Steak & Whiskey #1

Exclusive look inside Gin & Temple P.6

The crusade to save the UK’s local P.4

Robert Mullane - Editor

Editor

4

Long live the local

5

Aldi takes gold

10

10 .

Newsdesk

New look Dizy Blonde

newsdesk@steak&whiskey.com

accounts@steak&whiskey.com 0161 496 4612

www.Steak&Whiskey.com ©Steak&Whiskey 2019, 91 Princess Street, Manchester M1 4HT. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form - electronic, mechanical or physical - without express prior written consent from the publisher. Contributions are welcomed and will be returned if not used only if accompanied by a stamped pre-addressed letter.

5

A taste of Spring the absinthe drip

8

Asda scraps own brand packaging

9

Warner Edwards drops ‘Edwards’ from their name

-

Adverts

Accounts

Phipps Brewery

Old Fashioned a modern 11 The classic

0161 496 4560 ad@steak&whiskey.com 0161 496 4765

International women’s day

6

Gin & Temple

Robert Mullane rm@steak&whiskey.com 0161 496 4567

CONTENTS

W

hat better to welcome in spring than by exploring new bars, charities and the original cocktail.

The March edition of Steak & Whiskey explores these springtime themes with a look at Northampton’s newest gin bar Gin & Temple; the charity on a crusade to save the UK’s local and a look at the new Dizzy Blonde pump art.

Steak & Whiskey was founded to explore the UK’s thriving bar and food industry. Everything that appears in Steak & Whiskey has been tried and tested by our writers who offer their honest and unbiased opinions.

Steak 101 the best of beef

This months cover

T

his month’s front cover shows rump steak shown throughout the rare to well spectrum. The cheapest cuts but one best suited to pairing with this month’s whisky.

The 1992 Famous Grouse is a malt with an amazing taste. Distilled in 1992 and bottled in 2004 this bottle was distilled 6 years before our editor was born giving it plenty of time to mature and develop its notes of ginger and orange.

Paired with a few drops of water to enhance the natural oils in the whiskey and you notice the flavor increases tenfold. We recommend pairing this single malt with a rare or medium rare

steak to enhance your enjoyment.

www.steak&whiskey.com

3

ARTICLE

Long Live The Local

B

ritain’s Beer Alliance, a crossindustry group of brewers and pub groups, have launched a campaign that aims to promote pubs and reduce beer duty.

Long Live the local focuses on celebrating the role of the UK’s pubs and raising awareness about the high rate of beer duty pubs face. Since 2001 more than 25% of all UK pubs and bars have closed.

Pubs are a vital part of local communities, providing essential public space and supporting livelihoods. Pubs are under a range of tax pressures and 1 in 3 pounds spent in pubs goes to the taxman. High tax is one of the reasons 3 pubs a day close their doors for good.

The campaign was created by the Havas group and will receive £3m in investment each year for at least the next three years.

Long Live the Local is composed of three programmes: a consumer programme, a beer trade programme, and a political programme. The campaign launched an advert drawing attention to “The life of the village, the heart of the town, the soul of the country long live the local.” The campaign hopes to draw locals back into their local and to re-kindle the community surrounding ‘locals’.

Beer duty is currently three times the EU average and 12 times higher than Germany, and the feeling of the industry is that the rate is becoming exorbitant.

Directors Max and Cillian from Northampton’s newest gin bar G&T told Steak & Whiskey, “There is some risk in opening a new bar especially

in the current climate and with Brexit uncertainty, people just aren’t spending as much time and money in pubs.”

The threat of 3 pubs a day closing hasn’t scared off Max and Cillian who say they “won’t be intimidated by the market” and “you need to have a strong business idea to succeed, you can’t just open a bar anymore. Gin & Temple is all about talking and trying new things…We don’t have a menu that way you have to speak to one of us when you come in… we wanted to make an experience and so far it’s paying off.”

