London Cocktail Week meets Chocolate Week

Chocolate Tales from Dean Street

It was in the steadily increasing rain that a small queue of chocolate and cocktail lovers were standing outside 68 Dean Street. This was a timely collaboration as these two important weeks met and what an event it was. I will mainly do this by pictures, because when it comes to chocolate and cocktails what more do you want?

On the ground floor we had Damian Allsop and Martin Millers Gin, with a two tunnel truffle with one blackcurrant meringue and one green tea covered in ganache to go with the deconstructed Bramble with a ganache and macha powder rim! 

Next floor up was the delectable Santa Teresa Rum (I discovered it last year) forming a Hot Buttered Rum which was divine and paired to another favourite - Rococo Chocolates - and their  salted rum truffle. 

They also had an orange and coffee based liqueur that have been added to their range to try. This is definitely a rum worth looking up. Next door Johnnie Walker Blue were doing their thing with William Curley, a much awarded chocolatier. Johnnie Walker was neat in this case, to work with the complexity of the dessert which was a creme brulee centered chocolate mousse on a whisky soaked raisin sponge base and apricot sauce. William was on hand and very helpful with all my little questions. 

Onwards and upwards to the top floor and the first room was an aperol spritz cocktail with a salted caramel disc from Artisan du Chocolat. The cocktail was served with a cocoa pulp sorbet that did not work well, and this was the room where I saw more leftovers than anywhere else where it was empty glasses ahoy! 

So then onto the final room and one of my favourite chocolatiers - Paul A Young, a name that all Londoners should be familiar with. He was working with AquaRiva tequila - very drinkable - and started us off with a Parmesan chocolate to balance and work with the salt, and then another, I forget which, but god it was tasty! 

Overall this was a lovely evening with everyone talking to each other, people by themselves, with friends, in groups and all determined to have a good time. And it was a dinner in itself if not the most healthy one! Bravo @donalde, Kate and the team for such a sterling effort and such a turn out. 

London Cocktail Week : Monday - Smatts Rum Shack

After the whisky show it was straight to my first official LCW event held at Smatt's Rum Shack, a pop up in Seven Dials, for an event hosted by "Terror" Tim (try calling him that, he loves it) of Twist London who now have an offshoot - Twisted.

We started off with a Dark 'n' Stormy and a brief history of Smatts, which I had not come across before. Smatts is the lovechild, shall we say, of two school friends. Having gone to university and launched their careers, they both felt something missing in life - rum. Ashley Smatt, one of said school friends, was from Jamaica, a rather important fact considering company laws there, and went about sourcing where their rum was going to come from both in terms of location and distillery to use. The number of distilleries on this island has dropped from 600 to 6 over 150 years so they also wanted to invest in the heritage to revive the industry. They have a white rum and a 5 year old gold rum.

So to the event, 3 cocktails twisted (see what I did there?!) into 3 very alcoholic ice creams.

#1 Dark and Stormy - very nice drink, very nice ice cream. Quite different, with the ice cream showing more ginger, which as a ginger fan I loved, and was also yoghurty. Finished with some fire and gingerbread. Note these also have 1 unit of alcohol per serving and it is all too easy to forget this after an hour's tasting...

#2 Smatt's Passoin - I am afraid that I have a deep psychological issue with passion fruit in drink so not one for me however I loved the showmanship of the fire to finish these off (other events were called ice and fire!) and the drink was very close in taste to the ice cream. The smell was like a banana brulee!

#3 Apple Crumble - ice cream won here again witha spicier more complex "drink" and it would have been even better with a crumble through the ice cream for texture. 

I have made alcoholic ice cream myself and the creamy texture is very easy to achieve with the alcohol preventing ice crystals however I am not sure mine were ever 1 unit per scoop! It was an interesting session, and would have been up there as excellent if one or two unnamed had not been enjoying the drinks and ice cream down to the last drop/lick...sore heads for some the next day I believe...

Good effort, look forward to more from the Twisted guys in the near future. 

Cocktail Reading and Tasting A Bit Of History

Hix Bar, Soho

I am not going to rate this bar because I have only been once – and at these prices I am unlikely to go back any time soon (cocktails start at £9 though most are £10.50 and upwards, not outrageous but nonetheless…)

The reason I am writing this is because on the advice of Gin Monkey and Adam of DrElmegirab Bitters I took up some cocktail history reading and very soon got addicted. So I started off with the very readable Straight Up Or On The Rocks: A Story of the American Cocktail by William Grimes. This was a great place to start tracking the progression of drink in general travelling from the taverns of the west to glitzy hotel bars in the city and back to old techniques being reintroduced in today’s bars (though it does need updating with current fast moving trends, prohibition etc). It also got intrigued looks on the tube. There was a quite a lot of mention of punches, but nothing was on a par with the full history found in Punch by David Wondrich – utterly recommended and I am now onto his other book Imbibe! – which, as the title suggests, is all about the punch: the history, the tools, recipes old and new. Utterly fascinating.

Reading these recipes David has done his best to give you access to the drinks “of yore” but we simply do not have the same ingredients around. However when I saw The Criterion Milk Punch at Hix I simply had to go for it. Yes. MILK! And it was so interesting, in a good way.

