The Cocktail Ponders of Miss Bella-Rouge
Pt6
Holla!
Over the past
few months we have all be getting down to the grind here at Circo, busy maintenance
schedules and general upkeep alongside a busy period have taken its toll and
were all pretty knackered… bartenders aches and pains are the worst you can
get!
However, all
his hard work has paid off. This year we were nominated as a finalist for the
Bath Life Magazine’s best cocktail bar and watering hole…and we won!
With a
fantastic evening at the Assembly Rooms in Bath, all decked out beautifully our
category was up and our name announced! It meant so much to me that we were
recognised in the community; the bar that we all put so much into won an award!
We were
presented with a beautiful Bath Stone roman column with our name on it…which
now stands pride of place on our top shelf! The other nominees were worthy
entrants, but I feel we encompass the term ‘cocktail bar and watering hole’
best, weve got the whole package! I have a feeling next year is going to be
rather more competitive, which is great as it keeps us all on our toes.
The evening
progressed back to the best bar in Bath (naturally), with David Flatman in toe.
Such a nice way to celebrate being at Circo for 2 years, with a great trophy!
How time flies when your shaking cocktails and winning awards :D
Check out
this video of the Awards… and my cringey Champagne fuelled chat….http://vimeo.com/62282140
Independent
Spirit of Bath opened this week at no7 Terrace Walk stocking all manner of
awesome spirits, whiskies and beers! YES! Thankyfully my Boyfriend Chris
Scullion is one of the owners! (@Indiespirit / Independent Spirit of Bath) and
what he doesn’t know about Whisky isn’t worth knowing. It’s a cute quirky
little shop that had been built from everything that was already there in the
old Video Front shop. All the shelving has been re-mastered from bright blue
plastic looking furniture into lovingly sanded and varnished ‘wooden’ shelves.
It was important to the guys that part of the old shop was used as it had such
heritage within the city (being open well over 20 years!)…it also turned out
cheaper :D
The boys
stock everything from Cream Gin to Laphroaig Triple Cask and World Craft
Beers…. Its well worth a look, even if I do say so myself..and its only around
the corner from Circo! Chris and Christian will be holding tastings in their
own tasting room soon, its currently under construction as they made a few
discoveries whilst refurbing (pop into the shop and ask them to show you what I
mean!)..if you thought a secret room in the Berry Bro’s shop in London was
cool…this is on another level
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| Bought these beauties from a vintage market in bath |
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| The Aged-Viation |
New menu and
cocktails
Yay! Its that
time already when we are starting to think of re modelling the menu and mixing
things up. A few of our wine vintages have altered so if ive got to sort those
out anyway I might aswell add a sneaky few new cocktails, and maybe take a few
off that aren’t working so well.
Possible New
additions:
Archies Cup:
At a friends
leaving party at Circo a few months back a friend called Archie asked for a
surprise…and this is what was made
37.5ml
Canadian Club
25ml
Briotette Crème d’apricot
½ apricot
½ orange
wedge
Splash of
gomme
Muddle the
fruit a Julep Tin with the Gomme and add crushed ice…then add all the spirits
and churn up. Garnish with the rest of the apricot and top with soda, So
refreshing and light. A must for our summer menu.
My friend
Harriet Handley (@HarrietHandley) Suffers from bad IBS attacks often, she also
works in the industry and created a cocktail that she can drink often that
doesn’t aggrevate her tummy! She calls it the DTC (Dover to Calais) which
consists of
DTC:
Grey Goose Le
Poire 25ml
Water 150ml
12ml Lemon
Juice
25ml
Elderflower Cordial.
Sound
sweet?...its actually mega refreshing and the bite of vodka cuts through the
layers of Elderflower and lemon to balance it all nicely. This isn’t only great
for your irritable bowls but also your wallet! You only need a single grey
goose and it makes such a fantastic drink. After a couple of weekends pushing
it on the bar ive had people coming back for more J
The
Aged-Viation down here at Circo has caused a bit of a storm the past few
months! I had an interview recently with Emma Dance from the Bath Chronicle to
feature the cocktail in the Paper. Was nice to feel recognised in the local area
and get the public more aware of the standards of cocktails and mixology we do
here. I love making things like this, and the research and process behind
getting to the final product. The cheeky little barrel still sits on the end of
the bar with Batch 3 ready to go in. We will be using it for other things soon
but it’s just too good how it is now!
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| My new bartending bag! |
The interview
can be seen at http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Barrels-fun-cocktail-hour-Circo-Bath/story-18413442-detail/story.html#axzz2PRBi8Ye0
Wednesday 27th
March saw another Connoisseur’s Club held at Circo with resident tasting
sensation Chris Scullion from
Independent Spirit of Bath (7 Terrace Walk, Bath), with rums Pyrat, 10 Cane,
Ron Zacapa 23, Brugal Extra Reserva, Pussers 15, and some cheeky Rumbullion
thrown in after. Spirit matched canapés were served alongside the rum with the
favourite of the night actually being Pyrat..the last rum tasting we held saw
Ron Zacapa 23 as the favourite, perhaps this session with slightly more ladies,
favourite the Pyrat for its sweet Citrus tastes…it was my favourite. We were
lucky enough to have Adam Newman film the session for us and it can be viewed
here: http://vimeo.com/63007449
In the spirit
of all things Mixology Ive been experimenting hard this month!
