House Tonic Issue 6

HOUSE

TO N I C Crazy Little Things

Soho House’s Drink Maga zine Inside Little House Mayfair Booze news Cocktail competitions Best liquor stores Perfect summer cocktails Issue 6 -1-

PHOTOGRAPHY: DAI WILLIAMS

Contents -4Aperitifs Booze News

-6Aperitifs Berlin Cocktail Competition

-8Aperitifs Shorts

-10At The Bar Your Friendly Bartender, Paul Mott

-12At The Bar Bartender's Favourite Liquor Stores

-14At The Bar Introducing Little House

-20At The Bar Summer Cocktails

-24Digestif House Tonic Trips

-30Digestif Rising Star Barbacks

Editor’s Letter Welcome to the sixth issue of House Tonic – a magazine for bartenders and people who love bars.

We’re passionate about the drinks we serve in all our venues, from the Soho Houses in New York, London, Berlin, West Hollywood and Miami, to Shoreditch House, Pizza East Shoreditch, Cafe Boheme, BKB, The Electric, High Road House, Pizza East Portobello, Hoxton Grill, Little House Mayfair and Dean Street Townhouse in London, as well as at Babington House in Somerset and Cecconi’s restaurants in LA, London and Miami. Whether it’s the perfect cup of tea, a cocktail party for a thousand guests, or an iced glass of water on a scorchingly hot day, we take it all seriously.

And when we’re not working, we don’t mind the odd drink ourselves, either.

In this issue we're going behind the scenes at Soho House Group's latest opening, Little House Mayfair, to hear how the team put together the tiny, bespoke venue. We've travelled to Berlin to watch bartenders compete in their inaugural cocktail competition, caught up with Paul Mott, our friendly bartender and we've got a great guide to summer drinking. All that, plus loads more besides!

If you'd like to join one of our bar teams around the world, email housetonic@sohohouse.com.

Cheers! sohohouse.com/housetonic housetonic@sohohouse.com twitter.com/HouseTonic Cover photograph by Dai Williams: Lauren Shaw, head bartender at Little House Mayfair Editor: Rebecca Seal Design and Art Direction: Plus Agency Publisher: Dan Flower Thanks to: Gareth Jones, Caroline Boucher, Phoebe Strawson, Julia Taylor-Brown, Chris Ojeda, Dylan Murray, Jessica Hopkins, Oli Juste, Tom Kerr, Michael Frohnwieser, Nathan Dixon-Jones, Richard Arnold, Damian Samuels, Patrick Mang, Chris Tomsett, David Greig, Shannon Beattie, Ann Tunnerman, Jay Newell, Paul Mott, Ashley Lent, Lilaj Battista, Jacki Spillane, Amanda Middlebrooks, Eliot Sandiford, Dai Williams and Arthur Woodcroft

A Martinez, as served at Little House Mayfair -2-

NEWS

NEWS

SHNY's tough mudder crew

Tough Mudder

Back Garden Martini

Grey Goose Cocktail of the Month

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Shoreditch House Pool Party Chris Ojeda (PICTURE courtesy of mandarine napoleon)

Mandarine Napoléon

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New Openings It's going to be a big year for Soho House Group. New Soho Houses are opening in Barcelona, Toronto, Mumbai, Chicago and Istanbul plus Soho House Berlin is expanding. A third Pizza East is opening in north London and two new concepts will open shortly in the UK: Chicken Shop is all about marinated and rotisseriecooked chicken, with crinkle cut chips and salad, while Dirty Burger is pretty self explanatory! Yum. Soho House Group is recruiting so get in touch with Gareth Jones, garethj@sohohouse.com if you're interested in joining the team.

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On Saturday 12 May Soho Houses LA, Miami, and NY got together for one night only to make Mandarine Napoléon cocktails for visitors to the Manhattan Cocktail Classic drinks festival at the Andaz Hotel. It was a busy party in a lovely suite with an outdoor bar on the 11th floor of the Andaz Hotel – and an incredible view.

One of the highlights on Shoreditch House's calendar are its pool parties, which mark the start of summer in east London. Bars manager Nathan Dixon-Jones reports back from the first of the season: “This is as busy as we get at Shoreditch House. Tom Kerr and I were slamming out cocktails with the fastest guns on the pool bar. The speakers fierced out tunes spun by the Unabombers. The music really electrified the team and the adrenaline was pumping out in buckets. Fastest on the draw? Bartender Matthew Critchley beating Angel De Souza by a whisker.” Check out houseseven.com to get dates for the next one.

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Check this out – it's our QR code.

Just zap it with your smartphone and you'll be taken straight to our website (sohohouse. com/housetonic) for loads of extra content.

Shoreditch House played host to members of Hot Cat UK, a special hospitality network with over 3,000 members which brings together people from all over the industry, at all levels.

Seventy Hot Cat members from across London spent the evening in the Tin, well fed with bites and bowls and well watered with Grey Goose Le Fizzes (Grey Goose with elderflower and soda). It a was chilledout event, aimed at promoting House Tonic's recruitment programme and that of our sister magazine, Cookhouse. www.hotcatuk.com

Shoreditch's bar gets busy

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Sadly the Electric in Notting Hill has been damaged by a fire and is expected to re-open late 2012. All staff have been redeployed within the Group.

Get online

New Yorkers got a taste of Italy by way of LA when Cecconi's rolled into town to host a 4-day pop up during Frieze Art Festival. Along with Italian prosecco, bartenders also rustled up Cecconi's Negronis and Bellinis, plus G&Ts augmented with botanicals like kaffir lime leaves, sage or lemon basil.

Hot Cats

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50 ml 1 1/2 oz Grey Goose vodka 25 ml 3/4 oz fresh lime 20 ml 3/4 oz Velvet Falernum 6 sugar snap peas 4 mint leaves 4 basil leaves

FELIX PEREZ

Campari Competition

Hundreds of bartenders from around the US competed to make it to the finals of the Speed Rack bartending competition in New York. It's all about raising awareness and money to fight breast cancer and only female bartenders can take part – they go head-tohead in round-robin style timed and judged challenges. Mia Mastrioni from Soho House West Hollywood made the finals in NYC. “Speed Rack is the first bar competition I've participated in. Any charity that supports breast cancer has my automatic support. My inspiration comes from all the women who are faced with breast cancer, in particular, a dear friend who underwent a double mastectomy last November. Her journey is what has really made this event hit home for me. I am thrilled to be using my skills for such a worthy cause.” Congrats to Mia, who came second!

Cecconi’s/Frieze New York Pop Up

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Back Garden Martini Every month, Grey Goose vodka's mixologists design Soho House Group a cocktail of the month. Guests and members won't see it on the menus, but if you're in the know, ask for one and the bar staff will rustle it up. This month, it's the Back Garden Martini.

Method: Muddle all ingredients except the Grey Goose vodka. Add the vodka and cubed ice and shake. Double strain into a chilled coupette. Garnish with a fresh sugar snap pea.

Felix Perez of Soho House New York made it to the finals of the Campari cocktail competition, held at the Shanty in Brooklyn.

He beat some of the best bartenders in the city to advance. He didn't quite manage to take home the gold but his colleagues were very proud of him!

Electric House

Speed Rack

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The course was a 12-mile obstacle course designed by the British Military Forces. It was a lot of fun, but very painful. We had to go through freezing cold water, rough terrain, electric shocks, muscle cramps, more ice cold water, strong winds making everything colder and steep hills. We had to climb walls that were too high, carry logs and run with mud down your pants the entire way.”

