Mixing it Up!

Hey Guys and Gals,

My apologies again for the delayed blog. Things have got real busy for me of late which is a good thing but has meant this is harder to keep up with!

So for this post, i’m mixing things up with a little bit of news of some interesting and fun things i’ve been doing, seeing and drinking!

I have finally returned to the big smog of London. It is easy to forget amongst the trials and tribulations of crappy commutes, angry pedestrians and renegade cyclists, how wealthy London is when it comes to food and drink. The influence of our capital’s multicultural society blesses us with great eateries, bars and concepts which means there is always something which will surprise/interest/tittilate you. (Hence my blogging absence, there’s just sooooo much!).

I mention this because despite my opinion of a lot of London bartending (style over substance, bartenders who jump from one bar to the next etc), there is sooo much which is great and the people i’ve been working with and meeting over the past few weeks are true testament to the fact that London is an exciting place if you are a bartender.

This is NOT Myles!

One such experience was seeing/taking part in the Molecular Mixology course at Shaker Barschool where i’ve been doing some training work. Led by a fantastic trainer by the name of Myles Cunliffe (who sadly doesn’t really tend bar any more), the session really gave me some food for thought. Is London exciting? For the rest of the world it certainly is! Bartenders had come from all over the world to attend… Nigeria, Denmark, Italy, Greece, it was quite astonishing! The course was fun and challenging with a fantastic spin on the molecular world.

Now, i do have a little gripe with the idea of molecular mixology in that, again, it can be very much about style over substance where there may be techniques employed but without complimenting/enhancing or really improving on a recipe which, if made with classic techniques, would be lovely.

"Sorry, again, how do i drink this...?"

I still think that much of the molecular world is best left for competitions, special events and fine dining/small expiremental bars (where the application of a process doesn’t mean you wait for 30 minutes whilst someone has to knock up a pineapple and chilli caviar!). However, boy is it fun to mess around with! I have had a little play with things before but had never really embraced it. It can work out as quite an expensive thing to play around with because of the necessary tools and ingredients and it is also quite tricky, so you can waste a lot of cash in your failed attempts!

There are definitely some serving ideas that came out of the day that i will use in the future and there are certainly some ways to implement the ideas into bar service without it being a logistical nightmare and the variety that comes with pulling it off is too exciting to simply ignore. Just make sure it does work and you haven’t just got all excited about using the fun chemicals and fancy gadgets but made a drink that tastes boring/shit!

If you do want to know any more about the course, (and this isn’t me just shamelessly plugging Shaker, i genuinely think this course is great for anyone with an interest!) go to http://www.shaker-uk.com

So, moving on. Whisky!

I had the good fortune to attend a fantastic whisky tasting session led by Colin Dunn from Diageo. Now Diageo get a bad rep, yes they have some brands that i despise and some of their tactics and actions are less than desirable but then it is true with most large scale corporations no matter what the industry. They are an easy target. However, the work done on the ground by Colin with his tastings is fantastic. He struck a great balance education, branding and fun which made it a very fun afternoon plus he had some awesome products with him!).

Cherry Raisiny Smokey Loveliness

After a general spiel (though well presented and interesting) around the history of Scotch whisky, dotted with readings from the Bible, Hunter S Thompson and a few others (which at present i forget), he conducted a tasting of just four malts. However, they were well selected in that they had very different styles, representative of the regions and were matched with foods to enhance the flavours/providing serving ideas. Talisker 10 and Maltesers, awesome! Quite often, these things can leave you with either little you can actually use in your work as a bartender or you leave so bladdered you can’t even remember the products. He also had with him a Lagavulin 18 Year Old finished in Pedro Ximenez barrels, wonderfully smokey, peaty but with very deep dried fruit flavours and perfect sweetness, if you can afford it, get a bottle!

As I sit reviewing my tasting notes from the session, I thought i’d also mention the Dalwhinnie 15 year. I could go on about Scotch for years and by the time you taste everything on the market, there would be new products anyway so you have to humble yourself with what you do taste and enjoy the experience.

The Dalwhinnie, taste it, it’s got a wonderful balance to it and an undeniable fragrance of a breakfast tea!

The day, hosted by the guys at Callooh Callay (great bar, GO!) ended with a demonstration of the Whisky Cocktail through the ages by Stuart Hudson. Some drinks were better than others, but his Julep and the Morning Glory Fizz were fantastic!

