Diageo World Class Semi Finals. 

Cocktail, Experiences, Spirits
Yesterday was a combination of the most stressful, difficult, exciting and enjoyable days I have ever had. 
Having already been so massively proud of myself for making the cut into the top 50 bartenders in the UK at the moment, the Brand Ambassadors at Diageo had the hard task of whittling us down to just 5. It’s no easy task and so they had to come up with some pretty brilliant ways to make the finest stand out of what was already a pretty amazing crowd. 
The 50 bartenders were split into 4 groups and were given 3 challange a for the day. 
Performing under pressure was my first round. 3 cocktails, 3 minutes and 3 go pro cameras. Not only was our every move watched by Tim “Tanqueray Tim” Homeward and last years UK winner James Fowler, it was broadcast via a series of TV’s to everyone else in the room via some pretty awkward angles. The whole thing was also filmed for our own viewing pleasure in a few days when USBs arrive with the footage. 
It was a round that every bartender had practised and memorised over the coming weeks but nothing could prepare you for the nerves. I was last of my group and the only female so it was intimidating. 
I sat and watched as people got it right and wrong. Some didn’t finish drinks, some didn’t talk and one guy even brought his own backing music, although he did go on to win so it maybe an idea worth stealing for future competitions. 
Then comes my turn, I’m handed the box, I took my heels off as I’m not risking falling flat on my face and panicked. The lid comes off and you have a minute to prep. Which goes by so quickly. I’ve barely got the bottles in the speed rail, the glasses on the bar and figured out where the Prossecco is before I’m being told times up. 
Then there’s a pause. I realise the bitters are out of reach for my tiny arms so as they start the claxon I dive for them and use them first. I wait for the complimentary and confidence boosting cheer to die down before I make a joke of saving the best till last. 
I try to mumble a few opinions on Bulliet Rye in Sazeracs before I even realise that my arms have already started making another cocktail! Come on brain, the bodies beating you.  
Though now a minutes gone and I’ve had enough time to notice that the camera which is supposed to be filming my hands has not taken my 5 foot 2 inch stature into account and is focusing a bit more on my breast then I would have liked. 
I’ve also suddenly got the shakes and have started spilling booze, I make a joke about when I do stuff to make my hands stop shaking my legs wobble but I don’t notice if anyone laughs or not over the 2 minute warning. 
Time to shake, I’m bang on schedual from my practise runs to finish on time. The usual round of applause for the shake soon dies down when I start pouring, 30 seconds called. My brain at this point is just making my mouth say things on subjects which I now have no recollection of but my bodies in autopilot and minus a small Prossecco spillage on my Old Cuban my drinks are literally being placed in the bar as the time is called. Phew! I did it. 
I even wander over to the judges to ask how I did as we all leave and even though their lips are sealed I managed to steal a sip of my sazerac. Mmmm. 
After that we had the bourbon round. An amazing lecture by Jake Burger, the owner of Portabello Star, a cocktail bar on Portabello road who also distill their own Portabello Road Gin. He is a wealth of knowledge on the history of the “Holy Trinity” of bourbon cocktails, the Julep, the Manhattan and the Old Fashioned. 
Not only did he scour books for original recipes as far back as 1750 he also disproved some of the oldest cocktailing myths surrounding the heavenly drinks. Stories such as the Manhattan having been created in New York for Jenny Jerome even though she would have been in Europe giving birth to Winston Churchhill. Readings from Hunter S. Thompson’s The Kentucky Derby is Decadant and Depraved. Even mentioning the infamous way Veronica Corningstone orders her Manhattan in The Anchorman, one which I’m glad to say I already knew and was very pleased when it came up on the exam. 
The exam and tasting notes of Bulliet Bourbon and Rye were the marked part of this section. Questions on Distillation Processes, History, Legislation and the mini lecture we had just been given. It was actually the calmest of the marked rounds and the most prepared one but upon exit I definitely wished I had brushed up on my geography more. 
The 3rd part of our day was the unmarked Whisky tasting and guest relation talk by the amazing double act that is Colin Dunn, Diageo Ambassador for Malt Whisky and Alessandro Palazzi, longstanding bartender at Dukes bar, and when i say long standing I mean it. He started bartending in 1975! Let alone was I not born yet my parents would have only just been legal drinking age. 
This was the best fun of the day and not just because Alessandro said I was perfect. He talked about how to engage with customers and how every bartender should be diplomatic, acrobatic and charismatic. 

