ECLIPSE PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE

A SHORT HISTORY OF GIN

‘Gin Alley’ – Howarth c1751

Gin is the world’s only true urban spirit. It has a history of only being produced in
cities, and as a result of this association consumption drops as soon as you head
out of these urban areas.

Gin was probably discovered by monks in about the 1200’s who added juniper to
a distilled spirit to create a ‘medicine’. At that stage juniper was known to be very
good for your internal organs and digestive tract. It’s original popularity based on
the healthy properties of Juniper spread across Europe in the wake of the Black
Plague as people started using Juniper based elixirs to ward off the black death.
The first mention of Genever is in 1552 with a Genever infused brandy.

In 1650 Dr Silvias re-made this and started using it for a intestinal antiseptic, he
was unique in that he added it to a malt spirit base where as now it is made from
a grain spirit (for example Hendricks gin is a wheat based spirit) demand for his
new wonder product soon outstripped supply as more and more people
‘discovered problems with there intestinal tracts’ and he started producing it
commercially.

In the late 1580s a juniper-flavored spirit of some sort was found in Holland by
British troops who were fighting with the Dutch against the Spanish in the Dutch
War of Independence. They gratefully drank it to give them what they soon came
to call "Dutch courage" in battle. Interestingly the Dutch navy later had a Genever
ration instead of a rum ration!
William of orange, another Dutchman, who by being sneaky managed to get
himself onto the British throne then bought gin to Britain, he liked gin because it
reminded him of home, and didn’t like English beer because he was smart and
they didn’t have Stella yet so he passed a law making it easy for everyone to
make there own gin. For a while gin was known as ‘Hollands’ due to the Dutch
connections.

This coincided quite closely with the introduction of the Coffey still (or column
still) in London, which helped distinguish London gin from Genever and has
resulted in the style which we now call London dry gin.

England became a nation of drunks, with 1 house in 4 distilling and selling gin
which resulted in 6 times more gin being consumed than beer at the height of the
craze, production dropped, they got rid of William of orange and replaced him
with someone smart enough to try and reduce the amount of gin consumption,
they introduced the tippling act or gin act, this basically meant that you needed a
license to produce gin. And licenses cost money. A lot of this was forced through
by the brewers who were seeing their market vanish. Brewers have a lot of
money to spend on political lobbying and were a much more cohesive group of
people than the gin distillers and they eventually (for the good of the country) got
there way.
Interestingly it was in 1700 that hops became the only botanical to be able to be
used in beer production, prior to this date beer was as heavily flavoured as gin is
now, with many being able to list as many different botanicals as Bombay
Sapphire or Hendricks!
In 1790 90% of all British gin was being produced in London, there were 40
distillers in borough alone, although the main area for distillation was in Finsbury
due to its convenience to the local fresh water source, the Clerken well. and at
one stage 50-60% of all taxable spirits produced in the UK were produced in
London. In order to be efficient and squeeze as much money out of production as
possible distilleries used to keep pigs which they fed on the mash fro the stills
after they had extracted all the alcohol, this made them incredibly unpopular
neighbours, before its move to Oval the beefeater distillery was based in Chelsea
and had 10’s of thousands of pigs!
 Cartoon of a Victorian gin palace

This pushed the price up, and consumption dropped. The UK sobered up. For a
while. Gin became more respectable and was consumed in better circles,
gentleman now drank gin.

The British navy took it around the world and was responsible for cocktails such
as ‘pink gin’, a ‘gimlet’, and the good old gin and tonic where the older sweeter
gin was used to sweeten up and make the quinine water they used to combat
malaria more palatable. A Pink gin was invented for this same anti-malarial
reason, and a gimlet, a combination of lime cordial and gin, was invented to get
the sailors to drink lime cordial as the vitamin C in this stopped them getting
Scurvy.
Gin was also integral in the triangular slave trade with gin being sent to Africa to
pay for slaves, which were then sent to the Caribbean.

Gin comes in several styles.

1) London Dry Gin. This is what most gins are, and amusingly despite the
‘London’ in the title it can be made anywhere in the world. There’s actually
only one gin still made in London and that’s Beefeater, which is produced
near Oval in south London.
2) Genever. This is the Dutch style of gin. Typically around 35% and with a
slightly creamy mouth feel this tastes quite different to a classic gin.
Genever is aged slightly before bottling.
3) Plymouth Gin. As can be seen the British navy obviously had better
lawyers than Londoners, either that or people were scared of them as to
be a Plymouth Gin it must be produced in Plymouth, much like the
situation with Champagne.
4) Gin Liqueurs. These use gin or sometimes just a neutral spirit as a base
and are flavoured with fruit and spices. Examples are Sloe gin, Damson
gin and Pimms.
5) Aged Gin. There is currently only one commercially available aged gin,
and this is only available in the US (even though its produced in Scotland)
this spends 2-3 years in oak in Scotland before bottling. The brand is
Kensington Aged Gin.
6) Old Tom Gin. This was a sweetened style of gin, the sugar added to
mask the cheap spirit of the day. Currently the only old tom produced is
made by Wray and Nephews in Jamaica, although recently Hayman’s
have released a ‘Gin Liqueur’, which would be fairly similar to an old tom.
Hendricks (www.hendricksgin.com)

Hendricks was invented, allegedly by a gentleman sitting in his grandmothers

rose garden eating cucumber sandwiches and sipping gin and tonics, and yes it
was Granny Hendricks. It is produced by the W Grant Company also responsible
for Reyka vodka and monkey shoulder whisky, and is made in Scotland.
It uses the following as its botanicals, almond powder, lemon peel, coriander
seeds, angelica root, juniper, orange peel, cassia bark and orris root, then after
distillation distillates of rose and cucumber are then added to the spirit.
The production process uses two different stills, a classic Bennet still and a
Carter head still all of the botanicals are used in both stills, and then the two
spirits are blended together to make the final product.
A Carter head still (like the one used in Bombay sapphire) suspends the
botanicals in a basket above the wash, as the alcohol evaporates through the
suspended botanicals it extracts the flavours. This produces a light, delicately
flavoured spirit.
Hendricks has a crispy zesty rose-violet aroma and a light sweet citrus fruit
flavour with a little light juniper.

Tanqueray

Tanqueray is a real gin drinker’s gin that is it has all the characteristics a classic
gin should. It’s a classic ‘London dry gin’ and is made in Scotland; its made in a
still called Old Tom and is distilled 4 times.
It uses a maceration technique where the botanicals used are placed in the still
with the wash. Key botanicals are liquorice, coriander, angelica and juniper.
The shape of the bottle is modelled on a old Victorian fire hydrant, which is also
what allot of the old cocktail shakers were modelled on, this is the reason for the
similar shape.

Tanqueray 10

This is a completely different gin; it uses a much smaller still called ‘Tiny Tim’. In
here fresh lemons, limes and grapefruit are macerated and distilled with grain
alcohol, this is then blended with another style of gin characterised by a strong
chamomile content.
 Plymouth

Plymouth gin is from Plymouth. Obvious. There used to be several distilleries in

Plymouth all producing there own style of ‘Plymouth Gin’ for the British navy,
over time these have all closed and now only one remains.
The current Plymouth Gin was first produced in 1793, and uses the same recipe
of botanicals today that it used all those years ago; it is in fact England’s oldest
working distillery.
It was one of the earlier popular gin brands; the first edition of the Savoy cocktail
book lists 27 recipes using Plymouth.
The Bottle has a picture of the ‘Mayflower’ on the label, this is because that
famous ship housed all the pilgrims in the Plymouth distillery before setting sail
on that famous voyage to the new world.
Plymouth produces several different kinds of gin. Their standard gin, a navy
strength, damson gin, sloe gin and a fruit cup similar to Pym’s.
Plymouth uses 7 botanicals.
1) Juniper
2) Coriander
3) Orange Peel
4) Lemon Peel
5) Angelica
6) Cardamom
7) Orris Root

Plymouth tends to have a lighter floral flavour than its competitors, a relatively
sweet nose comes first then wildflowers, lavender with some citrus and nice
balanced juniper.
The current master distiller Desmond Paine was the head distiller at beefeater for
many years.
Plymouth also produce a navy strength gin at 57% this gets its name as it could
be used to light gunpowder in wet weather and was hence perfect for the royal
navy.

Juniper berries coriander seeds angelica root cardamom orris root

Plymouth Gin Cocktails
Martini
The most famous cocktail in the world. Easily. Martini drinkers will commonly like
a certain preparation style, the below one is the proportions I want used from
now on, it makes a ‘wetter’ than usual style martini.
On of the first times this drink surfaced was as a ‘Marquerite’ in ‘Stuarts fancy
drinks and how to mix them’ from 1896

2/3 Plymouth Gin

1/3 Vermouth
dsh orange bitters

Stir ingredients for at least 20 seconds and double strain into a chilled martini
glass. Garnish with a thick lemon zest, or an olive if requested.

