I’ve resorted to pretty much doing what I was anyway, making drinks. But not in a bar for paying customers, but in my kitchen for myself in front of the 30 Rock box set!

So to alleviate my frustrations I’ve decided that it was probably about time I cut loose with another blog after having told Simon and Andy I’ve been working on one for the last 6 months! So here it is…

Here’s a question for you…

What is going to take to get the general public appreciating Tequila rather than just abusing it?

Andy's online dating picture didn't get the reaction he had hoped for

Please someone tell me! Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed the odd bit of Tequila abuse in my time (who hasn’t?) but with the rise of quality 100% Agave Tequilas such as Ocho, Tradicional or Siete Leguas it seems such as waste to just habitually knock it back doesn’t it?

I mean, surely Joe and Jane Average wouldn’t treat a Single Malt or a half decent Cognac like that would they? I know, I’m preaching to the choir here a bit, we’re all firm advocates of the beer and a shot on the side school of thought but what can we do to spread this message further?

Perhaps the problem is that, culturally, we don’t really take our time to enjoy anything. We all buzz around as fast as roadrunner on amphetamines, what we need to do is to encourage our guests to sit down, relax and take it slow.

After all, the old mantra ‘Life’s too short’ isn’t always necessarily true, especially when it comes to good drinks.

So I’m on a bit of a crusade at the moment to get people to re-evaluate Tequila, even something as small as encouraging people to take a sip before they down their shot can make a difference as it forces them to actually taste the spirit. It’s all about baby steps I reckon.

Another thing I’ve found to work on those less keen on Agave spirits is to (trust me on this) serve it cold. I know, I know, it goes against everything we’ve been taught about sprits and tequila over the last 10 years but bear with me a minute.

I am not suggesting that it is the way to serve Tequila to people who actually enjoy their agave but, as we all know when you chill a spirit you dull some of that spirits characteristics right? So for someone who has negative connotations with either the aroma or initial taste of a spirit, if they are less prominent it makes that spirit more accessible and open to re-evaluation right?

This is a good thing! We need to collectively make sure that we are trying to find new ways for the public to tap into and enjoy some of these fantastic products and not keep them to ourselves like the dirty magazine collection under our beds.

Right, whinge over. There’s loads of good things happening the trade with Tequila, the Pacifico group are continuing to do great things and new Soho Sex Shop hangout La Bodega Negra is taking Tequila to the A list.

My dream is to get a decent chunk of the population going out and actually enjoying their Tequila rather than regretting having drunk it in the morning. Perhaps if we can help the public understand a little more about it then we can slowly change people’s perceptions on it.

Right, I’m off for a Tradicional and Ting. Till next time. Salud, Tim.

Tim in action...

Big congrats to Jamie and our thoughts are with him as he does battle out in Delhi against some of the best bartenders in the world and against the Delhi squirts. Bring it home mate!

Jamie and Julian de Feral slogged it out against one another in the final Mix Off at Soho’s Floridita in front of some of the industries biggest and baddest names. Everyone was in predictably high spirits with Zacapa flowing freely among the crowd and with Barrie warming the crowd up with his sparkling Scottish wit and lovely smile (my girlfriends words) we were ready for action.

Up first in the Mix Off we had Jamie with his ‘Chaste’ cocktail – an intriguing mix of Ketel One, Benedictine, Sweet Vermouth, bitters and Lagavulin.

All this simply stirred and strained into smoke filled decanters and served over an ice ball. This was all delivered very coolly with Jamie telling a painfully romantic back story to his drink and perhaps it was this that won it for him on the day.

Julian was up next and presented a pretty unorthodox drink for a competition of this magnitude… A LONG DRINK!!!

Who’d have thought that with a trip to Delhi on the cards you’d risk it by not going for the usual judge pleasing ‘Up’ or Short style drink!?

In the end Julian’s presentation was very cool and simply put producing a delightful Juleport Fizz with Tanqueray, Tawney port, lemon juice, mint, a dash of bourbon and soda. Unfortunately for him Jamie was just stronger on the day.

