Good Drinks Etc.

Falmouth Beer Festival

2010-11-29T13:01:00.000-08:00

Princess Pavilion

Melvill Road

Falmouth

Cornwall

What serendipity that the organisers of the Falmouth Beer Festival, back in October, should decide to hold their annual gathering on the same weekend I was visiting my parents in Cornwall! Now, enough joking around, here are the beers*:

Pennycomequick (4.5%) (on the pump pictured top): A Cornish stout of distinction from Skinners, smooth and malty.

Cornish Blonde (5%): Another suppable Skinners beer - wheat one this time - from the redoubtable Truro-based brewery.

Spingo Special (6.5%): From the Blue Anchor Brewery in Helston, Cornwall. Unforgettable blue cheese aroma with an intense, complex malty bittersweetness on the palate.

Choice fact: This beer was brewed for the first time to celebrate the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana. Special indeed.

Grandma's Weapons Grade Ginger Beer (5.5%) (above): From Wheal Maiden Brewery in Cornwall. Almost flat, cloudy in appearance. Supplies a fiery gingery kick, with a slightly syrupy sweetness on the finish.

Leveller (4.8%): From the Springhead brewery in Nottinghamshire. This one was dark and smoky with a toffee finish.

Rock Own (4.4%): Balanced and biscuity. Thanks, Sharp's.

Sam's Sweet Cider (6%): My token cider came from Devon's Winkleigh - a faint fizz, very appley and nicely sweet but not a great deal going on.

* Due to my less than intact tasting notes I've included a mix of programme notes and my own observations. The point is, I liked them.

Callooh Callay

2010-11-28T10:47:00.000-08:00

65 Rivington Street

London
EC2A 3AY

It was the start of London Cocktail Week (I know, I'm a bit behind with my posts), so I met up with the London Cocktail Society in a London cocktail bar to drink London cocktails.

The Society - a recently established circle of imbibers, who meet at a different bar each month - had secured the use of Callooh Callay's secluded and sumptuous Jubjub Bar. There, top mixologist Sean Ware offered up an array of delightful drinks on a London theme, including the following:

The Ale of Two Cities (pictured above)

42 Below Feijoa, Punt E Mes, nettle cordial, malt syrup, Granny Smith apple juice and bitters.

- A brilliantly cheeky cocktailian representation of a classic British drink. I had to stop myself gulping it down like a pint of Pride. Feijoa, btw, was described to us as tasting of agave, pineapple and a subtle TCP essence. So now you know.

Hot Gin Punch
A twist on a Victorian winter warmer, party starter punch, combining the curious flavours of Hendrick's Gin, Madeira Wine, winter spices, pineapple, citrus and honey.

- It used to be safer to drink punch than water, we were told. Safety first.

The Avenue (left)
Four Roses small batch bourbon, Laird's Apple Jack, passionfruit nectar, orange flower water and syrup.

- Popular around the Art Nouveau era. Tasted great.

Clayton's Special Cocktail

Clayton's Kola Tonic, Bacardi Superior rum, citrus syrup.

- First seen in print in the Savoy Cocktail Book in the 1930s. Clayton's Kola Tonic, described as Coke for grown-ups, used to be made in Battersea, apparently. These days they make it in Barbados.

I may have to go back to this Shoreditch bar to check out its standard drinks menu. Cheers.

Whisky Squad #8

2010-11-26T06:05:00.000-08:00

Belatedly, or perhaps just in time (to whet the Squad's appetite for next week's meeting), I bring a brief account of Whisky Squad 8: Movember.

Movember is the month when men grow moustaches in aid of men's health (and against prostate cancer). Whisky4Movember, part of the Movember family, was set up to unite mo-growers and whisky lovers for the good of humanity. Not content with just drinking the stuff, Darren and others at Master of Malt went giant leaps further and organised some special bottlings to celebrate - and raise funds for - the cause.

Here are those we tried - including a couple of bonus bottles thrown in for good measures...

Whisky4Movember - Mo’land (pictured top)
Blended lowland Scotch malt whisky. 40% abv. 10-year-old.
Smooth, biscuity, Manuka honey flavour with a woody aftertaste.

Whisky4Movember - M’Orkney (right)
One of last year's Movember bottlings. Spooned Orcadian malt whisky. 40% abv. 11-year-old. Sherry cask. (See the end of this post for an explanation of a spooned malt).
Aroma of oak, vanilla and fruit. Sweetish taste but with dryness. Tangy. ID'd as Highland Parkish.

Whisky4Movember - Smo’key
Blended Islay Scotch malt whisky. 40% abv.
Peaty Ardbeggian nose. Oily, citrusy taste. Could do with a little more oomph, perhaps.

Each of the Movember bottlings cost £34.95, with £8 from the sale of each bottle going to fight prostate cancer. Buy them here now.

In addition to the W4M bottlings, Squaddies were treated to some helpings of the following whiskies:

Dalmore 15yo
Highland single malt Scotch whisky. 40% abv.

Aroma of fudge and chocolate. Taste of oranges, cherries, sherry-richness, a little sweet. The (added) rich caramel colouring does influence one's perceptions.

Smokehead 18 Year Old Extra Black (left)

Islay single malt Scotch whisky, 46%.

Ardbeg without the Ardbeg name, someone noted. The Extra Black is older than the standard 10. Goes for £84, this one.

Nose of mild peat, nutty like pistachio. Taste of BBQ, with a sweet peaty tang.

Apologies to Billy for 'borrowing' his photos (our shadowy whisky attic was a little dark for my camera). Read his post here.

Tequila Sunrise

2010-11-25T02:39:00.000-08:00

Despite my best efforts, tequila is still lacking when it comes to cocktails. The Margarita is king (queen?) and always will be, but the Sunrise is probably the best known alternative.

It's served with an attractive rainbowish (or perhaps sunrisey) thing going on, with the heavier grenadine sunk at the bottom (pictured top), bleeding into the orange.

It's also pretty much the only alcoholic drink with orange juice I like (fine, apart from this one), since juice should properly be a thing of goodness for breakfast rather than a vehicle for revelry, IMO.

If you can get hold of some fresh oranges to squeeze, so much the better. And if you like your drinks sweeter, up the grenadine. It's probably a good idea to serve with a straw to imbibers can mix the orange and grenadine to even out the sweetness as they go.

Tequila Sunrise

60ml (2oz) Tequila

120ml (4oz) Orange juice

7.5ml (0.25oz) Grenadine

Slice of orange or wedge of lime to garnish (if you like)

Fill a highball glass with ice, add tequila and orange juice and stir until mixed. Carefully pour the grenadine down one side of the glass so it sinks to the bottom.

Ale Assemblage

2010-10-19T02:12:00.000-07:00

Ales I have been imbibin'...

Smoked Porter (5.4%). Cask.

A one-off collaboration between Dark Star, Sussex's finest, and Colorado brewer Odell, which recently entertained me with a Malteser-like wheat beer. Imbibed at the Cask in Pimlico, this was "a deep red porter with a hint of smoked malt"; really tasty, some coffee flavours, a bit of smoke and plenty of malt, with a slightly sweet finish.

Agave Wheat (4.2%). Bottle.

A real interesting one, this one, from the Breckenridge Brewery in (where else?) Colorado - a wheat ale brewed with agave nectar, from which tequila is made. It pours a dark gold colour, with plenty of bubbles, and has that clean, wheaty aroma. It tastes of cereal, with a honeyed, almost caramel sweetness, while remaining smooth, light(ish) and refreshing.

Nightlight Mild (5.7%). Bottle.
A brilliant bottle-conditioned dessert beer from Elmtree Beers, in Norfolk: black as the night, fractionally on the sweet side with a balancing liquorice thing going on. I've always been a little mystified by the various categories of ales, but I gather mild - which once denoted a beer's unaged character - now suggests a malty rather than hoppy personality. "Suitable for vegans and vegetarians", this one, and 500ml long.

Sneck Lifter (5.1%). Cask.
A beer I'd never heard of, nor seen, prior to taking a punt on it in a Birmingham pub. Glad I did - this dark beer, from Jennings Brewery in Cumbria, was packed with flavour, like a creamy pint of coffee.

Aloe Vera

2010-10-16T03:14:00.000-07:00

Continuing my foray into odd soft beverages (see here, here and here), I'd like you to meet Aloe Vera. Aloe, lest you don't know, is a fleshy water-storing plant known as a succulent, and a member of the lily family. As a drink, it's supposed to be great for the skin, and digestion, and it's big in parts of Asia and South America. The bottle above, branded Aloe Vera King, was manufactured by OKF Corp, imported by Korea Foods Co, and bought at a branch of top sushi shack Wasabi. It poured almost clear, with bits of jelly-like fruit pulp floating about in it. The aroma was brilliantly weird - perfumed, fruity, and, er, shampoo-ish. The taste reminded me of lychee, pear and cucumber - slightly sweet, but not sugary, and very quenching.

WS#7: Berry Bros & Rudd

2010-10-10T05:32:00.000-07:00

Berry Bros & Rudd is the oldest family-owned wine and spirit merchant in the world, having operated a shop in London's St James's Street since 1698 (bet the rent's gone up a little since then). Usefully, the premises includes around two acres of cellar space, enough to hold 30,000 bottles - with another 6.5m bottles (don't count 'em) stored in an out-of-town warehouse. While wine might be the money spinner, BB&R is evidently quite serious about its whisky, and as well as selling the usual array of big-name spirits, it also offers an acclaimed series of "Own Selection" bottlings too.

Whisky Squad's (very) rough guide to BB&R's bottling process:
[1] Buy a cask from a distillery, often without having tasted its contents first.

[2] Age the whisky, tasting every few years until it is "ready" (an elusive state of near-perfection that can take decades to reach).
[3] Bottle the cask naturally (no chill filtering - just a sieve to catch the splinters).
[4] A cask-strength bottling generally provides a crop of no more than 600 bottles (making them quite special in their rarity alone).

[5] Sell for between £30 and £165 a bottle.

For Whisky Squad #7, we were joined by BB&R's spirits expert Rob Whitehead, who introduced us to a few special samples of the company's own bottlings.

Tasted blind with the help of Rob's whisky socks

BB&R Aberlour

14yo (distilled 1994, bottled 2008), 46% abv. £35.20.
An almost colourless "breakfast malt", good for beginners.
Nose: Apple, sweet fruit.
Taste: Sherbert fizz, with mint, nutty biscuits and honey; nice'n'smooth.

BB&R Bunnahabhain
12yo (distilled 1997, bottled 2009), 55.3%. £46.85.
Again, barely no colour, but plenty going on.
Nose: Peat with medicinal notes.
Taste: Briney smoke, acetone, dry with a beautifully long finish.
In a blind tasting, this tricked us all, since the usually barely-peated Bunna was so heavily peated here (part of the stuff they make for Islay's Black Bottle blend) there was little chance of any of us guessing its identity. That said, once its provenance was revealed, my next sip did suggest a distinctly Bunnahabhainish quality, in common with the 18-year-old we Squadded a few months back at WS#4. This one was well received.

BB&R Glen Mhor
26yo (distilled 1982, bottled 2009), 46%. £71.50.
From a "silent still" - a closed distillery - in the Highlands. Glen Mhor shut down in 1983 and is now, somewhat tragically, a Co-Op supermarket.
Nose: Apples (again), peach, vanilla.
Taste: A tiny measure of peat, creamy, oily mouthfeel, dry, fruity, spicy.
This lovely whisky was aged in a sherry cask. Whatever the cask imparts into the spirit, we learned, comes from the wood (a particular type of European oak, Quercus Robur, in this case) - and not its previous contents. Any traces of actual sherry would have had only a minimal effect on its flavour.

BB&R Invergordon
39yo (distilled 1971, bottled 2009), 47%. £95. More here.
A single grain whisky of dark-reddish intensity, made with unmalted barley.
Nose: Cherries, cola bottles, milk chocolate, coconut.
Taste: Dry, oaky, sweet vanilla. Like a savoury, more refined bourbon.
Interestingly, since grain whisky is distilled at 95% abv, it has basically no character as a new make spirit, which means where flavour is concerned the wood is everything. This one was aged in a fresh bourbon barrel (used to hold bourbon just the once, before being emptied and shipped over from Kentucky) and was heavenly. While plenty of Squaddies were taken by the Bunna, this one was my favourite of the evening. Doing a bit of research later, I realised I've tried it before, at the Whisky Lounge in Brighton earlier this year. Alas, at £100, it's a little out of my budget - maybe I'll wait for the Boxing Day sales.