Gimlet

50ml Plymouth Gin

25ml Roses Lime cordial

Shake and double strain into a martini glass, dress the glass with a lime wedge.
This drink can also be served more commonly in a rocks glass over ice; I’d ask
whether they’d like it on the rocks or straight up. I’d also recommend adding a
dash of fresh lime juice to it as well, but again, ask.

Roses lime cordial actually has an incredibly interesting history, it was one of the
earliest mass produced soft drinks on the market and was invented as a way of
preserving the vitamin ‘c’ rich qualities of lime juice for sea voyages by a Lauchlin
Rose in Scotland.

Tanqueray makes a delicious Tom Collins

50ml Tanqueray
20ml Lemon or Lime juice
10ml Gomme

Build in a tall glass and top with soda stirring all the ingredients together.
Another way is to shake the first 3 ingredients then add the soda, this I think
produces a nicer tasting drink.
This drink is easily improved with bitters or fresh fruit.

Aviation

A wonderful classic cocktail, originally from about prohibition in the US although

maybe slightly beforehand. Original recipes tend to be very tart, Patrick Gavin
McDuffys recipe from the “official mixers manual” calls for 1/3 lemon juice, 2/3
gin, 2 dashes maraschino and 2 dashes crème de violette which is too sour for
modern taste buds.
Our aviation recipe is as follows
40ml Hendricks gin
25ml lemon juice
10ml crème de violette
5-10ml gomme to taste
2-3 dashes maraschino

Shake and double strain into a cocktail glass, garnish with a lemon zest.

“I never should have switched from scotch to martini’s” - Humphrey Bogart

Vodka

Vodka is eastern European, no one is sure whether it was first made in Poland or
Russia, and historically international boundaries between the two countries have
been blurred.

The 1st written reference to vodka was in Poland in 1405

Prior to the 16th century vodka was used as a medicine and was not consumed
socially – i.e. no body used to invite his friends around to get on the lash with a
couple of bottles of stoli before the 16th century – they were more likely to have a
shot to help cure indigestion.
Vodka has been flavoured for centuries – infusions are not a recent thing. The
oldest flavour style is probably goldwasser. Gin can be considered juniper-
flavoured vodka.

With the discovery of the Coffey still in the 18th century and Mendeleev’s charcoal
filtration method (filters to a molecular level, as apposed to mechanical filters
which are less effective) larger volumes of vodka could be distilled with a cleaner
clear taste.
 A Coffey still

Smirnoff was the first major western vodka. In 1917 the Russian revolution
caused the Smirnoff family to move to the USA. The Russian Smirnoff vodka was
character vodka and by the time it was released to US it had been altered to
neutral vodka. The recipe was bought of a Pierre Smirnoff in the 40’s and
released in the US soon after. Initially it’s consumption was incredibly low, then
the guy who owned Smirnoff teamed up with a friend who had a whole load of
ginger beer and they invented the Smirnoff Moscow mule to try and push sales.
This drink caused the vodka revolution pushing sales in 1950 of 40000 cases a
year to 4 million in 1955 to 8 million by late 1957.
The rises in sales of the Moscow mule can also be attributed to “the vanity of the
bartender” Polaroid cameras were recently invented and bartender would get
photos for themselves as incentive to sell the drink.

1980’s saw the release of Absolut as the first premium, character vodka with its
cool sexy image.

1996 saw the release of Belvedere as the first luxury vodka, made only from
Dunkowskie gold Rye which is distilled 4 times. The spring water used is
naturally molecularly filtered through mineral beds. Uses a continuous column
still and is filtered 4 times.
The combination of quality water, grain and distillation gives the vodka soft
features with distinctive flavour, character and taste

Flavour profiles of different grains and types of vodka

Rye – most expensive grain – has a peppery spicy vanilla creamy flavour,
savoury, vanilla, heavy– wyborowa, belvedere
Barley – very dry flavours – finlandia
Potatoes – creamy, buttery, expensive – luksosowa
Wheat – creamy, neutral, clean, fresh – stoli or grey goose
Corn – popcorn, buttery, sweet – rain
Molasses – cheapest grain – artificial flavour, tinny – dukes!

80% of vodkas are made from molasses and wheat, considered cheaper
ingredients.

Polish vodka is not by law allowed to have any additives. All other countries are
allowed to add things. Sugar is often added to round off the harsh flavours.
60% of vodka is water – hence the source of this water is very important, some
vodkas like Reyka or 42 below market their product on the strength of the water
quality.

When tasting vodka remember Dmitri’s room analogy, tasting a spirit is like
walking into a new room for the first time, open the door to the room, walk in
slowly and have a look around, pause, then walk out slowly. This is how you
should introduce a spirit to your mouth during a tasting.

Snow Queen
Snow Queen is a relatively new vodka, having only really been available ion the
UK since 2005. Its made in the former soviet republic, Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan
home of Borat, is also the home of the 5th largest oil reserves in the world, and
the top 5 of the most important mineral reserves.

It also produces a massive amount of wheat, convenient when you make vodka.
Not only this but the bulk of this wheat is organic, and has always been so as
they don’t need to use chemicals to increase production as it grows naturally so
well here.
Snow queen is distilled 5 times, that is there are 5 stills in series of the above
Coffey variety, in an arrangement seen below.

Grey Goose
Grey goose was launched by Sydney Franks, the same person behind the global
success of jagermeister, in 1996.
It is an American concept vodka produced in the cognac region of France. This
non-traditional area of vodka production was chosen due to it having a long
tradition of distillation and the area (France and cognac) being associated with
luxury goods.

Grey Goose markets itself as being superior based on

1) Having a ‘maitre de chai’ or cellar master involved in its production.
2) Using 100% French wheat
3) Using the purest spring water
4) It’s 5 step continuous distillation process
5) Taste – lush, smooth with a finish reminiscent of French pastries.
It also goes through an astounding 500 quality control checks from start to
finished product.
Grey Goose has three flavours available in the UK,
L’orange – a vodka flavoured with Florida oranges using orange flower
and foliage from the tree to give a rounded ‘orange’ flavour.
Citrus – a lemon flavoured vodka, using French Menot Lemons.
La Poire – a pear flavoured vodka using Anjou Pears.
These three flavours are al made by macerating the fruit, in the case of the citrus
the peels in grey goose vodka then re-distilling it in a pot still. This is then re-
blended with more Grey Goose vodka to ensure the fruit isn’t overpowering.

Belvedere
Flavoured vodkas often don’t use real flavours in the production process but
instead buy chemical flavours from an industrial producer, the most famous of
which is based in New Jersey and written about in ‘fast food nation’.
Belvedere employs Elie-Arnaud Denoix a flavour artist to capture the purest
natural flavour from the fruit. The process of maceration or steeping is used, real
fruit is combined with belvedere spirit for weeks and constantly adjusted to
achieve the ideal balance of flavour, and maceration creates the fusion between
the spirit and the fruit’s essential oils. After maceration a half distillation takes
place to remove the colour.
A final step in the distillation process is called the Coup, after the spirit has been
distilled with real fruit, one third of the spirit is put back to be distilled again with a
new batch. This assures flavour consistency.

Belvedere has two flavours,

Pomeranzia – an orange flavoured vodka distilled using Spanish mandarin,
Moroccan oranges and Moroccan orange blossoms, limes from south eastern
Spain, Brazil and Mexico. A complex beverage that required over 80 different
recipes before settling on recipe Q42.
Citrus – uses winter lemons for the big savoury lemon flavour, spring prima viori
lemons for a fragrant floral note and limes for some sweetness. The lemons are
from Murcia in Spain and the limes from Spain, Brazil and Mexico.
Only 18 recipes were needed before deciding on recipe Q11.

Belvedere vodka is charcoal filtered, when making the macerations belvedere

uses its standard belvedere vodka then macerates the fruit in the vodka. It is not
charcoal filtered after this, as this would remove the flavour.
The macerations go slightly cloudy when you add water due to the remaining fruit
oils in the vodka.

Whisky
The term 'whisky' derives originally from the Gaelic 'uisge beatha,' or
'usquebaugh,' meaning "water of life." Gaelic is the branch of Celtic spoken in the
Scottish Highlands. It's believed that whisky was produced in Scotland long
before 1400s.

Throughout the centuries, Whisky has become inextricably woven into the fabric
of Scotland’s history, culture and customs. This has not been without its
hardships. Around the time of the Act of Union with England in 1707, whisky
production was effectively driven underground and more importantly to the
islands and the highlands to evade excessive levels of taxation. This led to the
creation of famous distilleries such as Talisker on the Isle of Skye and Laphroaig
and Lagavulin on the isle of Islay (pronounced ‘eye-la’).

The main areas of whisky production in Scotland are the Highlands, the
Lowlands, Speyside, Islay, Orkney Islands, Skye, Jura, and Campbeltown. The
First 4 are the more important ones and make up the bulk of whisky production.
It’s believed that different areas produce spirits of different flavours influenced by
the surrounds and how these surrounds aromatize the air and flavour the water.

Characteristics you’re likely to find in the various areas are

1) Lowland: grassy, vegetation, more herbal flavours.

