Mister Cocktail

Image by The Connaught

When The Connaught re-opened in december 2007 after a year-long restauration of the entire hotel, the bar immediately set a new standard for hotelbars. It combined the old style of the hotels with the new style of mixology. The cost for this “contemporary interpretation” totalled a nice £ 70 million and the result is impressive, to say the least. While re-design of the hotel was done by Guy Oliver, the bar of The Connaught was handed over into the capable hands of David Collins, who you might remember from Artesian Bar.

The area in which The Connaught lies, is one of grandeur and style, Mayfair, with the American Ambassy trying to make it all ugly again. The most expensive shoppingarea in all of London is just a few blocks away on New Bond Street, so you may expect a clientele of a certain level. The small square in front of the hotel is most elegantly re-designed as well, giving a good indication of what you may find on the inside that lies behind the wonderful facade. The initial name of the hotel was The Coburg, but in 1917  it was renamed the “Connaught”, after the 3rd son of Queen Victoria: Prince Arther, Duke of Connaught.

The main hall of the hotel is quite small, giving a surprisingly warm and familiar feeling: here the entrances of The Coburg Bar, The Connaught Bar, Espelette and the famous restaurant of Hélène Darroze all come together. And of course the entrance to the hotel itself. In between you can find the very helpful and skilled staff of The Connaught, navigating everyone to his or her destination within the hotel, all with the attitude to make them feel at home. Which already starts outside, with the doormen wishing you welcome.

The eye catcher in the main entrance are the stairs: large and majestic, leading all the way to the top floor of the main building. I was told that Ralph Lauren is a big fan of The Connaught and he even rebuilt the stairs in his flagship-store in New York. My destination for this evening is of course The Connaught Bar. As for almost every bar in London, it is highly recommended to reserve ahead, to avoid disappointment and missing out on one great evening.

At The Connaught Bar you’re welcomed by a most friendly hostess, guiding you to your table to make sure you are well installed and hands you the drinksmenu. This is divided in several sections and are almost invariably own creations, a fair deal firmly based on the classics. Their Signature-section boasts some lavish creations by the barteam, which includes Agostino Perrone who was named International Bartender of the Year in 2010. He received this award during The Tales Of The Cocktail-event in New Orleans and The Connaught Bar picked up the award for World’s Best Hotelbar that same night. The night I visited The Connaught Bar, we were served by Rusty Cerven, a young rising star in the world of bartending.

The drinksmenu will keep you busy for a while and you may want to start with a glass of champagne. Feel free to call for help, the hostess will guide you through the different flavours with a steady hand.  One recommendation I’d like to make is their house-special the Dry Martini, which is prepared exactly how you’d like to drink it at your table, with your choice of vodka or gin, vermouth, bitters, garnish and way of course the choice between shaken or stirred. More house specials we tried were the Bloody Mary with a spectacular ‘air’ of celery on top and the Mulata Daisy, one of Agostino’s award-winning creations. I try to stay away from saying “drink this cocktail” because as it fits my taste, it might not be your choice in the end.

Every cocktail you order is served in a beautiful, handcrafted and hand-painted glass, which are also for sale in the bar. Especially the coupettes are great. Another nice feature is the small card that you receive upon leaving, of every cocktail you drank that evening, to re-create at home.

Should you feel a bit hungry after a long day of shopping in London, or just need a quick bite to stay focused when tasting all these wonderful cocktails, there’s always the possibility to order from their tapas-menu. All items on the menu are developed by Hélène Darroze, so Michelin-star level food. I have to admit that I could not resist the urge to have some nibblers so I tried the Grilled Scallops and the Lobster Spring Rolls. They were both just fabulous and I can imagine the same goes for the rest of the menu.

Having a drink at The Connaught Bar is not something you should do “in-between” – take your time and indulge yourself in this oasis of hospitality, where a highly skilled team works very hard to make sure you have an amazing experience.

The Connaught Bar – Carlos Place, Mayfair, London - +44 (0)20 7314 3419

Masataka Taketsuru (1895) was a member of the family that had been producing Sake since 1733, but he was obsessed with Whisky. His passion led him to Glasgow, where he studied the art of making whisky to eventually become master blender. He not only found his passion, but also his wife, Jessie Roberta, who he married and took home to Japan. He was the first one to produce whisky in Japan while working for a company called Yamazaki, but in 1934 he started his own company, Nikka.

