psychopompmicrodistillery-blog

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The Blog off!

We started blogging a while back, but as a growing business there are seldom enough hours in the day or days in the week; so things like blogs get pushed to the bottom of the to do list. But, as a growing business things like social media and blog content are an important way of telling our story so we are going to try to get a bit more active!

The team are going to take it in turns to get writing, so the next few blogs will hopefully be interesting, varied and give a little insight into the Psychopomp & Circumstance family and the things we get passionate about. Or it could just be the random incoherent waffling of five people who all happen to make booze together.

We are going first in first up, so Liam is up to bat, followed by Danny, Mark, Steph and Matt. Happy reading. Team Pomp

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Distillers Table - Mexico

I get excited about all of the distillers table events, but Mexico was particularly close to my heart. Myself and the long suffering wife spent some time exploring Mexico earlier this year and fell in love with the country. I couldn’t recommend it more, it is such a magical place, the food is to die for, the people are super welcoming and the Mezcal is so so tasty.

We spent new years in Mexico city which was pretty wild, contrary to the rumors it felt pretty safe as a city to visit and we will definitely be going back soon, for the tacos alone if nothing else! We then flew down to Oaxaca, which is now my favorite city to visit, I can’t quite put my finger on it was that I fell in love with but there is just something about the city that you really need to experience, and in all of my travels I’ve never eaten better. We then grabbed a hire car and spent a few days exploring the Yukatan and checked out pretty cool old stuff and ate more tacos and drank more Mezcal! The trip definitely inspired the cocktails for this installment of distillers table.

Everywhere we drank in Mexico we were served great snacks and so we had to put some food out to go with the cocktails. We served home made guacamole, pico de gallo and corn chips to get people in the mood.

We kicked the drinks off with our take on a classic Mexican cocktail, the Paloma. I went with Woden gin for the big grapefruit hit and spice notes from the fennel. To the gin I added fresh grapefruit juice, fresh lime juice, agave syrup and soda and served it long, with a chilli lime salt rim. A nice refreshing drink to kick things off and wake up the palate for what was to come.

For our second cocktail I wanted to use flavors I found in the markets of Oaxaca, (quite literally as the chillies came back in my hand luggage).  I made a rich, bright sour with Aqvavit, avocado and a smoked arbol chilli syrup, lime juice and Mezcal.

As a fun little palate cleanser we served up a shot of tequila with a verdita chaser which is a green spiced juice made of pineapples, coriander, jalapeños and some secret ingredients. Whilst serving the verditas Steph and I donned our wrestling masks and got our luchador on in the garden. No surprise but Steph was victorious.

For the finale I wanted to use some of the flavours of the Mexican spiced chocolate mole sauce, but in a subtle way. So I made a Negroni - Martinez hybrid of gin, vermouth and a spiced chocolate and orange syrup.

We of course drank much Mezcal and Tequila as the evening progressed to help us get in the true Mexican spirit, what better way to spend Cinco De Mayo.

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Spiny Lobster

Lunch at the Spiny lobster was truly delicious and we’d strongly recommend a visit next time you have a craving for seafood. We were welcomed by the lovely F.O.H staff and settled at our table in the middle of a busy Tuesday service. To say we were spoilt for choice was an under statement, but luckily for us we had David, Emma and Charlie on hand to make the tough decisions of ‘what to order’ for us. To start, always my favourite, roasted scallops with garlic butter (which tasted just as good as you are imagining), the largest fresh prawns I’ve seen in a long time served simply with olive oil and sea salt, then crisp fried cuttlefish and aioli. A whole Grey mullet and a John dory followed with polenta chips, mustard greens and the house special mashed peas (these really are a must order, so simple but the tastiest peas I’ve ever eaten); the charcoal Josper grill really does cook the fish to perfection. It was a real treat and lovely to enjoy a spiny gin and tonic in its home environment next to such an amazing selection of seafood.

Spiny Gin

Juniper

Coriander seed

Angelica root

Cassia

Fennel seed

Rosemary

Pink peppercorn

Lemon zest

Served with Mediterranean tonic, lemon and a sprig of rosemary.

