Cocktail Catwalk
3rd January, 2012 by Marinel FitzSimonsWhat’s your favourite cocktail? Why?
Seemingly simple questions, but, so long as the answers aren’t “frozen strawberry daiquiri” and “because you can’t taste the alcohol” respectively, it opens up a whole array of different areas of discussion (just for the record – we have nothing against strawberry Daiquiris as such apart from the ones that taste only of Slush Puppies).
Most people will have a strong idea about what spirit base they like in the drink, and will pick their drink accordingly. But if they wanted to try and create a drink using their favourite spirit themselves, it’s not immediately obvious which is the best pairing of flavours, and which taste combos will give the spirit the best platform, let it really come into its own?
To establish which flavour pairings are a no-no, and which are a match made in heaven, we’ve talked to some of the best bartenders out there to find out their thoughts.
In this edition we are looking at gin, finding out what our bartenders think is THE perfect pairing – the supermodel; a list of gin-friendly mixers/pairings that will work with most gins – The Little Black Dress (LBD); and the flavours that are to be avoided at all costs as they will kill the gin – the tartan cat suite (we can’t think of much worse fashion-wise, but open to suggestions).
We spoke to Nathan Merrimen (NM), bartender The American Bar, The Savoy; Jamie Stephenson (JS) World Champion Bartender and Rémy Martin Style Master 2007, co-founder and Principal Trainer of The Bar Academy; Paul Stevens (PS), Bar Manager at Mandarin Bar Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London; Liam Brown (LB) co-owner of Seven at Brixton; and Patsy Christie (PC) of Maxxium UK.