However… That was just the end result! It was in fact a raucous day of mixology and bartending acumen! The 12 of us all gathered at Floridita early in the morning, well 11am… 11:30 for Julian, were split into groups and sent off to one of 3 venues for 3 separate challenges.

It was squeaky bum time and I was starting to get nervous!

However, luckily I was in a pretty sound group, Jody Montieth, Steve Martin, Lee Hyde and I headed off to Waitrose to start our ‘Supermarket Sweep’ Round which would consist of being given £20 by Dazza (I never thought I’d get money off a scot!) and 10 minutes to get what we needed for our drinks with only Tanq 10 or Ketel One being provided by the organisers.

There were some really cool ideas, Jody went for Tanq 10, Pale Ale, Chablis and Elderflower all in equal proportions. I went for something I felt was a bit out there, going Mediterranean (ish) using Tanq 10, Manzanilla Sherry, Green Pepper and coriander with a splash of white grapefruit juice I created my ‘Capsikarma’ garnished with a touch of lemon and coriander served on chicory…

It’s a shame this wasn’t a speed round because as we got stuck in horrendous traffic we were 45 mins late to Mahiki, TV Mixologist Andy ‘Big Man’ Pearson told us to get a move on – so I did, bashing out my whole presentation in just over 3 minutes!

Up next was the ‘Ritual’ round… this was the round we were all the most apprehensive about as none of us really knew what to expect, so on the drive over we calmed our nerves with a round of Gin Face. We pulled up to Purl in the sweltering heat and unpacked the car… I felt I had a bit of an advantage in this round as I’d gone the extra mile and got myself a full ‘Striding Dandy’ costume! It was awesome!

But after giving my presentation to Ben Booth and last years World Class winner Eric Lorincz, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just nerves making me sweat. Everyone put real effort into their Ritual Serves, I pulled a bottle of Blue Label from a wooden cask full of ‘Highland Fog’ (a maceration of herbs and a home blend of whisky) and served it with wild honeycomb accompanied by me whittling on and reciting Rabbie Burns… très atmospheric!

Lee’s presentation was exceptional! All beautifully presented on a silver tray with stunning glassware, needless to say it prompted a ‘Wow’ from most assembled! And with that we were off! Leaving Tom and Tristan to hack up one of the biggest blocks of ice I have ever seen!

Then finally it was over the chez Difford for the classics round judged by the famous cue ball himself and Justin from Ketel One. This was a really fun round as it goes as it was clear that there were some drinks that none of us wanted to make at all – add considering they were mainly well loved classics!

It was generally accepted that the Planter’s Punch would be a shitty one to get as Zacapa really doesn’t lend itself to that kind of vehicle – Thanks to Jody for taking that bullet.

Also the Singapore Sling proved an unpopular pick – so thanks to Steve for falling on that grenade. I fortunately picked quite kindly… I drew a Margarita and a Rosita, the latter of which I’d never heard of and the only info to be found on it is that Gaz Regan either invented it or found it and put it in one of his books – I don’t think even he knows.

So that was quite a hard drink to research the history on – the margarita a sinch and as I was still riding on going through in the Tequila round my Don Julio knowledge was pretty sound!

And then that was it. It was all done. All that hard work forgotten about over a bottle of Coopers Sparkling and some Zacapa. What a day. What a terrifyingly high standard… I was convinced that one of our group would have taken the title but I guess some pretty spectacular stuff must have been happening elsewhere.

Well I had an awesome day and can’t wait to spend a wicked week out in Mexico with all of the guys – better get prepared for some epic rounds of mezcal face. Cheers to Barrie and all the guys at Diageo for organising such a top comp… It’s really leading the way in how to do a top end competition. See you again for it next year!

Till next time!

Just a brief background on me, I’ve been bartending for about 6 years – well since I left school anyway and have worked in a few decent places such as The Hospital, Dirty Martini as well as having done stints in Switzerland and Sydney and currently I’m Head Bartender at Babylon Restaurant @ The Kensington Roof Gardens.

Steady... steady....