To find out more about the campaign and how to get involved you can go to www.longlivethelocal. pub

www.steak&whiskey.com

4

A

ldi the UK’s fifth largest and fastestgrowing supermarket has taken gold in the ‘Spirits Business Rum & Cachaça Masters 2019 awards.

The Sea Dog Premium Spiced Rum was awarded a gold medal. The own label rum was praised by industry experts at one of the world’s most highly regarded blind tasting competitions, the Spirits Business Rum Masters.

Judges awarded Aldi’s Sea Dog Premium Spiced Rum (£16.99) a coveted Gold medal alongside Ableforth’s Rumbullion! Navy-Strength (£45), which retails at nearly THREE times the price of the Sea Dog Premium Spiced Rum. The rum was praised for its excellence in taste and great-value price point, the panel commended the rum’s unique notes of sweet vanilla, warming spices, coffee and a citrus lime kick - finished with a deep and flavoursome aftertaste.

Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, said: “We are delighted that our own-label rums have excelled once again at an international competition.

Our UK based buying team are constantly challenging themselves with new and exciting

www.steak&whiskey.com

innovation to add to our range… Rum continues to be a popular product with Aldi shoppers, and in 2018 alone we sold over 2million bottles of the spirit. As more shoppers tap into the trend for creating cocktails at home, we’re expecting another great year of sales.”

Amy Hopkins, Deputy Editor at The Spirits Business, also commented: “Aldi UK once again secured some impressive accolades in The Spirits Business’s Rum & Cachaça Masters...“In the competitive Spiced round, the retailer’s Sea Dog Premium Spiced Rum was praised for its buttery sweetness, whilst Old Hopking Spiced Rum impressed the judging panel with its balanced sweet and herbaceous flavour. In such a rigorous blind-tasting, the team at Aldi should be very pleased with their performance.”

Aldi’s drinks range has gone from strength to strength in recent years, having been awarded an impressive 50 awards for its spirits range over the past years.

Aldi’s bestselling Old Hopking Spiced rum (£10.49) also received a silver award.

he absinthe drip was widely popular in late 1800’s France before being banned in the early 1900s due to fears of mass hysteria and causing mental incapacity in women.

These claims were brought about by French wine companies who were afraid of absinthe companies prevalence, the wine companies hired doctors to create fake research.

Absinthe has absolutely no hallucinogenic properties and gets its bad reputation from 1900’s French wine companies.

Absinthe drips are traditionally served on hot evenings when entertaining guests or relaxing.

The water dripped over sugar brings out the natural herbal flavours of the drink creating a refreshing taste.

This process causes the green liquor to louche into an opaque white colour, the process is part of what made the drink so popular.

An absinthe drip is usually served in a chilled Pontarlier glass but this can be substituted for a chilled wine or pilsner glass. Start with one part good quality absinthe in your chilled glass; next place your absinthe spoon over the top of your glass, then place a cube of sugar on top and slowly pour four parts chilled water over the sugar cube.

©John Tompson ‘Drip..Drip..Drip’

5

NEWS

Aldi takes gold and silver in blind T taste test

A taste of Spring The Absinthe Drip:

FEATURE

Gin & Temple Steak & Whiskey explore Gin & Temple Northampton’s newest gin bar.

L

ocated in the historic Northampton Weights and Measures building, Gin & Temple offers a scientific take on gin mixology.

The building was rediscovered in 2009 when building work uncovered the original Weights and Measures sign. Dating back to 1872 the office for Weights and Measures offered a place locals could trust had calibrated equipment to weigh items like hay and donkeys before home scales were widely available.

Directors Max and Cillian told Steak & Whiskey they had to have the weights and measures building,

“We wouldn’t have opened the bar if we didn’t get this place”

“The building represents days gone by, when Northampton was a buzzing metropolis, we wanted to restore it to its former glory… This building would have been used to set local drinking laws and measure incoming gins and ales”.