Group Sommelier Christopher Cooper writes: “It certainly is a bella vista at Cecconi’s in Mayfair these days with the addition of Italy’s most prestigious sparkling wine by the glass.

Winemaking at Bellavista cuts no corners, and their approach to producing quality sparkling wine is a reflection of their admiration for Champagne houses like Louis Roederer and their end product is very similar. Bellavista Franciacorta Cuvée Brut NV is delicate yet bold with dominant flavours of white flowers, marmalade on toast and those milk bottle sweets that you often see in the jars at Shoreditch House. (Not your usual tasting note, huh!?) It is available at Cecconi’s Mayfair for £11 per glass. The inclusion of Bellavista continues a period of wine list development as we increase our wines with more interesting alternatives to regular wine by the glass. So look out for more unusual wines like Bellavista.”

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Unfortunately Nicolas passed away in an accident while on holiday prior to the event. We were all very shaken by it.

We decided to compete for Nico. We all wore T-shirts with his picture on them.

He was the most excited for the event.

It was so much fun training with him.

He was a huge part of our beverage programme.

Bellavista Prosecco

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In April, the Soho House New York bar team took part in a gruelling obstacle course, Tough Mudder, which raises money for the Wounded Warrior project. Juan Sevilla explains: “We started to train for the event back in February. It just seemed like a fun thing to do as a team with coworkers. We would meet once a week as a team.

Team members were Nicolas Bouriache, Natalie Nunez, Dino Vucetovic, Adam Baca, Orlando Martinez, Joel Bauer, Matias Vanleyden and me. (Joel had to drop out due to a family emergency.)

Mia Mastrioni competing

APERITIFS

BERLIN COMPETITION

Berlin’s Grey Goose Vodka Competition Gareth Jones headed to Germany to help run Soho House Berlin’s first cocktail competition.

Photography: David Sonntag

Left to right: Tim anders, Sam Orrock and frazer renner

§ Frazer renner

Final Results

W

ednesday 9th May saw House Tonic jump on the first flight out of Heathrow and land in Berlin for their inaugural cocktail competition. Nine highly charged and raring-to-go finalists (including seasoned bartenders and junior barbacks) lined up to pit their wits again each other. After an intro from Dylan Murray, Soho House Group director of operational support and judge, former Shoreditch House maestro Alessandro Meneghini kicked things off in style with a mouthwatering chocolate bitters and fresh coconut blend – an interesting take on a very well-known chocolate bar (I think you can guess which).

Round-by-round the drinks continuing to raise the bar and the judges from

Soho House and partners Grey Goose Vodka knew it was going to be a challenging evening with some tough calls to be made.

With all drinks served up and a lot of chat we were very proud to present a special award to Valentino Bariberi for his drink Grey Rose (50ml Grey Goose vodka, 15ml Galliano, 12.5ml St. Germain, 12.5ml freshly squeezed lemon juice, 25ml fresh pineapple juice). Valentino is currently a barback and an absolute shining light for the future – it was a great drink, so keep up the hard work.

All the winners were given giant bottles of Grey Goose vodka to take home – all the better for inventing more cocktails with!

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The overall winner will represent Soho House Berlin in next month’s UK final. The ponytailed wizard Sam Orrock took the honours (despite naming the cocktail after his girlfriend, Sam Neary!). He's planning to develop his bar skills under the guidance of Soho House Berlin's bar manager Sabina Westfal and immerse himself in its strict cocktail culture having come to Berlin after a very successful year at Pizza East Shoreditch.

Well done Sam, you've come a long way in just four months. See you in London If you’d like to work and learn behind our bars email: housetonic@sohohouse.com

1st Place

2nd Place

3rd Place

Sam Orrock Neary Pear

Tim Anders Tea Time

Frazer Renner May I have a Fizz

40ml 1 1/2oz Grey Goose

30ml 1oz Jasmine tea-infused

1 handful hand-clapped

vodka

Grey Goose

woodruff

10ml 1/3oz Poire William

30ml 1oz Calvados

50ml 1 3/4oz Grey Goose

20ml 3/4oz lemon juice

15ml 1/2oz Pomme de verte

vodka

20ml 3/4oz gomme (made with

liqueur

30ml 1oz lemon juice

brown sugar

30ml 1oz lime cordial

10ml 1/3oz gomme

3 lime wedges

top with soda

METHOD: Shake all ingredients in

2 rosemary sprigs

METHOD:

shaker, double strain into

METHOD:

Add all ingredients (apart

a chilled coupette. Layer

Pour all spirits into a

from soda) to a shaker,

of double cream on top.

chilled mixing glass,

dry shake first, add ice,

squeeze limes, add

shake again, strain into

rosemary and stir until ice

a Collins (or Fizz) glass

cold. Double strain into

without ice and top with

a chilled coupette and

soda. Garnish with a

garnish with rosemary.

woodruff leaf.

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APERITIFS

SHORTS

The Playlist: Music To Drink To We continue our regular series in this issue with Oli Juste, Soho House’s head of learning and development.

How I Made It Five minutes with Martin Kuczmarski, Soho House's Chief Operating Officer

"Over the years I have learnt that a great drink should always come with a great song. From remembering all the good (and tough) times, to planning the next, here are some of my favourite tracks"

Nina Simone: To Love Somebody A classic and such a romantic song, with a glass of champagne at the start of a romantic evening.

I’m thinking a glass of Ruinart Rosé in a beautiful antique coupe at the bar of Little House. Nina gets you every time.

Sophie Ellis Bextor: Today The Sun’s On Us I’ve always loved Sophie, from her time in Theaudience to her solo career. This track will always remind me of the House Festival in Chiswick. The House Festival is on the 5 July this year…I can’t wait. The best day of the year, after Christmas obviously.

Billie Holliday: Solitude Talking of tough times…music always triggers memories, but it can also soothe. My friend, and a longstanding employee of Soho House, Nicolas Bouriache passed away in early April. I miss him daily, but a sad song and a glass of wine (Nicolas’ favourite vice) can help.

Recently I have enjoyed listening to this song while cooking (another one of Nicolas’ favourite things).

Baxter Dury: Happy Soup – the whole album My friend Madelaine Hart has collaborated on this album. I love to put this on any night of the week after a long day at work. Put the kettle on. Chill. Wait for my supper to be ready. The mix of voices together is like the perfect Hudson & 10TH (from Little House Cocktail menu) a rocky start and a smooth, gorgeous finish.

Franz Ferdinand: Matinee My friend Mashia in New York once introduced me to the joy of a cheeky shot of Black Label. It's not something I'm necessarily very proud of, but a Scottish drink with a Scottish band is usually a great start to a brilliant night.

The Phoenix: If I Ever Feel Better This reminds me of my years on the floor at Soho House, probably around 2006. Our lovely Markus Anderson introduced me to this band. Markus and I used to drink champagne by the gallon back then, but this song could be enjoyed with anything, on the rocks or straight up.

Just Jack: Paradise (Lost & Found) A great track, especially with a cup of tea once you’ve returned home after a long evening out.

Paolo Conte: Vieni Via Con Me Well this is obvious… a Negroni (with a slice not a zest, thank you) at the bar in Soho House NYC. At least until we open a House on the Amalfi coast? Nick? Just a thought…Just like Paolo… any time, any day.

Cake: I Will Survive Total power song… I love the original, but Cake insist on singing it so seriously and meaningfully, I love it! Best when trying to get over somebody; with good tequila and good friends for support.

Depeche Mode: All I Ever Wanted Another Electric Band, English this time. It would make sense to have a beer while playing air guitar around the living room, but I won’t - promise – no really, I promise.