Nikka from the Barrel is a blended whisky from matured malt whisky and grain whisky, blended together and ‘married’ by ageing and bottles at 51.4 % / 102.8 proof

The bottle: This undeniably cool bottle comes in a basic box, made of thick, silky cardboard with basically only Japanese printed on it. The bottle appears to come straight from an old pharmacist with a very simple alu-cap to close to short neck.
94/100

The nose: Despite the high percentage of this whisky the nose is really soft, almost silky that leans towards a fine cognac. It is slightly sweet from orange and has a bit of dryness at the same time, reminiscent of a sweet sherry. After I added a drop of water more flavours are released: a bit of caramel and more wood shine through.
95/100

The contents: A very mature taste of toasted wood at first, followed by more sweet notes, liquorice, slightly salty (very nice!). The high level of alcohol numbs the taste just a little but it so nicely balanced with the taste.
94/100

The mixability: don’t mix it, unless it’s with a drop of water.

Overall: This is an amazing whisky, one of the finest I have ever tasted! It is very reasonably priced and I think a great asset to any spirits cabinet. It looks cool and the taste could also be a great introduction to Japanese whiskies.
94/100

Today was such a fine day that I treated myself not to 1, but 2 Gin & Tonics (I mean variations, not servings of course). The weather was just great and daylight saving kicked in, giving me an extra hour of enjoying a g&t in the sun. Since I already opened a bottle of Schweppes, to mix with Citadelle, I decided to go further with this one and mix it with another new addition to my collection: No. 3 Gin.

No. 3 Gin uses ‘only’ 6 botanicals, distilled with a high quality base-spirit. Although No. 3 Gin is a new product, it is created by the Berry Bros & Rudd, one of the oldest and highly regarded distillers in the U.K. that has been around since 1698. Each botanical can be identified quite easily, without being simple: this is still a wonderfully balanced gin. It is bottled at 46 % ABV / 92 proof so it needs to breathe just a little before you start nosing and tasting. Besides the juniper and lemon flavour (which comes historically almost invariably from coriander) you get the cardamom very strong. At the same time there are sweet fruity notes from orange and grapefruit which also deliver some sweetness.

Schweppes Tonic is one of the largest mainstream brands available in the world, but it all started in Geneva in 1783, where Johann Jacob Schweppe founded his company to produce carbonated softdrinks. This was invented a mere 13 years earlier by Joseph Priestly, who was an extremely clever guy back then, although he failed to commercialize his invention. Schweppes Tonic is high in carbonation and together with the kinine delivers quite a strong bitter taste. The high levels of sugar make it quite sweet, also because there are very little citrus-notes in Schweppes.

How do these 2 work together in the mix?
This is actually a very nice combination! The absence of citric-notes in Schweppes are a very good match with the No. 3 Gin. And because this gin does not have strong sweetener agents incorporated, it benefits from the strong sweetness in Schweppes. The addition of lime in the drink does not benefit the drink too well, I enjoyed it better without the lime, but I can imagine adding a slice of orange or grapefruit will lift this drink even further. The recommendation on their site is lemon which you can also try, as this has a less stronger sour taste than that of a lime. Please post any of your own findings in the comments below!

Rating: 9.0/10

Method: Pour 50 ml No. 3 Gin in a longdrink and fill with icecubes. Top with Schweppes Tonic and add your choice of garnish. Stir gently and serve.

My choice for today’s Gin & Tonic is 2 extremes: the exclusive, handcrafted Citadelle Gin, from the French region of Cognac, combined with Schweppes Tonic, one of the world largest brands for soft drinks. I was recently introduced to Citadelle, and I was very eager to try this one in my G&T reviews.

The story of Citadelle begins in the late 18th century, as 2 Frenchmen started producing Genièvre in Dunkirk with support of Louis XVI. The produced a small batch distillate which was primarily sold to the British, smuggled there as you will, because of the high excise on gin. The British had just barely survived the Gin-craze that lasted from 1720 to the early 1750s and had a heavy impact on the coutry’s social structure and public health. Asking a high tax for gin was one of the countermeasures. The French, who already didn’t like the British that much, would gladly help them to some inexpensive, yet qualitative gin.

Citadelle Gin is quite a full-bodied complex gin, containing no less than 19 botanicals. The taste is very fresh and balanced and it benefits from the 44 % ABV / 88 proof which opens the flavours in the glass and in the mouth very nice. Sweet notes from liquorice, orange and cinnamon are balanced by ‘sour’ notes from lemon and coriander while extra complexity and depth is added with cardamom, several peppers and star anise. And that’s just a few of them! The aftertaste is long with botanicals coming through in different stages.

Schweppes Tonic is of course known as a higher quality tonic amongst other main-stream brands, and known from slick produced commercials, including Una Thurman. They do however deserve an award for their highly dysfunctional and uninformative website, but that’s besides the point. It looks nice. Schweppes Tonic has a primarily sweet taste, with bitter notes coming through. Those come from the kinine inside. but for my taste the bitter taste lingers too long, while the sugars stay there quite long as well.