Gin & Temple has an indie hole in the wall feel with a great atmosphere centring around conversation not excessively loud music. Cillian said, “We wanted to create a relaxed atmosphere focusing on the natural flavours of the gin and complimenting them. Where can you go at eleven o’clock on a Saturday and be able to talk to each other? That’s what we offer”.

Both Max and Cillian have a

www.steak&whiskey.com

6

passion for gin and sharing their knowledge with punters looking to try something new. Cillian told Steak & Whiskey, “A whiskey is always going to taste like a whiskey, but a gin can be complemented with botanicals and natural flavours to make limitless combinations”.

Cillian and Max told Steak & Whiskey that G & T’s core unique selling point is about making great gin a great experience.

G&T offer a unique experience with recommendations at hand for the inexperienced gin drinker and an impressive selection to impress even veterans of the UK’s gin revival.

www.steak&whiskey.com

7

ARTICLE

Asda scraps own brand plastic packaging

A

sda has announced it has removed 6500 tonnes of plastic from its own brand packaging since February 2018. The milestone marks a significant step towards the supermarket’s ongoing commitment to reducing the amount of plastic used in its own brand packaging.

The supermarket has reduced plastic in almost 1000 individual product lines such as their fresh fruit and vegetables and their electronic and homewares.

The equivalent weight of 600 million empty plastic bottles has been removed.

Some of the changes that have been implemented over the last 12 months include: • Swapping family chilled ready meal trays from black plastic to foil • Changing pizza bases from non-recyclable polystyrene to fully recyclable cardboard • Replacing 5 million plastic bags on its bedding range with a cardboard band • Taking plastic covers off over 50 million greetings cards • Removing plastic windows and film from over 1.6 million mince pies at Christmas.

In addition to this, the supermarket has taken steps to make its current packaging more recyclable, including changing all of its fresh produce trays from black plastic to clear, as it moves towards making all of its packaging 100% recyclable by 2025.

As it hits this first-year reduction milestone, the retailer has acknowledged that this is only the

beginning of the journey and has committed to continuing its focus on reducing the amount of plastic used in packaging, as well as working with industry bodies and relevant organisations to share best practice and develop new ideas.

Roger Burnley, President and CEO of Asda said: “Making changes of this scale in a business of this size is never easy, but I was clear last year that we needed to take a root and branch review of what packaging we use for our products. Our customers expected this of us and while we’ve reached a major milestone, we know there is more that can be done and we are committed to making meaningful changes wherever possible. In many cases packaging is still essential to

protect against waste, but avoiding the use of unnecessary plastic will rightly be the starting point for all of our packaging designs in future.”

A significant change includes the introduction of a new plastic principle embedded throughout the business, which will ensure all new packaging designs avoid the use of unnecessary plastic without impacting on food waste or shelf life. Where there is no current viable alternative to plastic, Asda has pledged to use the most recyclable materials made from recycled content wherever possible.

Asda is also continuing to work with packaging experts at Leeds Beckett University to look for and assess alternative packaging materials and will publish its first report later this year.

We’ve taken wrapping off swedes - but we need to balance packaging against food waste - ©Asda

www.steak&whiskey.com

8

NEWS

New look Dizzy Blonde

R

obinsons Brewery of Stockport has revealed a fresh new look for their Dizzy Blonde cask ale.

The brewers are also trialling an ‘Extra Chilled’ variation called ‘Chilled Dizzy’ designed to give drinkers a cooler cask experience.

2018 was the joint hottest summer on record for the UK, and the hottest ever for England. Research the Cask Report 2018/19 suggests that temperature is one of the biggest challenges for cask ale.

It’s no secret that cask is in the middle of a confidence crisis, Robinsons reported sales of their cask ales are down 6.8%. The hope is that a cooler cask could not only create a difference

at the bar but that it will help attract younger drinkers to the cask market.