Stromae: Alors On Danse This reminds me of 'getting lost' around the canal Saint Martin in Paris, going from bar to bar with a bunch of friends drinking Caipirinhas.

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In 1994 I moved to London and started as a waiter at the Hyde Park hotel – then owned by Lord Forte – later becoming restaurant manager. But I felt I needed more knowledge, so I went back to Italy and studied at the Academy of Trade and Tourism. Between 1995 and 1997 I worked at the The Ritz Hotel in Paris at the Bar Vendome where I did management training. When I started I really was just doing the crappiest jobs! But I didn't get upset – I was happy to be there, learning.

It was an incredible chance to learn by observing the best hotel in the world in action.

I get so much satisfaction from seeing our guests, members and staff happy. That's my job: to make sure everyone is having a good time. My advice to anyone starting out? Let your actions speak louder than your words, love the industry, work hard and above all be passionate. You will move up the ladder if you tick all of the above.

My favourite drink is a perfect Manhattan. The first one I ever had that was made in a wow way was in New York at the 57 East 57th St Four Seasons, 16 or 17 years ago. It was one of the first bars to make drinks in front of you, on a trolley. I fell in love with the Manhattan in Manhattan."

Next, I moved to Monte Carlo to work at Hotel de Paris and then came back to London and joined One Aldwych Hotel. I started off as head waiter in banqueting, moved to room service and then became back of house manager

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Ella Fitzgerald: I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm Simply perfect to listen to at home on a Sunday morning, with a large cup of freshly pressed coffee, and your significant other on the couch sharing a copy of the weekend newspaper. (Clichéd, I know…)

Daft Punk: Da Funk I First heard Da Funk, back home (in France) in a bar call La Boussole in Dieppe. The drink of choice then, was Four Roses Bourbon and Coke (I am so glad I have moved on from this drink…).

and ultimately ended up as the lobby bar manager, which at the time was one of the hottest bars in London. I moved on to a country house hotel for a while and then joined Soho House Group as acting general manager of the Electric in Notting Hill. Next, I took responsibility of High Road House and Babington House, then I was promoted to director of operations for the UK. In January this year I became the Chief Operating Officer for Soho House.

"I started at the bottom and worked my way up. During summer breaks in Italy, when my friends went on holiday, I went to hotel school. Then I worked in five-star hotels, always in food and beverage, starting as a commis waiter, chef de rang, then moving to the bar and becoming a bar manager.

Masterglass Success Story Masterglass is Soho House Group's recruitment programme – we get bartenders in to make drinks in a competition setting and the best get offered a job. (See www. sohohouse.com/housetonic to sign up). Myles Donneky joined the company three months ago and has already been promoted to bar manager at High Road House, Chiswick: “I heard Shoreditch House were looking for bar staff and I had seen House Tonic magazine and was very impressed with the training schemes. I couldn't believe how much the company invested in their staff, with trips, training and in-house promotion. Masterglass

MYLES Donneky

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was amazing and really representative of the company. There was an introduction from Dylan [Murray, Director of Operational Support] and Martin [Kuczmarski, chief operating officer] and I found it astonishing that two people so high up in the company had taken the time to come down and introduce themselves! We started by making a Daiquiri, then we had to pick a cocktail out of a hat and make it on the spot. I got a Whisky Sour and then we made a drink of our choice: I chose The Orangerie [recipe on page 23]. Afterwards, I got the job as head bartender at Soho House. Cut to two months later and I'm taking the bar manager role at High Road House. I'm very excited!”

AT THE BAR

PROFILE

Your Friendly Bartender Paul Mott, 31, Bar Manager, Dean Street Townhouse Interview by Jessica Hopkins Photography: Dai Williams

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started bartending when I was 16. My grandfather had pubs for over 30 years in Manchester for Whitbread, so I started glass collecting for him. When I was 18 I upgraded to my first proper bar job at Mottram Hall in the De Vere hotel in Cheshire, working in the golf club. When it was quiet and everybody was playing golf, I'd drive the buggy around the course and sell cold beers and Irish coffees.

seven months. I started in High Road House then moved to Dean Street two months ago. Before I left London I only remembered there being the one Soho House so in the years I've been in Australia it's just snowballed. I like the fact that it's international; maybe one day I'll be able to go back to Australia with them!

If you want to start out in the industry, you definitely need to be a barback. Get behind the bar and see how things work without the pressure of dealing with customers and making drinks; that will come. We're good at SHG because we really involve the barbacks so they get a very good foundation and great training.

I had a few different avenues at school: when I left I was deciding between joining officer training in the Air Force to become a helicopter pilot or going to RADA to do drama, which are obviously quite different! But as I have family in Australia, I decided to take a gap year there first.

I fell in love with the place but after essentially holidaying for two years I thought I should come home and do something serious.

So I came back and started a Marketing and IT degree here in London, which is when bartending began to take over. I started doing functions and getting a lot better at it so the 9am lectures began to suffer. The functions were bringing in good cash and I realised I could actually do this as a proper job.

Make sure you have a basic knowledge of spirits, so you’re able to sell to the customer off the list if they get stuck. Be efficient behind the bar and take pride in cleaning up after yourself. Standing behind the bar is like playing tennis, you're moving in one spot to take all the shots, so I always look for speed and efficiency and people who take pride in what they do. You need to have a good sense of humour, and care about what you're doing. Guys who come in for trials and don't even say hello to the other bartenders are not people I want on my team: if you don't get on with the team then it's not a nice place to work.

I spent two years working on the Queen Mary II cruise ship.

It was like a big floating Las Vegas casino: pure glitz and glamour and the first time I had to wear a jacket behind a bar, which takes some getting used to! But I got to see the world and knew I wanted to go back to Australia. So I went, and stayed for six years.

I'll be 41 in ten years time and love the idea of having my own little bar. I can definitely see myself having my own place one day, somewhere hot like the Caribbean or Maldives. Unless Soho House does go to Australia and I'm GM of the place that we open in Sydney…

I worked for a similar company to SHG in Australia called Merivale who have a lot of bars, hotels and restaurants in Sydney. I’ve been with SHG since I came back, for just over

If you’d like to work and learn behind our bars email: housetonic@sohohouse.com

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“At Soho House we really involve the barbacks so they get a very good foundation and great training” -11-

AT THE BAR

LIQUOR STORES

Bartenders’ Favourite Liquor Stores Bartenders always have the best liquor cabinets – but where do they go when they need to stock up? We ask five bartenders from our sites around the world to open up their address books

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Jay Newell, Soho House London Every bartender worth his salt knows Gerry's! Having worked in Soho for five years I've come to know the guys at Gerry's pretty well and I'm always looking for an excuse to call in. Every time I go in I'm invited behind the counter to explore the floor-to-ceiling walls of booze and more often than not a drink is put in front of me. The guys are very knowledgeable so it's easy to spend a bit of time there talking about the one thing we have in common.. alcohol! They also have brand ambassadors giving tastings and samples of their products in the shop most days.

74 Old Compton Street, London W1D 4UW, (+44) 020 7734 2053, www.gerrys.uk.com Frazer Renner, Soho House Berlin The Absinth Depot is a little boutique absinthe outlet in the Mitte area where there are 160 different bottles filling the walls of an exceptionally designed store. The owner really knows his stuff and even produces his own – one of the best I have ever tasted. I always like to take visiting friends for a little tipple. It was founded in the back of a regular booze shop, just after reunification. At the time, absinthe was illegal but due to demand the guys started shifting it from the back room. When the ban was lifted,

the legendary drinking den was turned into a dedicated absinth store and bar by founder and owner, architect Herman Plöckl. Twenty years have past and while the cityscape has changed so much, the Depot is still here.