But the most important question: Will it blend Will it mix?
When using such a complex gin it is somewhat ‘risky’ to use a more commercial product but I must say they work quite nice together. I do have to add at the same time that I can credit Citadelle Gin for the larger part for this. The sweetness of Schweppes is quite strong but there’s fortunately enough room for the sweeter botanicals in Citadelle to stay upright. Because Schweppes has very little citrus notes, the taste from Citadelle has a lot of room to complement the drink. I do feel however that the long bitter taste of Schweppes holds the mix a little bit back.

Rating: 8.0/10

Method: Mix 40 ml / 1.5 oz Citadelle Gin in a longdrink, fill with icecubes and pour Schweppes Tonic over it. I tried the mix with one wedge of lime (squeezed) but am really curious what would happen when served with a slice of orange! Maybe next week!

It is the year 2008. Hamburg. A hot Summer. This summer would see the birth of one of the most successful contemporary cocktails: the Gin Basil Smash. The team of Le Lion, a very stylish speakeasy-style bar in the old centre of the city, was fooling around with some gin and some basil and they were inspired by the Whiskey Smash. This is a very old drink, based on Bourbon, which is ‘smashed’ with fresh lemon, fresh mint and a little bit of sugar. The Gin Basil Smash uses a good Gin as a basis, with fresh lemon, fresh basil and a little bit of sugar and the rest is history.

The drink spread like wildfire across Germany, causing the infamous Basil-mania, comparable to the Tulip-mania in Holland. It was only through a firm intervention of the government that this didn’t lead to a public outrage against basil-farmers, when angry bartenders occupied them to protest against the increased price. Ok, maybe I exaggerated a little here, but in short: it became very popular, very quickly. And here, the influence of social media was showcased for one of the first times: social media hadn’t been around for that long in 2008, can you remember the time before facebook and twitter? Me neither!

The Gin Basil Smash made the transition from a local cocktail to a modern classic in a matter of months. And lucky for us that it’s such an easy cocktail to make at home!

Method:
Cut a lemon in half and squeeze it in a shaker, the squeezed lemon goes into it as well. Add 20 ml/0.7 oz sugarsyrup (or 2 teaspoons fine white sugar and 2 teaspoons water), 6 – 8 large basil-leaves and muddle all well (smash!!). Now add 60 ml/2 oz good gin and fill the shaker with icecubes. Shake it really, really well – this way you make sure that the contents colour a bright green. Strain in a tumbler, filled with fresh ice. It you have a finestrainer (or tea-strainer), use that, so no fine particles of basil can ruin your perfect smile.

Picture by 69 Colebrook Row

SpeakEasy-style bars come in all different shapes and sizes. Unnoticeable doors, secret cellars, password-only, members-only etc etc. And although the strong arm of the law will not hunt these premises down, it feels special to be in a place that’s not accessible for everyone. On 69 Colebrook Row you can find The Bar With No Name, and conveniently called 69 Colebrook Row. Some things in life can be just that simple. To find this bar, you just have to turn on the navigation on your smartphone and you’re most certain to find this place, although it’s very easy to miss. The speakeasy part with this bar is that it’s just very small and tucked away and that they ask you to be nice to the neighbours after you leave, a kind gesture.

The bar opened mid 2009 and the man responsible for this  is Tony Conigliaro. No not this one, this one! Mr Conigliaro is a veteran when it comes to bartending and working with spirits. He not only opened this bar, but also a laboratory, where new flavours are added to existing brands, which opens an endless array of possibilities for creating drinks. Most of the base-spirits, syrups and bitters are created in the Drinks Factory, establishing 69 Colebrook Row as one of the most progressive bars in the industry.

The place itself is not of the fancy kind: no expensive designs, no marble bar or gold-plated ornaments: at 69 Colebrook Row it is all about hospitality and great cocktails. It is highly recommended to make a reservation, just in case a few other people before have decided to have a drink in the same place: it fills up pretty easylee. You’re welcomed by the staff - the hostess and the bartenders,  and the space is small enough to make no one enter unnoticed. All the (award-winning) staff-members are very capable of navigating you through their menu to find the perfect cocktail for you.

Drinking cocktails in The Bar With No Name is something special. As I’ve mentioned before, almost every ingredient that is used behind the bar comes out of their own lab, so you have to be open to try new flavours and put your taste buds to the test at times. And you will be rewarded for going here, for the drinks are all of extremely high quality. And yet pleasantly priced at £ 9. One example of all these great flavours is the Barbershop Fizz, in which you can find pine-infused gin (!) and a birch-vanilla syrup…talking about experimental!

