Good deeds never go unpunished...

You may remember that I've posted previously, detailing the exploits of Mr Ajax Kentish and his Help.A.Bartender mission. 

To remind you, or if you haven't heard;

Elias Vlahos was involved in a terrible motorcycle accident. He sustained massive injuries and, as a result, was left requiring extensive surgery and treatments. In order to pay for those treatments, Elias has sold his worldly possessions to be able to go back to leading a normal life (or at least as normal as any other bartender could have), but he still needs in the region of €30-50,000 to receive the surgery he requires. Enter Ajax Kentish. Stepping up for his friend Elias, Ajax has pledged to cycle from Athens to London in under 1 month to raise money for Elias. This is a noble act for a very worthy cause, one which I feel compelled to help out with, in any way I can. Unfortunately I can’t take up the adventure of cycling through Europe to raise the funds needed, however, I can put myself through something equally as tough on my body...

Further developments are in the works but to date, Ajax has  sercured some very prominent sponsors for his greek odyssey. Head over to Help.A.Bartender for the latest updates.

From our end, up in Aberdeen, there are a few irons in the fire but confirmed yesterday was my contribution to the cause:

For 1 month(28 days), I will undertake a SPONSORED FAST to help raise funds and awareness for Elias. 

To clarify; 

I WILL NOT eat solid food.

I WILL NOT drink alcohol 

and 

I will ONLY receive sustenance via liquid supplements (water, vitamin drinks and protein drinks as I'm not about to walk around work with an I.V. line in my arm). 

The reasoning behind this being that when Elias was in hospital, he was fed intravenously and in this way, I will (to a very small extent) be able to put myself through some of the rigors Elias’ body went through during his recuperation.

If you would like to sponsor me in this venture, please get in touch. I will begin on the 4th of June and finish on the 1st of July. I will have sponsorship forms in 99 Bar & Kitchen, my tips will go as donations, you can get hold of me via Facebook, Twitter etc. You may donate straight away (preferred) or I can collect any and all donations after the fast has been completed. 

My thanks for your support, in advance.

Absinthe-Minded

Scared? Many people are by Absinthe. Why? It’s one of the enduring myths of alcohol that Absinthe is scary; it makes you hallucinate, it drives you mad, it gets you inordinately drunk…. (well, the last one might be kinda true) What is it about this one spirit that frightens people so much? By people I don’t just mean Joe Public, I mean everyone: bar tender and customer alike. So, to quote Starship Troopers: Would you like to know more?

La Fée Verte (The Green Fairy)

What is it? At heart it’s a green, anise flavoured spirit that is usually highly alcoholic. Flavoured from a variety of botanicals; notably green anise, sweet fennel and the flowers and leaves of artemisia absinthium (or Grande Wormwood in French). It’s the artemisia absinthium which gives the drink its name. Now it’s the artemisia absinthium which is the most interesting part to the drink; this is what contains the wormwood. Wormwood contains trace elements of Thujone which was later to be discovered to be a neurotoxin. Still scared? Stay with me and I’ll allay your fears. We’ll come back to this in a moment.

Wormwood, for the all the fear I’ve just put into you has been used as a medicinal elixir as far back as Greek times, but where we enter into the modern world with it is around 1792 when, according to popular legend a French doctor, working in Switzerland, called Pierre Ordinaire distilled artemisia absinthium with anise and other local Swiss herbs to create a powerful (72%ABV) tonic which was hailed as a medical marvel. This tonic was reputedly passed to a Major Dubied whose son-in-law was Henri-Louis Pernod. Pretty sure most of you reading this will recognise that surname? From there things snowballed rapidly. By 1805 hundreds of distilleries had sprung up across France. Momentum carried on and by the mid 19th century it had become the most popular aperitif in France, so much so that the time between 17:00 and 19:00 was known as "l'heure verte" (the Green Hour). Think about what you associate with the image of absinthe in your mind? Van Gogh, Moulin Rouge, Picasso, Manet, Baudelaire, Rimbaud: tres boheme do you not agree? By about 1870 or so France was consuming 1 million litres of Absinthe. By the time we entered the 20th century that had sky rocketed to 21 million litres! Can’t have been all that bad then?

