Jay in London – very new very cool blog
Its been a long time coming but a good friend of mine has now successfully started his own blog.
Jay had a dedicated section on betalabs, he is a very talented mixologist and we have spent many a time drinking tequila for me, rum for me discussing the finer aspects of life!
His blog will have a dedicated section on his bar Nighthawks (formily Jrink), it is based in Soho London and I am often in there enjoying a good drink or two.
Anyways check his blog out jayinldn.tumblr.com/
You can also catch him on twitter @jaynewell
Danny D
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Jrink and co, Soho – exclusive promo video
This is a new promo video for friends bar and one of my favourite bars Jrink and co in Soho, London.
Jrink offers cool deals every day of the week, they have live music and dj’s and best of all make mean cocktails!
My best mate Jay has his own dedicated blog
Check out their website www.jrinksoho.com and for exclusive deals follow them on twitter @jrinkandco
Danny Denhard
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CLASSIC COCKTAILS – Part two – COSMOPOLITAN
COSMOPOLITAN
Ah, Carrie Bradshaw what have you done?!
James Bond took the Vodka Martini and gave it immortality! But Sex and the City nearly
ruined one of the great classics!
Until 1999, the Cosmopolitan was one of the hottest drinks around and it is easy to see why.
It was strong, tart and tasted like, just maybe, you shouldn’t be enjoyingthe flavoures too much… Invented by Cheryl Cook in 1988, perfected by Toby Cecchini and popularised by the immortal Dale de Groff, it is the quintissential New York cocktail!
It is quite easy to make and memorise, and quitehard to get wrong. However, making the drink bright red , like the girls on TV were drinking it is a sure fire way to screw it up. At its most basic, the Cosmo is a Kamikaze with a splash of cranberry juice and should be a pale pink. If your Cosmo is the colour of cranberry juice, chances are that thats all it will taste like!
The perfect garnish for this drink is a flamd orange zest, made by igniting the oils from an orange peel over the surface of the drink. This gives it a warm, rich aroma and enhances the flavours from the orange liquour.
1 1/2 oz Citrus Vodka
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/4 oz fresh lime juice
3/4 oz Cranberry juice
Shake all ingredients then fine strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with your flamed orange zest!
Jay
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CLASSIC COCKTAILS – Part three – Bloody Mary
BLOODY MARY
In days gone by used to be Sunday mornings best friend, the Bloody Mary cocktail has been a favourite of many. Originally a half and half mix of Vodka and Tomato Juice, Fernand Pentiot a visiting American bartender at Harry’s Bar in Paris remade it into the Bloody Mary by adding salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, Worcestershire sauceand lemon juice to the mix then giving it a shake before serving.
The history of the name is somewhat less clear. Pentiot has been quoted as saying it referes to a girl called Mary at the Bucket of Blood club in Chicago, so called because in the evenings it got so violent that they had to throw a bucket of blood on the street every night after they finished cleaning up!
Like the Caipirovska and the Collins, the Bloody Mary is easily adapted according to personal preference or what is in the cupboard! Mine goes something like this:
1 3/4 oz Ketel One Vodka
1/2 bar spoon La Chinata Paprika
4 dashes Tobasco
1/2 oz Port
3/4 oz Lemon juice
1 bar spoon Olive Brine
Sambal Paste
Cracked Pepper
1/3 bar spoon Horse Raddish
150 ml Tomato Juice
Pinch of chopped Basil
In a mixing glass combine all ingredients and add ice. Shake vigorously. Strain ingredients into Collins glass and Garnish with fresh a cucumber slice and a pinch of rock salt!
Jay x
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CLASSIC COCKTAILS – Part One – Martini
MARTINI;
Whenever you close your eyes and imagine a ‘cocktail’, chances are the first image to spring to mind will be that of a V-shaped glass with a long stem, and in all likelihood containing a couple of olives and a measure of clean white liquor. The ‘Martini’ is the quintessential cocktail, but much of what is served as a Martini cocktail today is a long way from the origional cocktail the Martinez.