BB&R St Magdalene
26yo (distilled 1982, bottled 2008), from another silent still (this one closed in 1983, and is now an apartment complex). Triple distilled, as lowland malts are wont to be, and aged in an old, fourth-fill sherry butt (meaning this is the fourth lot of whisky it's held since its sherry days were done).
Nose: Vanilla.
Taste: Dry, wood, chalky, fizz, cucumber, grass.

Special thanks to Rob from BB&R for leading an engaging and informative session. I have a feeling we'll be dragging him back to The Gunmakers for another before too long.

Blood & Sand

2010-10-07T02:38:00.000-07:00

I don't generally go for sweet cocktails, but just occasionally they're so well constructed that the sweetness seems appropriate. Even more occasionally, they involve Scotch whisky too - fetch me my cocktail shaker!

The Blood & Sand, which I tasted for the first time at The Player a few months back, was created for the premiere of the 1922 movie of the same name - a bullfighter-romance starring Rudolf Valentino. That's the story, now the recipe.

Blood & Sand

22.5ml (0.75oz) Scotch whisky
22.5ml (0.75oz) orange juice
22.5ml (0.75oz) sweet vermouth
22.5ml (0.75oz) cherry brandy liqueur

Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Double strain into a chilled martini glass.

For the Scotch, I picked Bailie Nicol Jarvie, a fine blend and perfect for cocktails, while for the cherry brandy-based liqueur I used De Kuyper (24% abv), although I keep reading that the slightly dearer Cherry Heering is best. I've also heard it suggested, repeatedly, that modern tastes might prefer less of the sweet stuff, with an ounce each of the whisky and orange and 3/4 ounces each of vermouth and cherry. I tried this and, sure, it's slightly Scotchier, and maybe more refined. But I still like the original - sublimely sweet and quite moreish.

Saketini

2010-10-04T08:42:00.000-07:00

I like sake, but some recipes for sake-based martinis appear to be designed for those who are indifferent to the life-enriching rice drink. It's delicate, you see, and you can't tell me that drowning a teaspoon of the stuff in a giant slug of gin, as proposed here, is going to do it justice. Forget about using sake as you would dry vermouth in a trad martini - give it the starring role.

Saketini

60ml (2oz) sake
30ml (1oz) gin

Pour ingredients into a mixing glass with ice and stir well. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with a cucumber slice.

I used Hendrick's for my gin and Sawanotsuru (from Waitrose) for my sake. Some have suggested using vodka instead of gin. Don't.

Belgian Beers

2010-10-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

Belgo Centraal
50 Earlham Street
Covent Garden
London WC2H 9LJ

If you thought Oktoberfest was a German thing, disabuse yourself - the Belgians are in on it too. At a special fest tasting at Belgo, London's most reliable purveyors of moules frites, I discovered that pairing beers with food actually works - improving both. While Belgian beer in particular can be a little demanding as a session drink, it makes a fine alternative to wine with dinner.

Food highlights here. Drink highlights here:

Belgo White/Witbier, 5% (pictured top)
Paired with: Moules Marinière (steamed mussels)
Said to be based on a 500-year-old recipe for a traditional Belgian wheat beer, Belgo's house white is made with raw wheat and seasoned with coriander and dried Curacao oranges. Produced by the people who bring other people (but not me) Hoegaarden.
A light, wheaty beer with a slightly malty finish. A little bland - but good with seafood.

De Koninck Blonde, 6%
Paired with: Champagne, duck and truffle terrine
Another light-wheat beer, slightly sweet, with a fruity tang. Doesn't taste like a 6% beer, even though it is one.

Witcap Stimulo, 6%
Paired with: Beef Carbonnade (braised beef cooked in beer)
Fruity, malty, wheaty.

Bruges Zot Blonde, 6%
Paired with: Moules Portugaises (mussels & roast chorizo in a tomato sauce)
One of my favourites, a lovely balance of wheat and fruit, quite full-bodied with a longer finish.

Floris Apple, 3.6%
Paired with: Poached Pear
Completely different.
A light, crisp, fruity beer, not too sweet, with a Granny Smith aroma.

Westmalle Dubbel, 7% (left)
Paired with: Belgian Chocolate Pudding
From one of Belgium's six Trappist breweries, whose beer - to be authentically Trappist - must be made within a monastry's walls, overseen by a genuine monk.
Darker, like cola, in mouthfeel. An aroma of banana with a mild liquorice taste.

Mort Subite Gueuze, 4.5%
Paired with: Belgian Waffle
A lambic beer, meaning a blend of newly brewed and aged (2-3 years) beer.
A little sour - the closest one to a cider. Not my cup of tea.

Tripel Karmeliet, 8.4%
A bonus beer towards the end of the evening.
Caramel sweetness with a long finish. Nice.

GET IT: Out of respect to Oktoberfest, Belgo's five London locations are offering a special meal deal every Wednesday in Oktober - three courses paired with three of the above beers for £33, in a pilgrimage-cum-masterclass hosted by one of the mini-chain's venerable Beer Masters.

Gaymers Pear Cider

2010-09-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

Never mind that Gaymers Pear Cider probably doesn't meet the strict and well-complicated criteria to qualify as a genuine perry. If you're looking for something refreshing as an aperitif to an ale session, say, or after a 2k run, you could do worse than order one of these. The above pint, served from the tap and consumed thirstily from a balcony overlooking the Thames, was peary, and not overly sweet nor tart. Nice one, Somerset.

Coconut Water

2010-09-27T00:24:00.000-07:00

Bit of a weird one this, but I've been getting cravings recently for coconut water. It's the clear liquid that comes from young coconuts (as opposed to the richer milk found in mature fruit) and is apparently very good for you - fat-free, low in calories and rich in potassium and electrolytes. In fact, it's so damn healthy it's used as an intravenous hydration fluid in some developing countries where medical saline is unavailable (it's true - Wikipedia says so). Drank chilled, like the glass above, it refreshed parts I hitherto were not sure existed.

The can pictured top was bought in the US, but the other day I was delighted to discover you can get cartons of the stuff in the UK too. Vita Coco - 100% pure coconut water - is said to contain 20 times the amount of potassium found in sports drinks, which is why its described as a "super-hydrator". Believe me, you don't need to commit sport to benefit from its rejuvenating properties.

BUY IT? Vita Coco is available from Waitrose, Holland & Barrett and Whole Foods.

Languedoc-Roussillon Wine

2010-09-25T06:15:00.000-07:00

I can't say I know ~~much~~ anything about French wine. Having read a little, I understand that lots of it is really expensive, and that some of it is the best in the world. But generally I'd avoid it simply because I don't have a clue. At a tasting of wines from the Languedoc-Roussillon region, as part of the Sud de France Festival, I tried to educate myself through the medium of drinking. The region, on the south coast, is the oldest wine-producing area in the country, consisting of about 20 geographically defined appellations and - get this - producing more than 40% of France's wine. It's also considered to be the country's bargain basement when it comes to fermented grapes, which has to be good news for the general drinker.

At the tasting, we tried a good few, reinforced by plenty of French tapas, if there is such a thing. It became apparent early on that the region is so massive, and varied, it's hard to describe a "typical" Languedoc-Roussillon. By my reckoning, there was a tendency towards dryness in both the whites and reds, not something I necessarily go for. But every now and then I stumbled across a great'un, where the tannins accepted a supporting role. Here are my top little picks:

Whites

Laurent Miguel Vérité 2008, 13.5%
Made with Viognier grapes, available from Waitrose.
The oakiest white wine ever! Dry, rich, aromatic and substantial.

Domaine Guillaume Cabrol Picpoul de Pinet Prestige 2009
Another white, this one made from Picpoul grapes.
Green fruits, citrus, melon and freshly cut grass. A top picnic wine!

Leon Barral Blanc Biodynamic 2008, 13%
Biodynamic wine is organic plus, produced according to a number of spiritual principles, with reference to lunar and cosmic rhythms, etc. (read more here).
Cloudy, yellow colour. Full bodied, sweet - a good breakfast wine, someone noted.

Reds

Silene Grande Cuvée 2004
80% Syrah, 20% Grenache, aged for 22 months in French new oak barrels.
This red was my overall favourite of the whole evening. Vanilla-oak flavours, reasonably rich with a touch of chocolate, and a slight dryness ending silkily.

Trois Orris Sirissime 2008, 14.5%
A nicely balanced wine made with 100% Syrah grapes.
Rich and fruity red, with a decent velvety finish.

Dessert

Treloar Muscat de Rivesaltes 2006, 15.5%
A white dessert wine made with Muscat grapes by an English-run family winery. An inscription on the bottle asks imbibers to drink "as an aperitif and with cakes, pudding, cheeses and chocolates". OK, will do.
Clean, green fruit, sweet, but not thick or syrupy, with a little acidity providing balance.

Lots still to learn - but thankfully this sort of learning doesn't feel like work in the slightest. Merci Biens, Les Français!

MORE! The Sud de France Festival runs in London until September 30. Check out the events schedule here.

Clover Club

2010-09-24T02:54:00.000-07:00

The Clover Club is a pink drink of distinction hailing from pre-prohibition times. There is something delightful about its gin/citrus/foam combination - don't ask me what. This recipe is borrowed from Dale DeGroff's beautiful booze bible The Essential Cocktail.

Clover Club

45ml (1.5oz) gin
22.5ml (0.75oz) lemon juice
22.5ml (0.75oz) simple syrup
1/2 teaspoon Grenadine
White of 1/2 small egg

Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker - without ice - and shake well to lightly whip the egg white. Add ice and shake some more, before straining into a martini or champagne coupe glass.

It's not even that hard to make, once you've dealt with the egg white (which, by the way, definitely benefits from a bit of dry shaking before the addition of ice). Careful you don't overdo the Grenadine, that pink pomegranate syrup, which is better in touches.

MORE: For a Clover Leaf, simply garnish the thing with a sprig of fresh mint.

Ale Album

2010-09-22T05:44:00.000-07:00

What beers have I been liking recently, you ask?

Blandford Fly, Badger/Hall & Woodhouse (5.2%) Bottled.

For fans of ginger beer and beer comes this superb cross between the two. Imbibers are advised to server chilled, which I failed to do here, at a picnic on Whitstable beach. But what it lacked in coldness it made up for in all-round tastiness. Very refreshing, and surprisingly strong in booze terms.

Black Pearl, Gadds (6.2%). Cask.

Staying with Whitstable, which I visited for the Oyster Festival (check out my whisky oysters here), I stumbled across a makeshift bar shifting Gadds' Black Pearl oyster stout (pictured below) for £3 a pint. It didn't taste of oyster, fortunately, more like chocolate and tobacco. It was sweet, and thick, with a coffee kick in there too. Lovely.

Weasel, The Florence (4.5%). Cask.
Having raved about Dam Tasty Beaver Beer, produced by the microbrewery at The Florence pub, in Herne Hill, I went back to find another of their beers on the pumps. Weasel was a light orange/gold colour, with a fruity, citrus aroma (was that banana, too?!) and an unexpectedly sharp-dry hoppy flavour, with a bittersweet finish. Worth a drop - but my loyalties remain with the Beaver.

Camden Hells Lager, Camden Town Brewery (4.8%). Cask.
Found on tap at trendy new Islington gastro Wenlock & Essex, and described elsewhere as a "cold fermented and properly matured traditional German unpasteurised lager". I recall a yellowish beer with floral aromas, not much fizz and a lovely nutty finish. The brewery used to be attached to the Horseshoe pub in Hampstead but recently moved to more ambitious premises (in Camden).

Chocolate Nutter, The Why Not Brewery (5.5%). Bottle.
A bottle conditioned ale made from bitter and dark chocolate malts. Purchased mainly because of its beguiling name, but enjoyed nevertheless, alongside a wholesome bowl of chili.

Proper Job, St Austell Brewery (5.5%). Bottle.
A "powerfully hopped" India Pale Ale, bitter in a grapefruit way, but refreshing too.

Stout Hearted, Yeovil Ales (4.3%) Cask.
Tasted at the 11th annual Sturminster Newton Cheese Festival (don't miss the 12th next September!), which happily featured an ale tent too, this stout was great - heavyish but smooth. Top cheese tips: Try Cornish Blue, Exmoor Blue and Sturminster Coastal Cheddar.

