ISSUE 20- March 2019 - £4.95
THE C L AS S I C S Master Your Martini
IN MARCH’S C O C K TA I L B O X Martin Miller’s Gin With a juniper-led flavour, Martin Miller’s gin is a dry gin that lends itself to classic cocktails, with its smooth taste complementing the Martini and Tom Collins. Dry Vermouth A herbal, aromatic blend, the amount of vermouth used in any cocktail can drastically change its flavour. We reckon our Martini recipe has the perfect measure!
M UDDL E
Issue 20 - Ma rc h 2 01 9
Shaken or stirred? In March’s edition of Muddle Magazine, we’re celebrating classic cocktails that have stood the test of time and their influence on cocktail culture. From the sophisticated Martini to the refreshing Tom Collins, we’ve uncovered the tales of these timeless tipples and how they became unforgettable drinks, before they make their expected return to the top of the cocktail tier.
Editor: Claire White Photography: Stephen Spiers For all editorial and advertising enquiries, please contact: info@tipplebox.co.uk
We’re separating the myths of mixology with our go-to guide on the logic between shaking and stirring a cocktail. Was James Bond’s ‘shaken not stirred’ method really the way to go? Coinciding with our classic cocktail spotlight, we’re sharing National Drink Days so you can celebrate with a cocktail in hand, alongside the launch of a new UK wide Gin Festival kicking off in Glasgow.
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Fever-Tree Soda Water Unlike many sodas, Fever-Tree’s soda water has no aroma, allowing the taste of our Tom Collins to shine through while adding some fizz to finish. Heron Valley Lemon Juice Heron Valley’s natural lemon juice adds a refreshing zesty kick to the Tom Collins to help brighten up those dull days. Sugar Syrup A home-bar essential, sugar syrup is as simple as its name applies, with the syrupy combination adding sweetness to any cocktail.
CONTENTS 01
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WELCOME
Ed itor’s letter Ins id e this m o nth’s box
TIPPLER’S TRENDS
Drink d ates fo r y our d iar y Bottles & bars
T I P P L E R ’ S TA L E S
March’s cocktails
TIPPLER’S TIME
Martin Miller’s Gin
T I P P L E R ’ S T R E AT S
Shaken or Stirred
TIPPLER’S TIPS
Clas s ic Ser v es
TIPPLER’S TOAST
Co m p etition #TagMyTipp le
This month, it’s all about Martin Miller’s Gin as we discover how a trip to a bar with friends for an afternoon tipple turned into the launch of one of London’s best-selling gins. It’s time to grab a Martini, sit back, sip and enjoy!
Cheers, Claire 2
TIPPLER’S TRENDS
TIPPLER’S TRENDS
BOTTLES & BARS
D R I N K D AT E S F O R Y O U R D I A R Y
N AT I O N A L M O S C O W M U L E D AY
CRANES CRANBERRY GIN
3rd March
The Moscow Mule is making a comeback as the refreshing drink is hotly tipped to become one of the best-selling cocktails in 2019. Combining ginger beer and vodka, the drink was created in LA with its fiery concoction quickly becoming a most-wanted cocktail due to its unique serving in a copper mug.
N AT I O N A L A B S I N T H E D AY
5th March
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Made by infusing wormwood, fennel, anise and other herbs into alcohol through distillation, absinthe has a strong liquorice flavour that was once approached with caution by many, due to its believed hallucinogenic effects. However, studies have proven there is nothing within the drink that could cause these effects. The spirit simply contains a higher alcohol content - enjoy responsibly!
THE GIN TO MY TONIC G L A S G O W 15th-17th March With various dates throughout the UK in 2019, The Gin To My Tonic show will launch from Glasgow’s SEC. Featuring unlimited tastings from over 60 brands, be sure to drink responsibly as you sip a range of artisan and craft gins. The show also features cocktail bars, masterclasses, taste challenges and garnish tutorials so you can learn how to make the perfect G&T at home.
