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.

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.

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!

...I'm Sweet Enough.

A fundamental building block in mixed drinks, we thought we'd give you a brief insight into sugar: where it came from and how it got here.  I referenced a few sources to compile this, but in all fairness, the majority of this article has been heavily-influenced by Wayne Curtis' fine book on rum: 'And a Bottle of Rum - A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails'.

Sugarcane first appeared in Asia around 4000 B.C. - most likely Papua New Guinea.  As trade routes opened up and empires expanded, as did the reach of sugarcane, with the cultivation and processing moving west via China, India, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Iberia and the Atlantic islands of Madeira, the Canary Islands and the Azores.  Christopher Columbus was subsequently responsible for carrying live sugarcane seedlings to the New World on his second trip in 1493 (his Father-in-Law was a Madeira sugar planter) planting these on Hispaniola (now the Dominican Republic and Haiti).  It turns out the Caribbean islands offered the perfect climate and soil conditions for sugarcane and the colonists were quick to establish plantations in Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

To produce sugar, the cane syrup is machine-pressed from the cane and heated until near-crystallisation.  It is subsequently cooled and cured (this is the point at which the by-product molasses appears).

With great quantities of sugar being produced in the New World colonies, prices fell in Europe and many of the plantation owners were ruined.  Meanwhile, New World plantation owners were making a killing, building great houses like the one below...

In England, the demand grew quickly as sugar evolved from a luxury item only the aristocratic classes could afford, to a staple for the common man.

To keep up with the sugar needs of Europe and their emerging colonies, slaves were imported.  On the colonised islands, native tribes had been decimated by European disease (such as small-pox) and poor working conditions.  Thus began the Trans-Atlantic triangular slave trade, carrying sugar and rum from the Caribbean and New England to Europe where these were sold and the profits used to purchase goods to be traded in West Africa for slaves to be transported to the Caribbean to work in the plantations, to produce sugar for...you get the idea.

As the European powers continued their colonisation of the world, sugar, in turn, reached new territories: Brazil, Pacific Islands and Australia, among others.  Significantly, in 1747 a German scientist discovered sucrose in Beet Root and shortly after, beet sugar began production.  This didn't really take off until the British blocked all Caribbean trade with Napoleon's French Empire.  Beet sugar grew as a result and now accounts for 30% of today's sugar production.

An important point to note is that, currently,  sugar prices in the US and Japan are higher than the rest of the world due to import tariffs and as a result their domestically-produced high-fructose corn syrup is favoured over sugar, especially for soft drinks and processed foods.

The trend with us bartenders is to make our own 'cane syrup', usually to 65 degree brix.  'Degree brix' is the sugar content in an aqueous solution, with one degree brix equating to 1 gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution measuring representing the strength of the solution as a percentage of weight.  Hence, if you make your cane syrup (or sugar syrup, or simple solution) in a 2:1 ratio of sugar to water, then the degrees brix is 65.

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!

Bacardi Legacy Finalist...Metinee Kongsrivilai

The second of our series of posts on the outstanding Bacardi Legacy competition (Matthew Dakers, eventual winner of the 2009 competition, featured back in February 2010) highlights Metinee Kongsrivilai (May) of Edinburgh's Bon Vivant, who placed in the final three with her drink, The Matinee.

The Bacardi Legacy competition has firmly cemented itself as one of the top bartender competitions in the world, with a grand final that must put a slight dent in the (deep) pockets of Bacardi every year.  Having been a guest at two finals myself, I can confirm that no expense is spared in hosting this magnificent occasion.

Every year, three finalists are chosen to spend the next year marketing their drink in any number of ways.  May has chosen to initiate a website featuring bars and bartenders who are supporting The Matinee.

In May's own words, here's the story behind the creation of The Matinee:

"Initially it started out as remark from a friend who thought it would be funny to make a joke out of my name: 'Metinee Kongsrivilai'..."hahaha...why don't call the drink 'Matinee'?". At that moment, the switch was clicked inside my head. To me, the definition of a 'Matinee' is “a performance or entertainment that can also be enjoyed during the day”. Something that I think The Matinee delivers. Jokes aside, there’s an element of seriousness to the background of the drink.