I consider myself a half decent bartender – I know the difference between a Caipirinha and a Clover Club and have been told I make a pretty mean Daiquiri but one area that has always interested me since I first discovered it about 3 or 4 years ago while trawling the web is molecular mixology!

I remember reading about a bartender in the States I think it was who had made Mojito Caviar! Now to those initiated in MM (as I’m going to refer to it as I’m a lazy typist) this may not be a shock or even anything to bat an eyelid at, but as a young bartender this blew me away!

So I’ve always had an interest in this particular aspect of our profession but it always seemed so unattainable… the ingredients were hard to come by, the techniques seemed as well guarded a secret as what actually happened to Michael Jackson, plus, who would have time to actually use these techniques on a busy Friday night?! Surely these were just the toys for chefs in Michelin standard restaurants!

However, now thanks to Matt and the team at molecularmixology.co.uk everything you need is easily accessible. Techniques are explained and nothing seems so scary any more. So after a particularly heavy night at Wax Jambu after Bar Show, Matt and I decided that perhaps I (as one with NO MM experience) should write a blog on just how easy it all is… a few days later a kit arrived for me in the post and I’ve been playing ever since!

In this blog I’m going to try to give a simple step by step guide of what I did, what problems I encountered, what adaptations I made and anything else I think may be of use or interest… I hope you find it useful, or at least interesting/tragically humorous to read.

So… down to business!

Matt very kindly sent me the Cocktail Pro kit along with a cream whipper gun and as I opened my package with the enthusiasm of a child who’s just realised there’s a puppy in one of their Christmas presents I was hit with 2 thoughts. One of excitement of what cool things I could do with this stuff and the other of trepidation that I’d have to really try and do something awesome. I decided to start simple – much to the disappointment of all the reception girls who thought that I’d instantly turn into some nut case like Doc out of Back to the Future.

Foam

Hmmm. Xanthan.

For my first project I decided to try to make a Foam using my cream whipping gun, I delved into my magic box of toys and pulled out what I needed, which in this case was the ‘Celluzoon’ (or Methyl Cellulose – which is a type of cellulose extracted from plant fibres – it basically helps give structure and stability to foams and liquids), and ‘Xanthazoon’ (or Xanthan Gum – a bacteria induced fermentation product – used as a thinking and stabilizing agent in foams).

Following the sage advice of Molecular Cocktails by Gabriele Randel (the book which comes with the kit) I took 100mls of ice cold water and added 6 level measuring spoons of the Cellulose and began to whisk with the recommended egg whisk until dissolved.

I noticed that this was taking a while and my arm was getting tired and then noticed in the book that the cellulose dissolves better in hot water but then has to be cooled. Feeling impatient I decided to persevere with my cold water mix, but traded in my egg whisk for a hand held electric blender. I found this far more effective and after the tides had settled (about 5-10 mins) I had a perfectly clear, dissolved cellulose solution.

Randel then suggests adding 20mls of this solution to 180mls of your desired cocktail (I chose a Margarita – heavy on tequila, easy on cointreau), I followed these instructions diligently and then poured my mixture into my cream whipping gun (love calling it a gun rather than siphon).

I then proceeded to add 3 level measuring spoons on the Xanthan Gum, gave it a little stir for good measure, sealed my gun and charged it with one of the N02 pods. This was very exciting, and having memories of abusing some poor latex wearing girl at Wax Jambu on that fateful night, decided that the first victim of my scientific experiment would be the unwitting girl asleep on my sofa! Shaking her by the shoulder crying ‘WAKE UP, IT WORKED! IT ACTUALLY WORKED’ I proceeded to give her an outstanding Margarita foam layback! Then I had a go, and you know what??? It freaking tasted like an awesome Margarita!!!

Experiment #1 I declare a success! To celebrate, I washed out my cream whipping gun, and proceeded to do things with the nitrous that you’re not meant to (blowing up balloons I expect – Ed) – but my god had I’d earned it!!! Next time I think that I’ll definitely be using this technique on an actual drink – chilli foam on a Bloody Mary perhaps – we’ll see but I’ll let you know on the next entry.

I look forward to all your questions and feedback!