BLOOM Gin @ The Juniper Society

BLOOM had a great outing last night at The Juniper Society, Graphic Bar.

Mikey makes a few Sonic BLOOMs and I get to sample the punch - just a taste test you understand.... The punchbowl was my first ever purchase on Ebay - the things I do for a decent drink! It worked perfectly though and I'm very grateful to Sarah Mitchell for the recipe (I'll post it soon) and James Rackham for providing the Bernard Loiseau Creme De Peches Fleur D' Hibiscus liqueur made by Boudier.

Also a huge thanks to both Mikey and Adam who looked dashing and served perfect BLOOM drinks all night long!

The quiet before the storm. We had 4 different sessions in the end with about 10-12 people in each group. Joanne (BLOOM's Master Distiller) was marvelous at being heard and sharing her knowledge and passion for BLOOM with a very attentive and interested audience. I hope her voice is ok today....

Things begin to warm up and we actually managed to start bang on 7pm with the first session filling up very quickly indeed!


The response was amazing and it was really great to see so many Gin Lovers - both old and new - out on a Monday night. This above is already the second session.


Wow! What a great sight and so many Rum Lovers dipping their toes into the world of Gin. What an honour for BLOOM!

The third session with some very intent listeners!

Thanks again to everyone that turned up, thanks to Graphic Bar, Alin and Sarah, Joanne and Anjna and of course BLOOM!

BLOOM Cocktails by Amanda Humphrey @ Paramount

You've probably not been to Paramount, understandable given it was open to members only. However, it has recently opened its doors to the flotsam and jetsam of the general public and I can 'highly' recommend a visit! It's on the 32nd floor, sits 385 feet above London, has a 360 degree viewing gallery but the best bit for me has got to be the fantastic bar manager, Amanda.

BLOOMsberry Fizz

35ml BLOOM

20ml Lemon Juice

20ml Raspberry Puree

15ml Cartron Lychee liqueur

2 barspoon Rose Syrup

Billecart Salmon nv - to top

Shake hard all ingredients over ice, strain into a flute and top with Champagne. Garnish with an edible flower skewer.

This is really well balanced - sweet at first then the dryness of the Champagne kicks in at the end. Delicious! I've brand called both the Cartron and Billecart Salmon here because Amanda and I discussed the relative merits of both those brands above any other.

Flower Sour

60ml BLOOM

25ml Lemon Juice

Egg White

4 dashes Lavender Bitters

4 dashes Grapefruit Bitters

1/2 barspoon Violet Syrup

Shake all ingredients very hard over ice and build into a glass with crushed ice, edible flowers (in this instance dried clover) and slices of lemon staggered through the ice. Really looks the part and tastes great - refreshingly floral.

Couldn't resist - what a BLOOMing landscape!

BLOOM @ Imbibe 2010

Happy smiles from Anjna Mistry (Senior Brand Manager) and Joanne Moore (Master Distiller) at the start of day two @ Imbibe. We all thoroughly enjoyed talking people through their first tasting of BLOOM - not least because we received so many positive reactions! People were genuinely blown away BLOOM's style and sophistication.

The G. & J. Greenall BLOOM Gin stand stopped people in their tracks as they walked by. Lots of new BLOOM fans were made, not just for the liquid but for the design and packaging too.


The beautiful, bespoke, BLOOM glassware also received a lot of attention. Mind you, so did the goody bags, particularly towards the end of the event. It was most rewarding to see the stand out BLOOM branding in the hands of so many happy people!

Verrier by Theo Von Sternberg @ McQueen

Theo rang me very excited the other day demanding I go up to McQueen to try a new BLOOM cocktail he'd created for the Perrier Cocktail Competition - well they didn't want just mocktails did they?! I dutifully (yeah right!) hot tailed it up there last night - I was not disappointed. As usual Theo has created a masterpiece - he's called it Verrier - creatively derived from verre vert for green glass and Perrier.

VERRIER

Peeled Cucumber

1.5 shot BLOOM Gin

20ml Velvet Falernum

15ml Green Chartreuse

15ml Fresh Lemon Juice

5 Mint Leaves

1 Small Bottle Perrier Water

Muddle the cucumer and add all the other ingredients. Shake hard over ice and fine strain into an ice filled rocks glass. Garnish with a cucumber tie and top up with the Perrier Water and leave on the side to occasionally top up.

This drink is perfect for these hot summer days and nights, it's deliciously refreshing and cooling with BLOOM's floral notes shining through. The Perrier Water is the perfect compliment and the top up as you drink is pure genius!

Sadly I can't post this until after the Perrier competition has been completed - GOOD LUCK Theo! Hopefully you may have popped up to McQueen on Tuesday to try this great cocktail at The Bartender Loves You - For Free!

Mixing it up with Sarah Mitchell @ Vanquish

With so many BLOOM events coming up it was really great to get Sarah into the Vanquish Office to spend some quality time mixing up some BLOOM drinks. We had a rough idea of what we wanted to create and I'd done the shopping - fresh red grapefruits, limes and lemons, Grapefruit bitters, Rhubarb bitters, Peach bitters, Orange bitters......Elderflower cordial and finally some Lillet Blanc. The whole thing was actually quite simple - we'd already discussed which martini would work - BLOOM and Lillet Blanc with a fresh grapefruit zest. We made it and it conquered - job done!

The next plan was a summer punch - this wasn't quite as simple but only because we loved each one we made. You'll have to come to the Juniper Society @ Graphic Bar on 26th July, 7pm to find out which one we finally chose - you can also meet Joanne Moore BLOOMs Master Distiller. Meanwhile, as a hint, we tried several of the Boudier range of Bernard Loiseau liqueurs and opted to use the Creme de Peches & Fleur d'Hibiscus one - delicious......

See you on the 26th!

BLOOM London Diary

13th and 14th July - Imbibe 2010 - stand C82 - Earls Court Two

Big things are expected from this inaugural event from Imbibe.

13th July - The Bartender Loves You @ McQueen, Shoreditch

An industry networking night - this evening we have a special offer on that fabulous BLOOM Martini and a very 'special' free cocktail.

23rd July - Gerry's, Old Compton Street - 1pm - 5.30pm

BLOOM will be available for sampling and we have a very special offer of the fantastic bespoke BLOOM glass for each purchase of BLOOM.

26th July - The Juniper Society - Graphic Bar, Golden Square - 7pm

Meet Joanne Moore - BLOOM's Master Distiller - find out all about the inspiration and production of BLOOM as well as meet some lovely like minded people and try some really great cocktails!

Stefan Botfield from City Beverage Company

City Beverages is one of my favourite independent Wine and Spirit stores in London (Shoreditch). They have an incredible selection of the finest Wines, Spirits, Coffees and Teas - they really do cover all bases!

http://www.citybeverage.co.uk/

Stefan came into 'La Suite' - our tasting room at Vanquish - to have a look at our portfolio. First off he reminded himself of BLOOM Gin - a City Beverage favourite (£22.99) before moving on to the next release from Greenall's premium portfolio - Berkeley Square Gin - watch this space!

The next time you're in Shoreditch - pop in to CBC and say hello.