‘Since stocking our wonderful gin from Psychopomp the feedback has been more than positive from the staff and customers alike. When Danny arrived at the Spiny Lobster we were very keen to get a gin that represented our ever popular dishes as well as it being a very refreshing taste for our customers to enjoy. We took the key ingredients that go alongside our beautiful fish and incorporated them into what we think is a very

drinkable gin. Tastes of lemon, rosemary, fennel and pink peppercorns shine through without the gin being too overpowering. The taste is clean, crisp and something that can be enjoyed by our customers as an aperitif or to accompany their meal. We were lucky enough to get our first batch in November and as Christmas crept closer the bottles were flying off the shelves for people to enjoy over the festive period or for a great present to give

to a loved one. Our staff were also very keen to buy it and most of them bought a bottle each as well! We sold so many in fact we ordered another batch in January!

We have no doubt that the gin will continue to be a great seller and we thank Psychopomp for producing a product for us that is unique and something that can’t be found anywhere else!’

Emma, Manager of The Spiny Lobster

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Distillers table - Chocolate

1. Brazil 66% - With a waterfall of intense flavours, I find this chocolate can definitely divide opinions. Tones of unripe banana mingle with smoky, tobacco notes; finishing with fruity and acidic aromas that linger on the palate. This blend of beans from the Atlantic forests of Bahia, and the Amazon basin create a truly unique flavour profile.

With the Brazil we decided to go a bit off piste and make a pineapple punch to work with the tropical notes of the chocolate and showcase a more interesting take on chocolate pairing. We acidified the pineapple juice to bring a refreshing sharpness to the drink. The gin we used was our Spring gin Pinga for its bright chamomile notes to pair with the pineapple. To bring the chocolate back in to play we sweetened the punch with a dark malt syrup. 2. Dominican Republic 70% - One of our most popular origins, using beans from the Cibao valley (one of the most Northern cocoa growing areas in the world). This chocolate is full of exotic and fruity green aromas, which are elevated by spices, wine, and olive notes to create an unusually tempting flavour profile.

With the Dominican we really enjoyed playing with the funky fermented notes and wanted to create somehting that really highlighted that. We made an Aqvavit sour with a lemon sherbet and and then finished it with a celery seed infuzed port. 3. Ghana 85% - An aromatic chocolate, with a distinct cocoa and bitter flavour. Notes of roasted nuts and coconut develop during tasting, with a lighter, slightly floral aroma to finish. Our strongest sample in the group, it does back pack a cocoa punch, but the lengthy conching process ensures a clean and mellow finish, making it feel lighter than it is.

For the Ghana we wanted to play to the classic chocolate notes and the great coconut flavours. We made a gin and coconut flip using egg yolks for texture and then finished it with Wiper and True Milkshake stout to make something big that would stand up to the chocolate.

4. Gin and Grapefruit truffle -

On trialling Psychopomp’s Woden gin, we wanted to find a chocolate that wouldn't completely overpower the subtle notes and flavours of the botanicals. We looked to a more fruity, acidic chocolate base, wanting to bring out the grapefruit citrus notes in the gin. One of our favourites, from the Madirifolo plantation in Madagascar did the job beautifully. Made from beans grown around Tamarind trees, this chocolate has a fruity character, and a lot of fresh sour and acidic notes. To further elevate the flavours, we created a grapefruit jelly to add an extra citrus hint, which paired with the gin truffle beautifully.

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Where we’ve been eating

Team Pomp may be known for our love of booze, but we are also big food fans too. Here are a few places the team have been eating recently.

Danny

Urban Tandoor – I can’t believe I have only just discovered this place, what an awesome Indian restaurant. Have the soft shell crab it’s delicious.

Cargo Cantina – Tasty tacos, fresh and vibrant. Great place to pop in for a snack and a Tequila.

Ceres – Really tasty brunch menu and free BYO. We brought our own Bloody Marys, hangovers sorted.

Liam

Squeezed – Burgers, fries, lemonade – need I say more? Despite very close competition the best burgers in Bristol in my opinion. The burgers make me go back again and again, but its the freshly made lemonade that has turned my visits into a near weekly event.

Farro Bakery – Not technically a ‘place’ but they do supply lots of cafes in Bristol and have stalls at a number of markets. Maya buys their Caneles whenever she sees them – they are quite special.

Wings Diner at Small bar – Finally fried chicken done well. In fact its better than that, its really damn good and in one of the best beer bars in Bristol too.

