From The Savoy To Fermanagh

I would be confident that my working title for this blog is the first time these words have been put together. 

Sustainability Within Cocktails 

Since joining The Adam Handling Restaurant group my sustainable practices have been pushed and pulled too limits that I would have once said, “is this even possible?” Anyone reading this that knows me or has followed my career knows full well that I thrive from a challenge and pushing boundaries.

The Paradox of Bartending

South Park famously created the character of ‘Funnybot’: A robot which tells jokes in a jarring mechanical tone to the hilarity of the masses. When FunnyBot inevitably turns evil, it is destroyed by being forced to consider a logic paradox: “How can one have a “Comedy Award” without taking comedy seriously – thus ruining the comedy?”.

I Make Friends with People and Sell Booze for a Living……

“I Make Friends with People and Sell Booze for a Living” Is the line that I always use when people ask what I do for a living. I mean, there is obviously a lot more too it than that, but that’s the general gist of it. Yes, I have to sell booze to bars (which is harder than some people may think), but fortunately I get to do that with the best bars, restaurants, pubs, clubs and hotels in the world. Along with some of the best alcohol brands out there.

Vermouth, Bitters, Liqueurs, Tinctures, Infusions

The word vermouth is derived from wermut, High German for ‘wormwood’ (a Artemisia genus plant, 200plants of the daisy family).

Tequila

Historically, agave based spirits were called vinos de mezcal. The primary distinction between Mezcal and Tequila is the species of agave used, the location of the agave fields and the process by which the agave is harvested and roasted. Tequila producers steam or roast the pinas to convert the starches to sugar. Mezcal producers roast their pinas underground in stone pits which gives the spirit an earthy and smokey quality.

Whiskey

Straight Whiskey must, by US law, be comprised of a minimum of 51% of one grain, it must be in new, charred wood barrels for at least two years, and cannot be distilled higher than 160 proof. (Exceptions are corn whiskey, which does not have to be aged.) If the whiskey has not been aged for a minimum of 4 years in a barrel, no age may be stated on the label.

Vodka

Vodka gained its popularity from 2 markets; the central/eastern European market, and the northern/Scandinavian market. Traditionally vodka is drunk chilled and neat, and accompanied food.

Rum

The history of rum follows sugarcane’s momentous journey from Asia to Africa and India to Spain. Seventeenth century French, English, Spanish and Portuguese settlers in the New World brought unique distilling traditions to the colonies, where settlers cultivated the sugarcane and made rum from pressing juice of sugar cane and molasses, a bi-product of sugar refining. The character of rum is based on many factors, including the type of sugarcane or molasses, the yeast, fermentation time, the degree of rectification, type of still used and time spent aging in wooden barrels and the climate of the area it is being aged in.

Gin

Saying all gin is flavoured vodka is a massive understatement but thinking of it that way allows us better grasp of both spirits. The name Gin is most commonly derived from the Dutch Jenever, although the French genievre and the Italian ginepro also predated the modern gin.