Learning about the hardship and the success that the Bacardi family had experienced across eight generations inspired me to take a look at my own family history and heritage. Generations of my family lived in poverty surviving floods and supporting such a large family with minimal money. Throughout all of this, the Kongsrivilais attempted a sweet and dessert making business. Their business wasn’t amazingly successful, yet, Like the Bacardi family, it was their determination and passion that made has eventually established them as one of Thailand’s greatest dessert business, three generations on.

In the end, I was inspired to incorporate the element of heritage into The Matinee. The Characteristics of Bacardi together with the Martini Rosso and Vanilla represents the dessert component that is so important to my family. The Kaffir was inspired by the Jungle that had surrounded my home for generations and a source of provisions that helped my family survive. We're very lucky to live in a globalised world, and have access to so many wonderful flavours of the world. I thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of this.

The Bacardi legacy competition has been career changing for me and has helped me rekindle my love for this industry a just before the competition, I started to have doubts as to whether there's a place for me within it. For the time being, I'm just going to keep pushing the Matinee as I believe that there's a place for it in this new generation of contemporary classics, but we'll just have to see."

We're currently hoping to tie up a Guest Bartender appearance from May as part of her final Bacardi Legacy presentation, so we'll keep you updated on that one.  In the meantime, best of luck May!

The Matinee

50ml BACARDI SUPERIOR
2-4 Kaffir Lime leaves
12.5ml Martini Rosso
12.5ml Lemon Juice
12.5ml Vanilla gomme
12.5ml Egg white

Shake and double strain, serving straight up with a kaffir lime leaf garnish.

(International) Guest Bartender: Adam Murphy

Q. Adam, you made the move across the Irish Sea.  Tell us about your new role with All Bar None...

       
A. Well, there‘s lots of different aspects of my job to be honest which is one of the best things about it.  Our main thing at All Bar None would be the event side of things.  These would mainly be events from all of the major drinks companies.  We have a number of portable bars which we install to venues, and our main focus would be cocktails.  As it’s summer time, festivals is what we're mainly busy with at the moment - just had our 1969 converted airstream at Taste of Dublin the other week, and then Body and Soul, a small festival, this past weekend and Sea Sessions coming up this weekend.
But as I said there are other aspects to my job which include cocktail training (again it’s mainly the major drinks companies who get us to do this), most recently Pernod-Ricard (Ireland), with a focus on Havana Club rum. Of course, other parts of the job are events like private parties and the like..

Q. Do you miss the daily grind of being behind the stick or have you found your niche in events?
       
A. Absolutely!  There are a few things I miss.  The thing I really miss is the rapport with customers and building up a relationship with people in the bar through different drinks and chat and being able to make drinks for people that they really enjoy and make them happy.  Or being able to try out new drinks and play around with stuff - because you have all of the equipment at your disposal and the people to try it.  When you make 1500 whiskey sours in two hours, like we did at a Jameson event recently, you can't really get that sort of rapport with customers or be able try things out!

Q. Bartending has grown in recent years as a viable vocation, especially with the growth of roles such as beverage consultants and brand ambassadors.  5 years ago, did you think you would be following a career in this industry today?  Where do you reckon your lucky charm will take you in the next 5 years?

A. Em, I don’t know.  Probably not to be honest.  Working in bars and bartending is something I've always enjoyed and always done.  I was working in a bar from the age of 15 then behind a bar and pulling pints when I was 16. But I don’t think I really saw it as a career until recently - although I had thought about it quite a lot while I was at Uni.  It was at Uni when working as bartender became a real passion and interest for me.  I probably spent more bartending and learning about that than I did actual studying!  It’s really great that the industry has become a more respected and viable career option for people nowadays.  5 years from now?  God knows.  But if my lucky charm could get me anything, I would like it to get me my own bar, like most bartenders want.  I would say that would be the end goal.  So I think that possibly could happen in 5 years.  I would also love to start something, perhaps a brand maybe.  Have a few ideas, so we'll see what happens.

Q.  So, you have the honours of being the first international guest bartender at The Corpse & Cocktail.  What can we expect on your list?

A. Yeah, gotta say I'm pretty happy about that and really looking forward to it.  Well I haven’t had too much time to think about it, but since I'm coming over from Ireland, and we are Celtic cousins, I might do a Celtic Connections cocktail list!  All of the main spirits being Irish or Scottish, or maybe just a loose connection.  We'll see how the list comes together!

