Presenting...Dr Adam Elmegirab Bitters

First of all, he is not a doctor. Sorry. 



Second, Adam came all the way from Aberdeen - bringing his accent with him (I've been in London too long) - to present the London Cocktail Society and I hope he felt it was worth it because we all really did have a great time, best event yet...


Thirdly, I have never been as tipsy as I was at this tasting so it may get vague towards the end. 


So, bitters... more than just for getting drunk?


I shall start with the bits and bobs of history that I wrote down, feel free to skip to the drinks underneath:


The original recipe for the bitters that Adam has spent years recreating exists in two places: New York where the bitters company was originally created and Mexico City at the Casa di Bokers. Used the past as a remedy for indigestion amongst other things, Adam has dug into the history of the creating family and the label (which he used to individually sign and glue on) reflects this work. 


So what are bitters? Essentially they are overproof spirits and botanicals. They can either be potable i.e. drinkable such as Campari or non potable i.e. used for flavour. Being the first new bitters company in 100 years the explanation of his product on setting up was no easy task! You see Adam is not distilling but needs a compound license to change the flavour of the base spirit...


How do I taste bitters? Try them on an ice cube, in a vodka cocktail or simply with soda water (or when cooking add Aphrodisiac to your chilli, Bokers to your chicken and Dandelion & Burdock to your lemon sorbet)


What is the inspiration? The Bokers was the original recipe and that Adam extended into Spanish bitters (with citrus and camomile) designed especially for a Spanish drinks competition, Dandelion & Burdock (citrus, ginger and anise too) from childhood drinks and Aphrodisiac bitters (cocoa, spice) were created to treat "Dickensian illnesses" for the Zetter Townhouse - a favourite of mine.


1500 bottles a month now go out to 18 different countries with more growth day by day!


For more info on this side see Adam's blog and how it all started at thejerrythomasproject.blogspot.co.uk


Lets get straight in with the drinks of the evening now:

#1 Caorunn Gin and Fentimans Tonic with Dandelion and Burdock bitters and an apple garnish :Liquorise notes, a little earthy and I got more juniper on this but may have been the gin


#2 Adnams Copper House Gin and Fentimans Tonic with Spanish bitters and a lemon garnish: Violets and citrus flavours were stronger and had more of a kick


#3 Adnams First Rate Finest Cut Gin and Fentimans Ginger Ale with Aphrodisiac bitters and a lime garnish: Fresh!


#4 "Horses Neck" Adnams Copper House Gin and Fentimans Ginger Ale with Bokers bitters and a lemon twist: Earthier


And a cocktail recipe for you to finish:

Highland Picnic


25ml Caorunn Gin
25ml Lillet Rouge
25ml Apple Juice
3 dashes of Dandelion & Burdock bitters


1) Shake with ice then top with lemonade
2) Garnish with fruit and mint or rosemary


Perfect alternative to Pimms

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