Mattmvb

I think it depends on your customer / friends attitude. On the occasions that they're up for it and want to try something different I find a TV Mai Tai can work wonders. Whereas if it's more of an arm twisting scenario then, assuming they're a coffee drinker, a twist on an espresso martini is great - I'd make it with our own spiced rum as the base with cointreau/amaretto/a.n.other liqueur with a flavour that works well with coffee for sweetness and possibly gomme depending how they'd normally take their coffee. This is also a good one because you can sell it as a sophisticated alternative to vodka red bull. Also, their normal drink is something that needs to be taken into account. If they're a whisky drinker then an old fashioned is probably the obvious first step, if they habitually drink beer you're not going to want to make something where the alcohol is too obvious. Cheers, Matt

You've got my signature. This is typical of councils up and down the country, and I'm fed up of the presumption that all alcohol related disorder is caused by the on trade. I'm sure they can't really be THAT stupid, it's more likely the case that they are scared of taking on the Tescos of this world - they can fight back, we have to just go along with whatever they say or get closed down (sometimes be forced to close down anyway due to the impact of the policies). A few years ago in Birmingham we had one of the most ridiculous examples of this that I have yet seen. If you don't know Birmingham, Broad Street is the biggest of the main centres for nightlife - a street about 3/4 mile long dominated by pubs, clubs and bars. All chain places and I generally stay away as much as possible, but on a Friday or Saturday night there are tens of thousands of people out in the bars and moving between them. The geniuses at our council decided it would be a good idea to ban taxis from the street on weekend evenings. Over December as well! A lot of businesses lost a lot of money and the council only relented when they all got together and threatened to sue for loss of earnings. On a related subject, are they still looking to impose a minimum price per unit of alcohol in off licenses in Scotland? This is one of the very few sensible policies I have heard recently and hope it works out well. Cheers, Matt

We always have several bottles of simple and demerera syrup behind the bar, and get through them both in roughly equal quantities. Many drinks suit one or the other better, but there are also a good number where either will make an equally good, but subtly different drink. For instance we tend to make mojitos with demerera in the wintter and white in the summer. We make them both 1:1 using a couple of large, gaudy, POS ice buckets that we keep aside specifically for that purpose (they look too horrible to inflict on customers!) Just add the requisite amount of sugar to the bucket, add the same volume in boiling water straight from the kettle, stir, allow to cool and bottle. We get through it all quick enough that shelf life never becomes an issue. I learned the hard way that you need to make a lighter syrup from it by dissolving it with water first, much like honey. Trying to add a barspoon of straight Lyle's to a stirred drink is a surefire way to end up with a cloying, syrupy mess stuck to your spoon and strainer, and a very, very, very dry drink. As for recipes that it works well in, I never got far enough with it to find out. ← I'm particularly fond of using golden syrup, it's probably a cultural thing - it's almost a staple in the UK and something a lot of people grew up with. It has a very distinctive taste (to me anyway!) that is best suited to lighter drinks. It's quite easy to use neat - add it to your tin/glass first along with the base spirit, stir these two for a minute until it has dissolved then carry on as normal, this way you avoid having to add extra water. We also stock a wide, everchanging range of infused syrups. It's generally great in that you can offer a continuos variety of cocktails, but can be a bit annoying when you can't make the drink a customer loved on their last visit because you don't have any orange and clove syrup this week. (that's one of my favourites BTW) Cheers, Matt

It's supposedly a nod to the Scottich heritage of the Samuels family. Although I do remember reading somewhere that it's more likely to have originated as a marketing gimmick... Interestingly, according to Wikepedia Of course this is Wikipedia, so it may not be entirely accurate... Cheers, Matt

This sort of thing really annoys me. Not so much the way the drink is made - I can't say I entirely approve, but it's up to individual bars to cater to the tastes of there core clientelle if they wish to. It's the attitude that wind me up, where are the manners? If I overheard one of my staff acting like that we'd have an 'issue'. What's wrong with something like "I'm sorry sir, I don't usually add any vermouth. How much would you like?" Ok, that may be a little 'English' and stuffy, but I'm sure you get what I mean. As to offending bar staff by specifying exactly how you'd like your drink, don't worry about it - as long as your not being rude and obnoxious about it then you won't offend anyone. Personally I much prefer a customer to specify exactly how they'd like their drink because then I know I can make it to their taste. If it's not specified he/she may well be sitting there with a drink they think isn't up to scratch which will reflect badly on both me and my bar. Although I am of the opinion that a customer should only have to specify it once, a good bar tender should remember after that. Cheers, Matt

