IT UP

Dragonfly Cocktail Bar in Edinburgh prides itself in its welcoming environment. Cirstyn Brown, AGM, tells me, “First and foremost, everybody’s welcome. The service is great, and the cocktails are fantastic as well. Plus, our drinks are accessible, we make drinks that are for everyone.”

One of their best sellers is ‘The Cranachan’, a cocktail created by Cirstyn herself. She tells me, “It’s a gin-based cocktail with a raspberry and vanilla syrup and a touch of lemon juice, that is then stirred down, splashed with a little bit of soda, and then topped with an oat and vanilla foam. So, it’s almost like a Cranachan meets ice cream soda kind of vibe where you get the fizziness interacting with the cream. It’s been absolutely flying out.”

During the Edinburgh Festival, Dragonfly is a fringe venue, meaning they are gearing up for a very busy month. So, with all the visitors to the city, they like to keep things local. Cirstyn adds, “We stock a lot of products from both Edinburgh and Scotland. We get a lot of tourists, so our customers always ask to try local products. “During the fringe we’re open six days a week and host free fringe or ‘pay what you can’ comedy shows. We are launching a special fringe menu for this featuring nice upscale gin and tonics with our own homemade tonic and some nice whisky highballs.”

Cirstyn clearly has some great ideas, adding, “We try to use everything that we can. Recently I got really into making ice cream and we got an ice cream maker for the bar. So, any products that are left over I’ll usually try and make them into a sorbet or an ice cream. Then these can be used on one of our special cocktails.”

The Bartenders Lounge in Aberdeen has just passed it’s first 6 months of trading, but is already making its mark on Scotland’s cocktail scene. Not only do they sell amazing cocktails, but their staff also volunteer every Monday at Inchgarth Community Centre, running their food bank, cleaning or just doing whatever they can to help.

Owner Craig Scott is clearly passionate about the bar, the drinks, and the staff. He told me, “We are very service oriented and it’s the staff that make it for me. We change our menu weekly and I’ve got a deal with the team that you follow the spec on the menu, but, if you have one that’s tastier than that drink, then it replaces it. So, it means we’re all constantly making better drinks.

“Our whole vision is about approachability and accessibility. We are a premium venue, but with fair prices. I want everyone to enjoy cocktails, and that’s our mission.”

One of the bars best sellers is called ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ after the Oasis track. It is a sparkling vodka-based cocktail using Oasis Summer Berries Fruit Juice, which they make into a cordial. Craig says, “It’s a crisp, sweet, but not overly sweet, vodka highball. On the other hand, we have a sister drink to that called ‘World Away’, where we use the Oasis Citrus Punch and a lemon drizzle Gin – both of these absolutely fly off.”

Sustainability is also a popular topic with the Bartenders Club, with Craig adding, “Every ingredient is homemade where we can, and we don’t waste anything. For example, when we peel oranges, we make marmalade with the leftover pulp. We are constantly looking for new ways to innovate and be more sustainable in our practise.”

MAKE THE MAPLE SYRUP OLD FASHIONED WITH US HERE

• 10ML MAPLE SYRUP

• 50ML THE WOODSMAN

• DASH OF BITTERS

• TOP WITH ICE

• STIR DOWN

• TOP WITH ORANGE PEEL

WOODSMANWHISKY.COM DO DRINK RESPONSIBLY

On August 1, the largest duty increase on Scotch Whisky in 40 years was imposed by the UK Goverment. The 10.1% tax rise takes the tax burden on the average priced bottle of Scotch Whisky from 70% to 75% and deepens the competitive disadvantage faced by distillers in pubs, bars and restaurants, say the industry body SWA.

Swedish distillery Mackmyra, partnered with Microsoft and Finnish technology consultant Fourkind IN 2019 to create the world’s first AI-generated whisky. The AI algorithm was designed to generate new whisky recipes, with recipe number 36 being the one selected by Angela D’Orazio, the master blender and chief nose officer at Mackmyra, for the groundbreaking blend. Despite the use of AI in generating new recipes, D’Orazio believes that the work of a Master Blender is not at risk.

Japanese whisky is often compared to scotch, and this is because a Japanese student by the name of Masataka Taketsuru visited Scotland to learn the art of making scotch whisky.

Ardbeg Distillery, conducted a unique experiment in 2011 by sending a vial of unmatured malt whisky to the International Space Station (ISS). The experiment was designed to investigate how microgravity would affect the behavior of terpenes, the building blocks of flavor for many foods and wines, as well as whisky spirits. The space samples were found to be “noticeably different” in terms of aroma and taste. The Earth sample had a woody aroma with hints of cedar, sweet smoke, aged balsamic vinegar, raisins, treacle toffee, vanilla, and burnt oranges. In contrast, the space sample had an intense aroma with hints of antiseptic smoke, rubber, smoked fish, a perfumed note like violet or cassis, and powerful woody tones.

THE WHITE STAG IS A WELL-KNOWN FIGURE ON THE ISLE OF ARRAN. THIS ALMOST GHOSTLY CREATURE HAS BEEN SPOTTED THROUGHOUT THE ISLAND FOR CENTURIES. ON THE MORNING THAT ARRAN DISTILLERY OPENED, THE WHITE STAG WAS SPOTTED OVERLOOKING THE NEW DISTILLERY BUILDING, AND IT HAS BROUGHT GOOD FORTUNE EVER SINCE.