Ardent Spirits e-letter
Volume 9, Issue 9, June 21, 2007
by Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Regan
© 2007 Reganomics, Inc.
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In This Issue:
- Bar Crawl: Blackpool's Pleasure
Bitches and London's Beefeater Distillery
- The Cocktailian: Sidecar Variation by Thad Vogler,
San Francisco
- Hot Links: Gary's Presentation at the 2006 London
Bar Show
- Bar Code: Rhum Clement Cocktail Challenge Winners
- Worldwide Bartender Database: Join now to hear about
gigs coming your way
- Ardent Events Calendar: Tales of the Cocktail is
Nigh . . .
- On the House with Jack Robertiello
Bar Crawl
An Afternoon with a Pack of Blackpool Pleasure Bitches
followed closely by a Day at the Beefeater Distillery
by Gary
Part One: Blackpool
There's a new fad of sorts in the U.K., and I've been told
that it's spilling over to this side of the pond, too. For me, though, my
recent visit to Blackpool, the oh-so-tacky seaside resort on the west coast of
England where I was raised, proved to be my introduction packs of women, and
packs of men, who wore uniforms of sorts to prove they were part of a stag or
hen party. I was pretty flabbergasted when I walked into the bar at the
Norbreck Castle Hotel, my home for 4 days before hitting the
London Bar Show, to
find a dozen or so women, all dressed in black, all sporting antennae declaring
"Hen Party," and each one was wearing a sash declaring them to be members of not
just any old hen party, but specifically "Sue's Hen Party." Quite an
honor, I daresay.
There's a theme park at Blackpool. It's a good one, too.
The Blackpool Pleasure Beach it's called. The subscript on the sashes worn
by Sue's hens, then, made complete sense to me: I'm a Blackpool
Pleasure Bitch it read. They weren't bitches at all, actually.
Look at the picture. Nice well behaved ladies, they were. Every last
one of them.
Sue's Blackpool Pleasure Bitches
I got back to the hotel at around 2 in the a.m. that night.
I'd had a dozen or so pints of Boddington's at a party thrown by an old friend.
When I'm in Blackpool, beer's my tipple. I was feeling very little
pain, then, when I went to check out the bar. It was pretty full.
Two of Sue's Pleasure Bitches had survived, and they were sitting with Borat.
I kid you not. Okay, it was some guy dressed as
Borat. Why? I
don't know. And no, I didn't ask. There's something just a little
intimidating about a bare-chested guy with a huge patch of wool glued in between
his nipples, wearing a tiny G-string with pubic hair spilling out the sides.
Drunk out of his mind. His false moustache falling into his pint of ale.
I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's intimidating all the same, so I got
myself a large G&T, something I really needed at that point, and joined them
without commenting on his being a real redhead. At this point, the doors from an adjoining room opened, and
before I knew what was happening we were surrounded by a couple of dozen Klingons, three or four Captain Kirks, and more Vulcans than you could shake a
stick at. I went to bed.
"Everything satisfactory for you Mister Regan,?" asked the
very nice receptionist as I checked out of the hotel a couple of days later.
"Oh yes, I told here. I especially enjoyed the parallel universe in the
bar," I told her. Blackpool's one helluva town.
Part Two: Beefeater Distillery
The Beefeater
distillery was a real treat for me. What would I learn there?
Quite a lot, as it turns out. Quite a lot. Desmond Payne, the master
distiller, has been making gin for over 40 years. He knows his stuff.
Damned nice guy, too. Before I tell you what Desmond taught me that day,
let's go over some gin basics:
The best gins, Beefeater among them, are made by distilling
botanicals such as juniper, citrus peels, angelica, and orris root into vodka.
Gin is a flavored vodka. What always puzzled me, though, is the fact that
the major brands always boast of using a relatively small pot still to produce
their gins. Pot stills ain't quick. How do they produce enough gin
to go around, then? Desmond put me straight: They distill concentrated
gin, then add more vodka to it before reducing it to bottle proof. Simple,
really. "I don't know of any major gin producer that doesn't do it this
way," said Desmond.
Desmond and Gary Relax in front of a roaring fire
Then this mastermind of gin proceeded to show us the
botanicals they use to make Beefeater. Orris root was among them. So
what the heck is orris root. Root of the iris, that's what it is.
Check it out here.
I also got to shake it up with Dan Warner at the distillery.
He's a former Theme Magazine
Bartender of the Year, you know. Another man who knows his stuff. A
privilege, indeed, to get behind the stick with Dan.
I've always thought of Beefeater as being one of the most
popular gins on the market, a status it richly deserves, but apparently, while I
was busy drinking myself through the 80s and 90s, it lost favor a little, and
until recently only old farts such as yours truly have been aware of what a
darned good product it is. That's all over now, though. The
marketing people at Beefeater are busy pushing the brand to the forefront again.