A very good introduction to Islay malts is Ardbeg's new expression - Blasda. It retains a lot of the house style whilst cutting down on the peat, it's 8ppm as opposed to 24ppm (I think) in their standard bottlings. I was lucky enough to have a tasting of this (and others from the range) with the Master Distiller and he certainly seems happy with it. The price, I imagine, would be about right - it's about £35 / 70cl over here. No idea what the availability would be like in the US though. Cheers, Matt

Agreed on the family reserve, though I'm not sure it's worth $65 for me. Matt, you have any opinions on the 151? ← To be honest, I've only ever tried it in a comparative tasting - I thought that the high alcohol content masked the wonderful tropical fruit notes a bit too much for my liking. I've never had the chance to play with it though, I'm going to get hold of a bottle and see what it's like when mixed. One of a large number of spirits on this ever growing list of mine that I'm slowly working through! Cheers, Matt

I love Goslings Black Seal, I wouldn't have anything else in a Dark 'N' Stormy. In fact the Dark 'N' Stormy is one of a small number (seven IIRC) of cocktails that have been trademarked/copyrighted by a drinks company, in this case Goslings, so technically if it has anything other than Black Seal you CAN'T call it a Dark 'N' Stormy. (Although I'd be surprised if the trademarking has any real legal weight outside of Bermuda.) The Goslings Family reserve, as referenced above as a product soon to be released, is a quite simply stunning rum - wonderful packaging too (a nice presentation box and the bottle has a black wax seal.) Cheers, Matt

Being in and from the UK I'm not really placed to comment on the popularity of cocktails in the States... I can though fairly confidently say the cocktail of the 2000's over here is the Mojito. It seems to have been the biggest seller on most peoples lists for a good few years now, even in the middle of winter it's still my biggest seller by some way. I gather from the fact it hasn't been mentioned here that it's not such a big drink in America?

Personally I sit somewhere in the middle ground here. I do like freepouring, I honestly think it looks better, and is quicker - maybe not much but even a second or two per drink adds up over the course of a long busy night. However, it's a matter of understanding when it is appropriate. It's a given that free pouring is not as accurate as measuring so you need to understand the drink you are making. To repeat a previous example there will obviously be a large difference in the taste of a finished cocktail between one that had 4ml Chartreuse and one with 6ml, so anything needing a powerful ingredient will be measured - I always have a set of small measuring spoons from 1ml up for this purpose. The same goes for anything where correct balance between ingredients needs to be exact. There are a large number of drinks where this doesn't hold true though. For instance, is it going to make an appreciable difference to a Tom Collins whether I use 48ml or 52ml of gin - the difference in taste between individual lemons will surely have a greater effect, as will the difference in ice quality at different stages of the evening. The previous point made about bitters is also an interesting one, is the whole point of careful measuring nullified in cases where you are adding bitters by the dash? Of course you could measure bitters scientificlaly via pipette but it's not something I ever see, if you're not doing this then do you have a clue how big this dash is compared to the last one? Also, one the interesting points about the inaccuracy of free pouring is that it changes as the night goes on. If you don't watch yourself you will pour shorter when you are busy due to the change in your perception of time, but this will have the same effect on all pours so the relative quantities should stay the same. Finally, one thing that never ceases to amaze me is when I see bartenders carefully measuring spirit (etc) quantities only to then splash an indeterminate amount of fruit juice on top! Cheers, Matt

I'd agree with that. In fact when stirring cocktails you effectively are using it as a rod. The main reason a bar spoon is used is that it's a multi-purpose instrument - stirring, measuring, layering (especially if you have the type with a disc on the end), light muddling (again the disc type) etc. This cuts down on the amount of kit you have around you. My stirring technique has evolved over the years into something I rarely see anyone else doing, but I find it gives me the best results. I take a room temp boston glass and put the spoon in bowl up so it rests diagonally accross the glass. I then add ice to the brim and gently stir - the time varies depending upon the temp of the glass and freshness of ice. When stirring the aim is to keep all the ice in the same position relative to each other, I visualise it as trying to keep it as one irregularly shaped ice cube. I then strain off the dilution with a julep strainer leaving the spoon in position - I use a julep strainer because I can get it into the glass and hold the ice in position. I then add the ingredients, stir until experience tells me it's ready and strian into the cocktail glass, which is chilled in a fridge rather than freezer. I've found that this method gives me the most control over the level of dilution whilst also delivering an ideal temperature. Also, when stirring, I don't grip the spoon at all, I push it around with my index finger allowing the spoon to rotate if it wants to. Why glass not tin? Firstly it's the way it's done by 99% of bartenders over here and was how I was taught, secondly I prefer the visual aspect both for the customer and my own refererence. It's also easier to get a perfectly smooth stir around a glass rim, especially when the tin has seen a bit of action and has got a bit deformed around the rim. With regard to the general topic, I was quite surprised to learn how popular shaking Martinis, Manhattans etc is in the US - it's virtually unheard of over here, I even know a few places that will say no if you ask for a shaken martini - which I think is ridiculous, by all means spend a moment to try to persuade the customer that they'll get a better drink if it's stirred but failing that the customer is always right! Cheers, Matt