Mark

Wilsons - Finally got around to booking a table and it was worth the wait. No pretence, no gimmicks this wonderful place is all about the food and little else.

Berthas Pizza - Their specials are worthy of worship, the standard menu never disappoints. Staff are friendly, service is quick and efficient and my kids love it. Also there’s always a few Moor beers on offer which is always a good thing.

Mark’s Bread - There is very good bread available in most corners of Bristol. Mark’s is in my corner and it is possibly my favourite place in the city. The bacon sarnies and poached eggs are banging if you’re sticking around in the morning and not rushing home to eat loads of bread.

Steph

Eatchu – I am always in the mood for dumplings and these are always my first choice. Order anything and everything off the menu, its all delicious. But make sure you don’t forget the rather special soy eggs!

Oowee – My hangover takeaway place. Nothing quite soothes the pain like their marmite and jack burger with waffles fries.

Sun Tavern ( Bethnal green, London) – I was visiting friends recently and made a stop into an old favourite of mine. Tasty beer, whiskey and cheese – yes please.

Matt

Bakers and co – For me its the one for brunch.

Dela – This place has a great open space and delicious Scandinavian food.

Hunter and sons (Bath) – When I'm having a break from Bristol I'll pop in. Perfect for a snack and has an excellent beer selection.

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Distillers Table - Sherry

Here at Psychopomp we love all categories of delicious booze, but we do have a few favorites, and Sherry is right up there! So distillers table sherry had to happen, and boy did it happen.

We decided to use the ever delicious sherries from Sanchez Romate, a great bodega knocking out some really great liquids. We went with three very different styles, kicking off with a crisp dry Fino, we then embraced the complex nutty notes of the Palo Cortado and finished up with the sweet sweet nectar that is Pedro Ximinez. We served each sherry along side a simple food pairing and created cocktails to showcase the how versatile these wines are. Here is what we served:

Fino + roasted almonds

30ml Pinga gin (chamomile, lemon balm & bee pollen)

20ml Sanchez Romate Fino

25ml fresh grapefruit juice

75ml fever tree Mediterranean tonic

Palo Cortado + jamon

40ml Ox gin (black truffle, thyme & lemon zest)

20ml Sanchez Romate Palo Cortado

10ml Cucumber & pomello shrub

3ml Quince & Riesling bitters

Pedro Ximinez + vanilla ice cream

25ml Sanchez Romate Pedro Ximinez

25ml Single Origin Coffee Digestif

25ml Coconut water

So many tasty things, we very much enjoyed making and drinking them all. Next up Chocolate on the seventh of April, we have chosen the chocolates and drink development is well underway!

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Distillers Table - Tea

For our first Distillers Table of the year we were lucky enough to join forces with Alice from Canton tea company and serve three delicious tea and cocktail pairings. Here is a run down of the teas that were served and the drinks we created.

1. Pouchong

Origin: China

Category: Green Tea

The Tea that inspired the start of Canton Tea Co. From the mountain slopes of a family farm in Taiwan, this award winning tea has it all – a floral aroma, a soft fruit and a long sweet aftertaste. Imagine lying on the grass on a summer’s day, surrounded by lilies and eating a fresh, ripe peach.

Lilly the Peach

The first things we found in this tea were big fresh notes of lilly and peach. We wanted to play with these two flavours which lead us to make a fun play on a peach iced tea. We cold brewed the tea and served that with our Small Bar Gin, which has big green notes of cardamom and elderflower. We then made a lactic peach syrup for sweetness and a touch of richness. Then finished it with Lillet Blanc, a French aromatized wine.  

2. Phoenix Honey Orchid

Origin: Wudong Shan, Guangdong, China

Category: Oolong Tea

Hand picked from a single farm on revered Mt Wudong. Skilfully rolled and charcoal roasted; this is an exquisite tea. It seems obvious, but this tea really does taste like honey and orchid! These are naturally occurring characteristics of the Mi Lan Dan Cong cultivar. In there you also get some exotic lychee melon and peach notes and a light toastiness from the charcoal roasting.

