG, Theme and judges from Grand Final held at The Hoxton Pony on 15th September.

The Holly Golighly Cocktail

50ml Croissant infused Grey Goose Vodka
25ml Chambord Liqueur de Royale
15ml Illy Espresso Liqueur
15ml Pressed Apple Juice
10ml Starbuck’s Caramel Syrup

Served in UrbanBar Cocktail glass
Garnished with Champagne soaked Edible $50 Bill^

The main focus of this cocktail is to recreate that most iconic of scenes, when Holly steps out of a Yellow Cab in front of Tiffany’s and eats her breakfast whilst gazing through the windows… The croissant infusion together with the Chambord, caramel and hint of apple combine to create a danish pastry flavour accompanied by the espresso flavours delivered through the sweetness of the Chambord and caramel. The combination of coffee and danish is her ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’.

The garnish is based around another recurrant theme throughout the story; with Holly receiving $50 ‘Powder Room Fee’ from her clients/dates every half an hour or so, I tied this with another feature of the story, whilst opening a bottle of Champagne in Holly’s apartment, Paul declares he has “never drunk Champagne before breakfast, plenty of times with, but never before”, this leads to their day of “things they have never done before”. So, I combined the two ideas and as Champagne is a natural Aperitif anyway, I decided to have the Champagne as an palate cleanser being consumed before the cocktail and therefore drinking Champagne before breakfast [at Tiffany’s]

Cocktails & Canapes

After reading about various Spirited Dinners and Cocktail matching Dinners, I decided I like the idea so much that I would like to try it out at The Kenilworth. Problem 1. We have the smallest kitchen known to man (5ft x 9ft) Problem 2. We have no chef (our owner is our breakfast chef) Problem 3. we have no dinner service. All in all not a great starting point but with my father’s famous catchphrase bounding around my head: “there are no problems, only solutions” I set out to create a cocktail and food matching event at The Kenilworth. Luckily, for me , I just happen to know a very good chef (ex-Michelin Star kitchen) by the name of Steven Mooney who frequents our bar and makes our famous Kenilworth Fudge!

Three months of trials and testing ensued and we finally nailed down a menu that a) could be made with our limited facilities at The Kenilworth b) would be cheap enough to offer to our Kenilworth patrons.

The Menu

Marinated grilled King Prawns with parsley, lemon, mint and chilli

accompanied by

Arette Blanco Tequila shaken with fresh sweet red pepper juice, chilli, mango and pineapple

*

Tenderloin of Wild Scottish Venison with Cherry Balsamic glaze

accompanied by

Beefeater Gin stirred with Elysium Black Muscat, Black Cherry Bitters and Luxardo Maraschino

*

Cremé de Cassis laced New York style Cheesecake with Sailor Jerry infused California Raisins

accompanied by

Vanilla & Date infused English Harbour Rum shaken with cinnamon-apple compote and Pimento Dram

*

Dirty Sexy Martini

On becoming the Belvedere Brand Ambassador for the Central Region, I decided to create my own signature cocktails for the Belvedere Vodka range. The newest additions to the range are Belvedere Intense; a 50% abv version, Belvedere IX; spiced with 9 ‘botanical’-esque flavourings and the newest maceration of Belvedere Black Raspberry. This newest maceration is the most exciting for most people as the original Maceration Range of Cytrus and Pomarancza were very well received. Personally, I am more excited about the IX variant as I see it as a 21st century Gorska style of Vodka.
You may also notice the name change from Cytrus and Pomarancza respectfully to Citrus and Orange, this decision was made on the American market as they struggle to pronounce both Cytrus and Pomarancza but would have even more problems with Czarna Malina, the Polish words for Black and Raspberry, as the Maceration is a combination of Podlaise Raspberries and French Blackcurrants and not Ribus Nigrum, also known as Black Raspberry, now famous for their use in Chambord Liqueur de Royale.

And so… I present my own signature cocktails for the Belvedere range, I will be making these cocktails on my tour of the central region, hopefully I will see you there…

Dirty Sexy Martini

40ml Belvedere IX
15ml Homemade Moët & Chandon Vermouth*
3 drop(s) Olive Reduction

Served in Mini Marie Antoinette
Garnished with Mammoth Olive

My First Martini

35ml Belvedere Pure
10ml Inniskillin Reisling Ice Wine
Dash Fee Bros. Rhubarb Bitters

Served in UrbanBar Mini Coupe
Garnished with Lemon Zest

LMP

50ml Belvedere Cytrus
15ml Fresh Lemon
15ml Monin Tarte Citron
Dash Regan’s #6 Orange Bitters
1 Whole Egg

Served in Wine glass
Garnished with Graham Cracker

Panacea

50ml Belvedere Pomarancza
25ml POM Wonderful
15ml Monin Blood Orange
Dash Fee Bros. Grapefruit Bitters

Served in UrbanBar Cocktail glass
Garnished with Flamed Orange Zest

Ice Pop

40ml Belvedere Black Raspberry
15ml Pallini Limoncello
10ml Fresh Lime
10ml Monin Passion Fruit Syrup
Top Appletise

Served in Hi Ball
Garnished with Lemon Slice & Raspberry

* Homemade Moët & Chandon Vermouth is combination of 34 botanicals soaked in Moët & Chandon NV Brut for 12 days under vaccuum then recarbonated.

Inglourious Cocktail

Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France…

As a movie geek and a cinema junkie I could not wait to see Tarantino’s latest epic in the form of the long time coming, eagerly awaited Inglourious Basterds. I had the idea I wanted to create something to commemorate this movie landmark with a cocktail but was looking for inspiration! Armed with a notebook and pen (actually my Notes App on my iPhone) I began to scribble down ideas… Here is the fruit of my endevours, it is an ode to those who fell in the bringing down of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. (subject to speculation tee hee)

The Poor Basterd

40ml George Dickel Superior No.12
20ml Calvados
10ml Carpano Punt e Mes
Bsp Jagermëister

Served in Marie Antoinette
Garnished with Sword Pick dipped in Real Pomegranate Grenadine ;o)

Lt. Aldo Raine is from Tennessee (George Dickel) and he speaks a little I-talian, (Punt e Mes) and the Basterds are killing Nazis (Jagermëister) in France. (Calvados)