Weinmeisterstraße 4, 10178 Berlin, Germany, (+49) 030 2816789, www.erstesabsinthdepotberlin.de

GERRYS Store

Sam Kershaw, Babington House My favourite has to be Corks of Cotham in Bristol. It's a favourite of all Bristol bartenders, stocking an amazing selection of bitters, vermouths, ports, sherries as well as a diverse spirit, wine and beer offering. The owners, Dom and Rachel, have long been part of the Bristol scene, owning nearby restaurant Flinty Red. Their commitment to bringing in niche products has served Bristol's bar scene well. The other shop staff, Faith and Tom are very friendly and knowledgable, and totally unbiased to brands, which is very refreshing! Special mention also the Bristol Cider House for a stunning range of bottled and cask ciders available by the plastic flagon and the full range of Somerset cider brandies....

54 Cotham Hill, Bristol, BS6 6JX, (+44) 0117 973 1620, www.corksof.com; 8-9 Surrey Street, Bristol BS2 8PS, (+44) 07429 041812 www.bristolciderhouse.co.uk

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Rick Nani, Soho Beach House Miami

Juan Sevilla, Soho House New York

Domaney's liquor store is owned by Ed Domaney, one of the nicest guys I've ever met, and it's located in the Berkshires of Mass. Some would say it's in the middle of nowhere but I say it's in the middle of paradise. He has a private wine cellar in the attic with more labelled vintages than most stores in the US. Ed is very knowledgeable and is always willing to bring in any brands to fit your needs.

It's the only place on the East Coast where I could find my favourite Black Maple Hill Rye Whiskey. It's very rare and very hard to get your hands on. He also has a plethora of vermouths, bitters and high mixers, and his own bourbon is distilled at the Buffalo Trace distillery.

Astor Wines and Spirits on Lafayette is my go-to. They have an array of bitters, fine amaros, a nice selection of vermouths and so many great spirits. Any time a guest at the bar asks where they can get something like Montenegro Amaro for example, I point them towards this particular store. I think every city needs a few places where you can easily purchase a bottle of bonded applejack or Chinaco anejo tequila. It's nice to have a choice of sweet vermouths when you're planning on whipping up Negronis or Manhattans at home. They also offer free classes for you to learn more about wine and spirits.

66 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230, (+1) 413 528 0024, www.domaneys.com

399 Lafayette Street New York, NY 10003, (+1) 212 674-7500, www.astorwines.com

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AT THE BAR

LITTLE HOUSE

Little House The newest addition to the Soho House Group in London may be diminutive – with just 100 covers – but it’s perfectly formed and definitely packs a punch. Welcome to Little House Photography: Dai Williams

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L

ittle House head bartender Lauren Shaw shakes a Scorched Pisco Sour and pours it out into a small, gold-rimmed goblet, spritzes it with a special blend of bitters and absinthe and sets fire to the mist with a blow-torch. “I'm absolutely loving working here, to be honest,” she says. “Because of the size, we can do things in more detail and we've got the time to get into a bit of theatre, like this. When customers see us smoking caramel or using blow torches they get much more interested, which is all you really want as a bartender.”

a seasonal calendar and so recently we've been making fresh rhubarb cordials but we'll soon move to redcurrant and raspberries. After that perhaps we'll do an iced tea reduction and serve it with champagne and fresh peach juice.”

She also has the chance to get her team using block ice as well. “We start off with massive lumps, then the barbacks break it down a bit and we hand chisel it as we need. We're looking into getting special knives and perhaps making balls of ice too. As well as ice, we're linking up with the kitchen much more than I have done before – they change their menu all the time, along with the seasons. I've got

Head bartender Lauren Shaw makes a Scorched Pisco Sour at Little House -14-

General manager Elena is just as excited. “It's been a real success so far,” she says. “It's small and interesting and people come in ready to experiment. As well as cocktails, we're getting great feedback on the wine list, which is short and which we've divided simply into £20 red and whites, £30 red and whites and £40 red and whites.”

Because breakfast is a big focus, just as much thought has gone into juices, tea and coffee. “We have a cage behind the bar displaying all the seasonal fruits available for juicing,” says Elena. “Our specially blended teas are from the Tea Palace and we're using the new Soho House Arabica coffee blend.”

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AT THE BAR

LITTLE HOUSE

Little House

Tom Kerr, House Tonic Ambassador for the UK, spent several months helping to design the cocktail list and source new and antique kit and glassware. “The kit as a whole – the jiggers, spoons and ice picks – all came from Cocktail Kingdom via Jeff Mason, their British supplier. I wanted a different range of shakers: a tin-ontin, a Parisian shaker and a cobbler shaker, for different cocktails and different styles of drinks. Different shakers have different velocity inside so the ice moves differently inside too. We opted for a tall mixing glass so you can bash out four stirred drinks in one, as obviously speed of service is so important. We tested them to check that the drinks would come out the same as if we were using smaller mixing glasses and it was spot on. Then we went for a ridiculously long barspoon – less hard stirring and a nice theatrical stir!”

But much of the rest of the glassware is unique. “The glass shakers – for when someone orders one Martini or one Manhattan – are all vintage and to find them I walked around London for

A selection of vintage and one-off glassware on the bar at little house

a good couple of months, googling, looking for them and picking them up. They're quite expensive! I know so much about glassware now, where to go, who to ask...”

The vintage coupes that are used for many of the cocktails are also all one-offs. “I needed coupes that were elegant but also had something in common, that fit together. Because you can't walk into a vintage shop and go 'I want 40 of these'. It took a month to find them but I noticed some had this thumbprint pattern on them, so I collected lots and they really fit well together. One shop had a back shelf full of them and I walked in and said 'I'll take all of them, now'.”

Different drinks are matched with their perfect glass. “The Martinez and the Manhattan are served in digestif or sherry glasses which we use as mini coupes, served with a sidecar: the little glass and a flask and a tiny ice bucket. We do it because the drinks need to start cold and stay cold to have the flavours that we want. They change if they change

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temperature.” Again the glasses don't match. “They've all got similar geometrical etching on them. We don't have many of these, but they are a really good touch. When people come to the bar and they haven't ordered a drink yet, we'll give them a little bit of champagne in one or a taste of a drink that we've just made as an aperitif.”

That gold-rimmed sours glass is a favourite. “They are £60 a pop. I got them from Thomas Goode, round the corner in Mayfair, who supplies glassware to the royal family. My colleague Sam Kershaw and I walked in and all these guys were wearing tuxedos – just in a glass shop. It was the most ridiculous glass shop I'd ever been to. These are actually small wine glasses and the perfect size for a traditional sour. I didn't know how much they were and I asked if I could take a few as samples.

I thought he'd say no way but he said, 'Yes, I just need your credit card details'. So I wound up walking down the street with £1, 000 of glassware.

I was freaking out that I would drop

“The vintage coupes that are used for many of the cocktails are also all one-offs”

Little Cup

Hudson and 10th

Soho Mule

50ml 1 3/4oz Grey Goose La

40ml 1 1/2oz Talisker

50ml 1 3/4oz Grey Goose

Poire vodka

1 barspoon Kummel

35ml 1 1/4oz Ginger Syrup

20ml 3/4oz green tea syrup

1 barspoon Pedro Ximenez

25ml 3/4oz Lime Juice

10ml 1/4oz lime juice

2 dash chocolate bitters

Top Soda

3 mint leaves

2 dash Amargo bitters

2 cucumber slices

5ml 1/4oz honey water

3 drops plum bitters

Method: Shake with 1 ice cube and

METHOD:

dump in ice-filled collins

Method:

Add all ingredients in

glass. Top with soda.