If it is served in a Martini glass, it does not necessarily follow that it is a Martini cocktail.
As a general rule, drinks which are called Martini cocktails have a strong ‘base’ of a clean white spirit – almost always a healthy measure of Vodka or Gin. Then subtle flavourings and additions are added to soften or enhance the properties of the base. When this is done in a balanced and appropriate way, the result is a work of art!
When making a Martini cocktail for your loyal friends, there are a couple of key points to determine. Firstly, would they like Vodka or Gin. This is a great opportunity to tailor the cocktails to your friends’ tastes. How dry would they like it? Would they like olives or a twist? And finally, would they like it shaken or stirred? It is a proven rule of the bar that requests for shaken Martini cocktails always go up whenever a James Bond movie is released . . . Most people prefer a stirred Martini cocktail, but it is good to remember that the perfect Martini cocktail is exectly the person who will be drinking it likes it . . . even if they are only quoting from a film!
As a general rule, make a Vodka Martini ‘drier’ than a Gin Martini, as the taste of Vermouth is more pronounced when mixed with Vodka.
The following recipe is for a very dry Vodka Martini, whith a twist of Grapefruit. Grapefruit enhances the botanicals of Vodka beautifuly!
2 oz Belvedere Vodka,
5 mls Martini Extra Dry Vermouth,
1 Grapefruit Zest
Chill your cocktail glass with ice and prepare your garnish. Then fill a mixing glass with ice and stir gently to chill the glass. Once frosted, strain away any excess liquid and top with more ice. Add Vermouth, stir well to coat the ice and strain away the Vermouth. Top with ice again, this time add your Vodka and stir well. Strain into your chilled cocktail glass and garnish with your fresh Garpefruit zest.
Jay
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How is….Tequila made – Barman’s secret
A lot of people (most people) think that tequila is made from a Cactus…this is not true and to shed a little more light on it here’s the tequila making process for you…
Tequila is made from the Weber Blue Agave plant grown in the Jalaisco region of Mexico and this region only.
Once the agave reaches certain maturity the Jimadores, strong men who farm the agave, chose the best plants and they start cutting its leaves back to leave what resembles a pineapple. Then these ‘pina’s’ are transported to a factory in order to be processed.
In order to assure an efficient cooking process, the agaves or pinas are cut in half to manage a greater penetration of steam.
Approximately 100 tons of agave are received daily to be processed.
Once the pinas are cut in half they are ready for the cooking process, which takes place in brick furnaces. This process lasts 48 hours (24 hrs for cooking & 48 hrs for cooling).
The cooked agave is then passed to mechanical mills where the juices are extracted.
The extracted juices from the agave undergoes a fermentation process in tanks with a capacity of around 30,000 litres. This process lasts between 102 and 120 hours.
This process is one of the key stages in the elaboration of tequilas, which is done in open containers without adding additional heat and is usually distilled twice with the heads and tails cut to obtain pure tequila!
Now you know how tequila is made then perhaps you’ll be able to enjoy it that much more knowing how much hard work goes into making this unique spirit!
Jay
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TEQUILA IS…
TEQUILA IS…
…Made in a limited area of Mexico from the ‘cactus like’ blue agave plant. These plants grow for 10 years or more under the hot Mexican sun, giving the drink made from them a special quality and power. Tequila must have a minimum of 51% blue agave sugars. The other sugars are usually from sugar cane.
From brand to brand and type to type there exists a marked difference, depending on areas of growth, and type and style of production.
100% Blue Agave has a distinctive, full agave taste. Only sugars from the blue agave plant are used.
Mezcal is a distillate of the agave plant made outside the tequila region, often with a worm in the bottle!
*TEQUILA CLASSES
.BLANCO – Colourless, young tequila.
.GOLD – Young tequila with caramel added.
.REPOSADO – Aged in wood for 2 – 12 months.
.ANEJO – Aged in oak for 1 and not more than 3 years.
.EXTRA ANEJO – Aged in oak for more than 3 years.