£28 via DrinkCranes.co.uk
Cranes Drinks began with fruit ciders before moving onto liqueurs, now they’ve launched Cranes Cranberry Gin. Distilled in Cambridgeshire in small batches, the gin is made from natural ingredients, with no added sugars or artificial flavours, making it vegan-friendly and gluten free. The gin holds onto the taste of London Dry Gin with fruity notes of cranberry.
BELGROVE RUM
£14 via Master of Malt
Distilled from Demerara sugar cane grown on the banks of the Demerara river in Guyana, Belgrove Rum is the latest rum to add some flavour to your drinks. Ready to be sipped straight or shaken into a cocktail, the notes of hazelnut, infused with dark chocolate and vanilla, make it a luxuriously sweet and smooth rum to add to your collection.
VA L O U R G I N
Launching via cooperkingdistillery.co.uk Is this the most fashionable gin in the UK? Cooper King Distillery have teamed up with British fashion designer Scott Henshall to launch a bespoke gin as part of York Fashion Week. With bespoke labels and a new botanical blend underway, featuring citrus, herbs and hops, the gin will officially launch on March 25th. 4
T I P P L E R ’ S TA L E S
M A R C H ’ S C O C K TA I L S
You can’t go wrong with a classic cocktail. After all, there’s a reason specific cocktails have stood the test of time. As many new creations fleetingly come and go, with bursts of popularity alike the recent Aperol Spritz and Pornstar Martini, only the established survive as influential drinks that have shaped cocktail culture. To celebrate the reign of the classic cocktail, we’ve featured two timeless tipples in March’s Cocktail Club box with the Martini and Tom Collins.
MARTINI There is no cocktail more sophisticated than a Martini. Transcending the test of time, from Ernest Hemingway through the Mad Men era to James Bond, the Martini has remained at the forefront of cocktail culture for almost 150 years. Invented in America, the Martini is thought to have been created by Julio Richelieu in 1874 in Martinez, California. Julio served up the first ever Martini when a miner came into his saloon with a fistful of golden nuggets and requested a special cocktail in exchange. Julio created a ‘Martinez Special’ consisting of gin, vermouth and a dash of bitters, poured over crushed ice and served with an olive. The Martini may not be the most popular cocktail on the menu, but it remains as the ‘King’ of cocktails with its place firmly on the throne as the most famous cocktail of all. HOW TO ORDER A MARTINI Ordering a Martini at a bar? The Martini is a cocktail which does not have a definite recipe as the cocktail can be made completely to your personal taste. Here’s our simple guide on the vocabulary behind the famous drink: DRY WET DIRTY SWEET
A lesser amount of vermouth A higher ratio of vermouth to spirit Made with olive brine or muddled olives Swapping dry vermouth for sweet vermouth
TOM COLLINS Named after a New York hoax in 1874, the first recorded recipe of the Tom Collins features in Jerry Thomas’ ‘The Bartender’s Guide’ published in 1876. The hoax surrounded a fictional character ‘Tom Collins’ who was said to be a loud and boisterous man who would sit in bars talking harshly of everyone he’d met. Those who listened to his anecdotes would run to find their friend to let them know Tom wanted a fight, encouraging them to confront the non-existent Tom Collins, hoping they would rush off and leave their drink to steal. Unsurprisingly, ‘Tom’ would then be nowhere to be found. Bartenders soon caught onto the craze and anyone who asked for Tom Collins at the bar was served a sour style cocktail. The original Tom Collins recipe, as featured by Jerry Thomas, called for gin, lemon and soda water combined with ‘gum syrup’ which was soon replaced by sugar syrup. It may have started as an American cocktail hoax, but the cocktail has become one of the most famous gin cocktails of them all, with its simple recipe inspiring many other cocktails including the Juan Collins which replaces gin with tequila and the Ron Collins which replaces the gin with rum.
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TIPPLER’S TIME
MARTIN MILLER’S GIN In the early 90s, gin had lost its way to a generation of vodka drinkers.