Q. Trend and ingredient-wise, what are you digging these days?

A. Trend-wise, I think maybe the return to an old-school style of bartending and recapturing of all the classics which has been going on for a while now.  Stuff like David Woodrich’s book ‘Punch’, could really push it back onto the cocktail agenda after being forgotten for so long, and this can only be a good thing, as it is such an under-used area.  Ingredient-wise, maybe the return of decent and more readily available Vermouths - the likes of Fernet Branca, Punt e Mes and Antica Formula for example - is great for bartenders to be able to play about with.

Q. Final words.   Favourite all-time cocktail and why?

A. Jesus, emm. I get asked this a lot by people when they find out what I do and generally struggle to answer.  It depends what mood I'm in or where and when it is!  But if I had to pick it would be an Old Fashioned.  I generally like simple classic drinks with strong flavours - Collins, Manhattans, Daiquiris, Sazeracs...you get the idea!  And if you have a really good Bourbon or Rum and make an old fashioned with it, I find that very hard to beat.  So my favourite cocktail would  be:

Rum Old-Fashioned

60ml Pyrat XO Rum
10ml Sugar Syrup
Dash Gary Regan Orange Bitters #6
Dash Angostura  Aromatic Bitters
And of course the (all important) ice!

The Corpse & Cocktail welcomes All Bar None's Adam Murphy on Sunday 3rd July.  Doors from 8pm.

The Easter Egg Cup (sponsored by Caorunn Gin)

Sunday past saw the inaugural Easter Egg Cup cocktail competition at The Corpse & Cocktail, featuring both a singles round and a team challenge.

In the singles, bartenders were challenged to come up with an innovative cocktail inspired by one of Caorunn's 5 Celtic botanicals (rowan berry, Coul Blush apple, bog myrtle, dandelion and heather).  From all the entrants, 4 'wildcards' were asked to join 4 'invited' bartenders.  The 8 were then asked to make a short video of themselves introducing and creating their drink, followed by a still photograph.  The photos were then uploaded to Facebook to be voted on.  Almost 600 votes later, the final proceeded to take place.

Each bartender made a superb effort with techniques and ingredients such as scented scrolls, Islay new make spirit, whey and infused teas/syrups.

For the team challenge, the 8 bartenders were split into East and West teams, based on the geography of their bars.  A speed round and bad product challenge ensued, resulting in Team West being victorious.

After the team challenge, it was time for the singles awards.  3rd place went to independent consultant Milo Smith for his drink Druids Cure featuring Caorunn, Port, white grapefruit, heather honey, whey and a dandelion/raspberry syrup.  2nd place was awarded to Bobby Patience of highly-rated bar Dusk for Symphony No. 11, his take on the classic martini featuring bog myrtle-infused Noilly Prat served with a dandelion-scented scroll and a rowan berry-sweetened tincture.

Overall winner was 99's Mike McGinty with his drink Haugh's of Cromdale, heavily influenced by the red apple in Caorunn.  The drink was created with Calvados, dessert wine, lemon juice, Pink Lady syrup, muddled red apple and of course Caorunn, all shaken together in a heather-smoked Boston shaker.

Judges were Ervin Trykowski (Caorunn Brand Ambassador), Adrian Gomes (10 Dollar Shake) and Chris Tonner (Executive Chef of La Stella / The Courtyard restaurants).

For photos of the event, please check out The Corpse & Cocktails Facebook page.

Guest Bartender: Andy Stewart.

Name: Andy Stewart

Year’s bartending: Coming on for 8 years now.

Favourite tool (behind a bar): A decent bar spoon where the spiral is just right and the spoon bowl fits beautifully. Having said that, I do love my PUG muddler.

Most useless tool (behind a bar): Those pointless little citrus presses, especially if they're shaped like a fish! I have opposable thumbs you know, even if I am from the NE of Scotland

Your secret ingredient: Bitters. I fricking love them. They can add so much more to a drink or they can blend disparate ingredients together seamlessly.

Mojito or NO-jito? That's a toughy. It's a much maligned drink, but at the end of the day it's pretty basic and no more time consuming than say a Bramble, yet we, as bar tenders, hate them. Guess it's because it's a fashion drink: "Aye min, gies 10 Modge-Eetos, like". I'm going say No-jito for this.

Preferred spirit/drink: Rum. That is all. :) Something like a Matusalem Gran Reserva is ideal - if you're offering? Cocktail-wise: I'll gladly live on Sazeracs.