Finished with a demo of the Blue Blazer (a drink made famous by Professor Jerry Thomas, a bartender from the late 19th century), where you throw a liquid mixture from one vessel to another. In this case, with it on fire.

A word of warning if you do this yourself, do not make the drink RIGHT underneath the smoke alarm.

Cue loud noises and loud hollering from semi -inebriated bartenders.

Good times!

Hot wood action from Makers Mark

Good news and bad news!

Good news is that Kevin Smith and Bill Samuels, with their vast knowledge and Bourbon experience, have created a new expression of Makers Mark.

Ambassadors and Makers enthusiasts out there will know that a huge amount of effort goes into giving Makers that ‘oh so special’ softness, although unfortunately, often criticised for being boring and not ‘spicy’ enough.  Well this new expression sounds like it might be addressing those naysayers.

It being one of the few wheated Bourbons widely available and at an affordable price point, makes it a favourite of mine! (Don’t get me wrong, i love the Van Winkles but my bank manager doesn’t like that i like them.) I’ve had the good fortune to spend some time with Jane Conner, UK Ambassador, learning about the product and it’s heritage, production etc (and judge some fine cocktails made with the brand to boot!) and the Makers Mark team are very proud of their work!

Along every step of the journey of Makers Mark, from field to bottle, great care and attention is paid to ensure the Bourbon doesn’t become bitter. The grain is milled carefully, taking care not to scorch the mash. When put into barrels, the wood charring is carefully carried out to ensure that the tannins in wood don’t flood the Bourbon with the familiar flavour of burnt toast! These points of quality control is what makes Makers stand out from the crowd.

In this new expression, we are told by Kevin Smith (please watch the video posted below) that the aim was not to create an older Makers or merely a stronger Makers. Instead, they wanted, quite rightfully as distillers who love their craft, to create a product which took the Makers base and then show off different qualities in the product through carefully considering how to finish the product differently.

New Maker’s Mark Bourbon from Bourbon Blog on Vimeo.

Brilliantly, they have taken a technique frowned upon in the wine industry and applied it to their Bourbon to give it a different quality. Working with a ‘wood chef’ (?) they decided to add staves of oak, very carefully seasoned and treated so as to minimise tannins and maximise flavour, to the Bourbon. the result, by all accounts, is a headier, bolder version of makers with an extra 2 per cent on the proof strong with heavier notes of caramel, vanilla and a little spice, whilst balancing on the soft, wheat heavy mash bill.

For Bourbon beginners, i’ll come back and do a run down on history, production and some tasting in the near future, in the meantime, there’s the internet, so put down that bottle of Jack and go find something interesting!

Oh yeah, and the bad news is that this is on very limited production and will only be available in the US.  If anyone goes this summer, bring me a bottle back and rewards will be great and booze related.

Chocks Away

So after some serious thinking and a lot of procrastination, i decided i’d start a blog. There are so many of these things, it seems hard, when thinking about it, to be able to generate material that people might find interesting.

Then it struck me!! Maybe people get fed up of doing what i do…. which is scour the internet after bar shifts when i should be sleeping, seeking out new products, or drinks ideas, or funny drink quotes, or awesome collectibles, or pointless arguments about a certain cocktail’s origins, or alcohols we will never taste again, or what bartenders are winning comps, which brands are hot, what books are the best, what flavours are ‘sooooo hot right now’, who has the best purees, equipment, bitters, vintage glassware, infusion recipes blah blah blah.

It goes on.  So i guess im going to just post things i like and find interesting and collate this information on one page. Then also, through some persuasion by a good friend of mine and booze confidant, commit my own thoughts/techniques to various media and help share the love of alcohol, the mixed drink and the art of bartending.

Even if this reaches a very few, and they have the occasion and inclination to try a new drink or learn something new or even just ponder for a moment as to why the hell the bartender has left my drink diluting like that whilst he talks to his manager about some bloody form that isn’t filled out right! (That’s right! There will be an inevitable rant at some point about things that grind my gears!)

I hope you enjoy the pic at the top. Found and then published in the San Francisco Chronicle, where the legendary Gary Regan writes his musings, this is an AutoBar, capable of dispensing Scotch and Bourbon and up to 3, yes 3, mixers. Doesn’t it look like fun though! Any ideas with how you would tweak what you would store in the bottles?