The Fall From Grace

Now here come the horror stories

“It’ll drive you insane/kill you!”
“It will make you murder!”
“Van Gogh cut his ear off after drinking it!”

Pretty sure we’ve all heard these, or variants of them. Where do these stories stem from? At heart our old friend The Temperance Movement. At the start of the 20th century the Temperance movement was in full swing; all alcohol was evil was must therefore be driven out be it Demon Rum or our friend The Green Fairy. Now we come to the myth of the absinthe ban. Absinthe was never banned per se. To be precise the original ban in France was on the ‘sale’ of absinthe and here it the UK it was never banned. I won’t list the ‘ban’ by country, but if these things tickle your fancy go have a wee nosey here: http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/absinthe/absinthe_law.shtml.

So what prompted the ban other than the temperance movement? Two main stories at the start of the century helped spur this on. The first was a scientific experiment. As I mentioned earlier Thujone, which Wormwood contains traces of, is a powerful neurotoxin. By dosing lab mice with high concentrations of Thujone the mice convulsed and died. Don’t want to be drinking that, do you? But note I said ‘high concentrations’; the equivalent would be drinking 150-200 shots of absinthe. The alcohol content of that would also kill you. Or to put it another way the Thujone content of a sage leaf is higher than that of wormwood, so by rights we should ban sage and onion stuffing.

Right; so that’s the “It’ll drive you insane/kill you!” part covered. What about the murderous intentions it places in the hearts of absinthe drinkers? This stems from the notorious “Absinthe Murder” in Switzerland. In 1905 a gentleman named Jean Lanfray murdered his pregnant wife and two children in a drunken rage. Absinthe was blamed as the culprit after it was revealed he’d drunk two ounces of the stuff. The seven glasses of wine, six glasses of crème de menthes, one coffee laced with cognac and two crème de menthes weren’t mentioned by certain people reporting the story. Absinthe was the culprit and it took the fall. Switzerland did indeed ban absinthe in 1910. This spurred the Temperance movement on and added to their arsenal to drive demon drink from all our shores. (Oh, Lanfray hung himself by the way)

“Van Gogh cut his ear off after drinking it!” Weeellll, maybe he had been drinking. Maybe not. This one I’ll leave well alone. We’ve all done stupid things whilst drinking, but I can’t say I’ve severed part of my ear with a razor blade and handed the piece wrapped in a handkerchief to a prostitute. I’ll attribute this one to the ABV of absinthe, if it is indeed the culprit, rather than anything else.

Back On The Road

So, absinthe was off the map. Where do we go from here? It lived in the memories of people and it was substituted for by pastis and anisette, but it wasn’t quite the same. It had never been huge here in the UK so it wasn’t missed that much. It took until the late 80’s/early 90’s that we began to take to the green fairy. How? Why? Tourism and a British taste for powerful spirits took us to the new destination of the Czech Republic where absinthe could be found, imbibed and brought back to our island. The scary reputation remained in our cultural consciousness, but we took to it quite rapidly. Sadly for the wrong reasons. (But UK drinking culture’s an article for another time) Suffice to say, where there’s a desire, or a market, someone will step in and step up to the plate: enter BBH Spirits who began to import Czech brand Hill’s Absinthe to the UK. Things ramped up rapidly with new EU laws skipping over, or forgetting, individual countries laws regarding Thujone legislation. In 2000 La Fée Absinthe became the first commercially available absinthe produced in France in almost a century.

Suck It And See

So, has this article piqued your curiosity? Well on March 18th Corpse & Cocktail, in conjunction with La Fée Absinthe, step back to the bohemian bars of Paris of yesteryear and enter "l'heure verte”, well 4 hours to be precise. A full menu of absinthe cocktails prepared by the Corpse bar team, including a fully functioning absinthe fountain so you can have your green fairy prepared the way it should be; will, hopefully, allow you to learn to love la fée verte. Come down and find out if it’s a scary as you think it is; we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Help.A.Bartender

Some of you may recall reading my piece last month on my experience of The Kraken Black Ink Society competition. If not, shame on you, it can be found here: 


Competition Breeds...