Colin had us all drinking Johnny Walker Blue Label in his “Front Room” although his tasting technique is a little different. Holding Whisky in your mouth for a whole minute is no mean feat and unlike the first round suddenly a minute seemed forever. At about 15 seconds in my eyes watered and my tongue burnt but at the 20 second mark the alcohol subsided to reveal a sweet and fruity side to the Whisky which I’d never seen before. A trick I’m certainly going to steal for future use. 

Now for the final round the one I had been dreading but also secretly intrigued by, Deconsruct/Reconstruct. 
I can easily say this was the most challenging thing I have experienced since I left school and nothing could have prepared me for it. 

20 bottles of unknown liquid, died green, and a single bottle we had to recreate. It sounds easy, pick the one of 4 from each category, blend them together with Zacapa and name the resulting cocktail with a hundred word description. All I can say is that it was harder then it sounded. 

Liquids that were either so salty or bitter that it ruined you palate before you’d even tasted all the bottles. Bottles not full enough to test your measurements via trial and error although there wasn’t enough time for that either. Cross contamination was a pretty big issue due to lack of tasting equipment and lack of space was a pain, trying to stop the bottles from mixing up. 

Even with all these teething problems (this was the first time something like this was ever done) I can say it was by far the best way to test us to our limit.

Looking back on it now it may have been hard and challenging but isn’t that the point of the day, to separate the Creme de la Creme from a group of talented and passionate people. 

So after a gruelling yet enjoyable day who came out on top. Well unfortunately not me. The first 5 into the UK final are. 
Jamie Jones from No Fixed Abode Consultancy and Training, Manchester. 
Jon Hughes, Bar Manager at Bramble, Edinburg. 
Tim Laferla, Bar Manager at Red Bar, Bam-bou, London.
Luca Corradini, American Bar at The Savoy, London. 
Kyle John Wilkinson, Blind Pig/ Social Eating House, London. 
Congratulations to all Semi Finalists and especially to the 5 above. 
Burst 2 entry application starts 20th March at www.theworldclassclub.com
Spirits for competing with are Tanqueray 10, Ketal One, Ciroc and the Don Julio Range. 
Good Luck!
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Bourbon History 101.

History, Other, Spirits

Bourbon History 101: What I know before World Class.

So before I start researching into bourbons in preparation for the World Class exam I figured a quick catch up on what I already know on bourbon history was in order. It turns out I know very little about about its history, distillation or legislation.
Crap.

So here’s what I do know.

Bourbon is a distilled and aged alcoholic spirit originating from America’s southern states. It’s thought that a mix of Irish, Scottish and English first settled there in the late 1700’s and started working the land as farm land. These guys brought their knowledge of whisky and gin production with them and started producing alcohol from what was ready available, corn.

They made a rough clear alcohol which was then shipped in barrels to New Orleans and sold much more cheaply then the imported French Brandies. Farmers producing the spirit would wait until the spring when the rains would swell the rivers, making the journey easier and so cheaper to transport the whisky. This time waiting in the barrels aged the product, making it softer, smoother and easier to drink as well as it now also resembled the brandies in colour.

The spirit was primarily sold out of Bourbon Street in New Orleans and so people would ask for “that whiskey they sell on Bourbon Street” which eventually shortened to “the Bourbon Whiskey” which is where the name Bourbon is thought to have come from.

Charring the barrel supposedly comes in around 1820 after Elijah Craig, a man with a lot of firsts on his plate, has a fire in his barn where he stores the new barrels. After already losing so many barrels he has to be frugal and so uses ones which are charred but mostly undamaged. The resulting spirit is sweeter from the caramelised sugars in the charred wood. It’s also around this time when Catherine Carpenter starts putting the yeast solids of the first fermentation into the next batch, naming this the sour mash recipe. She also publishes a sweet mash recipe which falls out of fashion fairly quickly.

Production carries on and grows healthily until the prohibition in the 1920’s. All but 6 major distilleries shut, and the remaining few started distilling medicinal whiskey which was used to treat everything from teething babies, cancer, diabetes and old age. It was only available by the pint every 10 days, to be consumed at home and prescribed by a doctor, but it was generally distilled to around 50% ABV.

When the ban was lifted in 1933, 77 distilleries opened and started producing either Bourbon or Rye whiskey.

In 1964 the U.S. Government introduced laws which made bourbon a protected term, anything wanting to be called a bourbon now legally had to be made within the United States, from at least 51% corn, aged for a minimum of 4 years (unless stated) in brand new charred American oak barrels.