David Bremner, Director of marketing at Robinsons said, “We’re hugely passionate about cask ale, we’ve been brewing it for 180 years! However, cask still has this ‘old-man’ image that makes people think of warm, flat beer.

Research tells us customers want it cooler”.

In addition to a sizzling summer, 2018 also brought heat for Dizzy Blonde; which became the focal point of a sexism debate in the beer industry.

After 10 years of growth and success, Robinsons announced plans to modify the brand.

Much to the delight of drinkers, the recipe and brewing process will remain exactly the same. However, greater focus is now placed on the ingredients and beer style. The new

pump art prominently highlights the American Amarillo hop variety and the design has evolved to better reflect the historical context in which the original Dizzy Blonde concept was intended.

Paying homage to the 1940’s American ‘nose art’ of WW2 aircraft, which was so iconic of the era, Dizzy Blonde acts as a reminder of home; much like the British pub. Light, bright and vibrant, the turquoise colour and chunky, the ceramic feel of the pump clip was inspired by the progressive design style in the US at that time; most prominently seen in classic American diners and appliances.

The new design will be officially launched at the Robinsons Tradeshow on Tuesday the 26th March and subsequently rolled out across the country.

©Robinsons ‘Old style Dizzy Pump’

WARNER EDWARDS DROPS EDWARDS FROM THEIR NAME

C

raft Gin distillery Warner Edwards is dropping the ‘Edwards’ from their name and design.

Warner Edwards cofounder Sion Edwards left the business three years ago. Edwards along with Tom Warner founded the company in 2012.

The warner Edwards site states, “We started in 2012 on our beautiful family farm, with no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We began with the things that matter most and a dream to save the world from mediocre gin.”

The brand is now run

©Warner Gin

by Tom Warner and wife Tine Warner-Keogh who signed as an investor and director at Warner Edwards in 2015 The brand has had considerable success in

the craft gin industry with reported annual sales rising 142.58% in the last three years. The Sunday Times also featured Warner Edwards on their ‘Fast track 100’ last year.

www.steak&whiskey.com

9

ARTICLE

Robinsons raise a glass to international women’s day

T

o celebrate 101 years since women secured the right to vote in the UK, and International women’s day Robinsons Brewery took stock of how much women have achieved. From their female pioneer, Emma Robinson who owned the brewery ‘lock, stock and barrel’ after her husband and founder Frederic died in 1890, to female workers keeping the beer flowing during the war years.

The beer industry may have traditionally been a mans world, but this is changing fast. Women now make up 16% of all beer purchases in the UK and 36% of all craft beer.

A spokesperson for Robinsons said, “Women drink beer. Women also brew, test, package, sell and market beer. Women enjoy beer for the same reasons that men do — for the beer itself, but also for the community and the passion.” The story of women and beer is an old one, beginning as early as 1800 B.C. when brewing beer was among a woman’s daily chores in ancient Sumerian and Egyptian societies.

Brewing beer has traditionally been another chore on a never-ending list of domestic duties for women but eventually became a profitable vocation, providing women with financial independence. Unlike other trades that required land ownership, apprenticeships, or education all of

Robinsons Women raise a toast to International Women’s Day

Women workers keeping production going throughout the First World War which were out of bounds for medieval women brewing was permitted because it didn’t involve leaving the home.

Emma Robinson – the wife of Frederic Robinson (the Founder of Robinsons Brewery) and Great Great Grandmother to 6th generation Managing Directors William and Oliver Robinson – was somewhat of a pioneer for women in business. This was a time before the suffragettes; an era epitomised by the reign of Queen Victoria when women did not have the right to vote, sue, or own property.

Women belonged to the domestic sphere, which required them to provide their husbands with a clean home, food on the table, and to raise their children.

Mrs Robinson was known to be a small but fierce woman, who thought against social norms of the time controlling the purse strings of the business and ensuring it remained family-owned. In 1914 and Mrs Robinson and her sons were in the process of building up their business.