2) Islay: salty sea aromas, seaweed, iodine, oily.

3) Highlands: heather, floral, fruity.

4) Speyside: floral, fruity, honey. Softer in flavour due to the water.

In 1823, the Excise Act was passed, allowing distilling in exchange for a fee. Today
there are more than 2,500 Scotch whisky brands sold to more than 200 countries worldwide.

Whisky is made in many countries around the world aside from Scotland. USA, Canada and Japan are the major
producers, its also made in Pakistan, India, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand to name a few.

By law a scotch whiskey must…

Be made from water, barley and yeast
Be distilled in Scotland
Aged for a minimum of 3 years

There are several different types of whiskies.

 1) Single Malt. This is a whiskey made at one distillery only
2) A Blend. This is when several different single malts are blended together
then added to some neutral grain spirit.
3) A Vatted Malt. This is when several different single malts are blended
together.
4) A Grain Whisky. This is distilled in a column still and produces a light
spirit generally used for blending. Very few of these are sold as non-
blended products.

Recently there has been a dramatic swing back to people drinking single malts
instead of blends, and they’ve gained a reputation as being superior products,
this is a little unfair as there is a real art in being able to marry together several
different single malts in order to repeatedly create a consistently flavoured vatted
malt or blend. The addition of a neutral grain whisky is probably what detracts
from people’s perception of a blend.
Malts capture local differences, similar to Terroir with wine. The other main
factors influencing the flavour of malts are the ingredients used, the equipment
and the actual process.

Grain whisky was first introduced around the same time as Phylloxera destroyed
most of Europe’s vineyards; this was a boom time for the whisky industry as a
whole and being able to produce large amounts of cheap spirit made fortunes for
almost all involved. Because of the introduction of this new type of spirit blended
malts were created, it was discovered pretty quickly that adding this neutral spirit
to a malt whisky allowed you to seriously increase your volumes.
Grain whisky is distilled off at 94%, which is why it’s so neutral in flavour; a malt
whisky typically comes of the still at around 74% approx, and has a lot of flavour
because of this (for example Balvenie on average is about 69%, with a cut
between 80% and 50%).
Blended whiskies with a large proportion of this grain spirit have a strong alcohol
smell to them, and tend to have almost no peat at all. Typically blended Scotch
whisky’s like famous grouse have 25% malt whisky and 75% grain whisky.
Blending was started when smaller merchants purchased stocks of whisky to sell
on from different distilleries, they discovered when trying to maximise there stock,
that pleasing combinations of malts resulted in a great spirit, blending began.

There are 6 steps in the production of whisky

1) Malting. The grain is placed in water; this makes the grain start to
germinate and creates a starch, which allows it to be fermented.
2) Kilning. The grain is removed from the water and roasted with peat and
coal to stop the germination process and give it some flavour. Strong
peaty malts like Lagavulin use extra peat at this stage in the process.
3) Mashing. The grain is added back into water to form a wash.
Fermentation. The wash is placed in a barrel with yeast, which causes it
to ferment – create alcohol; the product at this stage is like a crude beer.
4) Distillation. The fermented wash is then placed in an onion shaped
copper still. It is heated and as this happens the ‘steam’ from the wash
rises and is funnelled off in a pipe, as the steam cools and condenses it
forms a more pure spirit. A tall still will give a light, delicate spirit, a short
still a heavy, earthy, cereal flavoured spirit.
5) Aging. Now the spirit is placed in oak barrels, often barrels which have
been previously used to store sherry in, and aged for a minimum of 3
years. The alcoholic strength at this stage is almost always 63.5% in
 Scotland, as it ages in a cool climate this strength will decrease over time.
Sherry barrels will give flavours of fruit, spice and wood; bourbon barrels
will give dry vanilla and caramel flavours. During this aging process a lot of
air from outside the barrel will enter and add characteristics to the spirit as
it ages, there is a belief that spirits from different areas are influenced to a
large degree by this, see above in the regions for a break down.

Chivas

Chivas Bros was originally a merchant based in Scotland specialising in tea and
perfumes. Queen Victoria famously used Chivas Bros for groceries while
holidaying in Balmoral which is how they achieved there royal warrant.
Typical to Blended Scotch whisky they started producing a blend from the
selection of barrels they had stored in accidentally perfect aging conditions in
there cellar. In 1909 they produced Chivas Regal (royal) for Edward IV who was
on the English throne at the time. This whisky was a blend of sherry and bourbon
aged whisky, with emphasis on the bourbon.
Chivas is characterised with honey, butterscotch, apples, pears, apricots and a
little spice as signature aromas. Flavours tend to be of dried fruit, caramel and
chocolate.

Famous Grouse

This is a 4-5 year old blended whisky produced by the Edrington group, and is
currently the largest selling blended whisky in the UK. It uses Macallan, Highland
Park and Glenglassaugh as sources of malt whisky’s but uses an enormous 75%
Grain whisky in its final blend.
It has a strong cereal and ethanol alcohol aroma with some oak and dime bars!
When adding a splash of water it starts to smell a little like apple crumble and
carries sweetness with it.

BNJ (Baille Nicol Jarvey)

This is a blended malt from LVMH. It has a unusually large percentage of malt
whiskies in the blend with 60% malt and only 40% grain, this gives it a strong
peat aroma but with a smooth mouth feel. It has flavours of smoke, honey, citrus,
vanilla and a light cereal. It has a slight apple like sweetness to it and when water
is added smoke and lemon peel come out of the flavour.

Monkey Shoulder

This is a ‘blended malt scotch whisky’ and is made by William Grant. It’s made by
blending together 3 single malts; Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kenenvie.

The stills at Glenfiddich

It gets its name from the production process, during the malting the grains must
all be turned which used to be done by hand (only a couple of distilleries still do
this, most have machines now) the action of which created a intense pain in the
shoulder which was called ‘monkey shoulder’.
Monkey shoulder uses only 1st and 2nd fill Oak in a combination of American oak
for flavour and sherry casks for colour.
Monkey has no neutral grain spirit so tends to have a heavier aroma and flavour
with things like honey, heather, cereal, caramel, apple and cinnamon detectable.

Tossing the grain

Glenmorangie

Has been operating since 1843 and the ten year old we carry has been aged for
a minimum of 10 years in old bourbon casks from Heaven Hill and Makers mark
distilleries in Kentucky. It operates a rental scheme with the barrels, where
Glenmorangie actually owns the barrels and rents them to Makers and Heaven
Hill.
Glenmorangie doesn’t use any peat in the kilning process and as a result there
are no smokey peat flavours to be found, instead it has a spicy fruitiness and
some vanilla on the palate. It also uses 4 very tall stills, some 17 feet in height,
it’s said that this contributes to the soft finish.
The stills are designed like this as they are old gin stills, and these characteristics
are perfect for gin distillation form a pot still.

Ardbeg

Ardbeg is one of the 7 whisky distillers located on Islay off the west coast of
Scotland.
Ardbeg is the most heavily peated malt produced, however the process it uses
removes a lot of the peat making it lighter than Laphroaig. The whisky isn’t chill
filtered at all which makes it go cloudy when water is added for a similar reason
to the belvedere macerations.
It is a small operation, using only one still, and has been like this since its
creation in 1815. It did close however between 1976 and 1997 when it was
purchased and revived by LVMH.
It has citrusy peaty flavours with a little vanilla. It has a smokey creamy
consistency.
 American Whiskey

What is Bourbon?

Bourbon was invented in the US in the 1700’s in the US. It was born when British
and European immigrants intent on making a whiskey style spirit to remind them
of home had difficulty finding their beloved barley and instead turned to corn,
which grew everywhere. This surplus of corn led to some 200 distilleries set up in
middle America alone.

By the late 1700’s Kentuckians were shipping whiskey down the Mississippi and
Ohio rivers to New Orleans the closest major port. They shipped this whiskey
from limestone, a riverside port in Bourbon County in Kentucky, (named after the
French royal family as a thanks for them help during the American revolution).
They shipped the whiskey in oak barrels and soon noticed that the whiskey was
allot smoother and had darkened in colour when it reached New Orleans after a
couple of months in the barrels. Soon the whiskey became famous, and was
known as the whiskey from bourbon, which was soon shortened to just ‘bourbon’.

Boring fact #1
Whiskey usually denotes American spirit; whisky is the British name for it. The Irish originally
used the spelling ‘ey’, it’s thought that, as the Irish were some of the first to try and distil in the US
that they bought their name for the spirit to America.

The ‘charring’ the inside of the barrels with flame was initially done to remove
residual flavours from the wood. Back in the old days barrels were damn
expensive and often multipurpose. The barrels that were used to ship bourbon
down to New Orleans where then filled up with fish, or other agricultural produce
and shipped back up to Kentucky, in order to remove the fish flavour from the
barrels so they could re-use them for whiskey, they burnt the inside of the barrel,
charring it. Soon they discovered that this layer of charring on the inside of the
barrel helped clean up the flavour of the whiskey by removing impurities.
Boring fact #2
Charcoal is good at trapping other carbon-based impurities ("organic" chemicals), as well as
things like chlorine. Many other chemicals are not attracted to carbon at all -- sodium, nitrates,
etc. -- so they pass right through. This means that an activated charcoal filter will remove certain
impurities while ignoring others.

