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.

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

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

Back to Basics...

Those of you who know the bartenders of this blog will know we all share two things in common: An unending passion for cocktails, and a somewhat unhealthy love for Rum. To that end, for my first outing on the Corpse & Cocktail, I decided I would pay homage to the glorious spirit by going back to the original drinks it made.

Now we all know Pirates drank Grog right?

Wrong. In reality, it was the conscripted sailors of the royal navy who quaffed Grog. The reason for this was that they would spend longer at sea than your average pirate or privateer. This meant that they wouldn’t have access to fresh fruit, vegetables and sugars which would in turn lead to scurvy. Navy Grog was simply watered down rum, and if you were lucky you might get a lime to go with your Grog, to fend off the scurvy.

People often speak of Grog, but in the days of Pirates, Bumbo (or Bombo / Bumboo) was the better drink. Bumbo was a better version of Grog because, lets face it, pirates plundered all the good stuff from villages and merchant ships. Also, to give pirates a little bit of credit, they were better at living off the land than the conscripted sailors, who rarely got shore leave.

Bumbo is a simple drink, with its key components being rum, water, sugar and nutmeg. Bumbo, however, gets better depending on the resources at hand. It can obviously incorporate limes but for the most part were not included. Fruit juices can also be added. Think tropical fruits in the Caribbean. In essence, if you think about it, pirates may very well have been the first people to drink “girly drinks”. Jack Sparrow does wear guy-liner, so it may not be that far from the truth.

If you stick to the traditional recipe, however, a mug of Bumbo would basically be a spicy rum cocktail. Cinnamon was often added, along with the nutmeg, to make the drink taste better. It seems almost Christmas-punch-like: we have the strong, the weak, the sweet, the spice…add some sour and you’re there. In my research, I couldn’t quite find a proportional recipe from the time, so it was more likely to be to each person’s taste.

Jody’s Bumbo Recipe - this is a basic one, but have fun and experiment with it.

-50ml Amber Rum (use something from the Caribbean please, we strive for authenticity - I used Pyrat)

-25ml Chilled Water – I shook some water in an ice filled shaker to get it chilled enough.

-1 Sugar Cube (brown or cane sugar)

-Sprinkle of Cinnamon

-Sprinkle of grated Nutmeg

-Friends of mine tried a dash of Masters Of Malt Christmas bitters and they found this rounded the flavour off well.

1. Grab a mug or Old Fashioned glass.

2. Combine all ingredients

3. Muddle/crush sugar cube and stir.

4. Consume.

It’s as easy as that.

Bumbo doesn’t take ice so it is served only slightly cooled. But if you want you can add ice, the modern preference being for drinks to contain ice. Additional things that would have been added to Bumbo include coconut water, any tropical fruit juice, or of course… more rum! A bartender…er…I mean pirate can never have too much rum.

Interestingly enough, Bumbo was commonly used during election campaigns in colonial British America. In fact it was used to the extent that treating voters to gifts and other freebies during election campaigns was referred to as "swilling the planters with Bumbo". George Washington himself was particularly noted for using this technique:

A 24 year old George Washington first ran for a seat in the Virginia House of Burgesses, he attributed his defeat to his failure to provide enough alcohol for the voters. When he tried again two years later, Washington secured his appointment to office partly on the rum, punch, hard cider and beer his election agents handed out. A little under half a gallon was issued for every vote he received. His papers state that he used 160 gallons of rum to treat 391 voters to Bumbo during campaigning for the Virginia House of Burgesses in July 1758.

Just goes to show that Politicians really are just like pirates!