Wudong Nectar

To enhance the honeyed notes in the tea we went for some of our favorite things to pair with honey. We made a syrup with acacia honey, honey dew melon and honeysuckle. We have recently developed a gin in collaboration with Canton using the Honey Orchid Tea so we started with a large measure of that, then added fresh grapefruit juice, some of our triple honey syrup and then finished it with a fino sherry influenced with the tea.

2. Big Red Robe

Origin: Wuyi Shan, Fujian Province, China

Category: Oolong Tea

Big Red Robe (Da Hong Pao) is one of China’s most sought-after oolongs and this authentic, high grade tea comes direct from the original birthplace in Wuyi. Roasted over charcoal it is dark and rich with distinctive notes of cocoa, brazil nut and petrichor (the smell of rain on hot earth).

Char-co-co

This was a fun tea to try and build a cocktail around as big smoky, oak, chocolate notes can be tricky to pair with gin. We had just the gin for the job, a gin we make for Playground Cafe which has coffee beans as a botanical. We made a play on a sweet martini with Playground gin, a sweet vermouth made with PX sherry, a Belgian chocolate liqueur, then we finished it with a  bitter cherry and Big Red Robe bitters for aroma.

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Coffee Digestif. Colonna Coffee, Maragogyope Natural.

We loved this coffee last year, so when we bought it again this year we decided to see it for special releases, events and occasions. We have sent it out with Barista Hustle Subscription service and took it to coffee festivals around the UK. The Hartmann Estate meticulously process this coffee to the highest standard, producing a clean and complex cup of coffee - with super topical notes and amazing sweetness. We feel like the characteristics of this have been maintained and translated perfectly across into the digestif. The sweetness of the digestif makes it incredibly smooth to drink, and the fruity flavours produced by the natural processing on the coffee give the drink a great depth of flavour. We think it tastes better than most cold brew coffee - with the added bonus of being alcoholic!

Beth, Colonna coffee.

Plant Varietal: Maragogype

Process: Natural

Drying method: Sun-dried

Producers: Familia Hartmann

Country: Panama

Origin: Santa Clara, Renacimiento, Chiriqui

Altitude: 1400 - 2000 mts

Farm Size: 100 hectares

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Box-E gin

In life there are few things I'm sure of. My love of gin and tonic is one of those things.

Some people learn how to knit from their grannys but mine taught me that there is no greater drink than a G&T (except perhaps a negroni, but she's 92 and lives in Surrey so we'll assume that she's not yet au fait with those bad boys).

It's no secret that we are Psychopomp fans. We unashamedly stock the full range, including the absinthe (which can make for interesting nights at our kitchen table). There has never been a day that our restaurant has been open that we haven't had the drink of drinks, the glorious G&T, on the menu, so it was an obvious staff day out to head up to the distillery and have a bash at making our own gin.

We broke off into four teams and set ourselves a brief: to make a super bright, zesty gin that we could happily use the ingredients of to cure salmon in. The array of botanicals on offer was seriously impressive and the guidelines on ratios of what actually makes gin gin and what sort of quantities of other flavours to add were really helpful.

At first taste of the four gins it seemed that our two washer-uppers had come up with the winning recipe ("KP (kitchen porter) gin") as it's lovingly been labelled), but as the flavours matured, we all unanimously agreed that Elliott's gin was the best, which is kind of reassuring as he needs to have the most sophisticated palate of all of us.

I'd like to say that the gin was so good it didn't need refining, but there is a reason that Elliott cooks and Mark and Danny make gin and so with a little bit of Psychopomp love, the BOX-E gin was born - an off-menu treat, that you need to know about to try.

Tessa 

We can’t take a lot of the credit – Elliot’s recipe was indeed tasty and didn’t need a lot of work. With a little guidance from the team at BOX-E and our own experience the tiniest of tweaks were made and BOX-E gin was a thing. We are always excited to collaborate with awesome, creative, passionate people like the guys at BOX-E and the result is a great gin that we are really pleased with (especially alongside Elliot’s botanical cured salmon). The final recipe included: juniper berries, coriander seeds, angelica root, cassia bark, black pepper, bay leaves, green cardamom, celery seeds, dried raspberry and fresh pink grapefruit peel.

