Showing posts with label McQueen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McQueen. Show all posts

Monday, 7 March 2011

La Maison Fontaine® Takes Gold at the London Absinthe Masters 2011


La Maison Fontaine® Takes Gold at the London Absinthe Masters 2011

Last month the great and good of the Absinthe world gathered for the prestigious Absinthe Masters 2011. This competition recognises and celebrates masters in their fields, giving credit and recognition to the brands that are the true pioneers of their worlds. La Maison Fontaine® took Gold in the Design Category and a Silver in the non-coloured spirit category.


These latest accolades mean since launching a little over six months ago, La Maison Fontaine® has already won 3 Golds; Best in Class & Gold at the International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC), Golden Spoon at world renowned 2010 Absinthiades, and now Gold (and a Silver) at the Absinthe Masters.

La Maison Fontaine® is gathering recognition and respect with key industry influencers since launching last August. Brian Robinson Editor of the Wormwood Society, ranked La Maison Fontaine® as the 2nd favourite Blanche Absinthe of all time. Giving it 4.7/5 out of a possible 5 Stars (with a maximum 5 Stars in 5 of the 7 categories) out of 7 categories. Our White Fairy can now be found in some of London’s leading bars including Bar Boulud and The Mandarin Bar at Mandarin Oriental, 22 Below, The Bathhouse, Nightjar, Roka, Paramount, Purl, and McQueen.

Mark Stringer Founding Director “We’ve been amazed and exceptionally grateful for the level of support that we’ve been getting since we launched last August. To have won 3 Gold Medals, A Best in Class and a Silver so quickly is fantastic. We always thought that we had something special so it’s nice that such leading luminaries agree”

• Spirit Business Judges included Patience Gould, editor of Spirits Business, Keith Lyon, Independent Spirits consultant (Ex Spirits Buyer for Waitrose) and Nick Quatroville from "W" hotel.

• La Maison Fontaine® 56% ABV, is an ultra premium artisan Absinthe handcrafted amongst the beautiful Jura Mountains in Pontarlier France, a place renowned for its Absinthe history.

• Distilled in the oldest Absinthe stills in the world, La Maison Fontaine® has been masterfully refined using 15 natural herbs. Some we’re keeping secret, others we’re happy to shout about – notably, our world-renowned Pontarlier-grown Grande Absinthe, which, together with green anise and fennel, is the “holy trinity” of any real absinthe.

• As well as delivering a traditional Absinthe we’ve created La Maison Fontaine® as a wonderfully versatile spirit that can be mixed into an array of sublime cocktails. We call this The Art of Imagination and we’ve put a few of our favourites on our website:

www.fontaineabsinthe.com

• We’ve been working with one of London’s leading “tastemakers” and cocktail writer, Allan Gage, to help develop a number of signature drinks that are perfect for the global premium bar scene.



Wednesday, 12 January 2011

John Leese of McQueen mixes a "Le Lapin de la Maison" for Chinese New Year


I've known John Leese for some time now and he has quite a track record - Match W1, Mahiki and Viajante are just some that spring to mind. He is now the bar manager at McQueen in Shoreditch - a favourite venue of mine that has appeared on these pages several times before with Theo (who incidentally, is still at McQueen).

I asked John to make a La Maison Fontaine cocktail for Chinese New Year (the year of the rabbit - 3rd February) and this is what he came up with:

"Le Lapin de la Maison"

Google hilariously translates as "The House Bunny"

35ml La Maison Fontaine Absinthe

10ml lime juice

15ml elderflower cordial

20ml apple juice

40ml Sauvignon Blanc


Shake all the ingredients over ice, strain into a high ball and serve with an apple garnish - simples!

Friday, 14 May 2010

BLOOM Cocktails @ McQueen by Theo Von Sternberg


BLOOM Cocktails @ McQueen by Theo Von Sternberg

McQueen in Shoreditch opened its doors fairly recently and is looking really rather sharp. Clean lines with lots of leather and stainless steel really gives off a sense of fast cars and fast living. This overall look and feel of the bar is reassuring because it's called McQueen after the actor Steve McQueen. who famously said "Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting."


A Perfect Lady (Vicky Anderson)

40 ml BLOOM Gin

1 Egg White

Peach Bitters

12.5ml Merlet Peach Liqueur

20 ml Lemon Juice

10 ml Sugar Syrup

Method: Shake all the ingredients hard over ice.

Serve: Coupette with a pomelo Garnish

Theo also made a Boon with BLOOM Gin, fresh pink grapefruit, orgeat and grapefruit bitters as well as a Bajan BLOOM which has BLOOM Gin, Velvet Falernum, Rhubarb Bitters and topped with Prosecco - both of which are delicious and show off the versatility and mixability of BLOOM. He also promises some more creations.... watch this space!