The team has recently decided to revive the Gibson Martini , it’s not on their menu yet, but don’t hesitate to ask the staff. Just like you can ask for any classic cocktail – you are in safe hands when it comes down to these as well.

69 Colebrook Row is very well worth the visit, comes with a little journey to reach your destination, and has reset the standard for developing new flavours. You find yourself amongst a pleasant crowd and on week-end days a pianist will play tunes to enrichen the experience. Highly recommended!

The Bar With No Name – 69 Colebrook Row, London - +447540528593 or drinks@96colebrookrow.com

I couldn’t think of a more appropriate cocktail to celebrate the first day of spring, than the Russian Spring Punch. It was a great day here in Amsterdam, 18 degrees with no cloud in the sky at all. Just perfect! If only the evenings were just a few hours longer and a bit warmer, it would be even better. And it would be called summer.
Back to the Russian Spring Punch. This cocktails is invented by the great London-based bartender Dick Bradsell, who is also responsible for the creation of the Bramble, the Vodka Espresso and many more in the mid 80s. He’s also known as the Godfather of modern cocktails in London.

The good thing about this cocktail, is that the origins are very well known and documented, so no need for me to reproduce history here, but I’d like to take one quote from an interview that another great bartender called Tony Conigliaro had with Mr Bradsell in October 2003:

“If a cocktail or mixed drink is going to get around and become well known, it has to be simple, or at least, memorable. Being a traditionally trained bartender, I know the differences between Slings, Collins and Fizzes. I was taught how to combine a spirit, citrus and sweetner so that it tastes nice. Proportions seen obvious to me. I don’t get why someone would adjust this drink so it becomes unpalatable. I guess there are a lot of variables: quality of Champagne, freshness of lemon juice, strength of cassis. Maybe bartenders are lazy, and just want to make the drink rather fast than well.”

In other words: if you want to reproduce a cocktail at home, stick to the recipe at first. You can always adjust a little, like you would do with a nice meal. And you can rest assured that many cocktails have become the classics that they are today, just because people stuck to that same recipe over and over.

Method:
Mix 25 ml/0.75 oz of good vodka, 25 ml/0.75 oz fresh lemon juice, 3 barspoons of Creme de Cassis (depending on strength and sweetness) and 2 barspoons sugarsyrup (take one barspoon of white sugar if you don’t have syrup around). Stir (or shake) the ingredients and top with decent dry Champagne – it can be flat. Quellany excess fizzing by pouring 25 mls of vodka over the drink. Garnish with a lemonslice.

The liqueur Mandarin Napoléon is of course inspired by the famous French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who was born on Corsica in 1769. Corsica happened to be the perfect place to grow tangerines, that initially came from China and symbolic for wealth and luxury. It was Antoine-François de Fourcroy, a chemist and teacher, who introduced a distillate of tangerines to Napoléon while being a high representative in his government. The brand Mandarin Napoléon is based on his recipes and they added cognac to the distillate of tangerines, after which they let it rest in barrels for up to 3 more years.

The combination of the cognac and the distillate is a quite light and refreshing yet mature taste. There’s a slight bitter note from the oils in the skin of the tangerine and it nicely balances out with wood-tones from the cognac.

Method:
The sour is pretty much the basis for half of all cocktails in the world, if not more: some sugar, some sour and a base spirit. And there are endless variations to this theme. Today I’ve made the Mandarin Sour for myself – it was the first day of spring and I felt like drinking this cocktail, which adds a great fruity flavour to the sweet n sour. Here’s how you get to work: Get a cocktailshaker and add 50 ml/1.5 oz Mandarin Napoléon, 40 ml/1.3 oz fresh lemonjuice and 20 ml/0.7 oz sugarsyrup in a shaker. Also add 1-3 dashes of Angostura Bitters, depending how much depth and complexity you’d like to add to the drink. Now fill your shaker with icecubes and shake well. Make sure you have a large tumbler ready. If you’ve got plenty of icecubes, you can fill this with fresh icecubes and strain the cocktail over the ice. However, if you’re short on supplies which happens a lot more often, then just pour the entire drink in the glass, including the ice. Serve with a straw and a cherry if you still have that jar in your fridge.