There’s a few gaps to fill and a few exact dates to find before I start looking into distillation but at least this is a start. Although my knowledge is not as terrible as I expected so watch this space because as I learn more (ok google search stuff) I’ll fill in the gaps.

Infusions, Bitters and Tinctures.

Cocktail, Experiences, Experiments

Now when first experimenting in this area it seems quite simple, a few vanilla pods in some sugar syrup and Tada! Vanilla Gomme. Chuck a few Earl grey tea bags in gin, and voila tea infused gin. Yet the more we experiment the more we learn about balancing the ingredients to get the exact flavour we want and how to use them to enhance flavours of cocktails.

Any good bartender knows there are many bitters you can buy and a few notable companies are Angostura, Fee Brothers and Bittermens. All respectably have an extensive range and work wonderfully when enhancing flavours already present in spirits.

Angostura is the infamous one, seen in shops and supermarkets worldwide. The label is too big for the little brown bottle with a yellow lid. Add it to sugar and whiskey and stir with ice for an Old Fashioned. Chuck it in with rum, lime and ginger beer for a Dark and Stormy. A couple of drops even livens up a lime and soda, it really is that versatile.

At this time of year Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters goes in just about everything for me, as it adds a winter warming spice. Anything with chocolate flavours and Bittermens Xcolotl bitters adds that bitter-sweetness that usually only really dark chocolate can impart.

When there’s easily available, ready-made, perfectly brilliant products there for the taking (sorry, purchasing), then why would we bother creating our own? The answer is simple; it’s a massively useful tool to have at your disposal when creating cocktails, even if it takes a few goes to get exactly what you’re looking for.

The difference between the two is pretty simple.
An infusion is one or several flavours added to the base spirit of a cocktail in low concentrations. So basically a little flavour added and a lot of alcohol used.
A bitters is a blend of flavours added to an alcohol with a high ABV in a high concentration. So a lot of flavour added and a little alcohol used. Bitters generally are a blend of different ingredients, if it’s just a simple single flavour then we would use the term tincture.

A few tips and tricks.

Sample a small batch first as this will give you the chance to try it within a couple of hours and without ruining a large amount of alcohol if it doesn’t go according to plan.

Taste it little and often, different flavours extract into the alcohol at varying rates. Things like tea’s and citrus will impart flavour quickly but will slowly release tannins and bitter components and can easily over infuse, whereas fresh spices and herbs will take longer.

When making bitters, experiment with different amounts of flavours, you will find that you prefer one more then others. Maybe one with extra citrus peel, maybe one with more cloves, one with more tea or whatever it is your experimenting with.

Always write your recipes down and label your different experiments. You will kick yourself if you find the version you like best but can’t remember how you made it.

When infusing alcohol be aware that the higher the ABV the quicker it will happen and the more bitter flavours are extracted easier.

There’s a lot of infusions that we’ve tried over the last couple of years, hibiscus and pink peppercorn vodka, dill gin, honeycomb bourbon to name a few but it’s the bitters which are much more interesting.
There’s a couple that we’ve spent a long time perfecting and have now been using ever since.

Bloody Bitters perfect for Bloody Mary’s.

Half a fresh horseradish sliced into very thin strips.
A whole yellow pepper, sliced.
4 tablespoons of mustard seeds.
2 teaspoons of smoked paprika.
2 teaspoons of black peppercorns.

Steeped in about 600ml spiritus for 3 days and drained. Spiritus is a very high ABV neutral grain spirit and if you use it then it will only need to steep for 3 days and only a couple of drops are needed. If you can’t get spiritus then a vodka will do the same but leave it to infuse for a week and add 5 or 6 drops per drink.

Spiced Citrus Bitters.

Peels of 3 limes, 2 lemons and an orange. 2 tablespoons of cloves, 5 whole star anise, 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns and a cinnamon stick broken apart.

Steep in 300ml of overproof rum (wray and nephew is what we use) for 3 days.
These bitters are great in a Dark and Stormy along with Angustura bitters or in a fresh pineapple and spiced rum old fashioned.

Mrs.

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A little bit about us!

Other

Wow! Our first blog. Well… We are a London based Bartending couple. He specialises in the classic cocktails with a love of Rum while I’m more of a crazy “what happens if I do this” kinda gal.

We plan to post delicious cocktail recipes, cocktail ideas and just general Bartending kinda things. Short and sweet, like me.

There’s also probably going to be some animal stuff every so often as I also work at London Zoo and probably some geeky stuff as Elliot’s a massive movie buff.

We just wanted to give this blogosphere a whirl and if you like what you see, Brill!