Cubre

2010-09-20T01:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a good few months since I last joined in the online cocktail soirée that is Mixology Monday. This month's brief - set by Doug at the The Pegu Blog - was to design a drink with lime.

Fortunately, I'd just restocked my citrus supply, and an entire bowl of the luscious green things were staring up at me, begging to be squeezed. I love a well-limed Cuba Libre (rum, cola, lime juice) and settled on reinterpreting this classic long drink.

Having recently visited the almighty Purl cocktail bar in west London, and marvelled at its use of "cola reduction" in one of its beverages, I decided to get all chemistryish myself and boil down a small can of Pepsi to extract its essence. Shaken with lime juice and a good slug of rum, the resulting cocktail tasted like a Cuba Libre, only stronger and (crucially) more limed.

Cubre

60ml (2oz) light rum
30ml (1oz) cola reduction*
15ml (0.5oz) fresh lime juice
Lime peel

Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake with determination. Strain into a martini glass and add a lengthy twist of lime peel.

*To make cola reduction pour a can of cola into a pot and heat on the stove. Boil until about two-thirds of its volume has evaporated, leaving a cola syrup.

This is a seriously fun drink: a refined, more sophisticated version of the original, which tastes quite lovely, and limey. If you like Cuba Libres give it a try.

UPDATE: Check out Doug's full MxMo round-up, featuring a lifetime's supply of lime-based cocktail recipes from across the blogosphere, right here.

Peaches and Cream

2010-09-17T03:25:00.000-07:00

It's not often I feel the urge to drink peaches and cream. But when I do, I can follow the following recipe (and so can you):

Peaches and Cream

50ml (1.6oz) Archers peach schnapps

20ml (0.6oz) double cream

80ml (2.6oz) soda water

Shake schnapps and cream in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a high-ball glass with fresh ice, top with soda water and stir some more.

Move over, Girly Drink, you've been out-girled.

Trailer Happiness

2010-09-16T03:11:00.000-07:00

177 Portobello Road

London
W11 2DY

I'd been curious to visit this Notting Hill establishment ever since the Rum Dood named it "best tiki bar" - in the world, supposedly. We entered, as is our wont, just as it was opening on a Saturday night, and ordered drinks. The Colada Nueva (pictured top) was a "house secret blend of fine rums & other delicious elixirs blended with pineapple, passion fruit, mango and coconut". It was served ice cold, but not so cold as to cause brain freeze, and the rums were clearly present without overpowering things. I went for a Blood & Sand (below right), which I know was cheating, since it's not a tiki drink, but I wasn't in the mood for fruit and rum, and I'd tried and enjoyed it once before at Trailer's slightly upscale relation The Player. This one (Compass Box Asyla whisky, sweet vermouth, Cherry Heering and orange juice) tasted a tad under-whiskied, or over-cherried, but it was fine.

Arriving as we did when it was still very light outside, and the barstaff were getting things ready for the evening ahead, it was probably our fault that the place lacked a certain atmosphere. I can't really fault the drinks list, either, when we barely scratched its surface. So I'd come back - at a more appropriate time - if I found myself in Notting Hill with a group of friends on a mission to carouse. And given that one of the finest cocktail bars in London is just down the road, this might happen sooner than strictly necessary.

Fruit Infusions

2010-09-14T13:26:00.000-07:00

At a fine wedding on a balmy afternoon in Washington DC I stumbled upon a trio of magical infusions dispensed from little taps attached to the kind of jars I imagine doctors once used for pickling. Cucumber & mint; watermelon; and lemon & lime - the iced water inside tasted of fresh fruit, but only gently. The liquid suggested their contents without forcing them down one's throat, as it were. For those lacking jars with taps, I assume a pitcher and a strainer would achieve a similarly restorative effect.

WS#6: Brilliant Blends

2010-09-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

Blends are often maligned by whisky admirers who don't know better. I should know, because I used to be a maligner myself. Luckily, I got over my single-malt-is-superior complex, in part thanks to a happy afternoon spent imbibing some superb Compass Box blends at the Whisky Lounge Festival in Brighton earlier this year. Sceptics should remember that 92% of all whisky is blended. Most whisky drinkers drink blends, and for Whisky Squad #6, at least, we would join them...

Bailie Nicol Jarvie
40%. Eight-year-old. A blended Scotch whisky with a higher proportion of malt than most blends. Distilleries in the mix thought to include Caol Ila (unpeated), Ardbeg, North British and Glenmorangie, all blended with grain whisky.
Nose: Vanilla, honey, caramel.
Taste: Smooth, woody, sweetness, slight dryness, not too sweet.
I've had a bottle of this at home for a few months, and pull it out occasionally when a Scotch cocktail seems in order. Excellent value.

Compass Box Hedonism
43%. Average age 20 years. A 100% blended grain Scotch whisky, from Cameron Brig, Carsebridge and Cambus, aged in first-fill American oak casks.
Nose: Tropical, pine, cedar, Caramac chocolate, cherry, wood polish.
Taste: Sweet, chocolate, cherries, spicy, woody, toffee, with a long, dry finish.
From CB's Limited Release range, bottled only once or twice a year.

Ben Nevis, Adelphi Bottling
50.3% cask strength. 34-year-old (Distilled 1970, bottled 2005). Highland single cask blend.
Nose: Cola reduction, honey, rich, feet, solvent, Xmas tree (with a few drops of water you can add orange and fizzy sherbert).
Taste: Dry, tobacco, cigar, spicy, citrus, tannic.
This was an eccentric blend of new-make grain and new-make malt aged in the same cask for an awfully long time. There was nothing eccentric about the taste, though, which recalled an antique rye whiskey. Really quite rare, and refined, which goes some way to explaining the £130 price tag.

Ardbeg Serendipity
40%. Blended malt Scotch whisky (12-year-old Glen Moray with 25-year-old Ardbeg 1977).
Nose: Peat, pink grapefruit, banana, medicinal.
Taste: Almondy, burnt BBQ, salty.
Behind this whisky is a story of "a most serendipitous catastrophe" (cheers, Darren), which occurred when some Ardbeg 1977 was accidentally pumped into a vat still containing Glen Moray 12-year-old. The result was a blended malt Scotch whisky containing 20% Glen Moray and 80% Ardbeg. Lesser marketing machines may have cursed their luck; Ardbeg bottled the stuff and branded it as "the unforeseen but fortuitous union of two great single malts".

What struck me about blended whisky, following our evening of respectful indulgence, was that blending - done properly - makes perfect sense. Why trust nature to provide a perfect single cask, or confine a master distiller to mixing from his own limited stash, when you could let a knowledgeable whisky mixologist take a bit from here and a bit from there, before blending to perfection?

Thanks to Darren, the Whisky Guy, for not only leading yet another great tasting session but also providing some pretty handy printouts, which also contained the following useful definitions:

Single Malt Scotch Whisky
A Scotch Whisky produced from only water and malted barley at a single distillery by batch distillation in pot stills.

Single Grain Scotch Whisky

A Scotch Whisky distilled at a single distillery but which, in addition to water and malted barley, may also be produced from whole grains of other malted or unmalted cereals.

Blended Scotch Whisky

A combination of one or more Single Malt Scotch Whiskies with one or more Single Grain Scotch Whiskies.

Blended Malt Scotch Whisky

A blend of two or more Single Malt Scotch Whiskies from different distilleries.

Blended Grain Scotch Whisky

A blend of two or more Single Grain Scotch Whiskies from different distilleries.

Finally, the Spooned Malt: Take a single malt whisky and add a teaspoon of a different whisky from another distillery, leaving you with a blend, which may no longer be described as a single malt from a named distillery. Such behaviour is apparently reassuring to distilleries when their wares are sold on to third parties.

Next time we've promised ourselves to keep things simple - you know, get some nice whisky in bottles and drink the stuff. No more definitions. Details on Whisky Squad #7 (October 7) to follow shortly, here.

Bramble

2010-09-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

Created by Dick Bradsell in London's Soho, in the nineteen-eighties, the Bramble marries gin, lemon and sweetness in a fruitier reinvention of the 19th century Gin Fix, or sour.

Bramble

60ml (2oz) gin
30ml (1oz) fresh lemon juice
15ml (0.5oz) simple syrup
15ml (0.5oz) Creme de Mure (blackberry liqueur)
Blackberries to garnish

Fill a tumbler with crushed ice, add gin, lemon and simply syrup and stir. Add more ice if required. Drizzle Creme de Mure on top and garnish with blackberries.

If you can be bothered with crushing ice (required for extra dilution) the Bramble is well worth a try. It's been described elsewhere as England's answer to the Cosmopolitan - but don't let that put you off.

Beers in America

2010-09-10T05:33:00.000-07:00

A trip to Washington DC provided some good beer drinking at some friendly bars - many of which even served my beloved Blue Moon on tap. Great work.

Starting off with an Austrian, then. Urbock 23° (pictured top) is an amazing, and amazingly strong (9.6% abv), beer from a brewery called Schloss Eggenberg. Matured for nine months (as long as a human fetus) until golden brown, and luxuriously thick, it tasted of almonds and honey and biscuits and stuff, with a smooth finish. Excitingly, this one came from the cask, from a cute little pub called The Saloon.

From the same pub I swiftly downed a refreshing pint of Batch 19 (pictured left), described as a "pre-prohibition style lager". The beer, made by Coors from a newly discovered old recipe (supposedly), was hoppy for a lager, with only gentle bubbles.

Hades (below right) comes from the Denver-based Great Divide Brewing Company, producer of a brilliant rice ale called Samurai (more here). This one, bought in hip DC hangout Marvin, was a Belgian-style golden ale - spicy, hoppy, malty (nice).

Allagash White was "brewed with spices" in Portland, Maine. It was a hot evening, and I needed something on the lighter side, which the Allagash delivered: cloudy, wheaty and crisp.

Americans make more interesting lagers than us Brits. At least, that's my theory, evidenced by malty, refreshing beers like Trader Joe's Bohemian Lager (5%), which I sampled from the bottle.

Kennebunkport Blueberry Wheat Ale (below left) sounds daft, but the beer, with added "natural" fruit flavours, provided an enjoyably subtle blueberry twist to an otherwise bland bottle.

Having recently enjoyed Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout, I was intrigued to try its Brown Ale. This, as I recall, was substantial and malty, but still relatively gulpable - like an estranged younger brother - or perhaps distant nephew - of the more challenging Stout (which I tried again shortly afterwards).

Finally, and just to prove I don't like every beer out there, I have to mention my first tasting of a sour beer (intentionally sour, on purpose, that is). The 7.3% bottle of Petrus Aged Pale Ale was described in The Saloon's menu as a "very interesting representation of a Flemish sour ale style", which after being aged in oak for up to 30 months finished with a "classic sourness". I hated it - tasted like vinegar. Definitely interesting, though.

Before I finish, a question to any American readers out there - what's with the Belgian beer obsession? Why don't your bars stock more home-grown American ales? They're quite good, you know.

Finally-finally, a mini-rant about a supposedly exciting DC cocktail bar known as The Gibson. I say "supposedly", since despite having been put down on a list as VIPs (I know, I'm not sure why either) a group of us were denied entry for the crime of wearing sandals and/or shorts. Bear in mind this was August in DC, when temperatures - even at night - are high enough to make a cat cry. Bizarrely, the no-sandals-or-shorts rule apparently kicks in only after 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, at which point clothing normally considered perfectly acceptable suddenly, inexplicably, becomes inappropriate. I really have no idea how such a miserably small-town attitude managed to insinuate itself into a reputedly decent bar in a major city. Note to management: stop being pricks. Or assholes, even.

Slurpee

2010-09-09T02:50:00.000-07:00

Back in the United States (where else?) I was introduced to one of the strangest drinks I've had in a while (since this one, possibly). The Slurpee, which is only available from 7-Eleven stores, sounds and looks fairly revolting, but for some reason it's just the thing on a scorching afternoon. It consists, as far as I can make out, of sugary-syrup flavouring, crushed ice and carbon dioxide. The fizziness is what makes it different, and good - they're incredibly refreshing once the temperature tips into the 30s. I went for a pina colada (non-alcoholic, clearly) with a splash of root beer (yes, mixing is acceptable). It was still a little too sweet for me, but I like what they were trying to do here.