FROM ICELAND WITH LOVE
Smirnoff was stealing the spotlight on the shelves and Cosmopolitans were climbing their way up cocktail menus. Despite vodka’s popularity, there were still avid gin drinkers out there who were stuck sipping similar tasting dry gins time and time again. It was one afternoon in a quiet bar in Notting Hill Gate in 1999 that Martin Miller decided it was time to change this bland gin perception.
E S TA B L I S H E D 1999
L O C AT I O N London, England
TA S T I N G N O T E S
Bitter orange zest, fresh juniper and a slight hint of liquorice and gentle spice M A R T I N M I L L E R S G I N .C O M @MartinMillersGin
When enjoying a drink with two friends in the West London Bar, Martin realised vodka had taken over and the gins on offer were simply juniperheavy spirits with no air of intrigue. It was fashionable to drink vodka, but Martin set out to create a new trend. Not to mention the fact that his favourite cocktail, the Martini, could only be enhanced by improving the gin used. Martin wanted to create a gin that was so smooth it could be enjoyed neat. Setting out to distil the ‘finest gin in the world’, he set himself no constraints, with no expense spared and no obstacle too large to overcome.
For many years in the late 90’s, Martin Miller’s Gin was distilled in England before making a ten-day round journey via ferry to Borgarnes in Iceland to add the purest water. The demineralised water was worth the journey as when this type of water is used in distillation it is said to remove the harsh after-burn that can be felt in the throat when consuming alcohol. Luckily, the water can now be shipped to the UK unprocessed so the gin can be blended and bottled in the UK. To create the award-winning botanical blend, Martin Miller’s Gin has another standout ingredient alongside the water. Alike most gins, juniper takes the forefront flavour, however, they do not use specific juniper berries yearround. Sourcing juniper from wherever the best berries are found, whether that’s Tuscany or India, the gin utilises berries with the highest oil and flavour content. Alongside juniper, the gin contains coriander, angelica, lime peel, liquorice root, nutmeg, cassia bark and Florentine iris. When you’re enjoying your Martin Miller’s Gin make sure you try a taster neat to embrace Martin Miller’s legacy!
Unlike many gins created at this time, Martin Miller decided his distilling process would not require typical ingredients and he would require demineralised water, so made his way to Iceland to find the purest unpolluted water. 7
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T I P P L E R ’ S T R E AT S
SHAKEN OR STIRRED “ S H A K E N , N O T S T I R R E D.” It may be the way James Bond famously prefers his Martini, but did you know that Bond’s preferred method is in fact incorrect, according to the unwritten ‘rules’ of mixology adopted by bartenders across the world. While both methods will chill, dilute and blend your drink, they will have significantly different effects on the flavour and texture that will work more advantageously with specific cocktail recipes. The simple logic is based upon the ingredients used. Cocktails which include non-alcoholic ingredients, most commonly citrus juice, require shaking to blend and bind the ingredients together. Stirring is best suited to spirit-strong drinks that consist of a variety of layered tastes alike the Old Fashion, Manhattan and, of course, the Martini.
STIRRED Cocktails with an alcohol-forward approach should be stirred. Stirring a cocktail offers precise, slower dilution and creates little disruption to the drink. Stirring also adds a silky feel to the finished cocktail while uninterrupting the colour of the spirit, unlike shaking which can cause cloudiness. Cocktails which have been stirred also retain some distinctiveness from the ingredients used as they form layers to allow individual flavours to shine through when sipping. HOW-TO STIR Typically, a cocktail should be stirred between 18-25 seconds to allow the drink to chill and combine. To stir, take a bar spoon and twist the handle so the back of the spoon circles the glass, stopping dilution and the drink from gaining any cloudiness.