Most disgusting find at the end of a shift: Christ, where to begin. Any night of the week regards the toilets in Cafe Drummonds? The humping couple down the backstairs where she had more facial hair than him? Funniest would be coming in one morning to (unnamed venue) to find one of the staff had left her bra and pants behind after an intimate tête-à-tête the night before after locking up.

Thanks Andy!  I've had the pleasure of working with Andy twice now (Snafu and Rumour), and aside from his weird greetings ("alright *sweetheart/sugarcup/sweet-cheeks" - *delete as appropriate), there isn't anyone more passionate about good drinks.  You guys are in for a treat!

Andy will be guest bartending and presenting his cocktail list this Sunday 9th Jan at the Corpse & Cocktail.  Expect the expected (Sazerac) and the unexpected (any cocktail other than a Sazerac).

Christmas Jumpers!

For all those planning on heading down to The Corpse & Cocktail tonight, please take heed of this gentleman above. He is sporting a magnificent specimen of the kind of attire we would like to see a-plenty of tonight. We bartenders will certainly be abiding by our self-imposed dress code and we expect the patrons of our establishment to follow suit. Remember, you're only silly if you look different...

Here are a couple of the recipes we'll be warming you up with tonight:

Brandy Alexander
Okay, so we'll be serving this chilled, so not exactly warming you up with this one - anyway, your jumper should keep you warm enough.

50ml Martell VSOP

12.5ml White Creme de Cacao

12.5ml Brown Creme de Cacao

25ml half n' half (milk + cream)

Shake ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled coupette.  Sprinkle with freshly-grated nutmeg.

Washington Hot Toddy

So-called due to this recipe being found in the Washington Post.  Sorry the background story isn't more exciting.  Not sure exactly why Mike was reading the Washington Post.  I never asked.

40ml Goslings Black Seal Rum

15ml King's Ginger liqueur

60ml hot water

Build in a teacup or heat-proof glass (with handle...!).  Stir and garnish with a lemon peel.

Hopefully see a good few of you down tonight.  Merry Christmas from the Corpse & Cocktail.

Mulled Wine...The Swedish Way.

Surprisingly, the few shifts I have done at 99 recently have seen a higher-than-expected number of patrons asking for a warm festive drink.  As an experiment, a small batch of mulled wine was hand-crafted in the kitchen.  It proceeded to sell very well leading us to devise a warm festive menu for this Sunday’s Corpse & Cocktail.

All over the world, different cultures have some sort of variation of mulled wine.  The Germans have glühwein, the Croats kuhano vino  and the Swedish, Glögg.  It is Glögg that we will be serving on the menu this Sunday. Like many of these drinks, there is no set recipe and you really can experiment with a variety of fruits, spices and alcohol to obtain wonderful results. Use the following recipe as a guide rather than one to follow to the letter:

Glögg

(taken from “Swedish Recipes Old and New” by Lesley Jacobs Solmonson, 1955)

15 Blanched Almonds

0.5 Cup Raisins

4 Cups Red Wine (Australian Shiraz recommended)

4 Cardamom Pods

3 Whole Cloves

1.5 inch stick Cinnamon

0.25 Cup mix of Dried Apricots and Candied Orange Peel (see below)

0.75 Cup Brown Sugar (Demerara Sugar)

Peel of one-quarter Orange

1 Cup Martell VSOP

Add the almonds and raisins to the wine. Break open the cardamom pods.  Add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, raisins, candied orange peels, and dried apricots to a cheesecloth bag, tie closed, and add to the wine.

In a separate bowl, cover orange peel with the sugar.

Let all of the above stand overnight.

The next day: Heat wine mixture slowly to simmering.  Do not allow to boil. Stir in sugar and orange peels until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Stir in brandy.  Remove cheesecloth bag.

Ignite liquid, allowing it to burn for a 1 or 2 seconds, then extinguish (you do not want to burn off the alcohol completely) by covering the pot.

Remove orange peels if Glӧgg is going to sit for more than a few hours. Serve warm with a few raisins and almonds in the bottom of the glass.

Thanks to 12bottlebar.com for this.  God Jul (Merry Christmas).

A Short History Lesson.

In 1919, after a temperance movement built up over decades by various Christian and women's movements, the 18th Amendment to the US Federal Constitution was passed.  The National Prohibition Act (also known as the Volstead Act or The Noble Experiment) began a year later in 1920.  