Girly Drink

2010-09-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

Just as a monkey at a typewriter will eventually produce a readable sonnet, so my attempts to throw random leftover ingredients together will occasionally generate a drinkable cocktail. This was one of those occasions.

Girly Drink

60ml (2oz) peach schnapps
15ml (0.5oz) triple sec
60ml (2oz) Appletiser
7.5ml (0.25oz) lime juice
2 dashes orange bitters
180ml (6oz) soda water

Stir ingredients with ice in a tall glass.

Fruity and refreshing - like what girls like.

Mongozo Coconut Beer

2010-09-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

I know what you're thinking. But this is actually a tasty little drop. Mongozo is a line of "exotic" beers produced by Belgian brewery Huyghe on behalf of some Dutch company. This coconut bottle (3.6% abv) was picked up from a shop at the Eden Project in Cornwall, which gives a flavour of the brand's ethos - Fairtrade all the way.

The beer's appearance, once poured into a glass, is whiteish-yellow, slightly darker than coconut water, and almost milky. Immediately, the coconut aroma is evident, sweet and slightly woody. To taste, there is a small amount of carbonation, as the coconut flavour explodes in the mouth, followed by a nicely hoppy beer-bite. It reminded me of a Snowball cocktail (Advocaat and lemonade), but more refreshing and less sickly sweet (although still sweet enough to ensure one's all you want).

Brewed with real coconut and Fairtrade organic quinua grain, the brew can be bought in the UK from websites like this one. Other flavours in the series are Quinua, Palmnut, Mango and Banana, all of which are said to make an fine accompaniment to "exotic dishes", whatever they might be.

The Lonsdale

2010-09-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

48 Lonsdale Road

Notting Hill
London

W11 2DE

I knew The Lonsdale would become one of my favourite cocktail bars within 20 seconds of walking through the door. It was the giant, leather-bound drinks menu that did it. Containing more than 80 drinks recipes, described in detail, it was like a bible of booze (read it online here). This place cares about cocktails, I thought. I sympathized with our waitress who continued to hover as I set about absorbing the entire menu before making my choice. "Can I help you choose?" she begged. "Do you want something fruity?" she tried. In the end, I went for The Vesper, James Bond's twist on the martini, for which I later discovered The Lonsdale utilises Martin Miller's Gin from just down the road.

The menu, quoting directly from Ian Fleming's 1937 Bond adventure Casino Royale, described the recipe thus:

'A dry martini,' Bond said. 'One. In a deep champagne goblet.'

'Oui, monsieur.'

'Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it is ice cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon - peel. Got it?'

'Certainly, monsieur.' The barman seemed pleased with the idea.

The cocktail, it added, was "invented by Gilberto Preti for the author, at Duke's Hotel, London". It barely needs to be noted that such gems, such joyful pedantry, is to a drinks geek what a warm gun is to Mr Bond. The drink itself - my first conventional Vesper, as it happens (check out less ordinary Amsterdam Vespa here), was surprisingly smooth, with the gin preventing things from becoming vapid and the vodka keeping the drink from getting too botanical.

M went for a Rose Petal Martini, which was rather more prosaically described as Bombay Sapphire stirred with Lanique rose liqueur, lychee juice and Peychaud Bitters. "Beautiful and refined", said she, sounding increasingly like a drinks geek herself.

To finish, we shared a Fuego Manzana: Havana three year-old rum shaken with fresh Granny Smith apple, homemade chilli syrup and freshly squeezed lime juice (as designed by Danny Smith at Che, 2000). This was a moreish cocktail that refused to be branded "fruity" or "citrussy" or "sweet" or "fiery" but instead combined them all rather skilfully.

The Lonsdale is also a restaurant, apparently, but cocktail fans are welcome to come in for "just" a drink, with prices around the £8 mark. It's the best thing about west London by a long way.

Frambellini

2010-09-03T04:27:00.000-07:00

The traditional Bellini cocktail, invented in Venice in 1934, involves fizzy wine and peach puree, chilled and stirred. But raspberries are at least as good as peaches, so take some sparkling wine and add some blended raspberries instead. I call it the Frambellini. The conventional Bellini recipe suggested one part puree to two parts wine. The one pictured above used just a dash or two of fruit, topped up with bubbles. It depends what you're after: a boozy fruit drink or a glass of bubbly with a hint of fruit. The choice is yours.

Glenmorangie

2010-09-02T04:44:00.000-07:00

While we're on the subject of summer whiskies, I thought I'd add my own personal recommendation for an August (er, early September) malt. In recent months, since getting into whisky slightly more seriously than before, I've returned to some of my former go-to drams and been subsequently underwhelmed (the perennial downside of acquiring a taste for finer things). One such whisky that remains a favourite, however, is Glenmorangie (the "morange" should rhyme with "orange", apparently).

The basic 10-year-old, "original" expression describes itself as "elegant and floral", which it is; a prime candidate for a summer malt. It goes on with "flavours of honeyed sweetness fused with notes of citrus, vanilla and almonds, making it delicate, alluring and very complex". I'm not sure about "complex" (what's wrong with simple goodness anyway?) but the rest is enough. I will caution: I haven't tried drinking this Highland malt alongside some of my recently acquired, spendier whiskies - but I don't plan to. Sip it by itself, as the sun goes down, and think of Scotland.

Purl

2010-09-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

50/54 Blandford Street
Marylebone
London
W1U 7HZ

Purl, a newish bar in west London, is a subterranean speakeasy that makes fancy drinks like you wouldn't believe. Plunging into its cavernous innards reveals a warren of cosy roomlets and alcoves that surely represent the best bits of the dark side. The cocktails here are truly works of art. Pictured above is a Mr Hyde's Fixer Upper, a "devilish elixir of Ron Zacapa 23 [rum], Cola reduction and orange bitters, served in a smoke injected, wax sealed potion bottle". Once the dry ice has subsided a little and you pull out the bottle, it looks like this:

The taste was as luxurious as you would expect: a ridiculous menage of liquid-silk rum, caramel-sweetness and a hint of citrus, all lightly smoked, like an antique leather armchair.
M opted for Champagne & Caviar, which was "Tiny balls of homemade mango and pine caviar, bouncing around a glass of Veuve Clicquot Brut with orange and mandarin bubbles".

This was a playful drink, with the caviar (made of I-don't-know-what - presumably some kind of gum and fruit) providing bursts of mango in the mouth, and a smudge of gel smeared on the base of the glass giving the champagne a citrus twist.

These drinks were as expensive as they were phenomenal (£10 each - the most I've ever paid for a cocktail), but I'd sooner have one drink at Purl than two at plenty of other bars I've had the misfortune to enter. One small quibble: handed a tiny printed paper menu on arrival, I was told its illegibility (due to booze-based smudging and running of ink) was intentional, part of the character of the place. I refuse to believe this. Management should invest in some proper drinks lists.

Next time - and I dearly hope there will be one - I plan to try The Street Urchin: "Four Roses Yellow Label, pear puree, citrus, cardamom bitters, bottled and bagged with a Doom Bar spritz."

Sherry

2010-08-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

Camino
Kings Cross
London

Sherry has such a poor reputation that until recently I presumed I hated the stuff despite never having actually tried it. A visit to Spanish bar Camino, with its extensive bar facilities, provided a chance to dispel my prejudices. My first false assumption was that Sherry (or "vino de Jerez", made from white grapes near the Spanish town of the same name) was sickly sweet. Not true. Sure, this fortified wine certainly has a richness to it, but it's not desserty. The dryness ensures it's still more appropriate as a pre-dinner bud-tingler than a postprandial ponderer. From Camino's selection of Sherries (Jerezes?) three of us shared glasses of the following three:

Amontillado, Vina AB, Gonzalez Byass
Nine years old.
Appearance: Golden.
Aroma: Chocolate, raisin, almond.
Taste: Not sweet, almond, vanilla finish.

Oloroso Antique, Fernando de Castilla
Twenty years old.
Appearance: Burnt red.
Aroma: Maraschino cherries, chocolate, caramel, amaretti biscuits, Christmas cake.
Taste: Slightly sweeter than Amontillado; prunes and dates, dried fruits, still dry, richer, long, smooth finish.

Palo Cortado, Fernando de Castilla
Described on menu as "rare and very fine".
Appearance: Darker.
Aroma: Sweet, rich toffee.
Taste: Burnt orange, citrussy, slightly more bitter than Oloroso, still dry.

My favourite was the Amontillado, in part because it reminded me of certain whiskies that finish off their maturation in Amontillado casks, imparting a (surprise!) sherry richness to the malt. For similar reasons, I'm still keen to try Pedro Ximénez, a dessert sherry that has also proven a great friend to whiskies over the years. When I find one, reader, you will hear about it.

Kanaloa

2010-08-29T00:49:00.000-07:00

18 Lime Office Court
Hill House
Shoe Lane

London EC4A 3BQ

Taking some days off work recently, but staying in London, I decided to check out a few cocktail bars I've been meaning to visit. The first was a tiki bar (think rum, tropical fruit and kitsch wood carvings, right) located slightly incongruously on the edge of the City. Kanaloa, I must insist, offers one of the best happy hour(s) deals I have ever stumbled upon: half price drinks from 4pm to 9pm every week night, taking the average price of a cocktail down to £4 or £5. Accepted, you're not going to find much of a party at half four on a Tuesday evening, but who really cares? The drink's the thing.

Coconut Cannonball (pictured top)
Filled with Ocho Blanco tequila, coconut water, orange bitters, lime & ginger cordial, and Cholula hot sauce (£3.75 in happy hour!), this was cool but hot - one I'll be trying at home, just as soon as I locate a reliable coconut water supplier. And some indoor fireworks.

Zombie and Burning Spear

Luan Lorelei
Bacardi 8, Thai-style mango lassi, pineapple sorbet, honey cream, passionfruit and lime. This one came blended, frozen, like a thick, fruit-packed booze smoothie.

Zombie

Over nine different rums, splash of absinthe, spiced liqueurs, maraschino cherry liqueur, pomegranate, passion and grapefruits. "Two of these and you'll be looking [walking and talking] like the undead", claimed the menu. The waited explained that the ceramic gargoyle contained some 75ml of liquor, in turn explaining the higher price (£13 or £6.50 in happy hour). Tasty, but my world was left unrocked.

Burning Spear
Appleton V/X, pimientos, thyme and scotch bonnet syrup shaken with fresh lime juice and served with a burning spear of thyme. Delicious: hot spice, citrus and golden rum working together wonderfully - with the thyme adding a light herbal smokiness.

Nui Nui-Ni (below left)
Cigar-infused Havana Club, Madagascan vanilla, pimiento and cinnamon rolled with Carpano Anitica Formula. Staying with the smoke theme, this one was served in a tumbler with the biggest ice cube I've ever seen. Only slightly sweet, rich, smoky, sultry: a really good cocktail.

Pina Colada (below right)
Eldorado 3yo rum blended with Goslings Black Seal, Koko Kanu, fresh lime and pineapple. Presented in a hollowed-out fresh pineapple, it was lovely and creamy. This bar is awesome.

The Wine Society

2010-08-28T02:09:00.000-07:00

Wine clubs failed to interest me for a long time. If I can't work out what I want after browsing the supermarket aisles for 20 minutes, how on earth am I supposed to conjure an order of 12 from an internet list? Then I was bought membership to The Wine Society ("the world's oldest wine club") for my birthday. The Society is a co-operative, and as a member I am apparently a shareholder too. The £40 joining fee not only lasts for life, but after life, since the membership may be transferred to a surviving family member.

Most of the trade is presumably done by internet or mail order, but for those so inclined the warehouse (or "cellar showroom") is in Stevenage, and open to members to visit. We made the trip for a "bin-end" sale but were disappointed - not enough ends on offer, frankly. From now on, I'm sticking to the website.

The deal is a good one: 800 wines on offer at any one time, with new offerings being made available as and when. The prices are decent - equivalent to Majestic, except with the Society you don't have to buy two of the same bottles to secure the 'discount'. Delivery is free when you order £75 of product, or 12 bottles. The Society also sources some wines directly from wineries, and badges them as their own Society expressions at reasonable prices. For a little more, you can try their "exhibition" series.