Muddle cucumber and

mixing glass and stir until

Garnish with candied ginger.

hand clap mint in Julep

right dilution. Strain into

tin. Add all ingredients

mini coupe with sidecar.

and crushed ice. swizzle.

Garnish with lemon zest

Garnish with green tea

(discarded).

leaves, mint, cucumber.

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AT THE BAR

LITTLE HOUSE

“It's small and interesting and people come in ready to experiment”

The martinez

them. We haven't broken any so far... touch wood.”

Tom and his colleagues Matt Sloper, bar supervisor, Alessandro Cattaneo and Lauren worked hard to create a bespoke cocktail list of just 12 drinks. “We wanted to keep things very simple – although of course you can order off the list, and we'll make drinks to suit people's taste, just like in all our venues. We have classics like the Clover Club which is such a winner that I've always put it on all my lists and is great with our home-made raspberry syrup.

"Caesar's Last Chance is Matt Sloper's winning drink from the Bacardi competition last year – it's amazing and so we got the specs right and put it on the list. Alessandro and I came up with the East Side Pickford. He wanted to put a Mary Pickford on and I wanted to do an East India so we compromised. The Midnight Reviver is a twist on a corpse reviver, using gin infused with camomile for five hours and camomile-smoked absinthe. It's not too over-the-top as we smoke it

The Little Cup

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very fast. We make it at the beginning of the day and cap it off so it doesn't effect speed of service and you get good consistency. But if we have the time we'll do then and there for a bit of theatre. The Little Cup was invented by me and Matt Sloper. We wanted to work with Grey Goose vodka and green tea and use a julep tin to make something light and refreshing, which I think we have done. The Hudson on 10 th is Matt's drink – it used to be with rum but he changed it to Talisker, so you get the smokiness. It's also got Kummel in, which is a powerfully-flavoured German herbal liqueur made with cumin and caraway, plus Pedro Ximenez sherry, chocolate bitters and this incredible Amargo Peruvian bitters. I found them in a shop on the corner of Hudson and 10th. So that's where the name came from.”

Little House may be small, but it's certainly got some big ideas.

If you’d like to work and learn behind our bars email: housetonic@sohohouse.com

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Italian Shrub 50ml 1 3/4oz Hendricks gin 25ml 3/4oz Little House berry shrub 15ml 1/2oz lime juice Method: To make berry shrub, see page 22. Shake the gin, shrub and lime while your coupe is chilling with crushed ice and Campari.

Throw out the crushed ice and Campari (ensuring the inside of the coupe is soaked with Campari) fine strain all ingredients into coupe. Finish with a block of handcut ice and flamed orange peel.

AT THE BAR

SUMMER COCKTAILS

Chris Ojeda, Soho House Group creative bar director, says:

Iced Tea which is a cocktail I really despise even though it's a classic in its own right (all recipes on page 23).

bartenders, Adam Baca, comes up with great beer cocktails – his latest is Suds from Above (see recipes below).

“Summer drinks this year are all about home entertaining and tea cocktails.

Home cocktails should be easy and accessible. Bottled cocktails are perfect for this as you can make them well before any guests arrive and continue to have them throughout the summer when a refreshing drink is needed. Plus, they are cool and pretty unusual.”

Myles Donneky, bars manager at High Road House Chiswick says:

Rick Nani, Soho Beach House Miami

To make bottled cocktails you will need: ISI Twist n Sparkle (or similar) Beverage Carbonating system (and CO2 chargers); Old cola bottles or beer bottles; Caps & Crown bottle Capper (available online); a cocktail of choice (preferably without citrus).

Bottled Americano Cocktail

Summer Cocktails Every season, cocktail ingredients and trends change. Since it’s the season for throwing parties, we asked our best bartenders for their thoughts on what’s hot in cold drinks right now

180ml 6oz Campari 120ml 4oz Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth 180ml 6oz water

§

Mix all together in a container and keep cold. Bubbles will be much more present if your liquid is cold so I suggest keeping in the fridge for at least an hour or two before you charge. Pour the contents into your Twist n Sparkle and charge with the CO2. Once this is done you will need to bottle this quite quickly using a small funnel into your 187ml bottles.

Using your crown capper and bottle cap, cap the cocktail and you're done.

This cocktail will last as long as you need as long as you will need it, just short of forever.

Tea Cocktails Our Black Tea Collins cocktail comes via my love for all things tea. Plus it’s a cheeky little play on a Long Island

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TOP TIP The best thing about summer is summer herbs and spices. Buy a pot plant that can sit in your bar or at home and be used in drinks. It's very impressive when you pick off a leaf and put it in your shaker. The quickest and easiest way to infuse a fresh herb into a drink is to shake the flavour in.

Christine Joaquin-Ponchetti, Soho House West Hollywood: TOP TIP Summer is a perfect time to bust out that blender. Instead of using traditional fruits like strawberries and bananas, go to an Asian market and experiment with some tropical fruit such as mango, papaya, jack fruit and mangosteen in your blended cocktails. Don't forget your umbrella!

Antonella Bonetti, Babington House TOP TIP Infuse vodka with lavender and make a simple vodka and tonic with a garden twist. Use sage leaves to make a tequila mojito instead of your classic. Everyone should have basil in summer! Some fresh torn leaves in your bloody mary... yummy

Juan Sevilla, Soho House New York I think Smashes are great for the summer. They are refreshing and delicious. Try the Benito Smash (recipe on page 23). I think beer cocktails are also great and I really like a Margaveza. One of our

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The summer is the perfect time to start thinking Tiki-style cocktails.

Using ingredients like orgeat (almond syrup), limoncello, proper grenadine, different kinds of bitters, coffee and apricot brandies, crushed ice, flashy garnishes, and a WHOLE LOT OF RUM! Punches are another amazing way to show the summer has arrived. Instead of using a punch bowl, why not hollow out fruits like watermelons, cantaloupes or green melons to serve your punch. You can also hollow out papayas to serve as individual cups.

Amarena cherries, edible orchards, lime and orange wheels and any kind of flowers that aren't poisonous are great for garnishes.

See a book called Beachbum Berry's Intoxica for great tiki recipes. I love the Beachbum recipe (page 23).

Patrick Mang, Cecconi's LA TOP TIP With summer knocking at our front door it's a perfect time to jazz up an ice cold beer, Michelada style.

Micheladas were originally served as a hangover remedy but have become more popular as a refreshing summer drink. There are many variations on the recipe but here is an easy at-home one to follow: In a food processor puree a 6 oz / 180ml can of chipotle chiles with 6 oz / 180 ml of water, 1/4 oz / 10ml agave syrup and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Once the puree is made, salt the rim of a tall glass, add ice and depending on your spice tolerance add 1.5-2 oz / 50-60ml of puree. Slowly add and stir

AT THE BAR

SUMMER COCKTAILS

London Fields

The Orangerie

The Best Bacardi Drink On Record

50 ml 1 1/2oz vodka

40 ml 1/4 oz gin

50 ml 1 1/2oz Bacardi

25 ml 3/4 oz lemon juice

25 ml 3/4 oz Aperol

25 ml 3/4 oz lime juice

15 ml 1/2oz elderflower

20 ml 3/4 oz lemon Juice

20 ml 3/4 oz sugar syrup

cordial

15 ml 1/2oz sugar Syrup

10 ml 1/4 oz yellow

15 ml 1/2oz sugar syrup

4 basil leaves

4 sprigs of rosemary

chartreuse 4 sprigs of lavender

All of the above drinks are shaken with lots of ice and served straight up in a chilled martini glass. double strain so you do not get ice particles or little bits of the herbs coming into your glass. No one wants basil stuck in their teeth. (Myles Donnekey)

Margaveza

“Summer drinks this year are all about home entertaining and tea cocktails” beer (I think a dark beer complements it better but anything in the fridge will do) finishing with squeezing in two fresh lime wedges. The combination of the smokey-spiciness from the chipotles with the salt and beer makes a delicious summer drink even for those who are not serious beer drinkers.

