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

...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.

Angels Draft - The Bacardi Legacy.

Congratulations to my good friend Matthew Dakers of Mahiki, London who only last week won the Bacardi Legacy UK Final held at the Freemasons Hall, the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England and the principal meeting place for Masonic Lodges in London.  Grand Lodge has been in Great Queen Street since 1775, the present Hall being the third building on the site.  The building is a magnificent example of art deco and was a fitting setting for a historic brand such as Bacardi.

Matthew’s drink, Angels’ Draft, was one of 3 drinks that won in 2010, picked from 7 regional winners, with the winning bartenders subsequently being given 1 year to promote their drink and make it into a new classic.  Matthew’s work revolved heavily around cocktail menu listings in great bars in cities such as Barcelona and London.  Scotland was represented by The Courtyard restaurant in Aberdeen and No. 40 cocktail bar in St Andrews.

Here is Matthew’s inspiration for his drink:

I am fascinated by the idea of the 'angels' share', that element of a spirit which evaporates during maturation and is lost from the barrel to who knows where.  When rum is matured in the heat of the Caribbean, as BACARDI Superior rum is, the rate of evaporation is around three to four times higher than in a cold climate like Scotland, so the Bacardi angels must be that much happier.

Ernest Hemingway used to enjoy drinking rum to inspire his writing. I love the idea that he might have appreciated my cocktail as a refreshing draft (inspired by his favourite rum cocktails, Daiquiri No.3 and the Mojito) as much as the rum angels swooping and whirling above his head.  Perhaps it would have moved him to wonderful flights of fanciful prose, hence Angels’ Draft.

Angels’ Draft

40ml BACARDI Superior rum

10ml Yellow Chartreuse

20ml lime juice

10ml honey

10ml egg white

1 dash grapefruit bitters

2-3 mint leaves

Method: Shake all ingredients with cubed ice and fine-strain into a chilled coupette glass, garnish with a grapefruit zest sprayed around the glass and then discard, add a mint leaf to finish.

Editor Note: My opinion on this is that it is a very more-ish drink with a great mouth feel and less sharp than the likes of the Daiquiri.  This is a very accessible cocktail for those who have perhaps avoided the allure of rum in the past.  5/5