My favourite find so far is the Society's basic Rioja Crianza (2006), which at £6.95 is the best budget(ish) bottle I've discovered for a long while. It's produced for the Society by Bodegas Palacio, which ironically we tried to visit on a trip to Rioja last year, only to find that no-one was turning up to open the winery that day. I was primed to dislike it, then, but was prevented by its sheer quaffability (think leather, vanilla and tobacco on the nose, with blackcurrant and cherries on the palate, perhaps a little chocolate, refined by that lovely dry-oaky thing that Riojas do).

I plan to use the Society's wine list to sample some of the many different styles and regions that I've hitherto failed to try properly, in an attempt to elevate my wine knowledge from mediocre to patchy. We'll see how that goes.

Margarita

2010-08-27T02:21:00.000-07:00

Learning how to make a Margarita is as easy as 1, 2, 3. One part lime, two parts orange liqueur and three parts tequila - shaken with ice and served straight up in a fancy glass or on the rocks in a tumbler - with or without a rim of coarse-grained salt.

Those are the basic variations. Some prefer different proportions (more tequila, say, or more lime juice), some add simple syrup, some replace the orange liqueur with fresh orange juice; others throw the whole lot in a blender for a frozen drink. But never mind about anyone else: here's my personal favourite, at least for now:

Margarita

15ml (0.5oz) fresh lime juice.

30ml (1oz) Cointreau

45ml (1.5oz) tequila

Throw the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into a tumbler with fresh ice.

When it comes to the tequila, look for something made from 100% agave (which rules out that Jose Cuervo mixto nonsense you find in most British bars). A silver/blanco tequila might taste more refreshing, if that's what you're after on a sunny day, while a reposado will provide a richer flavour. I'm ambivalent about salt: as long as it doesn't run down the inside of the glass it can make a nice addition, but generally I don't bother. As for the glass, I used to like those fiddly martini vessels (pictured top) without ice. Recently I've preferred a tumbler with rocks.

Another dilemma (not all dilemmas are bad, see) is what to pick for the orange element. I tried a little taste test, constructing three margaritas with standard triple sec, Cointreau and brandy-based Grand Marnier (read more about the liqueurs here).

* With the triple sec, the margarita was thin, but the tequila came through. This was the tartest of the three, and might make for a good aperitif.

* Cointreau produced my favourite of the trio: very orangey, with a strong orange aroma, slightly sweeter than the first, and well-balanced with the tequila.

* Grand Marnier stepped up the orange even further. This was more of an orange drink than a tequila/lime one. It tasted altogether different than the others - heavy, thick, sweet: orange brandy with a tequila kick - better as a digestif.

Whatever you choose, choose a Margarita. Did I mention how amazing this drink can be? One of the best.

Great British Beer Festival 2010

2010-08-26T02:30:00.000-07:00

Just like Glastonbury, the Great British Beer Festival is one of those great British occasions I'd always meant to experience but had never got around to. Unlike the lure of mud and repetitive beats, however, the pull of real ale* is still as strong as ever, and I swiftly recruited a couple of ale-keen accomplices to join me on my mission. Before we went, I checked out a neat feature on the Festival's website that showed the best rated beers on offer, and printed off a list of targets. Perhaps recklessly, we'd chosen to ignore the standard advice about avoiding the fifth and final day of the festival - and went on the Saturday anyway. This meant a good many of the ales and ciders, particularly the international ones, were all gone. Interestingly, a separate concern - that Saturday would be overcrowded - was off the mark. Perhaps most of the serious beerheads had got their fill by then. Or maybe the hype about the crowds kept the crowds away. In any case, we waited no more than a minute for a beer all afternoon.

As we entered the giant hall in Earls Court, the sheer scale of things took me by surprise: the GBBF is truly a big deal. Tons of bars and food outlets stretched out before us, with scores of beer pumps and hundreds (thousands?) of good natured drinkers. Below are some of the beers we tried - some recommended, others random punts - with an exclamation [!] marking my favourites.

O'Hanlon's Yellow Hammer (4.2% abv)
Pleasant, easy, not bitter, fruity.

O'Hanlon's Port Stout (4.8%)
Roasted coffee, smoky.

Thornbridge Hopton (4.3%) [!]
English pale ale.Slightly sweet, mild, biscuity, malty.

Fuller's Brewer's Reserve Oak Aged Ale (8.2%) [!]

This one (finished in Cognac casks!) we queued up for - only one cask released each day - and our one-third pints (the maximum each person was allowed) offered a curious diversion from the more conventional ales.

Aroma: Cognac, fruity, raisins.

Taste: Smooth, syrupy, thick, brandy richness, not too sweet: luxury.

Castle Rock Harvest Pale (3.8%) [!]
Winner of the GBBF's champion beer of Britain award. Hailing from Nottingham, one of the most chuggable we found.
Blonde, honey, hops with sweetness, refreshing, delicate.

Thornbridge Craven Silk (4%)
Hoppy, golden, sharp, elderflower bitter.

Emelisse Imperial Russian Stout Bowmore (11%)
Dark, sweet.

Gregg's Pit Thorn SV

The only perry we tried, from Herefordshire.

Sharp, thin, light.

Harveys Olympia (4.3%)

Citrussy, whiteish, like Hoegaarden.

Liberation Ale (4%)

Smooth, chuggable.

Rosie's Rampant Ram Blend [!]

A cider from Denbighshire
Wonderful, thick, tiny carbonation, brandy essence, appley, sweet, desserty.

* REAL ALE (as defined by the Campaign for Real Ale) is top fermented beer that, following fermentation, is put into a cask with yeast and some residual fermentable sugars from the malted barley. The beer undergoes a slow secondary fermentation in the cask to produce a gentle carbonation. By contrast, keg beer, or "brewery conditioned beer" is chilled, filtered and pasteurised following primary fermentation. It's then put into kegs and served with added gas - usually a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen - which results in harsher carbonation and, sometimes, compromised flavours.

WS#5: Summer Whiskies

2010-08-25T02:56:00.000-07:00

For August's Whisky Squad, we wanted to focus on summer favourites - malts for lighter evenings. To help things along we were privileged to be joined by Colin Dunn, from Diageo (pictured above with the Squad), who led the session with tons of whisky knowledge and bags of pizzazz. The six whiskies we tasted (two more than usual) were specially selected by Colin as examples of bottles he liked to pull off the shelf on summer evenings. The drinking was interspersed with enlightening anecdotes, practical wisdom, and life-affirming quotations from Hunter S Thompson.

Dimple 1890

40%. A rare edition of an old blend, including some Glenkinchie and Linkwood.

Nose: Oak, honey.

Taste: Sweet vanilla, spicy with a long finish.

Port Dundas, Duncan Taylor bottling
59.3%. Single grain whisky from the recently closed Glasgow distillery. 32-year-old (distilled Jan 1973, bottled Feb 2005). Single barrel, sherry cask.

Nose: Sweet, bourbon, sherry, milk chocolate, maple syrup, glue.
Taste: Chewy cola bottles (the ones dipped in sugar), a little tart. Rich and bourbon-like. Pairs well with Crunchie bar.

Johnnie Walker Double Black
40%. A new blend - released only three months ago - but not yet available in the UK. Contains more Islay whisky (Lagavulin, Caol Ila) than the standard expression. Matured in deep-charred old oak casks.

Nose: Peanut butter, slight smoke.

Taste: Smooth, slightly peaty.

Rosebank
62.3%. From the Lowland distillery closed in 1983, and since replaced by a block of flats and a Beefeater restaurant. 20-year-old, distilled in 1981.
Nose: Honey, lemony, perfumed, floral.
Taste: Pepper, nuttiness.

Dalwhinnie Distillers Edition

Dalwhinnie, which means "meeting place" in Gaelic, is the highest distillery in Scotland. The standard 15-year-old was the first single malt I ever tried, some years ago. This one, at 43%, and 17 years old, having spent an additional couple of years in Oloroso sherry casks.

Nose: Fudge.

Tatse: Oily, spicy raisin, sweet.

Glenkinchie Distillers Edition

43%. 15-year-old, with time spent in Amontillado sherry casks.

Nose: Honey, coconut, vanilla.

Taste: Nutty, sherry-style, Ferrero Rocher.

Those were the whiskies, in brief. For a fuller explanation, head over to the increasingly learn-ed Billy's Booze Blog, where all will become clearer. Among many whisky insights shared by Colin over the course of the evening, the most exciting revelation, for me, was that it's ok to drink whisky with ice and water. Having been told persistently in the past that ice dulls the flavours and water dilutes the essence, I was persuaded to try a couple of the above drams with both, and was pleasantly surprised by the effects. Yes, of course some of the intensity was lost, but what was gained was a cooler, longer and more refreshing drink; more aromatic and still unmistakably whisky. Apparently that's how the Japanese like it and, in summer, why not?

Not all Colin's suggestions worked for me. Holding a swig of whisky in my mouth for 10, 15, even 20 seconds, in an attempt to maximise the flavour, seemed to me the equivalent of injecting heroin into one's eyeball. But others seemed to take to it.

We weren't sure what to expect when we chose summer whiskies as our theme, but I'm glad we did, and I predict future sessions - once we've gone through the main whisky-producing regions, at least - may try to recapture such off-piste unorthodoxy. Special and extended thanks to Colin Dunn, whose legend lives on.

Colin whisky fact: In 2000, 98% of whisky went into blends. In 2010, the proportion is now down to 92% - and shrinking - as single malts march onwards.

Triple Secs

2010-08-23T06:16:00.000-07:00

Plenty of cocktails call for orange liqueur of various manifestations. It would seem that triple sec is a generic term for a dry, colourless, orange-based liqueur, Curaçao describes sweeter liqueurs distilled from the peel of Caribbean Curaçao oranges in particular, and Cointreau and Grand Marnier are specific brands of orangey booze, which depending on the authority consulted either fall into one of the two previous categories or demand their own. It's enough to drive one to orange-flavoured drink (tasting notes below).

Iseo Triple Sec
An Italian triple sec, weighing in at just 15% abv.

Appearance: Clear.
Nose: Orange peel, lemony citrus, soap, astringent.
Taste: Slightly sweet, dryness, violet, floral, orange flower water.
Verdict: Cheap and uncheerful.

Cointreau
40% abv. Produced in Angers, France, from European and South American bitter oranges.
Appearance: Clear.
Nose: Richer, orange, sweeter, zingy.
Taste: Sweet, boozy, orange liqueur.
Verdict: A whole different class to the bog-standard triple sec, but still too sweet by itself.

Grand Marnier
40% abv. Also French, made from a blend of cognacs, pairs well with crêpes.
Appearance: Golden/orange.
Nose: Sweet and rich, brandy, honey.
Taste: Sweet, burnt orange, caramelised, rich, long finish.
Verdict: The grandaddy of orange liqueurs.

If I had to drink any of them straight, with ice, I'd go for Grand Marnier. But that would be missing the point of orange liqueurs, which is to assist in the production of a certain tequila cocktail. More here...

Stouts

2010-08-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

I'd been wanting to do a stout tasting for some time, because I like stout. Eventually, after weeks of discussion and laying of ground rules (tastings would be blind, porters disallowed) Tim and I picked a few each and assembled for a session on the dark stuff. It was a multinational affair, with England, Ireland and America represented. (I was happily surprised by the number of US stouts out there, given that I've rarely seen any for sale in American bars - maybe I just need to look harder.) The ones reviewed here were all bottled, and some were "bottle conditioned" (still alive, and engaged in secondary fermentation) for extra... something.

We kicked things off with a couple of bottles I picked up from a great little ale shop in Norfolk earlier this summer.

Fox Brewery: Cerberus
4.5% ABV. Bottle conditioned.
Nose: Liquorice, sweet/salt.
Taste: Liquorice, sweet/savory. Flat, faded, little finish.

Wagtail Brewery: Black Shuck
4.5%. Bottle conditioned, suitable for vegans.
Nose: Slight coffee.
Taste: More depth, bitter, wood smoke, coffee.

Next up, a couple of Yank beers, followed by a stout from one of my favourite Sussex breweries.

Left Hand Brewing Co: Milk Stout
5.2%. The Colorado brewery makes this beer with "milk sugar".
Nose: Nothing!
Taste: Cloyingly sweet, thick, oily, fizzy, roasted, like a brownie.

Sierra Nevada: Stout
5.8%. From California.
Nose: Sharp, fresh.
Taste: Lemon, chocolate sweetness, longer and richer finish, with bite. Same style as Harviestoun's Old Engine Oil.