To be called bourbon the whiskey must comply with the following

1) It must come off the still at less than 80% alcohol. It will then me blended
with water to reduce the strength to the 40-50% region.
2) It must be aged for a minimum of 2 years in new charred oak casks. The
new oak casks is for two reasons, firstly the new oak will have more
vanillin’s in the wood and hence more flavour, secondly the senator that
drafted this rule came from a state which relied heavily on forestry so in
order to secure a future for his states industry he drafted and forced
through this ruling. Corruptions a wonderful thing.
3) It may contain no added colour or flavouring. Unlike Scotch whisky,
cognac or rum which often use a little colour to ensure consistency.
4) Must have a ‘mash bill’ of at least 51% corn. A ‘mash bill’ is the makeup of
the different components of the grain used to ferment to make bourbon;
the mash bill for Jack Daniels for example is 80% corn, 12% rye and 8%
barley.
5) It must be made in the United States. It doesn’t have to be made in
Kentucky; you are legally allowed to make bourbon in Hawaii.

Woodford reserve

Woodford Reserve is made at the Labrot and Graham distillery in Versailles

Kentucky. This distillery is famous in that it’s where James crow worked when he
developed the sour mash process.
They use a heated warehouse, which allows them to ‘manufacture’ an additional
season by heating up then cooling the barrels in the middle of winter. This
additional season causes another period of whiskey expansion through the oak
barrel, drawing out even more flavour from the wood.
Woodford has strong rye content in its mash bill, which gives it a pronounced
grain flavour and aroma.

Jack Daniels

The Jack Daniels distillery produces 4 different whiskeys.

The black label is the most popular, the green was originally just for the US
military, and is younger whiskey the black label. The single barrel is just that,
whiskey from just one barrel, this is not blended with other barrels like the other
Jack Daniels and thus no two barrels will taste the same. The last, the
‘Gentleman Jack’ is a super-premium whiskey filtered an additional time after
aging and aged for longer.
Jack Daniels is the oldest registered distillery in the United States.
Jasper Daniels died from kicking a safe. A broken toe led to gangrene, which led
to amputations and eventually blood poisoning. The moral of the story being
don’t kick things if you’re angry and happen to be in the vicinity of a safe.

OK, so why is Jack Daniels called a Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey

and not bourbon?
Jack Daniels could almost be called bourbon; the only real difference between
Jack Daniels and Bourbon is that it undergoes an additional filtering process prior
to aging, called the ‘Lincoln county process’.

Boring fact #3
In the 1820’s a guy called Alfred Eaton discovered that if he poured the bourbon through a giant
vat of sugar-maple charcoal prior to aging then it took allot of the edge off the whiskey, which in
those days was a BIG deal. Most other bourbons still get filtered after aging before bottling, Jack
Daniels and George Dickel whiskeys are the only whiskeys to be filtered before aging.

Sour Mash is part of the process used to make bourbon whiskey. Almost every
single American whiskey uses this technique. It is not unique to Jack Daniels.
Most other producers just choose not to put it on the label.

Boring fact #4
The sour mash process was invented in 1823 by a Scotsman called James Crow and basically
involves adding a little bit of the leftover mash from the first distillation to the mash to be used for
the next distillation. What this does is add a little of the character of the first distillation to the next
ensuring consistency, it also controls the acidity and creates a perfect environment for the yeast
in the next batch.

Makers Mark

The Samuels family come from a history of whisky producers who first made
whisky in Scotland in 1500, this is the reason they call there spirit a whisky not a
whiskey.
Bill Samuels had a distillery and was producing nasty white dog evil mass
produced rubbish, didn’t like the idea of quantity over quality so sold up the lot
and decided to get into banking. He was living on Whiskey Row in Kentucky at
the time with Colonel Beam (Jim Beam) as a neighbour. Unsurprisingly his
neighbours were a bit mortified by this, and I bet quite pleased when both the
bank (to this day it holds the record as the shortest lasting bank in US history, 3
½ weeks!) and a ‘Jackson’ car yard both failed, after a bit of soul searching he
decided to go back into whisky production, only this time with a difference. He no
longer wanted to produce the mass rubbish which the others were pushing out,
and wanted to make something special, something that didn’t taste bitter,
something he was proud of.
He bought ‘Star Hill’ farm just south of Bardstown and went about building his
empire from there. He used a variety of methods which at the time were
unusual.
1) He didn’t blend his first 3 years of production from other brands but
instead waited for his first batch to mature before he released his brand,
something that is still rarely done, Woodford recently was a prime example
of this.
2) He only produced 19 barrels per distillation, the pioneer of what’s become
known as ‘small batch’ bourbons.
3) He used a large amount of ‘red winter wheat’ to soften the flavour of the
spirit instead of the more popular rye in the mash bill.
4) He used an inefficient roller mill to crush the grain instead of the quicker
hammer mill as the hammer mill often burnt the grain.
5) He pulled off the spirit from the still at 60% instead of the more popular
70% plus in order to retain a lot of the flavour in the congeners which are
left in the spirit at this strength.
6) He moved the barrels around the warehouse by hand instead of blending
from different parts of the warehouse, removing the spirit from the barrels
 when it had fully matured, instead of blending a certain age to obtain the
same product.
7) He specified that all barrels would receive the 60second #4 char
8) The barrels were to be left outside for 9 months to season instead of being
oven seasoned before use.
9) The mash bill is 70% corn, 14% barley and 16% winter wheat.
10)The square bottle was so it wouldn’t fit in the speed rails of the day and
would have to be placed on the back bar, on display.

Even the packaging tells a story with there ‘makers mark’ on the label
symbolising

The ‘S’ stands for Samuels, The ‘IV’ as they are 4 th generation distillers,
the star as its made on star hill farm, and the three breaks in the circle to
symbolise the three periods when America was officially dry, during the two wars
and during prohibition.
They have also become semi-famous for the barrels they use, a strict quality
control means many are rejected, and some companies (Laphroaig and Patron
Tequila for example) specifically only use makers barrels for aging.
Makers mark is the largest selling bourbon in Kentucky, and is given the name
locally of “Kentucky champagne”, not only this but even though it doesn’t support
the Kentucky derby officially, it still sells more bourbon than the official sponsor.
Most importantly makers is aged to taste, they don’t blend different barrels
together like other distilleries but instead use the barrels once they have reached
the optimum taste.

Bourbon Cocktails

Mint julep
This is without a doubt my all time favourite bourbon drink. The history of the
name dates back hundreds of years to North Africa and the Middle East about
1400 when they used to drink a julab, which was a sweetened rose water. The
name made its way to the US and Europe and a Julep was a sweetened drink,
commonly with some form of spirit. Mint Juleps are about as American as apple
pie and are traditionally served during the Kentucky Derby each year.
There is a lot of debate on how to correctly make a mint julep, and it would seem
that just about every southern state has its own variation. The recipe I prefer is
the ‘Alabama mint julep’ see below, you can also experiment with this drink by
stirring it, adding fruit brandies, merely using the mint as a garnish etc.

Alabama mint julep

45ml Woodford reserve
Gomme to taste
8-10 mint leaves
Place in a shaker with both rock and crushed ice. Shake the hell out of it for
about 20 seconds, strain over crushed ice into a rocks glass, garnish with a sprig
of mint

Old fashioned
Another ancient drink that some think traces its roots to the Pendennis club in the
US. The name is actually referring to a whiskey cocktail. Around the turn of the
18th century a cocktail was bitters, spirit, sugar and water, a whiskey cocktail
used whiskey as the spirit, so the name was really a way of referring to an ‘old
fashioned whiskey cocktail’.
This seems to be many bartenders drink of choice when they go out, I suspect
this is because they enjoy not having to make the damn things, which can be
time consuming depending on the method used.

45ml bourbon
Gomme to taste
Couple of dashes of angostura bitters
Couple of dashes of orange bitters
(Remember ‘it’s better with bitters!’)
Place ingredients in a metal Boston shaker over ice
Take a rocks glass and wipe the shiny side of an orange zest around the inside
of the glass to extract all the oils onto the glass.
Fill glass with ice and leave zest inside the glass.
Stir the ingredients in the shaker for about 20 seconds as fast as possible.
Strain into the glass over the ice and serve.

This method allows you to make several at once in the shaker, which is much
quicker, do not in any circumstance shake this drink!
Some more modern recipes (especially bartenders like Dale DeGroff and Gary
Regan) call for lots of bitters and for a slice of orange and a cherry to be muddled
in the drink. I think the older recipe as listed above produces a better drink, which
is why we make it this way at our sites.

