Circles and straight lines
With any kind of creative endeavour, there’s always a temptation to say you’ve created something for the simple pleasure of having created it – art for art’s sake, if you will – but while that’s true to some extent, it would be ever so slightly misleading of me to suggest that all the drinks I [...]
OT OTT
I never realised cocktail competitions could go to overtime. I’ve been involved with a couple of tiebreakers over the years but quadruple overtime was a new one. I was almost glad I wasn’t involved. Our host, 42 Below brand ambassador Metinee Kongsrivilai, had revealed that two out of three places on the team to represent [...]
The Matinee
I’ve previously written about my participation in Bacardi’s annual Legacy Cocktail Competition; despite qualifying for the regional finals twice, I never really managed any great success in it. Luckily for anyone who’s interested in how things go beyond the initial stages, Metinee Kongsrivilai, head bartender at the Bon Vivant up here in Edinburgh, not only [...]
Starry Night
There are lot of cocktail competitions throughout the year and sometimes when you submit an entry, you don’t really think about it too much after you hit the “submit” button. For me, that was the case with the Bols Genever Classic Competition – I sent in a drink called the Stuyvesant and didn’t hear anything [...]
Road Trip: Balmenach Distillery and Caorunn
Scotland – and it’s likely that I’m not the first person to notice – has a long history of distilling. The obvious product of that history is whisky – single malt or blended – but like any country with that kind of tradition, it’s not uncommon for producers to branch out into other spirits. Up [...]
Black Daisy
After an absence of a couple of years, cocktail competition leagues are back with a vengeance in Edinburgh. The newly minted Scottish Society for Professional Bartenders have a four-round league starting later this month, while Tonic‘s modestly named Champions League (in association with Bacardi Brown-Forman Brands) kicked off last month. So far, we’ve had two [...]
Secret histories of cities and spirits
Nothing focuses the mind quite like a deadline and deadlines don’t care about royal weddings or bank holidays. On top of that, they can be sneaky little buggers and so it turns out that the entry deadline for Bols Genever’s Classic Cocktail competition passes on 1st May (UK only, I think) and while I’ve dabbled [...]
Labwork 2: Two-Step Mojito & Ex Aqua
In which the Company undertakes an excursion to the Capital and returns with a new understanding of molecular mixology, and a surprise.
To be fair, he’s looking good for a 160 year old
In which the Company celebrates a significant birthday. With whiskey.
Outbound: the official cocktail of summer
After much debate, we’ve decided on the 2010 Old Town Alchemy official cocktail of summer. Feijoa Southside 50ml 42 Below Feijoa 25ml lime juice 15ml orgeat 8-10 mint leaves Shake all ingredients with ice and fine-strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a single mint leaf. Diageo have crowned Erik Lorincz from London’s Connaught [...]
Outbound: Hallmark Holidays?
If there’s an Administrative Professionals’ Day, then we’re damn well having a World Gin Day. For those of us who aren’t able to make overseas events like the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, Cocktail Spirits 2010 or Tales of the Cocktail, there’s Imbibe 2010 in London in July. Big plus: it’s free. Competition deadlines are looming for [...]
Mezcal’s global village
“You have to remember,” says Ron Cooper, “in 1995, there were three liquor companies on the Internet.” It goes some way to explaining why he gives his web address as mezcal.com. But we’re not here to talk about registering domains in the pre-Bubble era. Ron’s been importing a range of single village mezcals since 1995 [...]
The delicate art of the twist
There’s one phrase you can guarantee that you’ll hear at a cocktail competition. It’s the one that starts, “This drink is a twist on…” The concept of modifying an existing recipe and presenting it as a new drink isn’t new – look at the sheer volume of gin/vermouth/bitters recipes in the Savoy Cocktail Book, for [...]
Forty Three: Isabella’s Grace
In which the Company recognizes the contribution made to the world of rum by the Spanish crown.
Forty One: The Columbus Line
In which the Company is afforded the opportunity to cowboy together a swizzle.
Forty: White Queen
In which the Company examines an unusual combination and fails to apply it within the strictures of competition.
Thirty Nine: Good Yeomen
In which the Company explores the difference between commercial and competition cocktails.
The Finnishing Line
In which the Company attends a pun-tastic vodka training day and manages to achieve something of note.
Thirty Four: Pacific Dawn
In which representatives of the Company are unsuccessful in progressing in the Cocktail World Cup, but still come away with a great recipe.