My apologies for being one day late, I had the pleasure of visiting the Jenever Festival in Schiedam yesterday. Schiedam is a city, incorporated by the larger Rotterdam and home to a few of the oldest distilleries in the world. For the third year the festival is organized in the Jenever Museum and is drawing a larger crowd every year. Now how does Jenever (or Genever) relate to G&T Sunday? Distillery Van Toor is producing beautiful products like Jenever, Schelvispekel and Bitters but since last year, they’re also distilling gin: VL92 Gin. This gin is based on the old roots of the category, which is Genever and so the circle is complete.

VL92 Gin is based on Malt Wine ( 25 % moutwijn), a distillate from different types of grain. This is re-distilled with botanicals, including fresh corianderleaf, giving a fresh citrus flavour to the spirit and creating a very interesting taste that’s pretty one-of-a-kind for any spirit. This is definitely not a gin for inexperienced G&T drinkers, but all the more interesting for the G&T lover!

I’ve used the Fentiman’s tonic before in combination with Hendrick’s Gin, and described the tonic water as dry, from natural quinine and very citrussy, coming from the lemongrass and lime leaves. The combination with Hendrick’s didn’t work out perfectly, despite the great qualities of the separate products. The prefect G&T needs to have that 1+1=3 logic to it. How does the VL92 combination with fentiman’s stand out in this test?

I was lucky enough to have one served by the creator of the gin, Sietze Kalkwijk, product-designer in his normal life, who turns into a spirits-designer by night. He suggested to serve the G&T not with the standard lime because of the combined citrus already present in both liquids. He served them with a very thin slice of fresh ginger, which added a nice spicy dimension to this mix and also triggers the other botanicals in the gin. The combination of these two works extremely well: the Fentiman’s Tonic leaves enough room for the floral notes of the gin to shine through and the VL92 has a great sweetness from the malt wine and a little from liquorice. Here you notice the special addition of the malt wine and how well that works in the G&T.

Rating: 9.5/10

Method: Mix 40 ml / 1.5 oz VL92 Gin in a longdrink. Add a thin slice of fresh ginger, fill with icecubes and top with Fentiman’s tonic water. Give a gentle stir and enjoy!

Last year was a historic mark for Bombay Sapphire, because it was exactly 250 years ago then, in 1761, that the recipe, which Bombay Sapphire still uses today, went into production in Warrington (NW England). Next year will also mark a special occasion, because then the production facilities will be moved to Laverstoke Mill, a historic location halfway between London and Southampton. Bombay Sapphire itself was launched in 1987, giving a whole new dimension to the world of gin, which was back then a category on the verge of extinction. The design of the bottle, the use of 10 ingredients and the light style of making gin was something else then other gin-producers were doing and Bombay Sapphire can be named the key-ignitor of the gin-category.

The bottle: the bottle is a square-shaped blue transparent, displaying all 10 botanicals on the side. Recently, the label has been revised with less text and more uniformity in typefonts and a new type of paper is now used: much heavier and with old paper-look.
90/100

The nose: The scent from this gin is really strong, but pleasant. The sweet citrus-tones come from Spanish sweet lemons and Moroccan coriander. Other sweet notes come through, mainly from the liquorice and cinnamon and you can get a slight peppery feeling. That should come from the 2 types of pepper inside
92/100

The contents: The taste of Bombay Sapphire is significantly lighter then the smell, because of the type of distillation. Bombay Sapphire uses a vapour-infusion, which means that the neutral grain-spirit is first re-distilled and only then it passes the copper basket, containing the botanicals, in the still. The fumes then condense with the taste of the botanicals and the result is a much milder transport of flavours. I noticed a 4-step development in taste (This is only when you sip the spirit pure!): first the light notes come through: juniper, lemon and coriander. After that more earty notes of Angelica and Orris. After that you will taste more sweet and spicy notes of liquorice and cinnamon and in aftertaste there’s the pepper.
89/100

The mixability: Because of the light character of the gin it is very versatile. It will complement the cocktail or longdrink in which it’s used for, rather then dominate. This can be an advantage for those who like this lighter style of gin, but for people who are in to more heavy gins this might be a bit too light. But that’s the great thing about taste, no 2 people on the planet have exactly the same! And that’s why there’s such a huge variety of gins these days – but it all started with Bombay Sapphire.
91/100

Overall: Bombay Sapphire is a great product in itself and it addresses a very large group of drinkers who are not that fond of heavy juniper-gins. At the same time, it is a great mixable spirit that leaves room for a lot of other ingredients in a mixed drink. 90/100

Recipe: Sapphire Collins
Combine 2 heaped teaspoons of sugar (10 gram), 30 ml/1 oz fresh lemon juice and 60 ml/2 oz Bombay Sapphire in a longdrink or Collins glass. Stir well until the sugar is dissolved and fill with icecubes. Now top with soda and serve. Easy.