Dark Star: Espresso Rich Coffee Beer.
4.2%. With added ground Arabica coffee beans.
Nose: Vegetal, nettles, chocolate.

Taste: Dark chocolate-covered coffee beans. Nice taste but hard work.

Shifting our sights to Ireland, we snubbed the conventional Guinness, that consistently tasty session stout, and opted for a more exotic variety.

Guinness: Foreign Extra
7.5%. Brewed with extra hops, apparently, and blended with a small amount of intentionally soured beer.

Nose: Sweet.
Taste: Very bitter coffee, long finish, difficult.

With the 'lighter' stouts out the way, it was time to move on to the really heavy beers.

Harveys: Imperial Extra Double Stout
9%. I love Harveys Sussex Best. Hard to believe this clenched fist of-a-stout hails from the same brewery.
Nose: Whisky, cider apple orchard.
Taste: Thick treacle, rich,
creamy, intense, sharp.

Brooklyn Brewery: Black Chocolate Stout
10%. Strong, but disturbingly not as strong as others I can think of. Said to "age beautifully for years", it's only brewed for the winter season.

Nose: Rich, chocolate.
Taste: Cereal, malty, rich, bitter. May have enjoyed more if it wasn't my eighth stout of the evening.

By the end of the session, I have to admit I was stouted, and couldn't touch the stuff for a couple of weeks afterwards. Looking back, I'm not sure whether stout makes for a particularly wise tasting session. It's hard work. Still, we learnt a fair bit, and we even agreed on our top choice of the evening: the Sierra Nevada, which was all the things a good stout should be: powerful, bittersweet with rich roasted malts, and packed with character. Special mentions also to Wagtail's Black Shuck and Brooklyn's Black Chocolate. Black is the new black.

Sweet Tea

2010-08-08T01:24:00.000-07:00

Sweet tea is a favourite of the American South, and this ice cold pint (above) did things I can't even describe. A truly great drink.

Sweet Tea

3 tea bags

1 litre of water

Simple syrup

Put 3 tea bags in 1 litre of water (or thereabouts) and leave it in the fridge overnight to brew cold. To serve, pour tea over ice and add simple syrup to taste.

Says M: "Lemons, limes, and fruit juices are all nice additions if you want to jazz it up, but I like sweet tea in its most basic form."

I like to keep a bottle of pre-made simple syrup in the fridge (one part sugar, one part water, add boiling water to sugar and stir until dissolved). Helpfully, once the jug's empty you can refill it with water, using the same teabags. Just make sure it has long enough to steep. Tastes better when the sun's shining.

Blue Nimbus

2010-08-06T05:37:00.000-07:00

I've decided to consolidate my drinks cupboard. Out will go all the idiosyncratic bottles whose reasons for purchase were never clear enough, freeing up more space for the good stuff (whisky, gin, bourbon, wine, beer, maybe tequila). As part of this process, I've started looking for ways of using up the stranger stuff, and into this category firmly falls Smirnoff Nordic Berries vodka. There ain't nothing wrong with it - it's smooth, certainly, and served over ice can provide an interesting blue-flavoured twist to the ordinary spirit. But it's appeal is nevertheless limited, so it has to go. For a party of seven, I came up with a cocktail using the Smirnoff and a couple of other bits I had lying around. Note that the mixture can be prepared in advance, before being topped off with soda water for drinking on demand. The recipe is for a single serving.

Pre-prepared mixture

Blue Nimbus

60ml (2oz) Smirnoff Nordic Berries vodka

22.5ml (0.75oz) creme de mure (blackberry liqueur)

22.5ml (0.75oz) lime juice

1 tbls apple and blueberry puree
Soda water

Add the vodka, creme de mure, lime juice and puree into a cocktail shaker with a couple of ice cubes and shake to mix thoroughly. Pour into a highball glass. When ready to serve, drop in a few ice cubes and stir again before topping off with chilled soda water.

I can't say I was familiar with the concept of Nordic berries, but a quick search turned up cloudberries, hence the Nimbus in this drink's name. Never mind that said berries are actually yellow. The cocktail was fruity and refreshing, with the puree and creme de mure adding structure. The Nordic berry flavour was much diluted, but the overall impression of blue fruit was unmistakable.

Talisker Oyster

2010-08-04T02:47:00.000-07:00

The Whitstable Oyster Festival was occurring, and so to Whitstable we went. Deliciously fresh oysters -50p each, £6 for a dozen - plucked from the seas, shucked right in front of us and served on a bed of ice with a wedge of lemon. Standing outside, with a fine view of the harbour, I realised it was time to pull out my magic ingredient - a phial of Talisker 10-year-old. I know - odd idea - but it came strongly recommended from a guy who knows about these things. Drizzling a few drops of whisky onto an oyster, before knocking the whole lot back, added a strangely tasty peatiness. The alcohol was barely noticeable, but the flavour penetrated. I tried it once with the whisky and a few drops of lemon juice, which also worked out quite nicely too. Next year I'm heading back with a few more samples.

Kamehameha Rum Punch

2010-08-03T01:28:00.000-07:00

The K-Rum Punch, hailing from Hawaii circa 1960, was taken from drinks blog A Mountain of Crushed Ice, and one would do well to prepare at least a hillock of said ice to make a batch of four. I don't usually bother with fiddly drinks like this, but it was a hot Friday evening, and my friend J had been kind enough to bring us a bottle of rum to play with. And so...

Kamehameha Rum Punch

30ml (1oz) light rum

60ml (2oz) unsweetened pineapple juice

15ml (0.5oz) lemon juice

1tsp blackberry brandy

1tsp grenadine

1tsp sugar syrup

30ml (1oz) dark rum

Shake everything but the dark rum with ice and strain into a tall glass filled with crushed ice. Float dark rum on top and garnish with a pineapple chunk speared to a cherry.

This was great. I don't tend to go nuts for fruity drinks, but this one went down just right. The rum float was a funny thing: I had only golden rum, rather than properly dark stuff, so perhaps that explained why it wasn't floating as well as it might have. But it definitely gave the cocktail a nicely layered look (see right) and the crushed ice kept things very cold all the way down. Next time I'm going to procure some cocktail umbrellas and the like.

Ale Almanac

2010-07-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

Schiehallion (Cask, 4.8% abv)
This obscenely quaffable ale-style lager, named after a Scottish mountain pronounced "she-hal-i-on", has become a summer mainstay at The Gunmakers in Clerkenwell. Described by brewer Harviestoun as a "cask-conditioned lager beer", it's made with lager malt and lager hops, but is treated in every other way - and tastes like - an ale, with no carbonation. The appearance is golden-orange (pictured top), the aroma, fresh hops, and the mouthfeel creamy. On a previous tasting I claimed it was so pleasant I could happily drink nine pints of the stuff (maybe next summer). Warning: I can't vouch for the bottled version.

Elderado (Cask, 3.5%)
A pleasant offering from Bowman, the Hampshire brewery. Made, apparently, with real elderflowers, the taste hinted at its ingredient without overdoing it. Refreshing.

Lakeland Blonde (Bottle, 4.2%)
Another example of a lagery ale, or an aley lager, Lakeland Blonde is produced in Cockermouth by the Bitter End Brewing Co, who describe their produce as "beer without compromise". Brewed with lager barley and "pure Cumbrian water" (is there any other kind?), this golden beer was smooth but flavourful and moreish, with a long, sweetish honey finish. The 500ml bottle provided quite a chunky serving, and a decent amount of bubbles. As I say, it struck me as one of those ale/lager hybrids, like the Schiehallion, or Fuller's Honeydew, taking the best of both genres. As Bitter End notes, helpfully, Lakeland is "not to be confused with bland tasteless mass produced beers". Also available casked.

Oak (Cask, 3.8%)
From the Grain Brewery, in Norfolk, comes a series of interesting beers. Of the near-dozen available, I found the Oak on tap at a pub, and it was indeed the "well-balanced session beer" promised. Awarded 1st place Bitter in the 2008 CAMRA Norwich Beer Festival - and you can't say that about every beer.

Lord Marples (Cask, 4.0%)
Thornbridge is one of those brewers in which ale fans are meant to be well-versed. I confess, I'd never tried one before this half of Lord Marples, their "classic British bitter". I ordered it on my first visit to the Cask Pub and Kitchen, in London's Pimlico, which instantly vaulted into my top ten list of favourite pubs (check out the 30-page beer menu!). As for the Marples, I decided I wanted something a tad homely after a glass of BrewDog's dry & bitter Physics, and the Marples's "light toffee and caramel characteristics" were just the antidote. I will be back for more from this Derbyshire brewer.

Paradox Isle of Arran (Cask, 10%)
While we're on BrewDog, a quick note about its Paradox series (which involves adding its Imperial Stout to various ex-whisky barrels for a time). Having enjoyed the Smokehead and the Springbank, I'd been keen to complete the set by tasting the Isle of Arran expression too. Fortunately (obviously?), the Cask pub had it on tap. It was excellent, almost preferable to the Smokehead, with the Arran's vanilla-sweetness providing a delicious counterweight to the usual bitter-black viscosity.

Coffee Frappé

2010-07-28T04:06:00.000-07:00

Wells Deli

15 The Quay

Wells-next-the-Sea

Norfolk NR23 1AH

Ice, coffee, milk - blended. Coffee frappés are just the thing on a hot day. This one, £2.30 from Wells Deli, came with almond syrup (just a dash or two, mind - I prefer the flavour rather than the sweetness). Creamy and cold, and light, it was down quickly and woke me up gently. If only someone could invent a self-cleaning blender I'd have one for breakfast every day.

Ola Dubh

2010-07-27T01:45:00.000-07:00

Ola Dubh (pronounced oh-la doo) means "black oil", in Gaelic, and the beer - a collaboration between Harviestoun brewery and Highland Park whisky distillery - does a pretty good impression of the stuff. The beer takes something similar to Harviestoun's Old Engine Oil, which I once described as a "tar-black, stout-like beer", and allows it to spend some quality time in ex-Highland Park whisky barrels. The effect - remarkable and life-enhancing - is similar to that produced by BrewDog's Paradoxes (see here and here). This particular expression was Ola Dubh 12, which means the casks previously contained HP 12-year-old, and not (I hope) that the beer was matured for more than a decade. The other variants of OD are the 16 and 30 (watch spaces). But back to the 12, which was 8% abv, viscous-rich and dark/oily/smoky/bitter, perfectly balanced by flavours of sweet treacle and chocolate, and concluding with a gloriously whiskyish finish. Here, more than usual, one bottle was plenty. Joyfully, cheese experts have recommended pairing Ola Dubh with one of my favourite fromages, Comté; an aged French gruyere. Colston Basset stilton is also mentioned as a potential suitor, and just the thought of combining beer, whisky and cheese in one sitting is enough to leave me quite dribbly.

WKD Blue

2010-07-26T04:17:00.000-07:00

I realise, by featuring WKD Blue, I risk destroying my already fragile reputation as a drinker of good taste, but credibility - unlike, for example, WKD Blue - is overrated. A sweet, vodka-based blueberry-flavoured alcopop (4% abv), it is not, in the true meaning of the phrase, a Good Drink. But when I bought a bottle towards the end of a marathon post-wedding pub session, to celebrate a spiritual union of love, people began passing it around, tasting it and giggling, as if it were something from outer space. It's not from outer space - it's made in Torquay - but it was appreciated all the same.

Islay Ales

2010-07-24T00:46:00.000-07:00

On the ferry to Islay we were tempted to try some of the local brew, and shared a triumvirate of bottles from Islay Ales. By the end of our weekend on the island, we'd worked our way through a couple more, yielding the following notes...

Finlaggan (3.7% vol): A gentle, hoppy beer.

Light, thin, clean, no aftertaste, inoffensive, berries, cinnamon, fruity, watery hops. Easy drinking ale with a citrus zing up front that quickly fades to nothing, a bit like the sun in the west of Scotland.

Dun Hogs Head (4.4%): Dark, dry stout.

Blackcurrant on the nose. Medium bodied. Slight taste of lemon, coffee and liquorice, with wood smoke in the finish, like a burning fruit bush.

Black Rock (4.2%): With unmalted roasted barley.

Like dropping a Werther's Original into a glass of water. Toffee, but not enough of it. A little Islay smoke in the finish? Banana, rich hops with more carbonation than the Finlaggan.