RUM

Sugarcane is the main ingredient in making rum, which is a member of the grass family. It originates
from Asia and spread through the Middle East, which led to the trading of it to Europe where sugar was
an expensive and highly sought after commodity.

Unfortunately, the production of sugar generated enormous amounts of molasses syrup for which no
good use could be found to begin with. In the production of sugar, the cane is crushed to extract the
juice, which crystallizes into blocks of sugar when heated. A substantial part of the liquid remains un-
solidified and this waste material was called molasses.
If you distil this molasses you get Rum.
Rum made from sugar cane juice instead of molasses is called agricole rum, and is typically made in
the French islands.
Rum made from sugar cane juice and pulled off the still at 35% instead of higher is called a Cachaca,
and is the national spirit of Brazil.

As the economy of sugar grew, so did the need for workers to run these plantations, which led to the
‘triangular trade’.
Ships would leave the Caribbean with a cargo full of sugar headed for North America There they would
trade this cargo of sugar for rum Then they would sail to Africa where they would trade the rum for
slaves and head back to the Caribbean where they would drop of the slave load in return for more
molasses. The skipper would repeat this triangular trip making great profit. This trade changed the
political and cultural shape of the world, and during the height of rum production in the Caribbean rum
was like today’s oil.
During the American war of independence the British sent three times as many soldiers to protect the
Caribbean’s sugar and rum production than they did America. Some attribute this to the reason why
they lost the war (later the French would swap there land in Canada with the UK for Martinique and
Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, guess they’ve been regretting that for a while).

The 9 Step Rum Process

1. Harvesting the cane, December to march. Harvest called “la Zafra”

2. Squeezing, the stalks of sugar cane are squeezed with the metal presses in the sugar
mill obtaining the sugar cane juice “el guarapo”
3. Extracting the molasses, the guarapo is heated to separate the crystal of sugar from
the molasses. The molasses is the base of rum. It is a very creamy, nearly liquid
substance and very rich in sugar. The molasses are blended with pure spring water to
create- la Baticon.
4. Fermenting, the Baticon is blended with yeast cultivated for many years. The
fermentation process transforms the sugar in alcohol. The fermentation takes 24 hours to
obtain the product sugar cane wine with 4-6 degrees of alcohol.
5. Distilling The style of the rum desired dictates the distillation process, light rums are
highly rectified in continuous stills and are often filtered through activated (hot) charcoal
to remove the impurities. Gold (anjeo) and dark rums are usually distilled in pot stills; this
was the first method of rum distillation. Distilling in a pot still is generally done twice as
this increases the alcoholic strength and also removes more unwanted impurities. Rum’s
produced in pot stills, are heavier tasting, full-bodied rums (typically rums like Appleton
estate and Wray and Nephews), as there are still a lot of congeners left after distillation.
Rums which have been through a continuous still, have the advantage of being light or
heavy, depending on where they were taken out of the still.
6. Blending, Virtually all rums are produced from blends. Blending is the way rum
producers develop their own unique brands and it also allows them to produce each
brand consistently. The art of the blender is too produce a consistent product. Most
producers will blend a mixture of rums from continuous still and rums from pot stills to
create their brands; the rum from the continuous will be light in flavour but will contain
vanilla and oak flavours and the rum from the pot still will provide the body, the esters
and other flavour components. The blender will also use rums from the continuous still
that will have differing levels of rectification (purification).
7. Ageing, ageing is normally done in American oak barrels with a capacity of 180-200
litres, which previously contained bourbon. The casks are re-charred, as the charring will
neutralise some of the off odours from the rum and to add the flavour components such
as vanilla and caramel when the rum is added. When the rum is ageing, a certain amount
will be lost through evaporation this is called the ‘angels share’. Because the climate in
the Caribbean is very warm this rate of evaporation is very high (Santa Teresa loses
between 7 and 8% per year!), the rate of maturation is around three times faster than in
Europe. Light rums are aged between one and three years and then are filtered through
charcoal to remove the impurities and to further mellow the spirit.
8. Filtration, when the rums have aged for the required period they are then filtered and
purified through charcoal- the traditional Cuban method, this is one of the slowest alcohol
purification techniques in the world. After filtration, the master blender now selects the
rums for the final blend in oak vats. The rum spends three weeks in these vats before
going one last filtration through charcoal and purification before bottling. Charcoal filtering
was first used in the Caribbean by the Bacardi Company.
9. Drinking, the most important stage.
THE CARRIBBEAN

Cuba
Christopher Columbus discovered the island in 1492 and introduced sugar cane to the island. The cane
was ideally suited to the climate and flourished. However, sugar production, therefore rum production
was much slower to catch on than other countries in the Caribbean because the Spanish didn’t like
them producing a spirit which would compete with there Spanish brandy. The British captured the
island from the Spanish and freed up the trade, increasing the production of sugar and rum by a factor
10 in a couple of short years, when the Spanish re-captured the island they allowed the continual
production. By the middle of the seventeenth century 50% of all sugar was exported from Cuba.

Cuban rum has always been dictated by the tastes of the Cuban people and they prefer light bodied
rums that are used for mixing. All are distilled in continuous stills and aged in American oak.

The most famous brand of rum available from Cuba is Havana Club

Havana Club is a blend of two different distillates, one called the aguadiente comes off the column still
at 75% the other comes off at 96% these are aged separately charcoal filtered through activated
charcoal then blended.
All the aging at Havana Club is done through bourbon barrels supplied via the Jamesons distillery to
avoid the USA trade embargo.
Havana Blanco has spent at least 18 months in oak, it has strong molasses aroma, green banana,
some vanilla and a touch of cocoa. This is a very light easy drinking rum, it has a soft mouth feel and
lends itself as a cocktail rum.
Havana &yr is at least 7 years old, although will have some ‘mother’ rum which will be substantially
older inside. It is characterised with vanilla and oak, with some fruit. Its flavour is chiefly caramel and
coffee with some fruit. I find it has a ‘earthiness’ about it.
Jamaica

Discovered in 1494, the island has been part of the British Commonwealth since
its independence in 1962.
Jamaica was notorious for the pirates that operated from the island including Henry Morgan who later
became the governor of the island (Captain Morgan’s rum is named after him).
The most famous rum to be produced on the island is Appleton Estate, which is
owned by the Wray and Nephew Company.

Appleton V/X is a blend of pot and continuous rums aged between five and ten years
old
Appleton Extra is aged for at least eight years
Wray and Nephew Over Proof is white rum bottled at 62.8%. This is a very popular
rum in Jamaica selling around six million cases a year on the island, the rum is used
in all sorts of ceremonies from christenings to purifying the ground on which houses
are built.

Trinidad

Discovered in 1494 the islands of Trinidad and Tobago remained largely in British
hands up until their independence from Britain in 1946. The island is famous for their
sugar, bitters, rum and tobacco cultivation and Tobago is known for its tourism.

Angostura Rums the largest producer of rum on the island is the Angostura
Company, which was founded by Dr J Seiget in 1875.
Dr Siegert is famous as the inventor of the Angostura bitters a tonic created to cure
soldiers fighting in the jungles of South America. The name Angostura comes from the
village in Venezuela where Siegert was stationed.

10 Cane rum is a new product, which has been developed by LVMH, the company
which owns Hennessy and Moet amongst others. The products name is a reference to
the bunches of 10 sugarcane stalks that are needed to produce the juice which is
used for each bottle of rum, it also refers to the way that the cane is transferred to the
juicers from the fields, in bunches of 10 stalks. 10 Cane is a agricole rum, and is made
from sugarcane juice, not molasses. It also just uses the 1 st pressing of the cane, this
first pressing produces much less juice but the juice is much sweeter and of a much
higher quality. The fermented juice is then distilled in copper pot stills brought over
from Cognac, it is then aged in French oak barrels for 6 months.
Due to the production process this rum is has a lot of similar flavours as a cachaca,
with slight citrus, vanilla and spice flavours.

