Things just keep getting more and more hectic here at B&T HQ but fortunately we've had a few drinks and received a few bottles recently that have helped us to take the edge off the silly season. The chaps at Sipsmith were kind enough to give us a bottle of each of their products in anticipation of an update we will be doing in the new year about artesianal producers. I mentioned this to Victor from LAB and he set about whipping me up a new drink featuring Sipsmith gin, which on paper sounded confusing, but was actually a real treat to the taste buds.
 
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT PRUDENCE
 
50 ml Sipsmith Gin
20 ml lime juice
10 ml Galliano L'authentico
5 ml Maraschino
1 barspoon Fernet Branca
1/2 barspoon caster sugar
4 seeds from a cardamom pod
 
Put all the ingredients into a shaker with cubed or cracked ice and shake hard. Strain into Champagne flute with a sugar rim and garnish with a long orange peel.
 

My God it's been a couple of busy weeks for us here at Bitters & Twisted HQ. We have been working closely with our web designers and they have done us proud so we are getting closer and closer to the launch of our full site. We have been to check out the Sipsmith distillery in London, then we went drinking tequila in Leeds, followed by Gin in London, not to mention making pineapple bitters as well as homemade syrups and we have been catching up with friends old and new. I am getting tired just thinking about how rushed off my feet I have been.

On the subject of Sipsmith I am not going to say too much as I am going to be including them in an upcoming blog about artesianal producers and small batch spirits. I will say this however, if you get a chance to try their gin, I can highly recommend it. Somehow it makes me think that this is how old fashioned gins might have been. Not overly rounded or soft, Sipsmith gin is full of character and flavour and is a lively gin that grabs you by the taste buds and takes you for a ride. Right, that's enough of that, before I get carried away and don't leave myself anything else to write about!

I was lucky enough to be asked to judge the 'Cazadores hunt' in Leeds last week, which for those of you who don't know is an ever evolving tequila event that Cazadores are starting to roll out. The idea is simple, get 20 - 30 top bartenders together in a city centre at lunchtime. Refresh them with loads of tequila and then set them a series of tasks to compete at in several bars. End it all with a cocktail comp (after 6 hours of drinking tequila this was the most rowdy comp I have ever seen!) and crown the winning team as winners of the Cazadores hunt... The experience actually got me looking at both tequila and brand run competitions in a whole new light, so much so that I am going to be dedicating a blog update to the subject very soon. Keep your eyes peeled or subscribe to our blog to be notified when it gets updated... 

All cheesy puns aside, we have just had one hell of a week what with a sample bottle of gin arriving on Bitters & Twisted HQ's doorstep on Monday, the small but perfectly formed Boutique Bar Show Tuesday and Wednesday, a Cachaca tasting day held at the Brazilian Embassy on Thursday followed by a night in Brighton with good friends and excellent cocktails. If every week was like this my liver would fail me within the next year but I would die happy! 

I almost don't know where to begin with this blog, but since I have recently talked about both Cachaca and The Boutique Bar Show, I think it only right to talk about Brighton and Gin. So let's start with the rather excellent gin that we at B&T HQ have been eagerly anticipating for some time. Geranium gin!

Over in New Orleans at Tales of the Cocktail we met a talented young bartender from Copenhagen named Jimmy Olsen, and over several days drinking got to know him pretty well, so we were pleased when he dropped us a line to tell us that he has just become the Brand Ambassador for Geranium, a new London Dry gin that is launching in Europe as we speak. We were even more pleased when he told us that he sent us a bottle to play with, to see what we think of it.

The ‘drinks cart’ at bitters & twisted is not left wanting, but Beefeater 24 does not feature among its (respectable) selection of gins, and as such, I found myself heading for Soho, needing to compare 24 to Beefeater. So a short tube ride later I am in LAB, sat at the bar with James, who by now is buffing a couple of tasting glasses for me.