Nerabus (4.8%): Described as a winter warmer.

Malty, chocolatey ale, with chocolate malt!

Single Malt (5.0%): We assumed this involved whisky casks but we were wrong. The single malt in question was simply the single variety of malt (Pale) used to brew the beer. Cheeky.

Lighter, sweeter, hoppier.

It must be hard, sometimes, being the only brewery on an island of eight whisky distilleries. But Islay Ales are doing it anyway. My favourite of the crop was the Dun Hogs Head, illustrating my growing preference for stouts and porters. Some of the others were less exciting, but overall the beer was a bonus addition to an already remarkable island.

Vodka Watermelon

2010-07-23T02:13:00.000-07:00

A vodka watermelon sounds like something you'd find at a frat party, which is partly why I wanted to bring one to a friend's barbecue. Because frat parties are fun, right? Here's how it's done...

Vodka Watermelon

Take a large watermelon, use a knife to cut a hole in the side and scoop out some of the innards. Stick an open bottle of half-full vodka into the hole and leave for a few hours until the booze has drained into the fruit. Remove the empty bottle, cover the hole in cling film and place the watermelon in the fridge for at least 24 hours to allow the vodka to soak in. Remove from fridge and cut into slices. Eat warily.

The result, pictured top, was interesting. Luckily it was a scorcher of an afternoon, so cold fruit was in demand. The end of the watermelon, which we got to first, tasted only faintly of vodka, with the alcohol increasingly making its presence felt the further we got to the centre of the fruit. Perhaps leaving it a little longer before eating may have allowed the vodka to osmose more effectively. Nevertheless, a fine party trick, if not a greatest hit.

La Perla (Again)

2010-07-22T03:29:00.000-07:00

11 Charlotte Street
London
W1T 1RQ

Having already enjoyed La Perla in Covent Garden (best happy hour ever) it was only a matter of time and tequila cravings before I sampled their sister bar in Charlotte Street.

Visiting late at night on a quiet Monday - when the staff in the basement bar had nothing better to do than give us their undistracted attention - we got through three delightful drinks.

First up, in an attempt to convert a previously sceptical friend to the joys of proper tequila, I ordered a round of Don Julio Reposado, which I recalled from a trip to Texas as offering a lovely, and unexpected, milk chocolatey flavour.

Afterwards, feeling a little more adventurous, I decided to give mezcal another shot. The rather harsh record of my first taste of this non-tequila agave-based beverage, from the Lajita distillery, read: "Unrefined, with strong smoke followed by a petrol-flavoured finish and a hint of soap".

This time, the barman was kind enough to let me try a couple before buying a round, and I settled on a substance called Ultramarine mezcal (right), which was altogether more satisfying to sip: agave and smoke, without the dirt.

To finish, we switched to an older tequila, the Centenario Anejo, 100% agave (of course), and aged in oak for over 12 months (pictured top). Sadly, my tasting notes did not survive the experience, but I vaguely recall a successful marriage of vanilla-wood and smooth agave spirit.

Porch Swing

2010-07-21T06:50:00.000-07:00

M spotted the recipe for this great summer cocktail from the Smitten Kitchen blog. It's a great twist on the usual Pimm's and lemonade, and the cucumber is exceptional.

Porch Swing

45ml (1.5oz) Hendrick's Gin

45ml (1.5oz) Pimm’s No. 1

120ml (4oz) homemade lemonade*

7-Up or bottled lemonade

10 paper-thin half moon slices of cucumber

Pour gin, Pimm’s and lemonade into tall glass. Add a few ice cubes and a splash of 7-Up. Finish with cucumber slices.

*Homemade Lemonade:

1 part freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 part simple syrup**

2 parts water

**Simple syrup:

1 part sugar

1 part water

Add boiling water to sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Chai Latte

2010-07-20T03:46:00.000-07:00

coffee@33

33 Trafalgar Street

Brighton

East Sussex

BN1 4ED

I like to keep a box of chai teabags around, for a gentle cuppa of sweet spice in the mornings, as an apperitif to a mug of strong coffee. The paper cup pictured above, from Brighton's hip caffeine hangout coffee@33, was an altogether more pungent version. Chai (or 'masala chai' to use its proper name - chai being the generic Indian word for tea) is said to contain any combination of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, star anise, peppercorn and cloves, blended with black tea. I can't say for sure what combination of spices coffee@33 used for its secret chai syrup, but even after the addition of hot milk to latte things up it packed a spicy punch and no mistake. M claimed it was making her throat itch, but for me this milky concoction was chai untethered; a force of nature. I hear they make good coffee too.

Bruichladdich Octomore Orpheus

2010-07-19T02:20:00.000-07:00

Lochside Hotel

Shore Street

Bowmore

Islay

Phenols are not something to which I'd given much thought before I started getting into whisky. Measured in parts per million (ppm), they describe the peatiness of a spirit, or the length of time the malt used to make the whisky is smoked over a peat fire. Octomore, produced by independent Islay distillery Bruichladdich (pronounced Brook-laddie), claims to be the most heavily peated whisky in the world, at a whopping 140 ppm. To illustrate how peaty this is, ponder that the standard Ardbeg 10, which is generally considered to be peatier than peat itself, clocks in at a comparatively benign 50 ppm.

On Islay, in between distillery visits, there was plenty of time to check out a few of the island's incredible whisky bars, and it was in one of these (Bowmore's Lochside Hotel) that we came across the Octomore Orpheus (edition 02.2, five-year old, 61% vol) - which takes the conventional Octomore and finishes it in red wine casks from Chateau Petrus, Bordeaux. We ordered a dram from the bar, between the three of us (for £11!), and braced ourselves for a peat explosion. It was certainly peaty, but while we were expecting to be physically assaulted by phenols, we were not. Maybe the wine finish took the edge off, but this left us feeling rather underwhelmed, and poorer with it.

UPDATE: I belatedly found our tribe's tasting notes for the Orpheus, which read as follows...
Nose: Forest fire with burnt tyres, honey roast ham.
Taste: Salt, chorizo and honey, with a very long finish.

Raw Milk

2010-07-15T04:37:00.000-07:00

FoodLovers Market
Rupert Street/Winnett Street
Soho
London

*Guest post by Marina*

I've been wanting to try raw milk ever since reading about the controversy over it in the US. Luckily, A and I went to check out a new food market in Soho and there was a stand from Hook & Son serving up half pints of raw milk to try for a quid. I seized the opportunity and received a plastic cup of milk that was much whiter and opaque than the milk I get from the supermarket. To be fair, I usually drink skim milk, which is quite watery when compared to full fat milk, but not only did the raw milk taste creamier, it was also tasted milkier, if that makes any sense. They also had raw milk cream and butter at the stand - I might have to try making my own butter out of their cream some time - I bet it would taste incredible. If you like milk, you should try this stuff - it's concentrated milk goodness.

Burrow Hill Cider

2010-07-14T02:01:00.000-07:00

Pass Vale Farm
Burrow Hill
Kingsbury Episcopi
Somerset TA12 6BU

Burrow Farm Pressed Somerset Cider is the real deal, which is why it's sold in what look like petrol canisters, straight from the barrel. We picked up this blend of "at least" 11 varieties of vintage cider apples from the farm itself, on a trip to the Westcountry. As we were browsing in the farm shop two cars pulled up, separately, their owners walking in with multiple empties demanding refills "for the weekend".

As for the contents, this 6% cider (we went for the medium one) was slightly cloudy, as you'd expect from proper ciders, with a golden hue. The aroma was fresh apple and farmyard spice and it tasted of ripe apples, with the faintest spritz; dry, but balanced.
The farm, in a place called Kinsbury Episcopi, is also responsible for producing an interesting range of cider brandies (on which more soon), as well as The Somerset Pomona, a delicious blend of cider brandy and apple juice. They is good apples.

WS#4: Islay

2010-07-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

Islay whisky is filthy (in the peated sense, you understand). It's hard to believe a pile of mud and yellow-brown water can produce such a fine tasting spirit, but believe it you must (although malted barley is also said to play a part). For Whisky Squad #4, we decided to focus entirely on Islay, whose eight active distilleries made producing a playlist of four a challenge in itself. Eventually, led by Darren the whisky guy, malt's answer to Professor Dumbledore, we fell upon the following spell-binding spirits...

Bunnahabhain 18
43% ABV
Nose: Honey, sherry, cheap chocolate brownies.
Taste: Vanilla fudge, milk chocolate, rich. Not peaty.

Bruichladdich Peat
46% ABV
Nose: Tequila, cheese, unwashed running socks, green sap
Taste: Parma Violets, vanilla, not very peaty (again).

Caol Ila Unpeated 10
65.8% ABV (cask strength)
Colour: Light straw
Nose: Nasally powerful. Fudge.
Taste: Orange zest, honey and coal sacks.

Lagavulin Distillery Only
51.5% ABV. Only 6,000 bottles produced. No age statement.
This was essentially the classic Distillers Edition (almost 16 years in bourbon before being finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks), further matured in a PX sherry-soaked bourbon cask for an additional three to six months and bottled at cask strength.
Nose: White chocolate and smoke, with dates.
Taste: Vanilla-sweet and richly peaty with a long, sweet finish. Like Christmas Day.

The Lagavulin, procured on a trip to Islay, was a great after-dinner dram, the most popular with the Squad, and finally some peat! Overall, our quartet was distinctly less peatsome than your average Islay session, but for a sweltering hot Thursday evening it may have been just what the whisky doctor ordered.

For a bonus round, courtesy of brilliant booze blogger Billy, we enjoyed a miniature sample of Kilchoman "new spirit plus about six months in the barrel", from the island's newest distillery (circa 2005). It gave us aromas of virginal malted barley with a hint of peat, and a palate of peat vodka. Underdeveloped, but moving in the right direction.

Thanks to the Whisky Squaddies for help with the tasting notes, as always. Next month, we're on summer whiskies, so let's hope the weather stays appropriately uncold.

RIVAL BLOG CORNER: Read Billy's nasally challenged but peerless account here and Darren's part-finished but learned effort right here.

Dalmore Mackenzie

2010-07-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

The Dalmore Mackenzie was released earlier this year - just 3,000 bottles of the stuff - in part to raise funds to refurbish a castle owned by the distillery's former owners (the Mackenzies). With such important history involved it seemed apt to try this sample bottle, from the company's PR team, in Scotland. And so, in a room in the Holiday Inn next to Glasgow Airport, waiting for our flight to Islay, we cracked it open.

Notes
Colour: Reddish
Nose: Rich Xmas cake, marzipan, Fisherman's Friend, sweetness
Taste: Toffee, orange peel explosion, tangerine peel, with a second wave leaving pepper on the tongue. Dry finish.

The spirit was distilled in 1992, held in American oak casks for 11 years, then finished in fresh port pipes, before being bottled at 46%. The red tinge from the port is said to link the whisky to the blood of the injured stag, Dalmore's logo. And? We thought it a terrific whisky, and a perfect aperitif to a peaty weekend in Islay. But we wouldn't have paid the £100 asking price.

Jägerbomb

2010-07-08T01:47:00.000-07:00

The Jägerbomb is Jägermeister and Red Bull. If you look carefully at the picture above you can see a smaller shot glass sitting inside a larger tumbler. That's the J-bomb primed to go off.

How To:

Fill a shot glass with Jägermeister and half-fill a tumbler with Red Bull. Drop the shot glass into the tumbler and sink the lot.

It's actually not as bad as it sounds, and it made a change from the usual sambuca or mixto tequila shots. I want to write more about Jägermeister, a 35% abv digestif made with herbs and spices, but I'll leave that for another post, since its 'complex flavours' are probably wasted here.

Ardbeg

2010-07-06T02:00:00.000-07:00

*Guest post by Tim*

It is rare to find 'the one' meant for you. Someone who stands out from the crowd, has a bit of an attitude, plenty of personality and who is exciting to be around. So when you do find her, you should cherish her, treat her properly and remain faithful.

I thought I had that with Ardbeg Ten, the punchy little malt from the Inner Hebrides. She offers a brilliant mix of a toffee, creamy and salty nose with plenty of iodine. The taste is sweet before a rush of peat hits your tongue followed by a waft of tobacco smoke which lingers on the palate. The problem is that curiosity so often gets the better of us. Bluntly, if she is tasty, then what are her sisters like?

