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!