Tom Kerr, Electric House and UK House Tonic Ambassador This is a recipe we will launch at the Electric House this summer. This drink is fantastic to have at home for a punch-style drink.

Bombay Tea Party Serves 2 people 100ml 3 1/4oz Bombay Sapphire gin 50ml 1 1/2oz home-made berry shrub* 60ml 2oz lime juice 10 mint leaves 6 slices cucumber

Method: Shake and strain into a cube ice-filled tea pot and serve with tea cups on the side, garnished with mint sprigs and a cucumber wheel. OR serve punch style in a large bowl with one block of ice cube and serve with ladle. * For the berry shrub: Lightly press 1 handful each of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries in the bottom of a container. Mix in raw sugar ensuring all berries are covered and leave to rest for 3-4 days in fridge. ( Making a shrub is great if you have berries that are just going past their use-by-date.

Shrub's shelf life is about a year but to ensure even longer shelf life just add some booze). Strain off all berries and you will be left with thick berry syrup.

Mix red wine vinegar with the berry syrup using the ratio of 100ml syrup to 10ml red wine vinegar.

Nathan Dixon-Jones, Shoreditch House As summer is upon us once again it's time for all those lovely garden parties.

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Why not go for a British themed party this year and serve up some delicious iced teas?

Shoreditch House currently has a very regally-themed menu and two of its most popular cocktails are the Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II both twists on a traditional iced tea. I suggest using Grey Goose. They could be served in large teapots and drunk from tea cups.

50 ml 1 1/2oz vodka

50 ml 1 1/2oz vodka

beer and pour into a

50 ml 1 1/2oz jasmine tea

30 ml 1 oz Earl Grey tea 20 ml 3/4 oz lemon juice

pint glass. Top with 120 ml 4 oz

25 ml 3/4 oz lemon juice

of frozen margarita. Garnish

15 ml 1/2oz jasmine syrup

15 ml 1/2oz peach syrup

with a lime. (Juan Sevilla)

50 ml 1 1/2oz peach juice

40 ml 1 1/4 oz watermelon juice

What a great brew!

2 mint leaves

Build in a teapot and stir

Build in a teapot and stir

(Both by nathan Dixon Jones)

Benito Smash

Suds from Above 45 ml 1 1/2oz vodka

60 ml 2oz tequila

4 lemon wedges

30 ml 1oz cointreau

150 ml 5 oz simple sugar syrup

30 ml 1oz Aperol

30 ml 1oz lime juice

6 mint leaves

7 1/2ml 1/4 oz curacao

60 ml 2oz simple syrup

30 ml 1oz Benedictine

25 ml 3/4 oz lemon juice

3/4 cup cracked ice

30 ml 1oz blanco tequila

Combine all ingredients in a

Muddle the lemon wedges, add

Shake and strain into a blender. Blend and pour.

cocktail glass and top with

the simple syrup, mint leaves,

Peroni.

Benedictine and tequila. Shake

(Adam baca)

and strain into a rocks glass

Soho Beachbum

with ice. (Juan sevilla)

30 ml 1oz Chairmans Reserve Spiced Rum 30 ml 1oz Smith & Cross rum

The recipes listed across the page are for one serve, just adjust according to the capacity of the teapot. Stir the drink through and pour into a cup adding ice to preference. Ice cubes could be presented in large sugar bowls with tongs. Garnish with flower heads or mint sprigs.

Elizabeth 2

Take 330 ml 12oz bottle of Peroni

Frozen Margarita

Chris Ojeda's Black tea collins

Elizabeth 1

Big Brown 45 ml 1 1/2oz Buffalo Trace

Black Tea Collins

bourbon (Or use a bourbon with at least 47% ABV and blended with a

15 ml 1/2oz house-made orgeat

60 ml 2oz Grey Goose vodka

syrup

25 ml 3/4 oz lemon juice

good rye content)

15 ml 1/2oz apricot brandy

15 ml 1/2oz black tea syrup

15 ml 1/2oz lemon juice

30 ml 1oz house-made pineapple

(strong tea mixed with

25 ml 3/4 oz maple syrup (we

syrup

sugar 1:1)

25 ml 3/4 oz fresh lime juice

use Noble maple, aged in Hudson bourbon barrels)

Light shake. Top with

30 ml 1 oz Rooibos tea

Shake and strain over fresh

seltzer water. serve in

2 dashes of angostura

cubed ice into a collins glass.

a long glass Garnished

bitters

Garnish with an amarena

with lemon and amarena

cherry and an orange slice.

cherry. (This and

Shake and strain into a

following by chris Ojeda)

Georgian glass.

If you’d like to work and learn behind our bars email: housetonic@sohohouse.com

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DIGESTIFS

HOUSE TONIC TRIPS

House Tonic Trips House Tonic and the bar teams around the world have been busy, busy, busy in recent months, not just bashing out brilliant drinks but also visiting distilleries and attending showcases from all sorts of experts and brands. Read on to see where they’ve been and what they’ve learnt...

the annual scottish festival on long beach

§

Scottish Fest “Back in February, bartenders from Soho West Hollywood Sarah Doyle, Noel Salmon, Ian Lockhart, and I attended the 19th Annual Scottish Festival. The event took place in Long Beach alongside the Queen Mary. It was a perfect day for caber tossing, bagpipes, kilts, Haggis, and of course scotch tasting. We learned about the different regions and how scotch is defined by terroir and the lie of the land.

You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect setting to do a scotch tasting. Well, unless you were in Scotland”, says Christine Joaquin from Soho House West Hollywood.

Plymouth Gin Nick Tomkinson from Cafe Boheme on a memorable trip to Plymouth: “So what gets 10 bartenders out of bed at the ungodly hour of 7am? Well, apart from the coffee at Cecconi's the promise of being shown around the oldest gin distillery in the UK by a Master Distiller. We were greeted by Sean Harrison who has been crafting Plymouth gin for over a decade, making sure that it remains a firm favourite on all back bars across the world. Plymouth was the first gin used for the dry martini and the most mentioned spirit in the Savoy cocktail book, without a doubt a star of the cocktail era. After a tour of the distillery that dates back to early 1400s when it was used as a monastery, we had a guided tasting of gin learning how different botanicals affect the flavour profile of the

spirit. When Sean felt we had a grasp he let us loose on making our own small batch of gin in the basement lab: it's a truly special moment watching your own gin coming into creation (and it not being a disaster!). Being a master distiller is thirsty work so we headed upstairs to the refectory bar to enjoy our favourite gin cocktails on Sean's tab. A simply awesome day completed by a perfect Martinez."

Cocktail Kingdom Jeff Mason from the excellent barware supplier Cocktail Kingdom visited Shoreditch House to show off his new range of barware, showcasing their new products.

Bartenders from all over London attended and were treated to beers and bowling afterwards.

Taste by Appointment Taste by Appointment is Grey Goose vodka's series of interactive lectures, teaching drinkers about how their tastebuds work via a few nifty experiments, blind tasting all sorts of ingredients and then getting a bespoke cocktail made for each person. Grey Goose ambassador Joe McCanta ran a one-off version for Soho House Group bartenders and followed it up with a cocktail safari around London, taking in Trailer Happiness, Portobello Star and Montgomery Place. Hard work! If you'd like to book in for one of the public sessions, visit: www.greygoosetaste.com.