SHAKING Shaking a cocktail adds texture and aeration, binding together ingredients that would separate with stirring. The aeration process adds lots of tiny air bubbles to the cocktail, adding to a cocktail’s foamy texture, particularly when using ingredients including egg whites, dairy and fruit juices. The cocktail will dilute much faster and is likely to be a more refreshing sip that’s easier to drink. HOW-TO SHAKE It is believed the optimal time you should shake your cocktail is 12 seconds. However, any point between 10-15 seconds is considered appropriate. To shake, hold the shaker in your dominant hand over the shoulder and shake vigorously to break up the ice and mix thoroughly. 9
B A R WA R E B A S I C S With our Barware set, you can practice both cocktail making techniques at home. Featuring a bar spoon, shaker, jigger and bar blade, the set contains everything you need to measure, mix and muddle your cocktails before shaking or stirring to perfection. The Cocktail Barware Set is available for £19.95 via TippleBox.com/Shop 10
TIPPLER’S TIPS
CLASSIC SERVES
In 2019, classic cocktails are set to make a comeback. Throughout this issue, we’ve focused on how there is no compromise for a classic cocktail as they continue to stand the test of time. But did you know that the demand for these drinks has been proven in recent research? Despite the fleeting trendy tipples grabbing attention online, traditional cocktails triumphed above the voguish drinks. Drinks International’s 2018 research of the most popular cocktails in the world cited
that nine out of ten of these cocktails were traditional flavours, with the only new ‘trending’ entrant the Espresso Martini. Proving that although these fashionable drinks may seem at the forefront of current cocktail culture, classics are here to stay. To celebrate these drinks, we uncovered bars who keep the traditional flag flying - even if they’ve opted to add their own little twist!
GIMLET
MOJITO
ZOMBIE
M A R G A R I TA
NAUTICUS, EDINBURGH
THE FORBIDDEN CIT Y BAR, LONDON
ARTS BAR, LAKE DISTRICT
JIMMY’S, MANCHESTER
It may be one of the simplest cocktails of them all, but the Nauticus’ Gimlet has selected the new Lind & Lime Gin to add some extra alcohol infused zest, before combining lime juice and a splash of sugar syrup for a sharp and sweet kick.
Made with Havana Club, mint, lemongrass, ginger and lime, the Forbidden City Bar’s take on the Mojito is a refreshing Chinese-inspired sip that swaps the soda for Champagne, giving the drink an added opulence.
The Lake District’s Art Bar has switched the Zombie’s traditional rum combination for a gininfused blend, featuring Sipsmith Gin, Sloe Gin and Bombay Sapphire with passion fruit, lemon juice and bitters.
Jimmy’s has become famed for its cocktails in the Northern Quarter, with three variations of the Margarita gracing its menu. The bar’s Tommy’s Margarita comes out on top, substituting the orange liqueur for agave nectar, in homage to the original from Tommy’s Bar in San Francisco
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TIPPLER’S TOAST
COMPETITION
TIPPLER’S TOAST
S H A R E Y O U R C O C K TA I L S T O W I N !
Win a bottle of Martin Miller’s Gin!
Before you enjoy your cocktails, make sure you share a snap with us on social media.
We’re giving one lucky reader the chance to win a bottle of our featured gin!
Each month, we’ll pick one lucky winner to receive an exclusive prize, alongside publishing their photo in Muddle Magazine.
Each month, we team up with a UK distillery to share their story and give you the chance to win a full-sized bottle of their headline spirit.
To enter, simply post your photo on social media using #TagMyTipple for your chance to win!
This month, you can win a 70cl bottle of Martin Miller’s Gin! Whether you enjoy it your own way or follow the Martin Miller path - the perfect serve for a Martin Miller’s G&T is said to be made by adding a quartered strawberry to your glass before topping with tonic and adding one twist of black pepper - you’ve plenty of gin to sample, sip and shake at home. For your chance to win, simply visit Tipple Box on Facebook and enter via our Competition tab!
Congratulations to our latest winner Carla who shared her Plum Fizz & White Lady!
THIS MONTH’S WINNER: CARLA MURDOCH
For some cocktail inspiration, make sure you check out #TagMyTipple on social media to see the latest photos from our cocktail lovers who have been enjoying a tipple or two across the UK!
@TIPPLEBOX #TAGMYTIPPLE
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C O C K TA I L S M A D E F O R S H A R I N G
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