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Distillers table - Christmas

Decembers Distillers table could only have one theme, and luckily I love Christmas!! So I set to work on some tasty festive tipples. We added in as many Christmas clichés as we could, mince pies, caroling, Christmas songs, crackers, sherry, carrots and Santa himself even popped by to hand out presents! So for drinks that went along with such festivities I went with these:

Pimped Sherry: Harveys Bristol Cream, coffee digestif & Coconut. A simple serve to bring back memories of the Christmas eve glass of sherry left out for the big man.

Mega Bucks Fizz: Woden gin (grapefruit & fennel), mandarin and pine sherbet, sparkling wine. Always my drink of choice on Christmas morning, spiked with gin, brightened up with a zesty sherbet and a little nod to the Christmas tree to boot.

Christmas Dinner Martini: Ox gin (thyme and truffle) served 4:1 with a cranberry and sage infused port and finished with a caramelized sprout for good measure.

My signature Eggnog: Whisk egg whites to soft peaks, whisk egg yolks and caster sugar, whip heavy cream to soft peaks, fold together with Aurora Borealis gin (blackcurrant, orange & mulling spices) then heat gently in a pan and serve warm garnished with grated nutmeg and shavings of dark chocolate.

A great night was had by all, thanks to all of those who came to celebrate with us! That was the last distillers table of 2017, we have a great line up for 2018 and we are all really excited to share some more delicious drinks with you all in the new year.

Danny.

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Kojin

Our latest bespoke gin release is one Danny is particularly fond of as he has a lot of love for Japanese food and drink. Andrew Kojima approached us to make him a Japanese influenced gin for his restaurant in Cheltenham and so we did exactly that. The brief was to use seven Japanese botanicals, so we set to work on our research. We wanted a real harmony between sweet, spice and umami savoury notes that is so important in japanese cuisine, we bounced a few ideas back and forth with Andrew and landed on the botanicals we were all really happy with:

Juniper berries, burdock root, sanshyo berries, cherrywood chips, mandarin peel, nori, black sesame seeds.

The resulting gin is fresh and vibrant with a great complexity and a some funky umami notes. Here is what Andrew had to say about it:

I met Danny in January 2017, shortly after he'd come back from an inspirational trip to Japan. I was only too happy to talk about Japan and we talked vaguely about doing a gin together for my restaurant that I was hoping to open. After a successful Kickstarter campaign in February, we opened in March and inevitably I got bogged down ironing out lots of creases with the new restaurant. By summer, I came up for air and remembered that conversation we'd had back in the depth of winter. I got back in touch with Danny and suggested some botanicals to work with. Out went coriander, in came sanshyo berries. Out went angelica, in came burdock. Between us, we managed to find 7 botanicals that we could source reasonably easily and the team from Pyschopomp set about creating a formula. We went with Batch 4 and began selling it in our cocktail bar, primarily in our signature cocktail, the Mitsubatchi (which means honey bee in Japanese). We're delighted with the feedback it is getting from customers and are pleased to be able to offer such a distinguished gin in what is already a very competitive market.

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Q & A with Matt

We are lucky to have had all round great guy and Bristol Posts 40th coolest person join our team recently (he was pipped to 39 by Gogglebox’s Marina & Mary!). You probably already know him well from the last time he helped you choose a delicious beer in Small Bar, but we thought we’d take the chance to ask him a few questions to get to know him a little better.

How long have you called bristol home? Three years this November What do you love about it as a city? The walkability and variety of areas in the city centre. I also love how all the usual high-street/chain rubbish is contained to areas that are incredibly easy to just walk around and avoid. Where are your favourite places to drink? Barley Mow and the Hillgrove for pubs and unsurprisingly Small Bar.. if a bit biased on that one. Where are your favourite places to eat? Bakers & Co. for brunch, Pasta Loco for dinner. Harts all the time especially for the veggie sausage rolls. Why did you want to work at Psychopomp? I wanted to learn something new and get out of my comfort zone. Everyone is lovely too (so far at least). Tell us something we might not already know about you? I have an identical twin, so if you see me and say hi but I look confused that could be why. What are some of your other favourite gins? Portobello Road has been a go to for a long time and Boths Old Tom Gin. People best know you for your knowledge of beer so lets do some quick beer related questions! If you were on a desert island what 3 beers would you take with you? Schneiderweisse Tap 7 is my all time favourite, Boon Mariage Parfait to refresh the palate and Sam Smiths Taddy Porter for when it gets cold. Do you have a preference of beer from bottle, can or tap? All depends on the venue whichever appears to be fresher/better looked after, but always from a glass. Any upcoming beer trends we should keep an eye out for? Probably a bit of flip back to "brown" beers for a bit as people get bored of juicy pales and more British brewers playing with mixed fermentation.