-          El Dorado 5yo Demerera Rum

-          Martell VS Cognac

-          Pineapple, citrus, spice and milk infusion

All clarified and bottled and served in a metal julep cup with shaved ice and pineapple garnish

It was just so complex with a very fresh palate but a lush texture, creamy and weighty. I would definitely have this again. (Gin Punch a la Terrington made with lemon sherbet that I read so much about was also incredibly well executed).

I do wonder how many people would dare order a cocktail with milk and citrus in, either way, I thoroughly recommend getting your hands on any of these books, then heading to Hix for a special occasion to take yourself back in history. This is the Time Traveller’s Cocktail Club (unlike this!)

Punch: TheDelights and Dangers of the Flowing Bowl, David Wondrich

Imbibe:From Absinthe Cocktail to Whisky Smash, David Wondrich

Straight UpOr On The Rocks: A Story of the American Cocktail, William Grimes

Presenting…Havana Club Rum (photos to follow)

Last Tuesday I returned to the scene of the crime – Callooh Callay – for another of their fabulous Jub Jub member tasting evenings. Actually I have always been remarkably well behaved at this bar; with it being one of my favourites I would hate to lose my privileges! And it remains one of my favourites as I arrived early especially to enjoy one of their fabulous scotch eggs, this time accompanied by surprisingly tasty tomato ketchup popcorn and predictably excellent “Fine and Dandy”, or figgy pudding as described in the menu.

So onto the main event with the glamorous Meimi, a self expressed “Scuban” – a Scottish Cuban. She was keen for us to try not only the different rum expressions but to put them in cocktail context and to add to food to really think about flavour pairings. Some facts:

• Rums are aged in a Solera System, an idea imported from Jerez, Spain
• The barrels go through Wild Turkey Bourbon and Scotch distilleries before arriving in Cuba
• The liquid, when it comes straight off the still, is called Aguardiente – firewater
• If you want to test the quality of dark rum, coat a wine glass with rum and leave upside down on the table for 20 minutes, when you return it should smell of rum, rather than distinct blocks of flavour

Havana Club 3 Year Old

-          in a beetroot daiquiri

-          served with stilton and walnut

It smelt fresh and almost grassy

It tasted like root beer, slightly medicinal and developed caramel notes with time but retained fresh nose

Smooth and good length

Havana Club Especial

-          Cuba libre

-          Plantain crisps

It smelt like caramel and nutmeg

It tasted like vanilla, green apple and spice

It was smoother, heavier and longer retaining grassiness at the end

Havana Club 7 Year Old

-          rich daiquiri

-          grilled tropical fruit and parma ham with spices

It smelt like 1&2 – caramel and fresh grass

It tasted a bit like damp earth (in a good way)

We should be picking up dried fruit, bitter chocolate, coffee, sweet tobacco – I didn’t!

One to drink straight due to elegance, to quiet for cocktails?

Havana Club Seleccion de Maestros

-          straight

-          with an orange flavoured chocolate

Unblended 10 year old aguardiente with needs all 6 blenders to agree on quality and style before it can be released, rare and clearly more expensive

It smells like fresh caramel, coffee and orange

It tastes like fire and has more bite but a smooth finish

Now if you want to go all out, look for Havana Club Maximo Rum at £1500 a bottle. With only 1000 bottles a year we’d all by lucky to ever try this.

Great night had, again. Thanks!

London Cocktail Week: Day 3 Rum

Wednesday 12^th October

A rapid dash from the office to Barrio Central wasn’t, after all, necessary. Their 6 to 8pm time slot included a welcome drink and platters of food before the master class proper started. So a rather flustered Bar Hopper arrived at Barrio, followed the signs downstairs to the “private event” and promptly collapsed on a sofa with a Claro Daiquiri (2 yr old rum) paired with a Sea Salted Caramel – for this was not any rum tasting. This was a rum and chocolate tasting.

Now I cannot honestly say that this was a perfect pairing, though I see where they were going with the salt and citrus combination classic to the margharita. What did go well were the enormous platters of food that were soon parked in front of me (my friend looked hungry apparently) with ribs, steak, patatas bravas, calamari, nachos and more. We made our way through as much as we could before moving to proper tables, all official set up, and opened our minds to this Venezuelan rum experience.

The first drink was

Lady Rosetta

Made with 2 to 5 year old rum, which for me was more attractive on the nose with a sprinkling of nutmeg, unfortunately not following through on the palate. There was a lot of peach on this, too much of the Archers about it. A white chocolate infused with rosemary and lavender was paired with this drink. It looked like an eyeball but really brought out the herbaceousness of the drink, very pleasant.

The next drink was

Fallen Leaf

And combined coffee, ginger and bitters with a hint of tobacco and strongly reminded me of an updated Black Russian. This was perfectly paired to a milk chocolate with notes of ginger and spice with set off the flavours wonderfully.

Finally the straight rum

Ron Santa Teresa 1976

Which smelt of caramel but clearly expressed the bourbon and cognac casks it had been aged in. This could happily sit with the best digestifs. Paired with 60% dark chocolate with a rare peppercorn, the two flirted deliciously with each other.

The only drink I did not try, never enough time, was the Ron Alejandro – the week’s signature cocktail – which sounds naughty: a heady mixture of chocolate, rum and cream. One to return for another day I feel.