A visit to Ardbeg’s home on the island of Islay, and a distillery tour (left), provided just the opportunity for a little, um, experimentation. But then came a classic male mistake. The tour guide laid out all the malts and I went for the one with the promise of immediate gratification. The latest expression of Ardbeg Supernova boasts phenolic levels of 100 ppm, around twice the level of the Ardbeg Ten. This is irresistible to any lover of peaty malts. The nose was surprisingly underwhelming. In the mouth the smoky peat was there and a little pepper too. But there was little more. At £80 a bottle, she’s an expensive date but doesn’t offer up as much as you might hope.

Then came the real treat: Ardbeg Uigeadail, named after the loch that provides the distillery’s water. It includes some spirit aged in sherry butts as well as bourbon casks. The nose was Christmas cake and wood smoke. The flavours in the mouth were rich and luscious but all of the fantastic peaty flavours were still there. The tastes lingered long after the liquid was gone.So it was time to look at one of the younger sisters. We were offered up Still Young, a perky little nine-year old and part of a series charting the development of the classic Ardbeg Ten. The toffee, the salt, the peat were all there. At 56.2% ABV she should have packed a few more flavours, but in the end there was little to make her stand out from her 10 year-old sibling.

By comparison, Ardbeg Corryvreckan, which included spirit aged in French oak casks, lacked a certain pizazz. She gave little away on the nose aside from a hint of cut grass. In the mouth the whisky tasted summery and somewhat dry with a white wine feel. Perhaps trying the Corryvreckan after the Uigeadail is akin to sipping gaspacho after chocolate pudding. She just wasn’t right for the mood. Likewise Rollercoaster, a bit of a gimmick of a whisky incorporating ten casks, one from each year from 1997. She was pleasant but tasted thinner than the ten-year and, in the end, was nothing special.

So after these dalliances, did I return back to Ardbeg Ten, a little shamefaced but with renewed loyalty? Yes and no. Ardbeg is still at the front of my drinks cupboard but sitting next to her in filial harmony is a bottle of Ardbeg Uigeadail for those occasions when only something a little spicier will do.

Islay

2010-07-04T07:32:00.000-07:00

A trip to Islay, for a whisky lover, is a pilgrimage of religious proportions. My four-day trip, with drinking buddies T and J, took in seven of the eight distilleries on the island - and many more whiskies besides.

We started off, almost by accident, at Laphroig (above), while waiting for an appointment at Lagavulin. A 'quick peek' turned into a distillery tour, and a dram, and we got to see the floor maltings (right), where the barley grains are laid out to germinate in the early stage of the production process. The other distilleries in Islay - with the exception of newbie Kilchoman - all use Diageo's maltings facility, and even Laphroig only produces about 15% of its malt on site. But it gave us a good sense of how it used to be done in the olden days. As for the dram, I believe it was their Quarter Cask, which I preferred to the slightly rougher, and medicinally pungent, 10-year-old standard.

Then on to Lagavulin, where we went on another tour and I began to appreciate the process: soak the barley, turn it, dry it over a peat fire, grind it, ferment it with yeast and water, distill the mixture twice (in pot stills, pictured left), mature it, drink it. Here we were fortunate enough to sample some terrific whiskies, as follows:

Lagavulin Distillery Only

Only 6,000 bottles produced. No age statement. 51.5% ABV.
This was essentially the classic Distillers Edition (almost 16 years in bourbon before being finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks), further matured in a PX sherry-soaked bourbon cask for an additional three to six months and bottled at cask strength.
Note: White chocolate and smoke on the nose. Vanilla-sweet and rich on the palate with a long, sweet finish. A great after-dinner dram.

Port Ellen 30-year-old
The distillery ceased production in 1983, and Lagavulin are looking after the remaining stock, and looking after it well by the evidence of this whisky (right).
Note: Slightly minty aroma, with pepper. On the palate, tangy lemon, like sherbert; slightly medicinal with a sweet nuttiness at the end.

From Lagavulin, we caught a cab (public transport not being what it might be) to Bruichladdich, the island's renegade independent distillery. An enjoyable tour finished with a generous tasting session, where I tried a few of the 30-odd expressions, a rather bewildering array of options that left me intrigued but not buying.

Sunday was Ardbeg day, and a chance to try a few of theirs too, including my favourite, the sherry-finished Uigeadail, a bottle of fruity, sweetish peat so beguiling I had to take one home with me. (Full Ardbeg write-up to follow).

Then, on Monday, we visited Caol Ila, which I confess I knew little about before our visit. A further tour was rewarded with one of the tastiest drams of the trip, a Caol Ila 25-year-old (left), which I recall hazily as offering creamy caramel fudge side-by-side with gentle peat.

Caol Ila enjoys the most beautiful setting of all the island's distilleries, looking out across the sea and beyond to the island of Jura (below right). They need to set up a cafe down there. Or a bar, at least.

Then to Bunnahabhain, whose wares are the least peaty of the Islay malts. Not that this was a problem, having had just about my fill of peaty potions and phenolic tonics: Bunnahab's fudgy 18-year-old was just the dessert drink I'd been craving for.

Finally, and just as our taste buds were giving way, we popped into Bowmore, whose visitor centre was the most obviously impressive. As we shared a couple of drams on the balcony, overlooking the sea, we felt decidedly well whiskied.

Kilchoman was the only distillery we failed to visit. Established in 2005, it's also the newest - and the first to be built on Islay for 124 years. Being so young, its only product so far is a three-year-old, which we sampled at a pub one evening and found to be showing much promise.

The biggest surprise of the trip was the state of the water used to make the whisky. For some reason, having read distilleries' tributes to their magical lochs and springs, I'd always imagined the liquid itself would look cleanish, if not crystal clear. Then I was shown a mug of the stuff (left - that's Ardbeg's finest, from Loch Uigeadail, yellow-brown from the peat). Still, as Woody Allen says, whatever works.

Pimm's

2010-06-19T04:48:00.000-07:00

Summer would be nothing without a glass of Pimm's. The glass above, imbibed recently at an authentic Westcountry wedding, reminded me once again how integral this gin-based drink is to the English identity, along with colonialism, cricket, etc.

Pimm's

One part Pimm's
Three parts chilled lemonade
Mint, cucumber, orange and strawberry to garnish.

Fill a jug or glass with ice, add the ingredients and give a good stir.

The proportions here I took from the people at Pimm's, although I'm sure these things, like the fruit garnishings, can be applied flexibly, particularly at picnics. The Pimm's in question was their No.1 Cup (the main one, 25% abv), and the taste both spicy and almost tea-like, while retaining a remarkable ability to refresh. I must try out their Winter Cup too, once the cold descends inevitably in a few weeks' time.

Oreo Milkshake

2010-06-16T01:39:00.000-07:00

Byron
33-35 Wellington Street
London WC2E 7BN

Byron is a growing chain of burger bars that make really good burgers. Fortunately, for this blog, they make a decent drink too. The Oreo milkshake, ice cold and sludge-thick, speaks for itself. The glassful pictured above was around half the total serving (the rest waiting patiently in the metal beaker behind). Try one.

Morning Glory Fizz

2010-06-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Fizz is a genre of cocktail that sparkles - with vitality as well as CO2. Having been roused by the original Gin Fizz, and enchanted by the Ramos Gin Fizz, my Fizz family genealogy project continues apace. The Morning Glory Fizz leapt at me from the pages of David Wondrich's Imbibe! for two reasons. One, obviously, was my fondness for whisky, which thus far I've tried mixing in cocktails only thrice (here, here and here). The second was my recent purchase of a bottle of blended Scotch known as Bailie Nicol Jarvie, which I've heard highly recommended as a base for cocktails.

Morning Glory Fizz

60ml (2oz) Scotch whisky

1/2 tsp Absinthe

1 egg white

15ml (0.5oz) lemon juice

7.5ml (0.25oz) lime juice

0.75 tsp fine sugar

Soda water

Pour lemon and lime juice and sugar into a cocktail shaker and stir until sugar has dissolved. Add the rest of the ingredients and plenty of ice and shake well. Strain into a glass tumbler and top with soda water.

I must admit the instruction to 'top' a cocktail with something, like soda water, annoys me slightly (only slightly). What's the point in measuring out precise pours of every other ingredient - something I wholly believe in for consistency's sake - when the amount of mixer added at the end can vary so dramatically depending on the size of the glass, potentially changing the character of the drink? Nevertheless, I did what I was told here, and topped my tumbler.

The Morning Glory Fizz tasted faintly like a whisky sour, but not quite. At first, I feared the soda had diluted things too much. But when I forced myself to stop obsessing about tasting the whisky, allowing it instead to submerge into the whole, I started to quite enjoy its gentle caress. This was far more delicate, and refreshing, than a whisky sour, and I enjoyed the subtlety of the absinthe.
As Wondrich explains, any drink that goes by the name Morning Glory is a hangover-helper. I can't say I've been brave enough yet to put that to the test, but I can think of far worse antidotes to a bad head.

WS#3: Islands

2010-06-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Three is the magic number, and for Whisky Squad #3 we went island hopping, trying some fine specimens from destinations far flung. We excluded Islay this time, since its eight distilleries could - and will - fill whole evenings on their own. The whiskies we did choose were tasted blind, as usual, and I'm indebted to the Whisky Squaddies, including Whisky Guy Darren, for their contributions to the following notes...

Arran 12

A Master of Malt bottling from the isle of Arran (54.7% abv).

Aroma of Werther's Original, honey, orange, burnt sugar. Taste of bread and butter pudding, sweet fudge.

We heard that the site of the Arran distillery was specially chosen by scientists charged with locating the best conditions for whisky making, which seem to include a warm climate. Such is the speed of maturation on Arran that whiskyperts have supposedly mistaken 5-year-olds for Scotches 35 years their senior.

Tobermory 15
Number two of the evening, a non-chill filtered whisky from the Isle of Mull (46.3% abv), was the controversial choice, since it didn't go down too well with the gathered throng, although Darren suggested it would make a fine aperitif with some olives.Aromas included socks, solvent and "Camembert left in a hot car". The taste was "bad Christmas", with sauerkraut and raw spirit notes.

Highland Park 18
A 55.8% single cask whisky from Orkney bottled by Signatory.

Aromas of sherry, fruit and - apparently - ham, with a tiny peat injection. The thick, oily mouthfeel was also smooth, providing a long, deep, throbbing finish (not sure what I mean by that).

Talisker 18

Isle of Skye (45.8%).

Adjectives: smoke, honey, waffles, dark chocolate. Better with a few drops of water.

I see my notes become more succinct by the fourth dram. If you want to read a more expert account, try this one. Overall, the Squad preferred the Highland Park - garnering five votes to the Arran's three and the Talisker's two (and the Tobemory's zero). Personally, I most enjoyed the Arran (right), which I considered more delicious and interesting than the Park. All in all, though, these islands were well worth the trip.

WHISKY WISDOM 1: It can pay to let a whisky sit in the glass for a few minutes before drinking, to let things "open up", says Darren. It's been suggested that the number of minutes one might allow a Scotch to breathe should correspond to its age (ie. leave a 10-year-old for 10 minutes, etc). Perhaps.

WW2: Younger whiskies, in taste terms, resemble children jumping about after consuming e-numbers. Older whiskies recall, at first, an old man telling a boring story, before they open up into a grander tale.

Town Mill Cobb

2010-06-09T02:35:00.000-07:00

*Guest post by Brett*

As I begin to dip my toe into the vast ocean of Real British Beer, it's daunting how much there is to learn. But learn I will, and with "microbrewery" the apparent buzzword of 2010, what better place to start than with Cobb bitter, from the Town Mill Brewery in Lyme Regis.

Thus far, Cobb (3.9% vol) is the sole offering from one of the UK's newest breweries. Having only been installed in one of Lyme Regis's historic Mill House buildings in March this year, Town Mill has made a promising start, and locally, demand is currently outstripping supply.

Whilst a fraction hoppy for my own preference, Cobb is a pleasant and generally well balanced bitter which is neither too fragrant nor too overbearing. And given the fact the brewery is still in its infancy, I've a feeling that Cobb could be tweaked over time to produce a slightly fuller flavour. However, it was in this instance the perfect accompaniment to a lunch which consisted entirely of bread and cheese - just the way the farmers do it.

Watch out for Town Mill's forthcoming Black Ven porter.