Presenting...Chase Vodka and Williams Gin

I won’t go into the mission that was dealing with the new Gouman Grosvenor hotel – needless to say they are missing their bar manager who is on paternity leave – but made it to an upstairs room for a trade masterclass with James Chase.

James is really personable guy with great knowledge and an inexhaustible work ethic, bombing up and down the country to educate us about the family run property that is Chase. The brand started with the delicious potato product that we all know – Tyrells crisps. On a USA business trip to investigate deep frying, they were invited “round the back” of one small manufacturers to see their small time brewing facilities and there was the eureka moment

“This vodka tastes of something”

So this moment paired with the secretaries’ clear ability to guess the base product of the bottle they returned with (potatoes) and quantities of small potatoes that were not put through for crisps gave way to vodka and before they knew it (well another business trip including Austria this time – source of their still) they had a 3000l still with a rectifying column so large it emerged from the roof.

So Chase English potato vodka was born and is entirely produced by Chase from potatoes to vodka to maintain quality; quite frankly, it shows.

Chase Vodka

The nose is so different from most vodkas with a sweet creamy almost toasted marshmallow nose. The palate has the same creamy buttery potato mash flavour with some spice notes and an oily texture that combine to give a really long finish. This is very smooth and rich and tastes buttery to the end.

Serve: with soda water and a squeeze of lemon to cut the oily texture

When the Chase brains got buzzing next they moved to gin. Back to Austria for a 300l still with three rectifying points where the gin sits in the belly and above is a “pillowcase” filled with their 11 chosen botanicals – including barley apples, hops and elderflower. They are also moving towards growing all their own botanicals and hope to see this come to fruition in 2012 with new greenhouse plans. However, the potato vodka had too much flavour so they thought again about the local products and came up with…

Naked Chase (apple based spirit)

The nose implies spice and high alcohol but the palate is much more pleasant, smooth and although still quite raw there is a remaining sweetness and spice in between layers.

Serve: in a Vesper with Chase Vodka

William Chase Gin

Distilled to 48% to retain the flavor is not just a tag line. This is so smooth and strangely is very reflective of the creamy full body of the vodka. Then comes the juniper so essential to gin (debate still raging!) and then sweet citrus, next comes the clear elderflower notes though not sure I got hops.

Serve: as a gin and juice with organic cox apple juice

Lastly those crazy guys got experimenting with flavours (Christmas trees don’t work if you were wondering!) and came up with what is now a regular in their line –

Chase (Seville) Marmalde Vodka

Straw colour, the nose is of sweet zest oils. The more you get into this, the longer it lingers, the sweeter it grows on the palate making it definitely – for me – one to mix rather than one to drink straight. Breakfast martini, spice it up for winter warmers, the possibilities of this one are great.

Serve: with ginger beer, few drops of bitters and a squeeze of lime

So they do not grow the oranges themselves but they do make the marmalade that gets infused with the orange skins. I’ll leave you with an interesting fact: it takes 25kg of potatoes to make just one bottle of Chase Vodka

To look out for:

- Aged vodka expressions

- Chili infused vodka

- Rock the Farm – the generously put on industry festival in July

London Cocktail Week: Day 4 The Doctor and more

Thursday 13^th October

Well, on day 4 I certainly worked my wristband hard. I started a restaurant highly recommended by my (vegan) friend – Saf, 152 Curtain Road. At just past 6 o’clock I was the lone drinker at the bar but all the more time for me to really find out what these guys are up to. To start with their signature cocktail was

Milk and Gin

It was their final hoorah to summer with their autumn menu coming in next week. This was reflected in the freshly picked rosemary, bringing out the herbaceousness of the Scottish Caorum gin, mixed with white tea infused almond milk, sugar syrup and lemon juice. By the name and the ingredients I expected, well, a sweet tea. What I got was a clean, fresh uplifting drink that was delicious. I will go back to drink in this lovely airy space, but I am not yet sold on raw mange tout noodles!

Next Callooh Callay offered

The Doctor Will See You

With the inimitable Colin Dunn. A diagnosis of Diphtheria got me a prescription of Lagavulin 16 yr old mixed with lemon and…various other yummy things to enhance the overriding yet delicious bonfire notes. Scarlet Fever was cured by The Dogs Nose which was gin, porter, egg white and a sprinkling of nutmeg. This surprisingly creamy drink was also fabulous and I loved the old style half pint it was served in; also available at £4 as the Jub Jub signature cocktail. We also tried their signature

Cuban Heat

Although I did not have time to discuss ingredients before drinking, it was very Daiquiri like, and strong! This was countered with scotch eggs, honey sausages and piri piri chicken, and once again the food here never disappoints; flavoursome, well-priced and inventive.

Onto Happiness Forgets, perhaps my new favourite bar. We were welcomed as we wondered into this basement bar (I was looking for a sign on the wall, my companion was following the “look for the windmill” advice; don’t worry there is an A-board outside) and confirmed we were more than happy to take our seats at the bar. They operate a no standing policy, which I baulked at on first hearing this but it makes sense. The bar tenders need time to make their creations and you do not want to push through a crowd to the toilet or have people hovering behind you. The music is chilled jazz, and the drinks are amazingly well priced at £7. We went for the signature

Collaboration

Which combined Kettel 1 citron vodka with yellow Chartreuse (everywhere nowadays), pink grapefruit, soda and the usual lemon juice, sugar etc. This was very nice. I cannot say more. Water infused with cucumber was replenished regularly, a must-have detail for me in cocktail bars.

Lastly, we begrudgingly left this little den for NinetyEight, 98 Curtain Road. A descending metal spiral staircase would be tricky when wet, or if drunk. On arriving the door was open to us but then where do we go? Can we sit down? What was going on with all the fruit over there? We were confused. The representative of Bloom Gin gave up her table (soon to do a smell course on cocktails) so we went to the bar to order as no one seemed particularly switched on. The bar really lives up to its reputation, Louis Quatorce style furniture, elaborate wall designs, white textures mixed with multicoloured mosaic. I liked it. Their cocktail for the week

Over the Clouds

Was, unlike most places, chosen from their menu. You cannot deny the theatrically of this one. A martini glass is filled with candy floss and a beaker of blue alcohol (lavender infused gin?) in poured over the top, dissolving the sugar and revealing a slice of lemon peel. I was convinced there was Cointreau in it but the menu did not confirm, not did the waitress. Other friends that night said they got a whole story on the bar and the drink; we got a shrug of the shoulders. On giving up to leave we met the delightful owner who was so keen we shared our experiences I thought that this relative new-comer could still easily bed into the high caliber of bars the East end offers. She also let us try the Café Patron (coffee tequila) I have heard so much about. I will definitely be back when the craziness of Cocktail Week is over, there is much more to explore here.