The country was thrown into turmoil at the outbreak of World War One. When the men left to fight for Britain in the conflict, Robinsons relied on women to keep the beer flowing.

During war years the demand for beer grew exponentially as Britain’s national drink embodied a placebo effect that lifted the nation’s spirits when consumed. After the war, a meeting was held where William Mrs Robinsons son was appointed as chairman. Emma sadly passed away just 6 months later; after 6 decades of service in the family business. Her death was a true end of an era but Emma, with the help of her son, was an iconic Robinson who steered the brewery through some very tough times and a World War; the whole time expanding the business for the next generation.

The industry is now coming full circle, with an increasing number of women not just joining, but spearheading the beer trade.

Emma Robinson, wife of Frederic Robinson, (Founder of Robinsons Brewery)

www.steak&whiskey.com

10

T

his drink likely has more variations and recipes than any other. A combination of whiskey, sugar syrup, bitters and garnished with an orange rind (sometimes flamed).

The old fashioned is credited as the or one of the original cocktails, the first documented definition of the word ‘cocktail’ was in response to a reader’s letter asking to define the word in the May 6, 1806 issue of The Balance and Columbian Repository in Hudson. The paper’s editor wrote that it was a potent concoction of spirits, bitters, water, and sugar; at the time referred to as a bittered sling.

Which whiskey to use is the largest part of the debate in the recipe for this drink. We recommend starting with a Jack Daniels single barrel rye

for it notes of vanilla and caramel on entry giving way to rich peppery spice.

For bitters you can’t really go wrong with Angostura bitters, other bitters especially flavoured bitters can create a whole different experience and it is worth trying different mixes.

Traditionally a cube of sugar would be added and stirred to add sweetness to the drink, however in our experience, the sugar doesn’t fully dissolve so using sugar syrup or even maple syrup is a better choice.

Garnish for a traditional Old Fashioned is a rind of orange which you can flame over the glass for showmanship and to add a hint of orange to the smell of the drink. You can also add maraschino cherries for a ©Angostura Ltd. sweeter garnish.

Technique First, pour your whiskey over large cubes of ice into a mixing jug.

Next, add two to three drops of bitters onto of the ice.

Add a small amount of sugar syrup to taste, different whiskeys will need different amounts of syrup for the best taste trying different combinations is best.

Stir the drink for about 20 seconds. The dilution in this drink comes from the ice and brings out the oils in some whiskeys more than others.

To garnish flame a rind of orange and add to the glass.

Whatever technique you use if the drink you like is in the glass you did it right.

©JackDaniels

Steak 101 the best of beef

F

rom fillet to flank steak comes in all shapes, sizes and costs. To make sure that good quality steak lands on your dinner plate, you need to beef up your knowledge of steak cuts.

The right cut can make or break your dinner, cost does not always mean quality.

Porter House: Considered the King of steaks due to the fact it is actually two steaks in one. On one side you have the large filet mignon and the other a New York strip. The porterhouse is a thicker cut and has much more of the tenderloin

Flank: A less tender cut with great flavour due to its large amounts of connective tissue. The flank steak is excellent marinated, grilled, and then cut across the grain in thin slices to be served as sandwiches.

Rump: Probably the most overlooked steak and often the cheapest, the rump steak is one of if not the most versatile steaks.

Perfect on its own with just a salt and pepper rub, this cut is perfect panfried, broiled or even grilled. www.steak&whiskey.com 11 relative to the loin portion. This steak is best prepared with a simple salt and pepper rub with olive oil and then sautéed, or pan-fried.

Rib-Eye: Long considered a favourite of steak lovers due to its incredible marbling, which allows the meat to be very tender and juicy. The rib-eye is a boneless cut. When the bone is attached it is called a rib steak. The rib-eye should be cooked quickly by grilling or broiling.

ARTICLE

The Old Fashioned a modern classic