It shouldn't be too hard of a job. If you're one of those people who
doesn't know about how good Beefeater is, give it a go.
Yes, I'm doing a little schilling here, and those of you who
know me know that I don't do that with inferior products. Neither do I let
inferior products sponsor my trips to anywhere, and the good folk at Beefeater,
together with Theme Magazine and the wonderful crew at the
Worldwide Cocktail Club,
made my recent visit to the London Bar Show possible. Thanks, Guys.
The Cocktailian
image courtesy of the good folks at
quanya
Discovering the Chi of Sidecars
6/01/07
"Is the mail here yet, Cindy?" the Boss asks the woman who's currently filling
in for the Professor, our cocktailian bartender. "Sure is, Boss Man. There's a
postcard from the Professor in there, too. Seems he made it to Peru," Cindy
tells her temporary lord and master. . .
Sidecar variation recipe by Thad Vogler of
Jardinière,
San Francisco.
Hot Links
Dan Baker, a very ardent soul from the U.K., went to an
enormous amount of effort to video Gary's presentation at the 2006 London bar
Show. Then he edited it, and posted it on U-Tube of all places.
Here's a link to part one. There are five parts total. Try not to
fall asleep . . .
Gary 2006, London Bar Show:
Part 1
Thanks so much, Dan. It's my round.
Bar Code
An Ardent Congrats to these guys, from us guys at Ardent Spirits.
RHUM CLEMENT 2nd ANNUAL COCKTAIL CHALLENGE RESULTS
1st place- Tad Carducci (The Pluckemin Inn, NJ) Cocktail: Wise
Old Sage Sour Carducci’s cocktail proved to be the most creative concoction of
the evening. Premièr Canne and Rhum Clément Créole Shrubb Carducci paired fresh
grapefruit juice, agave nectar, fresh sage and a dash of Regan’s combination
created a classic cocktail with an exotic and savory flare.
2nd place -James Menite (Porter House NY, NY) Cocktail:
Clément Rhum Plum. Menite’s drink consists of Rhum Clément V.S.O.P., fresh
plum simple syrup and egg whites.
3rd place- Benjamin Scorah (Dani, NY) Cocktail: Nazario Scorah
used Rhum Clément V.S.O.P. and Rhum Clément Créole liquor, Amaro S. Maria al
Monte and espresso coffee.
The Challengers
The Judges (who somehow
came out r
bigger than the challengers. Our fault. Sorry.)
Wise Old Sage Sour
Adapted from a recipe by Tad Carducci, The Pluckemin Inn, Bedminster, New Jersey
“Not guaranteed to provide the meaning of life, sure to help find the answer”
6 leaves very fresh sage
2 to 3 fresh pineapple chunks
1/2 ounce agave nectar
1 1/2 ounces Clement Premiere Canne
1/2 ounce Clement Creole Shrubb
3 ounces fresh grapefruit juice
2 drops Regan's Orange Bitters No. 6
Rub the sage leaves between palms to lightly bruise and drop into a mixing
glass. Stop and sniff your palms and
let a good looking customer do the same.
Add agave nectar to the glass and muddle with sage.
Add ice, Clement Premiere Canne, Creole Shrubb and grapefruit juice.
Shake voraciously for ten seconds.
Double strain into a chilled 7 oz. cocktail glass.
Finish with two drops of Regan’s orange bitters (optional).
Garnish with a small sage leaf pierced through a thin wedge of
grapefruit.
Worldwide Bartender Database
If you haven't joined yet, you won't know about the gigs we're letting our
members in on, will you?
You might want to join now so you don't miss the next issue
of the Worldwide Bartender Bulletin.
Join the
Worldwide Bartender Database
(And if you promise not to take it too very seriously, you
can go take a look at what our good friend
Robert Plotkin had to say recently about our new database:
Click here.)
Ardent Events Calendar
June 10/11
Don’t
miss this year’s New York Bar Show if you can help it. This extravaganza
is growing in leaps and bounds. Dale DeGroff,
Tony Abou-Ganim, beer expert, Gary
Monterosso, Dave Wondrich,
and a host of other luminaries will be holding forth from the podium at this
year’s show. Oh, yes, and Gary will be there, too. For a complete
list of seminars, click
here. To
register for the event, click
here.
July 18 - July 22
If you’ve been to this event before, you know darned well it’s a
helluva good time. If
you’ve never before attended, 2007 looks as though it will be the best year yet.
Check out Dale DeGroff's News & Events Page
here
On the House with Jack Robertiello
Don’t forget to visit our friend, Jack Robertiello’s round up of blogs from cocktail geeks far and wide:
On the House with Jack Robertiello
Friends and Affiliates
The editors of Ardent Spirits are proud to count the following organizations and web sites among their friends
*Ardent Spirits accepts advertising dollars only from products that are, in the
opinion of the editors, of superior quality.
For details on advertising rates, etc., please contact Gary at gary@ardentspirits.com