One of the bartenders I had the pleasure of competing against (and later getting slightly tipsy with) was the ever-safe Ajax Kentish, pictured above. A big dude with an even bigger heart it seems because just the other night, he dropped me a line to ask for my help in raising some funds and awareness for a mission he holds close to his heart; Help.A.Bartender.


The story behind this is one we can all relate to in one way or another: Help.A.Bartender started off when Ajax found out that one of his friends Elias, who worked as a bartender in Greece, had a serious motorbike accident. The complications arising from that accident have left Elias in need of extensive surgery and further treatments but in order to get them he needs to pay between €30,000 - €50,000. Those of you reading this are, more-than-likely, in the bar/hospitality trade and we all now how that goes when it comes to the end of the week. 


Elias has sold most of what he has to pay for what he’s had done so far, so Ajax decided it's now his time to help. He'd been planning over the last two month to cycle to Athens from London within a month to raise money and now he confirms he will set off in just 2 and a half months. He's going to need a lot of help to get to his goal, including some more sponsors. If any of you out there in cyberspace read this and think you can help then please head over to Help.A.Bartender and soon http://www.helpabartender.com/, in the words of Ajax : "whether it be £1 or £20, whether it be £1,000 or £5,000, every bit helps. And I will be keeping you up to date with things I'v been doing and things you can do to help". Methods for donation will be up shortly.

This is a mammoth task for any one man to undertake, however, if we all give a little we can get Elias back on the mend. Ajax has even higher hopes for this endeavour, however, after this mission has been completed, he says there are other people who work in hospitality who could use a little help, and we might be able to do something about it. The first mission is for him to help out Elias, but where this venture goes after that could be somewhere very special indeed.

Please spread the word, keep a watchful eye on Ajax' progress and, if you can, please donate to the cause.

Good luck Ajax, expect my donation, I'll spread the word and any help I can provide up here in Scotland will be quickly given. 

Jodes

Last Word Competition - Sian Ferguson (Winner)

Congratulations to Sian Ferguson of Ninety-Nine Bar & Kitchen for taking 1st place in the Aberdeen heat of the Last Word Twist competition by Chartreuse.  The two other finalists were Barry Hickey (Orchid) and Iain Selkirk (Dusk).  The round was judged on a number of initiatives including a mystery shopper, marketing and promotion, plus a tasting by the Brand Ambassador Matthew Dakers and myself, Adrian Gomes of 10 Dollar Shake.

Here's Sian's winning drink...

The Last Wynd

25ml Yellow Chartreuse

25ml Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
25ml Havana Club 3 yr old
25ml freshly-squeezed lime juice
Bar-spoon honey

[Shake and fine strain all ingredients into a chilled coupette.]

Bacardi Legacy 2012 Finalist...Dan Bovey

In the first part of our series on the three finalists of this year's Bacardi Legacy UK Finals, we welcome Dan Bovey, GM of Reading bar 'Sahara'.  We've actually been chatting to Dan since before he placed in the top 3 of 2012 (each of them has one year to promote their drink before the ultimate winner is announced at the 2013 finals).

Back in November last year, we asked Dan to give us an intro about himself, his drink and his hopes for the competition:

"My name is Dan and I manage a bar in Reading called Sahara.  I have been bartending for around 7 years.  This year is the second time I have made it into the Bacardi Legacy final and I think it has given me a fantastic opportunity to give the judges exactly what they want.  The idea for the competition is to create a classic cocktail that will have the same kind of staying power as the Daiquiri, Mojito and Cuba Libre.  I feel I have done this with my drink as it contains classic ingredients that have been around for a very long time; I imagine the classic bartenders in London like Ada Coleman or Harry Craddock would have used similar flavours in their drinks and that is why I settled on these.  It is also well-balanced and easily replicable, so could be made anywhere in the world.

I really hope the El Momento Perfecto goes down well this year as it's a fantastic competition to be involved in and a great chance to make a cocktail for my heroes, as well as get my name out there and further my career in the bar industry."