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Too Drunk to Shuck

An inebriated "we should do" quickly became a sober "we are doing" and 'too drunk to shuck' was born. I chose oysters sustainably farmed from the River Dart and sourced through Sam at Bristol Fish on North Street. These oysters are fast becoming famous for their natural sweetness, fresh flavour and meaty texture.

The first oyster of the evening was simply served raw with a habenero and lemon dressing and coriander shoots from Dermot at Grow Bristol. This was quickly followed by the second raw oyster paired with pickled shallots and fresh pepper.

To pair with the first pair of oysters we wanted to start out super traditional and so served up a dry Woden Martini with a lemon zest because sometimes classic is just the best option, especially with such beautiful, clean, fresh oysters.

For the next set of oysters we decided to have an eastern influence underpinning the flavours. The third oyster was served raw with a cucumber and lime granita with fresh horseradish grated over the top. For the next oyster we removed from the shell, lightly poached them in their own juices, glazed with a soy and ginger dressing and presented them with seaweed and daikon radish shoots.

To play with the Asian influences in Alex’s oysters we went down a Japanese root. We served up a Martini made with our new Kojin; a gin made with 7 Japanese botanicals for Koj restaurant in Cheltenham. The gin is a great mix of sweet, spicy and umami which we mixed with Akashi Tai Junmai Sake and finished with a pinch of citrus salt to really hit home the fresh umami notes.

The final set of oysters had a more western flavour, the fifth oyster being poached in their own juices and then served with whipped smoked pollock roe, salmon roe and rye crumb. The final oyster of the evening was barbecued in it's shell with a roast fennel and garlic butter, garlic crumbs and sprouting fennel seeds.

As the last oysters were super big on the flavour scales we had to go big with the ‘tini to stand up to it. So we used our autumn gin Xolotl with its rich fruit notes from the quince and smoky savory hit from the chipotle peppers. We mixed this with a Lillet Blanc to bring out the quince and sweet red vermouth for depth and finished with an orange zest for a touch of extra sweetness and warmth.

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Distillers Table - Orchard

Hello there! For this months distillers table we focused on the humble English orchard and it’s delicious produce for our latest set of drinks.

We were able to visit the Metford road community orchard in Redland at the start of the month for inspiration and were unsurprised to find the bulk of the produce was of course apples (although in many interestingly named varieties!). There were also pears, quinces, currant bushes and recently planted grape vines.

Welcome drink:

We wanted to kick off this distillers table in a lighter way and couldn’t ignore the cider drinking penchant of the West Country. So what better place to start than with a cider and black, while tucking in to a ploughmans picnic and listening to the wurzels! This was a traditional scrumpy from the Bristol cider shop and a tot of a blackcurrant and absinthe cordial. The apples in the picnic had even been scrumped by Danny himself the day before!

Drink 1:

We wanted a long fresh drink to officially kick off the cocktails, still including apples and bridging the gap between the punchy local scrumpy and fresh gin and tonics we are known for. We made an apple shrub from the selection of apples we collected from our visit to the local orchard. This sweetened , vinegar based style of cordial adds a nice acidity while capturing a true representation of the fruit. The base for the drink was a hopped gin we had created, hops are known for there mixture of bitter, citric and zesty flavours which would be perfect for this drink. To this we added 50ml of Pilton cider, a pinch of salt and topped with tonic.

Drink 2:

Having quince so heavily featured in our Autumn gin it seemed only right to make Xolotl the star of the show for our second drink. We wanted to bring out the fruit even more, so decided on a twist on the gimlet using an oak aged quince cordial we made, mixed with a grape jelly for sweetness (made by Bishopston preserves).

Drink 3:

We love to challenge taste buds with different styles as well as flavours so finished on a classic sweet cocktail style called a flip, focusing on pears for our orchard flavour inspiration. A flip is similar to eggnog and is simply a shaken creamy drink using your chosen spirit, sugar and an egg. We chose to use Poire William which is a pear eau de vie and the gin we make for Small bar (Cardamom, elderflower and flint). For sweetness we added a cardamom infused honey syrup. With the use of the whole egg this was possibly the most challenging drink for our guests of the evening but also turned out to be a big crowd pleaser!