1)
The Blueberry Gin Bramble
50ml Home steeped Blueberry Gin
50ml Lemon Juice
20ml Gomme
Slices of Jellied Crème De Cassis to top
The Blueberry
Gin Bramble came about when Circo Bartender Liam O’Shaugnessy decided to steep
some Gordons with blueberries….the muddled fruits in the gin quickly turned the
concoction into a gorgeously vivid purple colour that was screaming out to be
used in a cocktail! (this week hes onto Strawberry and Lime already!)
I have
experimented once before with Agar Agar to jel alcohols, and my Jellied popping
Candy Mojito wasn’t the tastiest thing in the world so I was rather dubious
when using the Cassis. Originally I wanted to pearl the Cassis and add it to
the top of the drink with crushed ice, however I found the slightly higher
alcohol content didn’t work with the ratio’s I had previously used. Scrapping
it altogether in a huff I got the Agar Agar out and boiled cassis and Agar up
in a pan, left it to set in a nice mould and popped a raspberry in the middle.
The outcome is a plum coloured fan that sits on top of the cocktail that is
great to suck, and swirl around your mouth whilst drinking. I likened the
texture of it to that of fruit jellies you get at Christmas time but its boozy!
As the Cassis isn’t too strong (unlike the Havana 3 I used when making the
jellied Mojito) its pleasantly palatable in the mouth as the alcohols evaporate
slower on the tongue. Yum! Ive now decanted the Blueberry gin into a crystal
decanter that shows off the colour amazingly…available at Circo for a limited
time!
Ive been
inspired by a book im reading at the moment (it has to be a good one to keep my
attention!) its called Craft Cocktails
at Home by Kevin Liu and I purchased it off Amazon for a bargain price. This had become a slight bible for me, very
science focussed but its incredible! I feel like ive learnt ten times more from
chapters 1-5 than I ever learnt in Chemistry or Biology at school.
It lead me to
the idea of Fat Washing, using certain flavoured fats that stick to the astringent
Alcohols and create a dynamic flavour. I had heard of Smoked Bacon Rum/Bourbon
and Buttered Whisky before (I had a great Butter washed Monkey Shoulder
cocktail at Bramble in Edinburgh not long ago) so decided to try my luck with
Genever.
Now Genever
and I have a very fiery relationship, I don’t really like it, and most of the
time it doesn’t like me, never the less, I trooped on in sight of creating a buttery
smooth Genever that even I could stomach ( perhaps im not drinking it right??) and
what’s created is…well….alright! it’s the colour of seriously skimmed milk and
tastes malty without the stags breath harshness that comes with it neat. I
admit its alright, but by no means tasty and certainly not buttery smooth.
We will
continue on this week experimenting with it, I have already been down a few
wrong paths tonight and I cant face trying any more! NEVER mix butterd Genever
with Lillet Blanc , Peach Bitters and atomised orange blossom( I was being mega
adventurous and wanted to hurl afterwards!)
Bramble in
Edinburgh got me thinking about Butter washing and on their menu this is pretty
much the least technical thing! Although im starting to think that saying
something is butter washed puts you in a mental state that prepares yourself to
taste ‘buttery’ notes. When in fact what you achieve is a smoothness. Well that’s
my theory anyway! I Love spending time in Bramble and other bars in Edinburgh,
nice to go to a place where all the bars serve a stupid amount of single malts
alongside cocktails…yum! I spent a lot of time in craft beer bars too, such a
great idea brewing your own stuff on site! The boys and girls at Brew Dog are
doing some cool things, the Hanging Bat was also another favourite in Edinbrugh
centre. I also came to the conclusion that drinking 8% chocolate porter is not
good for your head!
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| Cheeky drinks in Bramble |
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| Butterd Monkey Shoulder Cocktail |
Tanqueray
Malacca
I have been
lucky enough to get my hands on Ten bottles of Tanqueray Malacca…
“Tanqueray Malacca Gin was
introduced in 1997 as a "wetter" alternative to the London Dry, with
more sweetness and a stronger fruit palate (most notably grapefruit). Discontinued in 2001, Diageo announced on 12
December 2012 (12/12/12)[3] that a 16,000-case limited edition of
Tanqueray Malacca would be relaunched in the US, Great Britain and Western
Europe for February 2013.[4]”
Says Wikipedia…
Having only
opened this gin today all I can say is WOW…I have a mental sweet tooth and this
stuff fits the bill… its gorgeously smooth, fresh and sweet… YUM. Come and try
whilst you can as we only have ten bottles and needless to say some of those will
be saved for later years when it will be sold on ebay for hundreds of pounds,
we hope. If not then we have a bounty of great Gin to keep up happy! Back in
the day it as the Bartenders choice of Martini Gins as its sweet nature was favourite
by many. Lets see how well it sells this time!
Untill next
time
p.s apologies
its takes me ages to post, I run a busy bar you know!
Toodles Xx BR
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