D-Day came on the 9th February as Dan and the six other finalists presented their drinks to the guest judges which included Ago Perrone (last year’s international winner) and mixology legends Audrey Saunders, Dale DeGroff and Peter Dorelli.  Along with Gordon Purnell from Edinburgh's Voodoo Rooms and Chris Moore from the Savoy Hotel in London, Dan came one step closer to the badge of Bacardi Legacy UK champion.  Follow his journey on the El Momento Perfecto Facebook page.

El Momento Perfecto

45ml Bacardi Superior
25ml Lillet Blanc
20ml Byrrh
10ml Campari
4 Dashes Orange Bitters
1 spoon Strong Marmalade

Stir over cubed ice, then strain into an old fashioned, garnished with a twist of lemon.

We tried this at last week's Corpse & Cocktail.  It's a fantastically-aromatic drink with heavy orange notes, with a sweetness that makes this very accessible.

Competition Breeds...

Monday 13^th February 8.30am – It’s D Day...well, K day. I'm up early as seems to be a theme of the last few days but it's all been in aid of this juncture. 

The setting - Hotel Pelirocco: A quaint boutique hotel on Brighton beachfront. I'm in the Sputnik room, a sci-fi themed room with fibre-optic lighting, and for once I slept comfortably (the last few nights have proven a chore to relax). As I throw on some clothes to go eat, my mind starts racing to the events of the day. The main event, of course, is the semi final of the UK Kraken Hunter competition. Originally, this day was intended to be the final but due to a mass of high quality entries, it had to be altered to accommodate. This in itself is a double edged sword, it inspires great trepidation to learn that you must face more competitors (and in a semi) but it also inspires great confidence in that your entry was chosen to be counted there amongst the 10 very best. 

After breakfast and a short walk to clear my head (having been sat in the bar with Danielle Young from the Marblehead team running the competition, drinking straight Kraken the night before) I return to my room to prepare for the day ahead. With my yarai washed, goblets shined, blazer mugs cleaned and prepared (practicing in your room until you pass out from the exhaustion of the last few days will leave them in need of a wash), I make my way to the bar.

11.20am - I'm in the bar and I type desperately to get a few words down before people start arriving. Too late. Two competitors arrive and I instantly feel out of my depth. I’m treading unknown waters. The two look like members of Gallows. Skinny jeans, retro glasses, tunnels and handlebar moustaches abound. In short, they look the part. The duo are Joe Gunner and Adam Wilson. Meanwhile, across the room, just little old me in my black kilt (yeah, you read that right). I take deep breaths to calm the nerves. The rest of the competitors arrive sporadically and soon the list is completed, and the crew hail from some rather famous, albeit daunting berths:

Joe Gunner - Portobello Star, London

Adam Wilson - Mojo, Leeds 

Dan Bovey - Sahara Bar, Reading (if you think his name seems familiar, google Bacardi Legacy)

Ajax Kentish - Hawksmoor Guildhall, London

Mike Stringer - Flip-It Cocktail consultancy. 

Sarah Mitchell - London Cocktail Club, Shaftsbury Avenue

Alexis Gotts - Old No. 7 Bar & DQ Nightclub, Sheffield.

Kate Rose - Be At One, Shoreditch. 

Sophia Sansford - Jesmond Dene House, Newcastle.

Wish me luck... I'm up second. Through our chatting, we learn that the order of the day is to be a mixture of blazers, beer cocktails (London’s current trend/fad), calamari rings, squid ink and condensed milk. Although, I must stress, not all in the same drink.

1.10pm - ...and it's all over. Well, for my part anyway. It's a surreal set of occurrences, which transpire to prevent your blazed drink (which has worked fine every night leading up to this day) from lighting properly. Combine this with the fact that there are 2 other blazed drinks today by hugely accomplished bartenders and you'll forgive me for thinking I was on course for disaster. On a personal note, I'm happy with the fact that I calmly and collectively apologised to the judges then restarted. Thankfully, the second time, my drink blazed beautifully. Commented on by one of the judges as being served at "the perfect temperature". Needless to say, I'm hopeful after such a comment. 

