bringing drinks to life

Well we made it through RumFest (just!) which was once again a great show. I have to say I really love the fact that it is the one event here in London that has some real life to it. I think that everyone there was shocked at how great the turnout was and how many people both in the trade and consumers are really passionate about rum!

But enough about rum, I have a few other things on my mind at the moment so if you will indulge me once again, I am going to talk a bit about bourbon, a bit about homemade ingredients, a bit about autumn and winter flavours (again) and a bit about garnishes.

I’m going to start with garnishes because I feel the need for a short sharp rant. Talking to American bartenders and friends in Canada there seems to be a dislike of garnishes by consumers over the other side of the pond. To my mind though a relevant garnish can take a good cocktail and elevate it into a drinking experience.

Don’t get me wrong, there are loads of classics that have no garnish and don’t need one, but the right garnish on the right drink can be a thing of beauty in so many ways. Firstly there is the obvious visual appeal of a drink with a balanced and attractive garnish, and elegant twist here, a sprig of mint there or a few seasonal berries in just the right place can get your mouth watering before the first drop hits your lips. Perhaps more important is aroma, a twist of citrus, a stick of pineapple or once again a sprig of mint can set your palette up for the flavours of the drink to follow... so as you will see from the recipes on this blog I am standing up for garnishes. Bartenders – if you take pride in the drink you have created, dress it up accordingly! Enough said!

A WINTER ROSE 

This twist on a fizz is garnished to grab your attention before setting your taste buds up with the aroma of mint and hibiscus flower. Just take one look at it and tell me it isn’t enhanced by the ‘rose’ sitting atop that delicate foam!

50ml Four Roses Small Batch

15ml Hibiscus and honey syrup

25ml lemon juice

15ml egg white

1 dash Bitter Truth orange bitters 

soda top

In a cocktail shaker add all ingredients other than the soda water, throw in some cracked or cubed ice and shake until your arms hurt. Tip contents into a highball and top with soda and GARNISH with a sprig of mint and a preserved Hibiscus flower.

I have been spending a lot of time hanging out with bartenders, visiting trade shows and catching up with friends overseas and these topics keep popping up in conversation. Bartenders keep asking me for more info about bourbon since the B&T crew visited 8 distilleries earlier in the year. It seems that while some brands have invested in the UK as a ‘priority market’, others have been sorely neglected and are little known over here. One that springs to mind is Four Roses… but I have a feeling that is about to change.

For me Four Roses was a brand I had tried at some point in the past, but gave little thought to until I had my eyes opened during our time in Kentucky. We were lucky enough to spend a day with Jim Rutledge, the master distiller, and we got stuck into learning about the brand and tasting everything from their standard yellow label through to some single barrels straight from the cask. I am now a huge fan. So you can imagine that I was pretty excited to hear that Jim is coming to this side of the pond next month and will be helping to educate bartenders in London and Leeds.

With InSpirit now looking after Four Roses in the UK, I have no doubt we will be seeing much more of the brand in the near future, but in the meantime if you see a bottle in your favourite bar take a moment to get reacquainted with it. With three to choose from there is something for everyone, but for me the stars of the range are the Small Batch and the Single Barrel, so you won't be surprised to see that they are the basis for the cocktails below. With their high rye content they have a spiciness that is perfect for autumn drinks and the Small Batch and Single barrel work really well with strong flavours.

OLD FASHIONED ENGLISH ROSE

This is little more than an Old Fashioned with a touch of floral and spice, but once again a few flowers and an orange twist just sets the drink off perfectly! Four Roses single barrel is perfect to work with the spice from the cinnamon and the floral notes from the rose syrup.

50ml Four Roses Single Barrel

7.5ml homemade rose and cinnamon syrup

1 dash Jerry Thomas bitters  

1 Peychauds bitters  

In an old fashioned glass stir ingredients with cracked or cubed ice until well chilled and diluted. Garnish with dried hibiscus flower and an orange twist.

I’m still loving the fact that it's autumn and that drinks lists are starting to reflect the flavours we associate with this time of year. I have been digging around for ingredients to reflect the season and have been especially pleased to have sourced Hibiscus in two varieties, both dried and fresh preserved in syrup. The flavour is amazing, and since I have a fellow ‘drinks geek’ staying with me for a few days it seemed like a good excuse to throw hibiscus at a bottle of Four Roses and see what we could come up with.

My friend H is a bartender from London who has moved over to Vancouver and talking to him about the limited range of products over there got me thinking about the current trend of making homemade reproductions of obscure ingredients. This is something that I encountered in New Orleans too where Chris Hannah was shaking up classic cocktails with homemade Amers, drams and lord only knows what else.

I know we are spoiled here in the UK and can get just about everything you can imagine, but sometimes making your own ingredients is the best way of coming up with the perfect flavour to complement a particular spirit. With that in mind H set about mixing up a batch of rose and cinnamon gomme and a Hibiscus and honey syrup, which might just be additions to the menu at the Revel Room in Vancouver where he tends bar. In the interest of keeping this blog a reasonable length I haven’t included the recipes for the syrups here, but if you really want to know them then drop me a line at dan@bittersandtwisted.com and I will send you them.

REMEMBER KENTUCKY

This is a twist on the Remember the Maine from Jigger, Beaker and Flask by Charles H Baker jr. but with hibiscus taking the place of cherry brandy. This is a nod to those who like their drinks ungarnished... we even threw away the lemon twist!

50ml Four Roses Small Batch

15ml Carpano Antica Formula vermouth

2 generous barspoons of Hibiscus syrup (from the jar of preserved flowers)

1 dash Angostura bitters 

Absinthe rinse 

In a mixing glass with cracked or cubed ice add all ingredients (other than the Absinthe) and stir to chill and dilute. Rinse a chilled cocktail glass with absinthe and strain the drink into the prepared glass. Twist a lemon peel over the top and discard.

Right, that’s enough from me, I have a batch of pineapple bitters that need to be bottled, some herbs and spices that need to be turned into syrups, a homemade hibiscus brandy to work on and some new recipes to work on that will almost certainly need garnishing!