Tequila drinking can be done in so many different ways. I would suggest the following,
DON JULIO BLANCO OLD FASHIONED
2 oz Don Julio Blanco Tequila,
2 Dashes Fee Brothers Orange Bitters,
1 Bar Spoon Demarera Sugar,
1 Orange Zest (1sq inch in size)
METHOD
This drink is ‘built’ which means your going to make it in the same glass your going to drink it from so with that in mind, let’s go.
Get your orange zest and carefully remove the pith then add your brown sugar, orange zest and orange bitters to your 12 oz tumbler. With a muddler or a rolling pin, press the ingredients together until you start to get the oils from the orange zest. Don’t tear the orange zest! Then half fill your glass with hard ice cubes (you’ll get better quality ice if you buy it, try not to make your own from the tap!). Pour in 1oz of your tequila and with a bar spoon stir carefully for 2 minutes. Now fill your glass with more ice and add your remaining 1oz of tequila and stir for a further 2 minutes.
The stirring process is so long because this not only chills the drink to a perfect temperature and amplifyies the flavours of the tequila but it slightly dilutes the drink too, water softening and balancing the drink perfectly!
Jay
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Don Augustin Tequila
Hey guys, sorry for missing my post last week but I was sunning myself in Puerto Banus, back now though and have a bit of info on what looks like its going to be one of the most popular tequilas next year!
Don Augustin Tequila -
Don Augustin tequilas are single estate 100% agave tequilas for connoisseurs all bottled on the Camarena family premises and widely available in the best tequila bars in the uk including Green And Red and Cafe Pacifico.
Don Augustin 100% agave Blanco was released in 2006 and is ideal for mixing in superior cocktails or drinking on its own (the later being my preference). It has a citrus fruit aroma with fresh, rich tropical fruit characters and an intense agave flavour.
Don Augustin 100% agave reposado is aged for 6 months and the Anejo is aged for 14 months in American oak barrels, ideally for drinking neat like a brandy or cognac or for mixing in superior cocktails. The strong agave aroma is followed by moist earthy tones and wood, mellow agave taste with dry light peppery wood flavours on the finish
Jay x
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Cocktail of the week #4 – Taste Sensation
Taste Sensation
1 1/2 oz tanqueray Gin
1/2 oz Sweet Sherry
1/4 of a whole Pommegranite
1 Bar Spoon Caster Sugar
1 Thin Slice Birds Eye Chilli
2 oz Cranberry Juice
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
Muddle the Chilli, Pommegranite and Sugar in your Boston Glass before adding the rest of you ingredients.
Once you’ve added all the ingredients fill your Boston Glass with ice cubes and shake it harder than you’ve ever shook anything before!
Relax for a few seconds…1…2….3 ok, now fine strain everything into a chilled 7oz Martini Glass and carefully garnish with a single Birds Eye Chilli!
Jay x
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Red Headed Slutt – Cocktail of the week #3
I came up with this drink whilst running a training session with my staff members at Jrink. I was running a session on infusing (check spelling) spirits with different flavours.
At Jrink we infuse a lot of our flavoured vodkas ourselves. Behind my bar we have vodkas infused with Lemon, Orange, Vanilla, Chives, Chilli, Lemon Grass, Bay Leaf, Apricot and Basil and because I am passionate about Tequila I infused a bottle of Heradura Reposado with Chilli and Ginger and the results were amazing.
Using this infusion I created this bizarre little gem!
Red Headed Slutt
1 1/2 oz Chilli & Ginger infused Heradura Reposado,
1/2 oz Creme De Cacao Blanc,
1/4 oz Agavero Tequila Liqueur,
3/4 oz Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice,
1 Bar Spoon White Chocolate Sugar Syrup,
1 oz Pressed Apple Juice
Topped with Ginger Ale
Garnish this taste sensation with:
1 Birds Eye Chilli and some Shaved Ginger!
Method
Pour all ingedients excluding the Ginger Ale to your boston shaker, fill with cubed ice and shake like a mad man!
Strain all contents over cubed ice in a 14 oz glass, then add your Ginger Ale. And garnish!!
Jay x
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