The Demon In The Dark:

60ml The Kraken Black Spiced Rum

25(ish)ml of boiling water

2 Demerara  sugar cubes 

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Bob's Peppermint bitters.

Fire

At it's heart, this drink is a Bumbo (as discussed in my last Corpse & Cocktail post) which is then set ablaze: Firstly heat up your blazer mugs with some boiled water then after grating some Cinnamon and Nutmeg into a goblet, fill a mixing glass with water and place the goblet inside. Place the spoon above the goblet with two sugar cubes. Saturate the sugar with a few drops of Bob's Peppermint bitters. Then comes the fun part. Dump all but around 25ml of the water from the blazer mugs. Add The Kraken to one of the mugs and set it on fire. VERY carefully, pour the flaming rum back and forth from mug to mug each time increasing the distance between the two in order to get that famous blue strand of flames. After 4 or 5 good pours, pour the rum over sugar cubes. It's essential that you do this whilst the flames are still burning; this allows the sugar to caramelise. After the sugar has been broken down, give it a little stir with the spoon to combine everything fully. Remove the goblet from the mixing glass and enjoy. 

After my drink was made, I was whisked away to allow Adam to prep and have my "moody" portrait taken. I only wish I could have a copy of the pictures but we don't get to see them until Imbibe prints them. So with massive blunderbuss in hand and my goblet in the other, I growled like the photographer had just stolen my drink. Job done. It's hard to be moody though, when you're half filled with rum and enjoying the company. The other problem with having the photo shoot after your entry is that you miss the other drinks. Bah! 

With the rest of the drinks, made, judged and consumed. We made our way out to sample the delights of a rock’n’roll town such as Brighton can only offer. The details of which, however, stay with the hopeful inductees of the Black Ink Society. At very least, I've spent the day with 9 great bartenders and to make an understatement, it's nothing like our scene in Aberdeen. No one cares who wins because they enter so many different competitions. This has its good points and bad points. On one hand, it lends a very informal and relaxed atmosphere to the proceedings but on the other hand I feel like I'm the only one here who actually drinks The Kraken. 

…

If nothing else, each and every competitor was there simply to make his or her drink and have fun. No agendas and no ulterior plans. It genuinely felt like a meeting of artists that I'd been lucky enough to infiltrate. I only hope that I open Imbibe over the coming months and see my Kraken Portrait, I'll know then if I've done our small corner of the world (and indeed myself) justice. 

Lets hope competition breeds success...

Jody

Bacardi Legacy 2011 Winner...Zdenek Kastanek

Congratulations to Zdenek Kastanek of Quo Vadis, London for winning the 2011 UK Bacardi Legacy.

To explain the inspiration for his cocktail, Zdenek tells a little story. “Once upon a time there was a girl called Hermosa. Her mother was typically French: a bitter character on the surface, but really as sweet as honey. Her father was a Spanish sailor. He was rough like the ocean, but charismatic still and a good man. Hermosa lived a simple life in Cuba. Everybody loved her, the men for her beauty and big heart, and the women for her smile and optimism. Hermosa’s life was as sweet as an orange, until one day everything turned as sour as a lemon. Her family had to leave their home and move to Puerto Rico. However, the journey bound her family together. Hermosa grew up and met a charming and exotic man who smelled of almonds and oranges. The oranges reminded her of her happy life in Cuba and they fell in love.”

Zdenek was competing against May Kongsrivilai from the Bon Vivant in Edinburgh and Manchester's Jody Monteith of The Liquorists.  The overall winner from a year-long campaign of promoting each of their drinks was announced on 9th February 2012, along with the three most promising finalists of this year.  One of them, Dan Bovey from Sahara in Reading, is up next...

Firstly, here's Zdenek's drinks, 'La Hermosa':

60ml Bacardi Superior rum
20ml La Gitana manzanilla sherry
4 dashes Yellow Chartreuse
15ml Triple sec
15ml Orgeat syrup
25ml Freshly-squeezed lemon juice

Method: Build drink in a tall glass filled with crushed ice and swizzle.