Once again we really enjoyed sharing our creations with you and now look forward to the next challenge ‘Bonfire’ on Nov 4th.

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BCW Ultimate Cocktail & Cheese tasting

On Saturday we had the pleasure of hosting the Ultimate Cocktail & Cheese pairing with Rosie, Bristol’s very own Cheesemonger.

The Bristol Cheesemonger is a small independent cheese shop which has been trading in Bristol for 4 years, specialising in local, seasonal cheeses with a selection of UK territorial cheeses also. Rosie collects the majority of her cheeses herself, focusing on locality, speciality and seasonality. She prides herself on the relationship she builds with the dairy's and farm's, as well as her fabulous customer service.

Here are the cheeses we enjoyed and the cocktails that Danny created to go along with them:

#1

Pennard Vale - A hard, gentle goat cheeses made on Ditcheat Hill Farm in Somerset. A mild goats cheese that isn’t too “goaty”.

Away We Goat – Aqvavit, Del Professore Vermouth Classico, grapefruit & celery sherbet, Amalfi lemon salt and sparkling water. Served long with a slice of red grapefruit.

We found this to be a fresh bright cheese with light citrus notes. With this  we wanted to go fresh, light, green and herbaceous so as to complement and not over power the cheese. So we served up a long drink based on our Aqvavit

#2

Truffler - A hard cow milk cheese also made on Ditcheat Hill Farm, in Ditcheat. Rich and unctuous with truffle and truffle oil added.

Nothing Beets Truffler – Ox Gin (black truffle, lemon & thyme) 6/1 with a beetroot and blackcurrant vermouth. Finished with an orange zest

Th Truffler is so delicious, we had to pair it with the truffled gin we make for the Ox. Then it needed something sweet to bring out the subtle notes in the cheese and something earthy to enhance the truffly notes of the gin and bring some depth to the cocktail. So we made a beetroot and blackcurrant vermouth to kill two birds with one stone.

#3

Beenleigh Blue -  A sheep milk blue, comparable to a Roquefort made in Sharpham Barton, South Devon

Iced Apple Pip – Wild Beer Shnoodlepip Gin (passion fruit, pink pepper corn, hibiscus & oak), Ice Cider & olive liqueur

This was a great blue cheese to pair with, creamy and delicate but still big and blue. We served the cheese with a rhubarb ketchup to balance the salty with sweet and so the drink could be nicely balanced too. Danny’s favourite pairing with blue cheese is ice wine, and as we are using west country cheeses it seems only fitting to use a west country ice cider instead. To balance out the sweetness we added in the fruity Shnoodlepip gin and then a salty sweet olive liqueur to make something pretty unusual but really interesting!

The event was great fun, it’s so nice to work with other passionate people in the food and drinks industry, passion is infectious, and Rosie’s love of cheese made pairing drinks all that more fun!

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Distillers Table - Coffee

“Coffee is a language in itself” - Jackie Chan. Kick-ass Movie star

Hello, Hello and welcome! This month at distillers table we were looking at coffee and decided to showcase the progression from Cascara, through naturally dried unroasted coffee beans, up to the finished product itself. What we did was make a drink that really brought out the key differences of each stage of the roast . A real thank you to Clifton Coffee Roasters for providing us with all the beans, plus the visit to the roasters was really insightful. As always no distillers table is the same and each one tries to do something different to the last.

Welcome drink:

I love Cascara its still high in caffeine but the flavour profile is crazy. I get Dark chocolate, tobacco, dried fruits, a nutty almost sherry like quality. I made a cascara tea and added Bristol syrup company raspberry syrup to it, as well as a some Sanchez Romate Oloroso for a lovely aromatic and nutty base. As we are heading into Autumn I thought it would be nice to reintroduce a toddy of sorts and purposefully let it cool a little. Whilst we were at Clifton Coffee they mentioned that during cupping sessions they taste it at as many different temperatures as possible to pick up on different tasting notes. I stole the idea here, don’t tell them.