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Alex Kammerling

house has more: “Through the Somerset lanes we drove to Blindmans Brewery. It's a five barrel plant based at Talbot Farm, Leighton in a converted Milking Parlour. The brewery is fairly unique in having its own exclusive water spring which is carefully quality controlled, guaranteeing consistency. All ingredients are procured locally wherever possible, with malt supplied by Warminster Maltings, traditionally germinated on open floors in a process going back centuries. Blindman's was established in 2002 by David Capps-Tunwell, following a career in the navy. The Brewery was named as David went into the venture as a bit of an unknown challenge, blind. It also refers to an earlier residence called Blindmans Cottage in the nearby village of Wanstrow. In early 2004, following a decision to move and live in France, David decided to sell the brewery to experienced brewers, Paul Edney and Lloyd Chamberlain.

Inventor of Kamm and Sons, a new ginseng-based herbal liqueur, Alex Kammerling came to Soho House Group to give one of his excellent talks on the history of alcohol as medicine. He took the team back to 3000 BC when beer was given to new mothers in ancient Egypt and brought us up to the present day via Hippocrates using fortified wine, the invention of tinctures meaning that plants could be preserved as well as compounds dissolved, and apothecaries and early pharmacists. He also talked about the birth of bartending when sugar and water were added to otherwise medicinal spirits, and made a strong case for the health benefits of moderate drinking.

Bacardi Berlin Sabina Westfal took her team of bartenders from Soho House Berlin on a trip to the Bacardi House in Berlin, where they got to see a huge range of Bacardi's old artefacts and learn about the whole rum-making process.

House Tonic meets Cookhouse Down in Somerset, bartenders and chefs took a joint day out to visit Westcombe cheddar and then Blindmans Brewery, where Babington House gets its ale made. After a tour of Westcombe and a cheese tasting, the team headed towards the beer. Antonella Bonetti from Babington

Our team had free access to a large barrel of amber ale while Paul explained the brewing process. Back to camp (Babington House) where, after a tour of the hotel, we all had lunch in the log room followed by a cider tasting...Our Babington cider! The apples for this cider were collected from our walled garden last autumn, a true experiment as we were not sure which type would produce the best. We had three to try and when I asked Matt Armistead, our GM, why he only poured from one, he said 'Because the other two are sh*t!’ So we still have a lot of work to do...!”

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DIGESTIFS

HOUSE TONIC TRIPS

Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt aka Don the Beachcomber

Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book London 1930

Missionary’s Downfall

Sonora Cocktail

37.5ml 1 3/4oz Bacardi

Method:

50ml 1 3/4oz Bacardi

Method:

Superior

Place all ingredients

Superior rum

Fill a mixing glass

12.5ml 1/4oz Peach

into a shaker add ice

10ml 1/4oz Applejack

with ice cubes. Add

Liqueur

shake hard. Single

10ml 1/4oz freshly

all ingredients. Stir

25ml 1oz Lime juice

strain into a highball

squeezed lemon juice

and strain into a

50ml 1 3/4oz Pineapple

filled with crushed

10ml 1/4oz apricot

chilled cocktail

juice

ice. Garnish with a

brandy

glass.

12.5ml 1/4oz Sugar syrup

mint sprig.

12 mint leaves

House Tonic meets Cookhouse, US-style “Wild Food instructor Pascal Baudar led the Cookhouse and House Tonic teams for a morning of foraging and adventuring just outside Los Angeles,” says Julia TaylorBrown, who manages House Tonic and Cookhouse in the US. “With Pascal’s guidance, the teams found ingredients like wild radish, chickweed, nettle and sage at the first location, and then moved onto a second to gather green walnuts, watercress, elderflower, fennel and three different types of currants; red, black and golden. A plethora of hallucinogens and psychotropics were also found, but those (fortunately?) did not make it into our baskets. Who knew there was such a bounty of ingredients in LA County? The group then caravaned back to Cecconi’s West Hollywood to play with their foraged ingredients. What was the Cookhouse winner? That would have to be Rigo and Andrea’s goat cheese and nettle pizza. We’re excited to see how the House Tonic team’s bitters turn out!”

Hudson Distillery Soho Beach House Miami paid a visit to the Hudson Distillery, one of the smallest whiskey producing outfits in the US. After driving two hours from the Berkshires of New England to the Hudson Distillery located in upstate New

York, the Soho Beach House Miami team were excited to finally see where this amazing product comes from.

When most people think of a whiskey distillery they think of a massive warehouse filled with fermentation tanks pumping out yeasty aromas, large copper-pot stills giving off massive amounts of heat, a calming ageing room, an extremely loud bottling factory and a few dozen employees.

The Hudson Whiskey distillery is all those things minus the massive warehouse and a few dozen employees. This was one of the most interesting and smallest operations I’ve visited. All the fermentation tanks, pot stills, ageing room, and bottling room are located in an old 2,500 square foot house right off the Hudson River.

Originally the owner was planning on turning it into a small hotel, but decided last minute to convert it into a distillery with some phenomenal juice. It operates with no more then 10 employees – one Master Distiller, three in the bottling room, and about three in the gift shop/ageing room. They produce around 300 bottles a day, every day.

Although it's hard to believe that all these bottles can be pushed out of this whiskey lover's dream home, it’s even harder to believe that the employee who loses the “morning bet” has to personally hand write all the bottle numbers, bottling dates, and signature of approval on those 300 bottles a day!

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“Who knew there was such bounty to be found in LA County?”

-27-

DIGESTIFS

Sugar cane on display at bacardi berlin

HOUSE TONIC TRIPS

barrells of hudson whiskey

Foraging in la

hudson whiskey

“It’s a truly special moment watching your own gin coming into creation (and it not being a disaster!)”

Shaken & Stirred with Shervene Shahbazkhani

winning speakeasy. Cocktails here are so popular that you can no longer stand at the bar – table service rules.

Every cocktail is expertly presented with lavish creativity.

Carriages were then in order as last orders were called."

Nathan Dixon-Jones from Shoreditch House tells all: “On 11th April, bartenders from across the group descended into Concrete, East London, to receive a masterclass from UK Bacardi Ambassador Shervene Shahbazkhani.

Camden Brewery Nathan Dixon-Jones also arranged for bartenders to visit this new microbrewery: “A cross section of the Group's bartenders took a tour of Jasper Cuppaidge's (a Soho House member) brewery in north London.

Shervene educated us on the history of rum and mixed rum cocktails straight from the pages of a small library of old school classic cocktail books taken from the prohibition era.

Rum is one of the best spirits to mix with and its history is a colourful one. Produced from molasses – a by-product of sugar cane – or indeed from the juice itself, rum came to prominence in the 1600s. Sugar cane meant money and the European Empires fought over the West Indies where the sugar cane flourished on huge plantations. To work the plantations slaves were brought from West Africa before the rum was then sent back to Europe. Early distilling in colonial North America led to an increased tax - the Sugar Act of 1764 – contributing to revolt and ultimately the American War of Independence. The British Navy had daily rations of rum later watered down with lime juice and sugar, called Grog.

Following the session we sipped Daiquiris at the Hoxton Grill bar before a three-course dinner. Then onwards to the Hawksmoor, a fabulous cocktail bar below Commercial St. From there it was over to Callooh Callay on Rivington St where the punch bowls came out. Next, Happiness Forgets on Hoxton Square, where their cucumber water was much needed. Finally on to the Night Jar, a real, award-

We tasted dark ales, wheat beers and premium lagers and learnt that it's all about the yeast! His are stored in a lab in San Diego and flown in on request - spurring from mother lager or ale yeast cells are a multitude of other related species such as Pilsner or IPA. There is also a bar open every Friday night to the general public with live music and street food vendors under the arches as Jasper educates drinkers on locally brewed beer."