Last Word Competition

Chartreuse have launched a competition in the UK to find the best twist on the classic cocktail – The Last Word.

For every great classic cocktail in the world there are dozens of twists on it floating around from the sublime Tommy’s Margarita to the not so sublime Frozen Banana Daiquiri. For Chartreuse the iconic cocktail is The Last Word (find out all about The Last Word in an article by Chartreuse Ambassador Matt Dakers here) and they are tasking UK bartenders with finding the next great twist.

There are some big shoes to fill with the most famous twist being The Last Ward by the one and only Phil Ward from New York (he swaps the gin and lime juice for rye and lemon juice). However such and iconic drink with such a rich history is perfect for you to have a play with.

The first round was concentrated in Islington with Zilouf’s, Stuart Binks taking the honours with his ‘monsieur, I beg your pardon’ – watch a video of him making it here.

The Aberdeen leg of the competition takes place over the month of February in your own bars.  To enter:

- Decide within your bar which bartender's original and unique recipe the team will get behind and push over the month.
- By any means neccesary, promote this cocktail to your guests during the month of February - Facebook, Twitter and point-of-sale are just some of the channels (this is NOT a sales/volume-based competition).
- Points will be awarded for the following: drink recipe and mystery shopper.  The point system is not disclosed.
- Drinks may be added to the cocktail menu for The Green Lounge at Orchid on Thursday 23rd February (doors 8pm).
- Any questions, email gomes@10dollarshake.com.
- Results will be announced at the end of February 2012.  All bars are welcome to enter.

The competition will be growing in the coming months with some fantastic prizes up for grabs (and a feature in Bar Life UK).  If you think you can have the last word send your recipes (and good quality photo) to gomes@10dollarshake.com by Friday 27th January.

Good luck!

I'm a Mixologist..?

Currently the hottest viral of the moment.  Enjoy...

2012 | More | Less

Some of our blog contributors have put together a list of various trends, categories and bartending habits (good and bad) that we’d like to see more or less of in 2012.  Thanks to Adrian Gomes (AG), James MacKay (JM), Tom Lawman (TL) and Mike McGinty (MM):

| More |

• Independent brands, with bartender support for these brands. (TL)
• Working flair, not to be confused with showmanship, adding to the guest experience, whilst not affecting speed of service.  Time and a place for everything when it comes to flair. (JM)
• Falernum. (JM / MM)
• Dress code – fix up, look sharp bartenders.  Not everyone has to adopt the speakeasy-style, but in the very least shirts and aprons, or other garments to distinguish yourself as the service-provider, not the service-user. (TL)
• Table service from bartenders and bars alike.  Let’s not get a complex about waiting on tables.  Take the initiative and ask your guests to take a seat whilst they wait for their drink.  You may notice the difference in tips. (TL)
• Cognac’s, Armangnac’s and eaux-de-vie’s.  Brandy is one of the oldest of all distilled spirits and such a diverse category.  Get tasting, get experimenting. (AG)

| Less |

• Japanese hard shake.  Whilst we admit it is a classy and well-thought out shaking technique, surely bartenders who would like to imitate this have better things to be doing with their time…(AG / TL)
• Less mixto tequilas (and Jose Cuervo) on the speed-rail.  Tequila is a growing category.  Expand your back-bar and offer a quality house pour. (JM)
• Elaborate drinks lists with poor execution by the venue management/team.  Applies to venues with illusions of grandeur but a poor recruitment and training policy.  Baby steps are the key. (JM / AG)
• Jagerbombs.  Yes we’ve all done them, but let’s cool it a bit on the speed-drinking front.  It’s not smart and it’s not cool…even if it used to be. (TL)
• Politics and trash-talk between bartenders.  Competitions are a great tool to learn more about the art of bartending. Winning is no substitution for making friends and networking.  Compared to most competitive activities, in this industry, it really is the taking part that counts. (AG)
• Bartender snobbery.  Yes, we’re all guilty of it from time to time.  Let’s try harder this year! (JM)

Comments are welcomed.  What would you like to see more or less of in 2012?  Disagree with our contributors?  Let us know.  Happy New Year!