I'd put aside issues of quality, there will surely be ways to perfect pre-made cocktails if it is perceieved advantagous enough to explore. For me at least, there's MUCH more to a good cocktail bar than how good the drinks taste. The theatre of making drinks is very important. As the old saying goes, you taste with your eyes first. Watching a skilled bartender make a martini does wonders for the anticipation - I know that this one will taste better to me than one poured straight out of a bottle, even if I would pick them the other way round in a blind tasting. Also, when making things with an interesting methodology or ingredients you can often get the "I want one of those!" from other customers at the bar which you'd never get from a premade drink, hence Mr Smith isn't introduced to something that would broaden his horizons (and put more cash in the till). In the long term I'd be worried about the industry if this became the de-facto standard. If a large number of bars adopted the premade philosophy, how long would it be before the drinks companies jump on the band wagon - it wouldn't be difficult for someone like Bacardi-Martini to bottle a "perfect" Bombay Sapphire and Noilly Prat Martini. There would, sadly but inevitably, be a number of operators who would jump at this because it would reduce their staff overheads - less prep time and quicker to serve. It also wouldn't require any particularly high skill level to serve, and would leave those of us who have spent years perfecting (or trying to) our art in the position of doing something that someone with little training could do. An extreme comparison may be the auto industry - years ago it required highly skilled panel beaters. Nowadays, outside of the top marques and niche producers, they have largely been replaced by machines that only require an operator who knows what button to press when (an over simplification I know, but I think the points valid). I realise this is a worst case scenario, but a more subtle version could definitely be a possibility. I accept that there will be a wide range of cocktails that may never be able to be bottled properly, but what's to stop operators just not listing them. Of course there would be a large number of bars that wouldn't do that, but they could suddenly find themselves in a difficult position due to the cost difference - they could easily be undercut. Sorry, I'm in a bit of a doom and gloom mood tonight - it should be one of our busiest nights of the year but the fact I'm in the office on here says it all! Cheers, Matt

The Posset is a medieval English drink, in its simplest form just beer, milk and/or cream and spices heated up. A lot of posset recipes went on to become very complicated. More info here: Wikipedia entry for posset A team from the UK won the 2006 42 Below vodka Cocktail World Cup with an updated version of a posset: Friar Briar's Sack Posset 2 eggs (yolk only) 1 heaped teaspoon honey 80ml double cream 80ml 42 Below Manuka Honey Vodka 80ml Speights Old Dark Ale 20ml Tahiti Dark rum 5ml Benedictine Dash Angostura bitters Whisk all ingredients and warm on a stove. Pour into teacup and char with red hot poker before serving. Garnish with ground cinnamon and grated nutmeg It really is one heck of a delicious drink, perfect for cold winters evenings. You can see a video of the guys making it on stage here: Youtube video of the final, the posset is made 4 minutes in Cheers, Matt

I'm not in Scotland, but do visit from time to time... I'm currently enjoying one of the nicest bottles of Scotch I've ever tried without spending serious money (it cost £33). (Excluding Islay malts which is my personal 'thing'). It's a Balblair 1997 - Balblair (currently) release whiskeys with a vintage rather than age statement. It's quite full bodied but still retains a lot of delicate fruit flavour both on the nose and pallette, along with very good dried fruit and vanillans. Very little (if any) peat in evidence, and it sits nicely among the range you've quoted. I can't however tell you whether it's available in the US or not! Try it, I doubt you'll be disapointed! Cheers, Matt ps I'm with you on the non-fine-oak Macallan thing, I may be imagining it but I definitely prefered the Macallans from 10 yrs ago when all they did was mature in sherry casks.

