The Cork --- An English Cut Publication Zero Issue | Page 90

MIXING
it up

Famed mixologist Tony Conigliaro explains
why a measure of healthy respect for the old ways
needs to be mixed with a splash of fresh thinking in
order to produce the best-tasting cocktails

PHOTOGRAPHY

ADDIE CHIN

90

THE CORK

There’s a lot of veneration of tradition and ‘classics’ in the drinks world,

martini, but it was nothing like a dirty martini at all: it was an olive

and it’s almost like if you don’t adhere to that, then you’re slightly

leaf-infused vermouth that we then stirred a martini down with; so you

strange. When I started veering off that path a while back, everyone

got this beautiful dry olive note that seeps through the drink and gives

was very dismissive, to say the least — until it started working.

you this warmth but doesn’t ever at any point get too ‘olive-y’. What

There’s this argument about authenticity, about how things should

that described for us was a level of accuracy of imparting a very partic-

be. But in reality, no one really knows exactly what the drinks in

ular flavour, while giving a nod to the past and a classic drink, but then

Jerry Thomas’ famous 19th-century Bartenders Guide book — which

taking it somewhere very new, in an almost minimal way.

is regarded as “the canon” — tasted like, or how he made them, or

Tastes change. The first year that I worked behind a bar, on the Far-

if they were even any good. And we’ll never know, because the spir-

ringdon Road almost two decades ago, if someone ordered a martini

its, the ingredients, the way they made things, were all different back

I’d have to look it up in a book to see how it was made. Nowadays, we

then. There was no YouTube for us to see how many times he stirred

sell an enormous amount of martinis. People’s palates alter, but so does

it; all we can do is make a vague stab; there’s almost this fantasy of

the psychology of drinks. When Casino Royale came out in 2006, ev-

what they were like.

erybody wanted to drink Vesper martinis. I’d say, “Are you sure?” They

Besides, what Jerry Thomas was doing was improving all

would look mortified, as if I was saying, “You don’t look like Bond.”

cocktails that came before, which is exactly what we’re doing now.

Then they’d try it and realise it’s a pretty disgusting drink: vodka, gin,

Anything that has become a standard is an improvement on what

Kina Lillet… It’s all over the place. A shaken martini is terrible anyway:

came before it; there’s a continual creative process, a rediscovering

it gets all watery and aerated. The whole idea is to have a smooth blend

and reinterpreting. And if you work on the premise of “Is it deli-

of ingredients, without loads of air. I can maybe understand why you’d

cious?” then you can push the boundaries quite far — as long as you

want a watered-down martini if you’re living in Jamaica, like Ian Flem-

keep that in mind. Unfortunately, a lot of new techniques are not

ing did for a while, because it’s so damn hot. But they don’t taste par-

necessarily about understanding the process, but just trying to achieve

ticularly good anywhere else. I’d politely suggest a gin martini instead.

something without the understanding. That’s where things start to

That’s our primary concern: are people enjoying the drink that

crumble, and where the generation before will criticise: “Oh look, it

they’ve got in front of them? Is it better than the other martinis they’ve

doesn’t work.” But you have to make mistakes. There will be things

had? Are we using the right ice, the right amount of dilution, the right

that don’t work, but there will be things that then become standard.

proportions? Are we stirring it the right amount of times? Is it in

Our place, The Drink Factory, is about making mistakes and

the right-sized glass? We serve ours in a ratio of 5:1 Beefeater gin

finding stuff out, how things work on different levels, to then get to a

to Martini Dry vermouth, olive or twist of lemon depending on the

point where we’ve got a finished drink product that we put in a bar,

customer, in a small coupe glass so it doesn’t get warm. With big martini

where there are no mistakes so you get a perfect version. Of late, we’ve

glasses, after three to four sips it starts to become really warm and it

been experimenting with the new parameters of savoury flavours. We

tastes disgusting. The idea is to have it small and crisp and cold. Beyond

did a martini for Heston Blumenthal that was based on a classic dirty

that, it’s hardly worth drinking.

THE CORK

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