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The
Cocktail
Menu
What’s the story of your career in cocktails
so far? will need to purchase a Hawthorne strainer as well. In terms
to working more freelance, opening bars and met the chaps and can be used to pair with all spirits.
After working at Old Orleans for a couple of years I moved
at Sipsmith gin, they had just obtained the first licence to
distil gin in London for 200 years and showed me how to
make craft gin.
Do you think it’s important to know the history
of the drinks you serve?
Absolutely, the classics are there because they have stood
the test of time and the stories behind them enhance the
experience. I always look at cocktails
of spirits, gin is the most versatile spirit, if you’re buying a
liqueur grab some triple sec. It features in loads of cocktails
What, for you, are the greatest cocktails?
I love to start on a negroni, a simple blend of equal parts
Campari, sweet vermouth and gin, together the flavours
combine perfectly, and it’s great for getting your appetite
going. For the main course it’s got to be a margarita –
tequila for earthy flavour, triple sec for warmth, lime for zing
and then a touch of salt as a flavour enhancer, very strong
and very drinkable – you have been
from the 1800s and how they can be
warned. I love to end on a rum old-
twisted and reshaped to our modern
fashioned, it’s deep and warm and
day palates. A lot of the classics are
with a splash of Pedro Ximenez sherry
very strong and very sweet whereas
it reminds me of stealing my dad’s Old
now low alcohol, and bitter cocktails
Jamaica chocolate.
are usually more popular such as the
How do you go about creating a
new cocktail?
Aperol Spritz.
What’s the best cocktail you’ve
tasted?
Sometimes it will be a new product
that I get asked to create something
That’s a hard one. Dandelyan have
with or it can be a fashion show where
the best cocktail menu in the UK.
I’m given swatches to create drinks
Their take on botany in cocktails is
from. I like to start by how the drink
outstanding and I love their Concrete
should be drank and what mood it
Old-Fashioned, the Terroir at Bar
should create. Most of my cocktails
Termini is another firm favourite, it's
are either light-hearted and pun-filled
served like a small glass of wine but
or a local twist upon a classic, then
has all the flavours that grow around
shaping it to glassware, season and
the vine, to capture the flavour of flint is amazing. Recently the atmosphere.
OC, it's carbonated, deep and tangy, a perfect celebration Which cocktails do you think work well with food?
I’ve been drinking a fig rum punch created by my good friend
sipper and moreish!
Which cocktails should beginners tackle first?
Start with a daiquiri, it’s the base recipe for many cocktails
and is the definition of delicious and simple. But please,
please, whatever you do, don’t ask me "what flavours?"
when ordering a daiquiri. It's lime, rum and sugar, and
that’s it.
What’s the bare minimum we need to start
making cocktails at home – in terms of spirits,
mixers and equipment?
Ice is the most important thing to consider, have a big
supply, bartenders don’t add lots of ice to your glass to
cheat you out of liquid, and it’s to stop dilution. Equipment
wise, a simple jam jar will do but if you’re going to be making
a few for a party pick up a Boston tin, they are the simplest
cocktail shakers to use and the most reliable. However, you
There’s so much scope for cocktails with food, my favourite
to use are martinis – they are great with seafood, David
Smith at the Anchor in Seatown does a Smoky Cow Martini
with Black Cow Vodka, Laphroaig and smoked salmon. You
can also use a technique called fat washing. For example,
you can take bacon fat, blend it with bourbon and then
freeze, the fat will solidify at the top and leave behind the
bourbon as before but with the favour of smoky, salty bacon,
great in an old-fashioned with a chocolate liqueur
Got any spirit-based food matches we should try?
Gin and seafood is a must. I also love Liberty Fields Apple
Aperitif cooked with scallops, whisky works well with
chocolate and a host of dishes. The most unusual I’ve tried
recently was the latest product from Conker Spirit – their
Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, which was used to make a
ceviche with hake, coffee and fish. This was a new one to
me but it was delicious with orange zest thrown in as well.
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