Venezuela
On the north coast of South America and just beside Trinidad rums from Venezuela
tend to be a cross between the heavier South American pot still rums and the lighter
style Trinidadian rums.
The rums we use from Venezuela are our current house Santa Teresa Gran Reserva and the older
solera aged blend the 1796.
Santa Teresa sells 1.6m cases a year globally and is the largest selling rum in
Venezuela. The other two main brands are cacique and Pampero. At any one
time santa teresa will have about 100000 barrels of rum aging as well as about 5-
600 vats, in total about 12 million litres! A lot of the spirit produced is not used for
rum production, but instead is used for pharmaceuticals, paints, industrial
alcohol. Some is sold on to pernod ricard to make there spirits, and some is used
to make Bacardi in Venezuela!
1796 is named after the year that a Spanish count founded the hacienda which is now the Santa
Teresa property in Venezuela. The name Santa Teresa comes from his daughter Teresa. The Volmer
family married into the Counts family and revolutionized the Hacienda by bringing over stills from
Germany and barrels from france and introducing modern agricultural techniques.
The trademark for santa Teresa was established in 1909, making it the oldest rum trademark in
Venezuela.
The 1796 rum is a solera aged rum in a 4 rack system which was started in 1989 and is filled with a
blend of pot still (approx 10-15%) and column still rums aged between 4 and 35 years old. The solera
system uses French oak where as the rest of the aging at Santa Teresa uses American oak.
Santa teresa makes three separate marcs from its column still, a 96%, a 78% and a 65% marc. These
are blended together before bottling and tend to be barrel aged at a 65% level. During aging at santa
teresa the alcoholic strength doesn’t increase much due to evaporation unlike many other tropical
locations.
The Gran Reserva doesn’t use any pot still rums at all, just column still spirit.
Bermuda

Goslings Black Seal is from Bermuda. It was founded in 1806 when James Gosling on a charter
trip to the new world ran out of provisions after being becalmed for 96 days and chose to stay in
Bermuda instead of returning to the UK. Technically, the island is part of the Caribbean
although its position in the middle of the Atlantic results in less than ideal sugar cane
producing conditions. The rum is a blend of three different rums, from Jamaica, Trinidad and
Barbados, which are blended (originally in a vat with an oar, things have improved somewhat!)
to pretty close to the original Gosling recipe. The rum is then aged further in old heaven hill
whiskey barrels (Pikesville and Rittenhouse are made at heaven hill). The original rum was sold
on draught and decanted into champagne bottles, bottles originally sold to the British officers
mess by James Gosling and sealed with a black wax seal.

Puerto Rico
Bacardi was disappointed with the quality of the rums in Cuba and was determined to create a better
type of rum that was light yet had a full flavour. He experimented with differing types of molasses,
yeasts, fermentation times, distillation and ageing techniques.
The first bottle of rum was produced on the 4th February 1862, which was also the day the Bacardi
Company was incorporated.
The literacy rate in Cuba was very poor at the time and being able to identify the rum by the bat on the
bottle helped drive Bacardi’s sales.
Bacardi soon opened a distillery in Puerto Rico so the company could avoid paying any import tax, as
the island is part of the USA.
In the early 50’s before Castro came to power Bacardi started moving their powerbase offshore by
opening more overseas distilleries. By the time Castro came to power only 7% of Bacardi’s total
production was on Cuba itself.
Bacardi is the largest Rum brand, probably the most called spirit brand in bars in the world. There
output is phenomenal, and its done that thing which most brand owners can only dream of, in that the
majority of its consumers believe they’re drinking Bacardi, not rum.
If I could own any rum brand in the world it would be this one.
RUM COCKTAILS

Dark n Stormy

50ml Goslings black seal rum

pour over ice into a tall glass

top up with ginger beer

add the juice and husk from half a lime

The drink that Goslings is famous for is the Dark n Stormy which was probably the precursor to
the Moscow Mule. According to Bermudian history books it got its name when a sailor held the
drink up to the light and exclaimed “looks like a cloud only a fool or a dead man would sail into”.

Daiquiri

50ml Havana Club 7yr

35ml lime juice
5ml gomme
level tablespoon of castor sugar
put ingredients in shaker.
Half fill shaker with rock ice
Top up with crushed ice
Shake until ice starts forming on the outside of the shaker
Double strain into a martini glass and garnish with a slice of lime

Another ‘ancient’ drink which originates from Cuba, famously created by Jennings Cox a mining
engineer stationed in the town of daiquiri near Santiago de Cuba on the southern coast of Cuba. The
above is our recipe, and comes slightly sweeter than what is considered the classic recipe, which I find
is a little to sour for modern tastes. Be aware of this, its sometime valuable to ask the customer how
sweet they’d like it, and also with which rum. Because the drink has few ingredients differences in the
rum used greatly effect the overall flavour, which makes it a great drink to learn about different flavours
of rum with.

Mai Tai

25ml rum – appleton estate or house rum

25ml wray n nephews
25ml cointreau
10ml goslings black seal
60ml lime juice
20ml orgeat
5ml grenadine
5ml vanilla syrup
shake all ingredients except the goslings and strain over crushed ice into a highball glass. Garnish with
a sprig of mint and a slice of lime

One of the most contentious cocktails in the world. Every bar in every city in every country seems to
make this drink differently.
The drink was probably invented by trader vic in his restaurant in Oakland California in the mid to late
1940’s, the drink doesn’t appear in his 1946 book although was supposedly invented by him in 1944,
there is a rumour that it was in fact invented by the famous ‘don the beachcomber’ (inventor of the
‘Zombie’ cocktail), which trader vic apparently admit’s on his deathbed…………
I like Trader Vic, he comes across as a real character, a rogue of the time.
In his later released book, first printed in 1948 he states ‘… I thought a new drink was needed, I took
down a 17yr old bottle of wray n nephews…’ this drink proved so popular that all the 17yr old in the
world was consumed in a couple of years after the drink was invented, wray and nephews are currently
experimenting with another and if we’re lucky may release in the next couple of years. I was fortunate
to try some of this by itself and in a mai tai at trailer happiness last year, its f$£%ing strong! ‘…I took a
fresh lime added some orange curacao from Holland and a dash of rock candy syrup, and a dollop of
orgeat for its subtle almond flavour. I added a generous amount of shaved ice and shook it vigorously,
half the lime shell and a sprig of mint went in as garnish. I gave the first two to ham and carrie guild,
friends from Tahiti, carrie took one sip and said “mai tai-roa ae” in Tahitian this means “out of this world,
the best” well that was it, I named the drink”mai tai”’.

Amusingly his recipe in the book is…

Mai tai
1 lime
½ ounce of trader Vic Mai Tai mix
2 ounces of trader Vic Mai Tai rum

Papa Doble

Allegedly made for Ernest Hemingway at ‘La Floridita’. Ernest became a diabetic and this drink
was created without sugar so that he’d still be able to drink there. Its quite a difficult drink to get
the balance right, but can be spectacular when made correctly.

The classic recipe from Floriditas recipe book is

60ml rum
Juice from ½ a lime
5ml maraschino
5ml grapefruit juice
Shake and strain over crushed ice in a rocks glass

I’d recommend using more grapefruit juice than this although some rums work better with
different proportions.
When made correctly my favourite is using Wray n Nephews.

Cachaca
Cachaça is a sugar cane spirit, defined by Brazilian legislation as the alcoholic
beverage obtained by distillation of fermented sugar cane juice, with alcoholic
strength between 38 and 54 percent by volume.
Its history starts about 500 years ago, and there are nowadays over 4,000
brands made throughout Brazil in large and small distilleries. Production of 1.3
billion litres a year places Cachaça among the five most consumed spirits in the
world, with a diversity going from white Cachaca’s like Sagatiba Pura to all
shades of golden aged Cachaca’s like Germana and Rochinia.

Cachaca is made from sugar cane juice, like an agricole rhum. So what’s the
difference?
 Sugar plantation outside Guarda Velha distillery in Porto Alegre in southern Brazil.

Government regulations specific to Brazilian cachaca are numerous and strict. 

The major ones are that

1) Cachaca is distilled from sugarcane juice

2) Cachaca can only be made in Brazil

3) No neutral alcohol can be added to it

4) Up to 6mg of sugar per litre can be added to it

5) Cachaca cannot be distilled to higher than 54% ABV (Rhum Agricole is

distilled to 70% ABV and is often double distilled)

6) Cachaca cannot be bottled below 38% ABV or above 48% ABV. 

7) There are also secondary components created during the fermentation

process that give cachaca its unique flavour profile.  These components
must be at least 200mg per litre and not more than 650mg per litre and
divided among the different components (organic acids, esters and such). 

Complicated huh. It gets even worse.

Cachaca is so much more than a list of regulations, especially when you try a pot
distilled cachaca that combines a unique old world process with indigenous
ingredients like wild corn yeasts.  Pot distilled cachaca often goes beyond the
basic cachaca regulations above.

For example Cachaca Fazenda Mae De Ouro is distilled from fresh pressed
sugar cane juice that comes from just the centre stalk of an un-burnt sugar cane
plant.  The fermentation agent is a wild corn yeast and the fermentation time is a
quick 18 hours.  Then the juice is distilled using a steam heated, copper pot still
to a low 43% ABV, taking just the heart of the heart of the distillation.  Then it is
aged in 30-year-old used Scotch barrels for about a year and the ABV drops from
43% to 40% naturally.  Before it is bottled it is also filtered for colour and to
remove some of the tannins that it picks up from the oak.
There’s a lot more to cachaca than 51, Pitu or Velho Barreira, all of which retail in
Brazil for about £1, imagine the quality difference you get when you pay 10 times
that for Germana, or 100 times that for the quality stuff like the Cachaca Fazenda
Mae De Ouro.

Until recently, almost all production has been for the Brazilian market, but during
the last decade Cachaça has also gained popularity on an international level due
to the popularity of the Caipirinha, even with this exports account for no more
than 1% of all production.

How did it all start?