A few of the cocktails tasted on Shervene’s cocktail safari and the books they came from: Charles H Baker Jigger Beaker Glass

David Embury Fine Art of Mixing Drinks

Hugo R. Ensslin, Recipes for Mixed Drinks, New York 1916

Santiago Daisy

Snow White

Melba Cocktail

50ml 1 3/4oz Bacardi

50ml 1 3/4oz Bacardi

25ml 1oz Bacardi Superior

Superior

Superior

Rum

15ml 1/2oz Lime juice

12.5ml 1/2oz Lime juice

25ml 1oz Swedish Punch

5ml 1/8oz Sugar syrup

12.5ml 1/2oz Pineapple juice

15ml 1/2oz Freshly Squeezed

15ml 1/2oz Yellow

10ml 1/4oz Sugar syrup

lime juice

Chartreuse

1 egg white

5-10ml 1/4oz Pomegranate

Method:

METHOD:

grenadine

London International Wine Fair Group sommelier Christopher Cooper hosted a trip to London's biggest wine expo: “Teams of bartenders from Shoreditch House and Little House were taken on a tour of the wine world at the London International Wine Fair in Excel, where highlights included Provençal rosé and some of the top English sparkling wines. It was intense but great to actually meet the winemakers and taste wines not on our lists.”

Put all ingredients into

Put all ingredients

Method:

a boston glass, shake

apart from Bacardi into

Put all ingredients into a

hard. Fill wine glass with

a shaker. Dry shake to

shaker, add ice and shake

crushed ice and pour

emulsify egg white. Add

briefly and vigorously.

liquid into wine glass.

Bacardi with a mix of

Double strain into a

Garnish with mint and

cubed and crushed ice.

chilled or frozen glass.

seasonal berries.

Shake hard. Double strain

Garnish with a lemon zest

into a coupette garnish with a preserved cherry.

If you’d like to work and learn behind our bars email: housetonic@sohohouse.com

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-29-

RISING STARS

want to WORK IN A

Rising Star Barbacks Each issue we like to celebrate the unsung heroes of the bars.

Let’s hear it for our rising star barbacks!

§

Running a daily fresh juice program on three full bars with crystal and handmade glassware, the barbacks of Soho House West Hollywood are as effective as they are loved. Every barback task at this property is Olympic style. These boys are our wheels...And the wheels never come off. In order of hire: Victor Mora (the fastest worker even Grey Goose mixologists have ever seen!); Carlos Zubieta (a veteran – promoted and proven as a cocktail ‘tenders favorite); Augileo Meza (loved as the know-it-all: Auggy trains new hires in every task and skill); Mario Fabian (known for his relentless work ethic, Mario could probably rebuild the bar before last call); Francisco Zubieta (promoted from great to greater: Francisco helps the club care for an unseemly amount of crystal glassware with ease); Mauricio Gomez (learning coffee art, Mauricio has become a staple of our restaurant bar); Marlon Magana (dependable like a truck; legend has it Marlon doesn’t sleep. We suspect he does, but gets things done somehow before he wakes). Plus, we pour a bit of lime juice out for Jeremy Reyes, another star.

Soho House New York Eric Martinez nominated

by Juan Sevilla Eric has been at Soho House NY for nine months now. During his time here, I have counted on him for several things.

Whether it be a last minute event that needs a satellite bar to be set up in just a few minutes or to somehow spread himself throughout multiple bars because other employees called in sick, I can always count on Eric. He is eager to learn and is looking to move up to bartender and eventually wants to become a head bartender. He is a

great trainer and makes sure new employees are trained properly.

Pizza East Shoreditch Petr Budac, nominated by Rory Martin I haven't been here that long but to me Petr has really stood out. He works exceedingly well under pressure, always with a smile. No job is ever too big or too small and he strives to learn more about his role within our team and within the bar industry. A great feature about Petr is that he is always willing to take new barbacks under his wing and help them be their best.

Little House Mayfair Kristian Wojnowski nominated by Tom Kerr Kristian started working at Cafe Boheme about two years ago and quickly made himself into a very important part of the team. His skills and knowledge improved day by day with so much motivation. Kristian is very skilled at anything he does.

Kristian is now head barback at Little House and is a very strong and valuable addition to the team.

Dean Street Townhouse Gary O'Brien, nominated

by Paul Mott Gary just gets the job done. He's never worked in a bar before and has been here only a month but when things need replacing or filling up they are just done. Absolute gun.

High Road House Daniel Bandziak, nominated by Peter Murray Daniel started with us around six months ago. Since then Daniel has overtaken every other member of the barback team. He is incredibly keen to learn, gets involved in the stock takes,

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the squeezing of juices daily, and is well on his way to being able to make great drinks and become a competent bartender. His attitude to work is exceptional and he is always happy to stay longer, work harder and learn more. It is an absolute pleasure to have someone like Daniel.

great

Soho Beach House Miami.

Boris Falcon, nominated

by Rick Nani

bar?

Boris is a native of Cuba and started with us just over a year ago. He has excelled in his duties of barback and really showed a love and passion for his work. Over the next couple of weeks he will be promoted and trained to bartend in the Club Bar.

Soho House London Travis Fontain, nominated

by Jay Newell

With sites in London, Somerset, Miami, Los Angeles, New York and Berlin, plus more on the way around the world, the Soho House Group is always on the lookout for exceptional staff. We offer high quality training, excellent support and you might even get the chance to work in venues overseas. We want to help you develop a great career in drinks.

Travis Fontain has been working for SH for nearly a year as a barback and he's currently making the transition to become a bartender. Travis is liked by everyone in the House and we're all delighted that he's making the crossover. He's more than willing to put in the effort and I think he has a bright future with Soho House.

Cecconi's Mayfair Alberto Fullone, nominated by Giacomo Maccioni Our top barback is Alberto Fullone.

He is a real top guy, he has a constant twinkle in his eyes and never stops smiling; he is hands on, does the dispense, can make a good coffee and supports the bartenders with all aspects of service. He is a real star in the making and we are, at present, training him to step up to bartender.

If you'd like to work in our bars, email housetonic@sohohouse.com

PHOTOGRAPHY: DAI WILLIAMS

Soho House West Hollywood, The barback crew, nominated by Vincent LaRusso

If you'd like to join one of our bar teams in Europe or the United States then please get in touch: email housetonic@ sohohouse.com, visit sohohouse.com/housetonic or call Gareth Jones on +44 (0) 20 7581 2569. We'd love to hear from you!

You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

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FLEUR DE GREY GOOSE CREATED BY TOM KERR 35ML GREY GOOSE LE CITRON, 60ML FRESH PINK GRAPEFRUIT, 5ML CRÈME DE VIOLETTE, 10ML HONEY WATER. COMBINE ALL IN A SHAKER AND SHAKE HARD. DOUBLE STRAIN INTO A CHILLED COUPETTE AND GARNISH WITH A FEW ROSE PETALS.

TO WATCH THIS COCKTAIL BEING MADE GO TO WWW.SOHOHOUSE.COM/HOUSETONIC.

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for the facts drinkaware.co.uk ©2012 GREY GOOSE, THE GREY GOOSE BOTTLE DESIGNS AND THE GEESE DEVICES ARE TRADEMARKS AND/OR REGISTERED TRADEMARKS.