Drink 1:

The Green coffee we used was natural. What this means is that when it comes to separating the pip of the cherry (the bean) from the fruit, the fruit is left out in the sun to dry naturally. Meaning you get a more sweet and fruity finished product, as opposed to washed which removes the skins and gives a more acidic final flavour. I found unwashed/natural provides a much more funky flavour than a washed bean. The Bean itself was full of super green notes, I got a lot of pea and grassy notes as well as a savoury chicken stock (weird but great). Another aroma that was really strong was a sweet roses chocolate smell that was a complete flavour memory, it threw me back to Nonna’s house. I made a green coffee cordial with the beans by steeping them for 24 hours in cold water for a fresher taste and added sugar. I wanted the drink to be fresh just like the beans so I used a Devon apple juice where the malic acid content was high enough so that I could use it in place of lemon juice. Green coffee cordial and crazily sharp, tear your face off apple juice coupled with our latest autumn addition Xolotl. The botanicals include Quince, Chipotle and orange. The quince works wonderfully with the apple juice and the underlying smoke was a nice touch. On top of this the green pea flavours really came through and showcased the different flavours of the coffee. Topped with soda and served a celery stick, the celery added a vegetal aroma that turned out to be the final piece of the aroma puzzle. Alongside it was a large chunk of Caerphilly Cheese and a slice of a Granny smith apple.    

Drink 2:

This was my personal favourite of the evening, it was rich and nutty. I took the coffee beans that we pulled off the roast just as the beans were starting to brown and they smelt almost exactly like dry roasted peanuts with caramel weaved throughout. I sat the mid roasted beans in N.G.S at 37.5% for 48 hours. Alcohol being a wonderful solvent, it worked perfectly and really isolated the salty burnt sugar quality of the bean. The other main component was coconut water. These two combined was already drinkable but I just wanted to highlight some of the subtleties. I added a touch of Honey and a touch of Canadian Rye whiskey, this gave more body to all flavours involved and really drew on the cereal notes of The Coffee beans. The coconut water provided a silky mouth feel and awesome nutty compliment. I stirred it down and served it with a classic lotus caramel biscuit. Defo my favourite.

Drink 3:

For this drink I wanted to make a twist on a White Russian, a classic and a favourite among housewives and Big Lebowski’s. Instead of milk however I wanted to use Whey, the Lactic acid heavy bi-product of cheese production. I wanted the drink to be sweet and acidic. from a place that people potentially don’t expect. I used Psychopomp Aqvavit with its savoury Dill notes, coupled with our Coffee Digestif and some Demerera syrup made for a pretty funky drink. I was trying to highlight the acidity found in fully roasted coffee beans whilst serving a well known classic. It worked out well, and also tested a few people, which wasn’t my intention but was certainly interesting.  

Next up we will be taking inspiration from an English orchard, so join us on the 7th October to see what unusual flavour profiles we will champion next!

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Guest blog - Joanna Ritchie.

I have done all sorts of photography in my time and to be honest, I used to find still life really boring. I always thought working with people was much more my thing and more of an interactive process. The world of freelancing has however landed a fair amount of product, food and still life work in my path and I’ve found the more I do, the more I see it as just as much of an interactive process. Especially with small businesses and local producers. Everyone producing a product has a passion for it and a story behind their art form. From cakes, to plant pots, to gin, it’s all a creative process with an end product the producer is incredibly proud of, and rightly so. Ralph D. Paine once said ‘the zest is in the journey and not in the destination,’ but with the creative process I believe the zest is in both.

This is why I was so excited to work with Psychopomp, as they certainly create art in that place! The venue itself is beautiful, being in the actual distillery, and being surrounded by the sheer amount of bottles is ace. With the cocktails having a theme, I wanted this little series to sit together comfortably but hold intrigue as individual images. I love the challenge of photographing glass. You think the shot is going to be really simple, until the glass starts reflecting things in places you really didn’t expect!

I often end up doing quite elaborate set ups for product photography making it look like the subject is actually in the venue it is advertising. So, with this shoot I wanted to do something a little different using my love of block colour, whilst keeping it really simple, to let the ingredients literally spell out what is in the cocktails. As a result, the final products are more still life than lifestyle shots or simple product images, and certainly portray the ‘zest’ in the Psychopomp team’s creative destination.

www.joannaritchiephotography.co.uk