According to one of many picturesque stories, it all started in the 16th century,
when a slave drank the foam of fermented sugar-cane juice - the cagaça. In fact
the word Cachaça seems to come from the Spanish Cachaça, a term used in the
Iberian Peninsula as term for grape brandies.
In the 16th century Portuguese settlers brought sugar cane cuttings from the
island of Madeira in the Atlantic (home of the sherry like Madeira wines) and
began the cultivation of sugar cane in Brazil mainly in Bahia and Minas Gerais to
the North East of Rio.

They also brought their pot stills, giving birth to Cachaça. Its importance grew
rapidly and by the 17th century Cachaça was used as currency for the purchase
of slaves from Africa, part of the same triangular trade that included rum in the
Caribbean.
 The stills at the Guarda Velha distillery outside of Porto Alegre

The production of Cachaça started in the old big sugar cane plantations. By 1640
Brazil was already exporting Cachaça.
In the 18th century, consumption of Cachaça posed a threat to the trade of
Portuguese wine and brandy. Portugal tried, unsuccessfully, to prohibit its
production, then decided to tax it.
Cachaça production continued but in the 20th century Cachaça in Brazil became
less fashionable than imported drinks and now faces a risk of consumption being
taken over by vodka in Brazil.

How do you drink the stuff?

The most common cocktail made from cachaca is the Caipirinha, this cocktail
has become a revolution of the same extent as the cosmopolitan although now
seems to be in the decline a little. It’s also responsible for the muddler becoming
the new ‘Blender’ of bars giving rise to a whole new range of drinks.

Caipirinha
50ml Germana Cachaca
1 lime, cut into 8 parts.
Castor sugar to taste

Muddle lime and sugar in glass or shaker

Add Cachaca and top with crushed ice
Shake Briefly

Batida
This is basically any cocktail made with cachaca, I kid you not.
Looking online, and while in Brazil there seems to be no rules as to what makes
a Batida, and the only thing that remains constant is the cachaca.

You have them frozen, shaken, muddled, stirred. Everyway imaginable.

It’s almost as if Batida is the Brazilian word for Cocktail.

My favourite is a Maracuja Batida

50ml Germana
Chunk of fresh pineapple
Pulp from a passion fruit
Honey to taste

Muddle pineapple and honey together

Add Germana, pulp and crushed ice and shake quickly like with a Caipirinha.

Tequila

Blue Agave plantation

Tequila is a spirit distilled from ‘Pulque’ a fermented juice from the blue Agave,
this Pulque has been used by the locals for centuries.
It was early Europeans who bought distillation to Mexico (originally for the brandy
industry which is still bigger and more important than Tequila!) who first made
Tequila.
The blue Agave is a type of lily, similar to an aloe. It takes approximately 8-10
years to mature to a stage when it can be harvested for use in Tequila
production, making it a very expensive spirit to produce.
Mezcal is very similar only doesn’t come from the Tequila region and is cooked in
a way that gives it more pronounced smoky flavours.
The agaves are harvested by hand in a way which leaves them reassembling
pineapples. Then cooked in steam in huge ovens, after the cooking process they
are milled to extract the sugar from the Agave heart, or ‘pina’ as it is called. It’s
this natural sugar that they then add yeast to too ferment and create the ‘Pulque’.
The Pulque is then placed in copper pot stills and distilled. After distillation the
spirit is often placed in oak barrels, commonly ex-bourbon barrels and aged. And
voila! There’s your tequila.
Mixto is when the tequila is a blend of 51% blue Agave and 49% or less cane
spirit, this is the reason why cachaca reminds people of tequila when they try it
for the first time.

Clockwise: A Jimador harvest’s the Agave, the harvested Agaves and the ‘pina’s’ in an
oven ready to be baked.

Tequila comes in 5 different varieties,

Blanco – silver, straight from the still into the bottle spirit.
Joven Abocado – silver tequila that has had some natural colouring added to it
to give it the appearance of age.
Reposado – ‘rested’ the tequila is placed in barrels and ‘rested’ for a minimum of
2 months. Must be 100% Blue Agave, cannot be a Mixto.
Anejo – ‘aged’ must be placed in small casks for a minimum of 12 months. Must
be 100% Blue Agave, cannot be a Mixto.
Extra Anejo – must be aged for at least 5 years. Must be 100% Blue Agave,
cannot be a Mixto.

To be called Tequila the spirit must comply with the following,

1) It must be made from at least 51% Agave

2) It must be made in one of the following provinces, Jalisco, Nayart,
Guanajuarto, Michoacan or Tamaulipas. Very similar to how champagne
must come from champagne to be called champagne; spirit made outside
of these areas in Mexico is called a mescal. Of these regions 98% is made
in Jalisco.
3) It must be at least 35% alcohol.
4) It must be only made from natural ingredients.
5) It must be double distilled.

The Mexicans are very serious about these laws, recently when Porfidio Tequila
was found to be being produced outside of the above regions and bottled as
Tequila the owner ended up with a lengthy jail sentence.
Siete Leguas tequila

Created in 1946 on the construction of the Centenavio distillery, the tequila is

named after Pancho Villa’s legendary horse that could run 21 miles (7 leagues)
without tiring.
We stock the Siete Leguas Blanco, a full bodied tequila with peppery, spicy
vegetal flavours, especially of green pepper and a faint hint of chocolate.

Tequila Cocktails
Margarita
The most famous is the margarita, and this has almost as many stories
surrounding its origin as the martini. My favourite was that it was invented by
Daniel Negrete in Mexico in 1936 for his girlfriend Margarita, apparently she used
to like to eat salt while drinking, hence the salt rim. The recipe is a variation of
one of the first cocktails, a brandy crusta, and is cousin to drinks like the
kamikaze (vodka), sidecar (brandy), white lady (gin) and at a stretch even a
daiquiri (rum) or a cosmopolitan (vodka and cranberry).

45ml Reposado tequila

25ml lime juice
20ml cointreau
5ml gomme
Shake and double strain into a martini glass with a salt rim.

The gomme is important as it really helps balance the lime juice and smoothes
the drink making it more palatable.

El Diablo
This is actually an incredibly old drink, dating from at least the 40’s in the US. It’s
an easy to make, easy to drink tall cocktail.

45ml tequila
25ml lime juice (or grapefruit juice)
10ml cassis
Ginger beer
Build and stir drink in a highball glass. Garnish w straws and a slice of lime

Tequila Old Fashioned

Anejo tequilas work incredibly well in the classic old fashioned style cocktail, the
only variation I’d make would be to add a zest of lemon as well as orange into the
drink and use slightly less gomme.
 Brandy

Cognac regions
The bulk of brandy production was based in Cognac, just north of Bordeaux, and
soon it gained a reputation as being the best available. Cognac has since
become the name for brandy from the cognac region from France, a brandy can
only be called cognac if it is produced in cognac in much the same way that a
sparkling wine can only be called a champagne if it comes from the champagne
area of France near Reims.

The type of grape used in cognac production is the ugni blanc grape. It makes a
terrible wine and the fresh grapes have an incredibly sour taste to them but it’s
incredibly robust and makes great cognac.

The cognac region is split into 6 areas as shown in the map above, each region
has different characteristics which Cognac producers blend together to produce
there own style. Recently some producers have begun producing a single
regional Cognac made form grapes only grown in one district.

 Grande Champagne - Grande Champagne eaux de vie are long in the mouth
and powerful, dominated by floral notes. The most prestigious of the crus.
 Petite Champagne - Petite Champagne eaux de vie have similar
characteristics to those from Grande Champagne, but are in general shorter
on the palate.
 Borderies - The smallest cru, eaux de vie from the Borderies are the most
distinctive, with nutty aromas and flavour, as well as a distinct violet or iris
characteristic. Cognacs made with a high percentage of these eaux de vie, for
example, "Cordon Bleu" by Martell, are dominated by these very sought-after
flavours.
 Fins Bois - Heavier and faster ageing eaux de vie suitable for establishing the
base of some cognacs. Rounded and fruity, with an agreeable oiliness.
 Bons Bois
 Bois Ordinaires - Further out from the four central growth areas are the Bons
Bois and the Bois Ordinaires. With a poorer soil and very much influenced by
the maritime climate, this area of 20,000 hectares produces eaux de vie that
are less demonstrative and age more quickly. These lesser crus are excluded
from blends by some manufacturers.

Cognac is aged in French oak barrels, French oak is a type of oak and is sourced
throughout Europe these days. The barrels are filled for 2 yrs with an inferior
priming spirit, this removes a lot of the ‘green’ taste from the wood and gets them
ready for cognac aging.

Richard Hennessey was an Irish mercenary roaming through France in the

1760’s causing trouble and trying to make some money when he settled in the
cognac region and discovered cognac.

Hennessy has been producing cognac since 1765, 4 years after this date the
Fillioux family joined the company as master blenders, they have been working in
this role ever since, the current master blender is the 7 th generation of master
blenders for the Hennessy family.

Initially he purchased ‘eau de vie’s’ from other suppliers then aged them and
blended them together to make his trademark style of cognac, which he then sold
on. These days Hennessey own several distilleries and vineyards, which they
source some of their product from. In total they source eau de vie from 27
different distilleries to keep up with demand.