And so the USA began thirteen years as a "dry" nation...well almost, if it weren't for the glorious dawn of the age of speakeasies (or blind pigs).  These mob-run underground drinking saloons were purveyors of the finest bootleg liquor around.  "Milk" companies were set up to truck booze from state to state (who's going to question The White Stuff?) and wineries would barrel grape juice with a warning label stating "contents will ferment if stored in a warm place".

Mobsters such as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano made fortunes supplying speakeasies (Wiki makes a very good point when it states that mobsters were easily identifiable by their fashionable silk suits, expensive jewellery and...wait for it...their guns.  Really??!  Thanks Wikipedia.).

As many began to question the benefit (if any) of prohibition, repeal organisations gathered momentum.  On the 22nd March 1933, President Franklyn Roosevelt signed the Cullen-Harrison Act allowing the sale of wine and 3.2% beer.  Although 1933 is widely quoted as the year of the repeal, Mississippi became the final state to repeal in 1966.  During the ratification of the repeal legislation, Congress devolved a certain amount of authority to each state allowing the likes of the hard-line Southern states to maintain some form of prohibition.

So, there you have it.  A very short history lesson on US Prohibition.  The following cocktail is an example of a prohibition-era drink.  Only in real desperate times would someone mix gin and whisky...

Barbary Coast

20ml Plymouth gin

20ml Cutty Sark blended whisky

20ml Creme de Cacao

20ml double cream

Method: Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Enjoy...!


Come to 99 Bar & Kitchen this Sunday and celebrate the 77th Anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition.

Guest Bartender: James Mackay.

This week’s guest bartender is James Mackay, currently of boutique nightspot, Snafu and it’s sibling bar/restaurant, The Athenaeum.  James is currently 2 months away from flying off to Copenhagen to continue his University studies.  No doubt, those lucky Danish will be reaping the rewards of James’ fine taste in mixed drinks and spirits when he lands himself a job at one of the city’s drinking establishments.

This week, James has fashioned a list of some prohibition-era drinks (1920 – 1933) in honour of the 77^th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition.  More on prohibition later, but in the meantime we posed a few questions to Mr Mackay…we started with a difficult one...

Name: James Mackay

Year’s bartending: 2 years plus a couple of months.

Favourite tool (behind a bar): Big muddler.  Despite the fact it’s mainly used for crushing ice, there is something reassuring about holding a massive plastic muddler whilst working behind a bar in Aberdeen.

Most useless tool (behind a bar): Hal Prescott (and in front for that matter).

Your secret ingredient: Love.....only joking that’s not a secret.  Probably Velvet Falernum.  It can change a simple sometimes-clichéd drink (Mojito) into something far more complex (swizzle).

Mojito or NO-jito? I have to admit I'm a bit of a Mojito fan - drinking not making them. Although there is a satisfaction to making a well-made one, it's just the "aye gie’s another ten of them mo-jito's" comment that really crushes the soul.  Or as one delightful patron put it "gies a fajita".

Preferred spirit/drink: All depends on mood/time/occasion but if I had to choose it would be a rum like Angostura 1919 or Appleton V/X - lots of lime, ice and a little coke.

Most disgusting find at the end of a shift: Nothing at the end of a shift - I have always managed to dodge that bullet - but during a Sunday day shift, some kind customer decided the toilet wasn't to his standards and just squatted on the floor.  That didn’t exactly help the hangover.

James and his menu will be appearing at the Corpse & Cocktail this Sunday 5th December.  There's (s)no(w) excuse for not being there...(one and only snow joke, I promise).

Opening Night.

The good and the bad came out for the Corpse & Cocktail opening night. Good people abiding by the law of the cocktail list (Bartender's Choice) and bad weather, a law unto itself.  Welcome to winter in Aberdeen.

The brave souls who made it down were easily impressed by the £1.50 rum & mixers on offer, but just as easily persuaded to let their bartender fix them up a drink of their choice.

My go-to drink for gin lovers was a Pear Daisy.  Floral and zesty, I had no one send it back - which I usually take to be a good sign.

The Gomes Pear Daisy

50ml Tanqueray gin

12.5ml Merlet Creme de Poire

5ml St Germain elderflower liqueur

25ml freshly-squeezed lemon juice

Shake and strain over ice into a 10oz hi-ball.  Charge slightly with soda.  Garnish with a lemon twist and a physillis fruit.

Looking forward to next week.  James Mackay will be presenting his homage to prohibition-era drinks in honour of the 77th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition.  RSVP to the event here.