I'd have to disagree with you there. OK, maybe not a bomb, but make it something harmless and I'm on it! It's just like when Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Everest. His reply - "Because it's there". For me it's one of the great pleasures in life to be able to find yourself in challenging circumstances and prevail. That old fashioned that you've just cobbled together from next to nothing won't be the best old fashioned in the world, far from it, but at that particular moment it WILL be the best thing you've ever tasted, purely because you've tested yourself and won! Not that I'm against trying out the local specialities - surely there's scope to do both! Cheers, Matt edited to correct wrong quote

It would actually be a bit larger than that, although still not particularly large. You're using the US definition of the Gill. As with several imperial measures, the UK definition is different. 1 gill = 5 fluid ounces (UK) = 1/4 pint (UK) 1 pint (UK) = approx 568ml (milliliters) 1/6 gill = 1/24 pint (UK) = 23.7ml = 0.8 ounce (US) So I guess it's closer to 2 1/2 ounces gin, 3/4 ounce vodka, 2-3 teaspoon lillet. In the book, it would certainly have been refering to the imperial system. Metrication in the UK came much later. If I remember correctly, use of metric units for spirits etc became compulsory in the late 1990's, I was certainly still pouring in 1/6 gills in 96 when I left the business for a while (although I seem to remember that was during a changeover period), but 25ml was compulsory when I returned in 2001. Cheers Matt

There's a bit of (understandable) confusion regarding Bulmers. There are actually two cider producing companies that go by the name of Bulmers, apparently because of a long past joint venture (1930's I think) - H.P. Bulmers and Irish Bulmers. Magners is produced by Irish Bulmers, and is the export version of Bulmers original as sold in Ireland - they had to change the name because H.P. Bulmers own the rights to it in the rest of the world. H.P. Bulmers produce over 65% of the Cider sold in the UK, their major brands are Strongbow, Woodpecker, Scrumpy Jack and Bulmers Original. They introduced their own Bulmers Original to compete with Magners which had started to get a very strong hold on the younger (20-35) part of the UK market. To sumamarise, if you are drinking Bulmers in Ireland it is the same as Magners, anywhere else and it's a product created directly to compete with Magners. I hope that makes sense! Cheers, Matt

I guess that would be the case from the comment above about crescent ice. Mine are IM series machines which produce solid cubes 25x25x30mm (about 1 inch cubed). Don't know if you can get this series in the US. (We can get the crescent ones over here, but I've never actually seen one) Cheers, Matt

Not sure if it's the same in the States, but over here in England I (along with many, many others) swear by Hoshizaki. They're certainly not the cheapest, but well worth it in the long run. I have 2 in this bar, both have been running for over 2 years, one with no faults (which we bought new) and the other broke down once (this one was second hand and about 4 years old when we bought it). The fault was quickly remedied, it was a temperature sensor that had reached the end of it's working life. I also had one in my previous place, it was actually 2 units stacked on top of each other. When the bar recently closed down, it had been running for over 7 years without a single breakdown. Of course all of the above are/were regularly serviced, but this is rarely more than a once over and occasional coolant top up. It's also very good quality ice. That may not be any use to you, but thought I'd mention it just in case! Cheers, Matt

Thank you, I have e-mailed them all the link. Although it doesn't really explain why it's not popular there anymore. I assume that most Londoners have fairly free access to milk these days. ← I have a feeling that its current lack of popularity may have something to do with Edwina Curry - a health minister in the mid-late eighties. She made a statement in 88 which said that the majority of British eggs contained salmonella and followed on to say that consuming raw eggs will make you very ill. Although we soon received rather more accurate advice it seems to still be a big part of the British psyche: raw eggs = food poisoning. The majority of customers will still stay away from any drink with egg in it, to the point that a vast quantity of sours sold over here have no egg white, and it doesn't seem to make any difference if you explicitly state that it's pasteurised. That said, these very same customers will also have heaps of Mayo on their food...

+1 on the Ketel One. I can't help you with the one starting with V - the closest I can think of is Wees. A couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to be part of a small group of bartenders who had a personal tour of the Ketel One distillery from Bob Nolet. Top bloke, even travelled to Amsterdam afterwards to join us in a few drinks. He also taught me one of my favourite words - Kopstoot. It's what you call a jenever when consumed as a chaser to a lager, it literally translates to "Headbutt"! I've been playing round with the Ketel One Graanjenever tonight in the improved Holland cocktail, it makes a FINE drink. I found it was more to my taste if I got rid of the simple syrup completely and slightly increased the Maraschino (Luxardo in this case). I also used 2 dashes Peychaud bitters AND 2 dashes Angostura orange bitters, garnished with a lemon twist. The nose is floral and citrusy, initially the palette is wonderfully complex with definite floral notes, then out of nowhere a strong and long chocolatey finish. My new favourite drink I think! I've just been doing a little research into the nomenclature of jenever, it seems that Graanjenever is a category to itself. Effectively it's a subset of Jonge, but whereas Jonge is typically made with 85%+ grain, Graanjenever MUST be 100% grain. Oh, and this is my first post! From reading this forum it seems a remarkable combination of strong knowledge combined with good manners, which is virtually unheard of on internet forums these days! I hope my presence will help maintain this... Cheers, Cin Cin, Na zdrowie, Iechyd da and of course Proost! Matt (edit to correct a couple of typos)