The grapes for cognac are machine picked.

Cognacs are given a statement like VS or VSOP instead of a number of years

old as they need to blend several different eau de vies to get the style they want,
and often a younger eau de vie will taste older than a different eau de vie.
Blending isn’t about how old something is but how it tastes, this is similar to
blended vatted malt whiskeys only a lot more work goes into it.

Hennessy product info

VS – very special – aged 3-8 years – uses 40 different eau de vies

This is a bold full flavoured cognacwith lots of warmth and a full mouth
feel. Cloves hazelnuts and red berries are evident in the aroma. The taste
has a nice sweetness with stone fruits.

VSOP – very special old pale (Hennessey don’t produce a VSOP for the UK)

Fine – aged 8-10 years - uses 60 different eau de vies

This is a much lighter style and is much more floral in style with strong
citrus notes and some cinnamon. The flavour carries a light honey’d
Christmas cake flavour with a light sweetness.

XO – extra old - aged 16-30 years - uses 100 different eau de vies
This is a much darker and more viscous cognac with lots of oak caramel
and vanilla on the nose. It has a creamy mouthfeel with a slight leather
sweetness to it.

Paradis – aged 25-130 years - uses more than 100 eau de vies
In 1873 Emile Fillioux blended this family reserve and asked the
Hennessy’s not to touch it for 100 years, in 1979 this stock was blended to
create Paradis.

Richard Hennessy - aged 40-200 years - uses more than 100 eau de vies

Sidecar

45ml Cognac
20ml Cointreau
10ml Lime Juice
5ml gomme

Shake all ingredients and strain into a martini glass with a sugared rim.
This is a fantastic old recipe dating from the 1940’s and is now a responsible for
a slew of other cocktails with different base spirits but essentially the same
recipe, (£20 for whoever can give me the most variations on this recipe with there
correct name, minimum of 5 to be considered! Clue a sidecar is one.)
http://www.drinkboy.com/Cocktails/recipes/Sidecar.html
for more sidecar info.
The original recipe doesn’t have gomme in it, but I find it can be a bit sour
without, make sure it tastes balanced before it reaches the customer.
http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=sidecar&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images
for some inspiration. The first is my favourite.

Grand Marnier comes from a spirit house founded in 1827 which historically only
uses Grand Champagne and Petit Champagne grapes to produce its Cognac.
There first flavoured product was Cherry marnier, and it wasn’t until 1877 that
they started to produce Grand marnier. They produce a Cognac called ‘Marnier
Lapostolle’.
At the time Oranges were as exotic as dragon fruit or acai are now and it made
sense to use this far away fruit to flavour a spirit.
The spirit was originally called Curacao marnier after the island in the Carribean
from which the oranges came from (this has since changed, they now import
bitter oranges from Haiti), and it wasn’t until a Mr Ritz, who owned a fairly famous
hotel at the time, suggested they call the product Grand Marnier to oppose the
trend at the time of calling all products ‘Petit’ that it got its current name.
Grand Marnier is the largest selling French liqueur in the world, and the 5 th
largest buyer of cognac behind Hennessy, Remy, Martell and Courvoisier.

It’s great in mixed drinks as it brings a great depth of flavour from the cognac as
well as the orange flavour and can really spice up a Manhattan, Sidecar or an
Old Fashioned.

There are key differences between Triple Sec, Cointreau, Grand Marnier and
Curacao. Cointreau was one of the first produced and was originally called
‘Cointreau Triple Sec’, a lot of smaller houses like Marie Brizard or Cartron then
copied the style and called it Triple Sec, which prompted Cointreau to drop these
words from its label. Curacao should be a liqueur made from oranges from the
Island. All of these use a neutral white spirit to strengthen the liqueur, Cointreau
tends to be the best by far of these. Grand Marnier is a blend of a triple sec and a
cognac.

Grand Marnier is great in a sidecar, margarita (Papa Grande!) or even a

cosmopolitan although the below is my favourite Grand Marnier drink.

Leap Year Cocktail

According to Gary Regan in his book The Joy of Mixology, "This cocktail was
created by Harry Craddock, for the Leap Year celebrations at the Savoy Hotel,
London, on February 29th, 1928. It is said to have been responsible for more
proposals than any other cocktail that has ever been mixed," reports The Savoy
Cocktail Book (1930). This recipe is adapted from Craddock's original, but can
certainly be enjoyed at any time of the year.

2 ounces gin.
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier.
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth.
1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice.
1 lemon twist, for garnish.
 Pisco

Pisco is a type of brandy, similar to cognac in that it is made from a distilled wine.
Below is a diagram that shows how the different grape spirits are related.

Cocktail grouch David Embury author of ‘the fine art of mixing drinks’ (1953)
writes of Pisco “another grape brandy that I definitely do not recommend comes
from Peru and is called Pisco. Such aging as it receives (and to judge by its
flavour, that is very little) is done in unglazed crocks or jars and not in wood. I am
told it is quite popular in Peru”.

Pisco was actually invented after the Spanish banned the importation of Peruvian
wines into Spain in 1613. This created a wine surplus in Peru, and in an effort to
preserve this wine they distilled it, creating a new spirit, Pisco.

Pisco is currently produced in both Peru and in Chile, production in Chile only
started when Chile invaded and annexed a Pisco producing part of Peru and it is
made in its country of origin, Peru under much stricter guidelines.
Pisco made in Peru is made under strict regulations.

1) Pisco may not be made with a continuous still

2) It must be rested for 3 months after distillation.
3) No sugar may be added to the spirit.
4) Wood maturation is prohibited.
5) It is not allowed to be macerated with anything. (No flavoured pisco!).
6) The varieties of grapes that can be used are regulated.
7) You can only distil freshly fermented must. (Must is the juice of freshly
pressed grapes).
8) Single distillation only!
9) You may not add water to it.

As you can imagine all these rules make production quite difficult, especially the
last one. As they are unable to add water to it they must let it age in cool
conditions until enough alcohol has evaporated to the angels share to it reach the
alcoholic strength they want for bottling. This, along with its single distillation
means that a lot more flavours are concentrated in the final spirit.

There are 4 main types of pisco,

1) Non aromatic pisco, made from non-aromatic grapes, like Quebranta.
Macchu Pisco is a non-aromatic pisco.
2) Aromatic pisco, made from aromatic grapes like Muscatel or Italia.
3) Blended pisco, a blend of aromatic and non Pisco’s, La Diablada is such a
pisco.
4) Mosto Verde, made from only partially fermented must, and only the best
vintages.

Pisco allegedly appears in cocktail books since the 1930’s although is absent
from most of the major ones until the 60’s. The two most famous pisco recipes
are Pisco Sour and a Pisco Punch. Pisco mixes incredible well with apple,
grapes, vanilla, apricot, pineapple, pomegranate, and citrus fruits.

Pisco Sour

50ml pisco
25ml lemon juice
12.5ml gomme
1 egg white
Shake and strain into a champagne flute and garnish with a couple of drops of
Angostura bitters.
This is the Peruvian style of making the sour, the Chilean recipe sees cinnamon
sprinkled on top, I prefer the Chilean recipe.

Pisco Punch

50ml pisco
12.5ml caramel syrup
25ml lime juice
100ml pineapple juice

Shake and strain into a highball over rock ice, garnish with a dried pineapple ring
and a sprinkle of cinnamon. This is my recipe and not the original.

Originally Pisco punch was an alcoholic beverage invented by Duncan Nicol at a

bar named Bank Exchange at the end of the 1800s, in San francisco, California.

When the Bank Exchange & Billiard Saloon opened its doors in 1853 it served
pisco among other several liquors. Several punches were made using pisco at
the Bank Exchange over a long succession of owners, ending in 1893 with
Duncan Nicol. Nicol was the last owner of the Bank Exchange when it closed its
doors permanently in 1919 because of the Volstead Act (Prohibition).

His original recipe is Pisco, Lime, sugar, gum arabic and distilled water. The
punch was so potent that one writer of the day wrote "it tastes like lemonade but
comes back with the kick of a roped steer." Others said "it makes a gnat fight an
elephant." Harold Ross, founder of the "New Yorker" magazine wrote in 1937: "In
the old days in San Francisco there was a famous drink called Pisco Punch,
made from Pisco, a Peruvian brandy... [pisco punch] used to taste like lemonade
but had a kick like vodka, or worse."

How did Pisco get to Frisco?

Pisco was bought up to San Francisco during the gold rush from the 1830’s. The
gold rush meant that thousands of settlers moved out to the west coast of
america from the east coast, the land route across the then un-inhabited and
incredibly hostile central north america was filled with Indians, tornados, deserts,
snow storms and all manner of dangerous things, it was actually safer, cheaper
and quicker to travel via ship around the southern tip of south america. Settlers
stopping off for supplies in peru traded for the local spirit and in turn bought this
up to the west coast of america with them, this movement was then
supplemented by leather and tallow traders from Peru.