Slideluck Potshow London and La Maison Fontaine Absinthe

I love dispensing absinthe and dispelling the myths, particularly at art events. So, I was really looking forward to going along to the annual London Slideluck Potshow. Although I hadn't heard of it before, I liked the idea of the mix of Food, Photography, Art and now Absinthe, that it offered.

The website describes perfectly what it's all about:

"Slideluck Potshow (SLPS) is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to building and strengthening community through food and art. SLPS operates multimedia slideshows combined with potluck dinners in about forty cities around the world. For each event, artists submit up to five minutes worth of images and guests bring along delicious food to share. The evening begins with a couple hours of mingling and dining on home-cooked dishes, and then the lights are dimmed, the crowd is hushed, and a spectacular slideshow commences."

The food that people brought along was amazing. I don't normally eat whilst on duty but it was just too irresistible! The crowd was really great too, just the right sort of Bohemian to appreciate the finer delights of Absinthe, coupled with the Art of course.

This was still fairly early on, as food got eaten more people turned up with more food, genius! I'm not sure why this communal eating doesn't happen more often....

Here's Casey Kelbaugh introducing this year's slide show. He hosted the very first Slideluck Potshow back in 2000 in his seattle backyard to about 50 friends! From acorns eh? In the foreground is Maria Teresa Salvati, the brains behind the London gig.

This is the packed house, just before the slide show starts. Naturally I sat down to watch too, everyone was glued to the screen throughout! I have to confess to thinking the slides were all going to be about food, der! In fact, many of them were highly political, emotive, shocking, disturbing and some were even funny - but all were superbly done!. The slides for this year's London show are not up on the website yet or else I would have shared a few favourites.

On the whole, I came away thinking if I ever complain about life being a bit tough again - I'll deserve a very hard slap!

I think I heard a rumour that London may now be holding 2 events a year.... I hope that means another this year, if so I'll be back to dispense more Absinthe and hopefully see you there!

Please visit the website to find out more about Slideluck Potshow

http://www.slideluckpotshow.com

SW4 - Small Batch London Dry Gin - Made in Clapham!

SW4 London Dry Gin

Sadly with the demise of the Gin and Vodka Association there seems to be far too few definitive explanations of the different EU Gin categories on the internet. In brief, there are 3; the lowest quality is Compound Gin, which has minimum abv of 37.5% and is simply alcohol with Juniper (and other) flavouring added, the next standard is Distilled Gin where the botanicals are steeped in neutral alcohol and then a secondary distillation takes place, but colour, flavourings and sugar can be added post distillation. Finally is London Dry Gin, where the botanicals are steeped in neutral alcohol, secondary distillation takes place, juniper is the dominant flavour and nothing other than water can be added post distillation. I'm sure you can make your own mind up as to which Gins fall into which category....

So, even though London Dry Gin status does not require a Gin to be made in London, there is something rather pleasing about a London Dry Gin that is. Welcome to SW4 London Dry Gin - made in Clapham. Get off the tube at Clapham North, cross the road and look for Timber Mill Way. Suddenly you are off the beaten track and are heading down an unkempt lane leading to an industrial heartland, well nearly....

To begin at the beginning of making Gin we must first look at the base alcohol. The neutral alcohol used in Gin production is to my mind, the least interesting factor. While it's essential to ensure it's of a sufficiently high quality we would not expect it to impart anything significant to the final product - hence why it's called "neutral". Neutral alcohols can be made from various ingredients; neutral grain spirit; neutral grape spirit; neutral beet spirit and molasses is also common. It's neutral because it's been distilled to a sufficiently high abv to remove any significant flavour compounds. Back in the mid nineteenth century a tradition arose whereby London Gin producers had to purchase their neutral spirit from somewhere other than where they made their Gin. This tradition was largely to do with customs not trusting the London producers to 'declare' all the alcohol produced and wanted to control (and therefore tax) the flow of alcohol coming into London. Good news for Scotland and the treasury! This tradition no longer holds with both Adnams and Chase producing their own neutral spirit on-site. However, it remains that the production of neutral spirit is largely conducted on an industrial scale and most Gin producers see no sense in starting their own production now.

SW4 London Dry Gin is made from a UK produced, 86% abv, neutral grain spirit where all the grain (predominantly wheat with some barley) is also grown in the UK. It's a nice touch to ensure a UK grown and produced grain spirit which is, just to reiterate, "neutral" because it's been multi-distilled to reach an abv of 86%.

Right, on to the interesting stuff!

Now that we have our neutral grain spirit we need our botanical bill. SW4 uses 12 different botanicals, the recipe of which was put together by Charles Maxwell (Master Distiller at Thames) and Martin Price (SW4 Brand Owner). Now any Gin producer on the whole, will tell you what their botanicals are, what they won't tell you is the ratio used - this is the "secret" part of every Gin recipe. The remit for SW4 was a "traditional style" that works really well in a Gin and Tonic.

NB: It does seem bizarre to have to say that by a "traditional style" we mean juniper dominant, I'm sure most of us would take that that as read. These days however, there are quite a few distilled Gins that are not juniper dominant, designed specifically to "open up" the Gin market. While we have to accept these commercial innovations are helping to revitalise a shrinking category it is a cause concern that now even some London Dry Gin's seem to be slipping through the "juniper" net....

Charles Maxwell describes SW4:

“SW4 London Distilled Gin, is a big and complex gin made in the style of the original London Dry Gins of the mid to late 19th Century. It has 12 botanicals in its recipe, with Juniper being heavily predominant, but then behind it come the citrus and spice notes, from botanicals such as lemon peel and cassia, which give it the fullness and complexity. The whole is then brought together by the Orris Powder.”

Just as a Master Blender pulls different barrels together to get the desired end result, so a Master Gin Distiller pulls together just the right amount of each botanical to get the exact flavour profile desired. It's not just the separate flavour profile of each botanical that counts with Gin though, it's also the way they marry together when being steeped. All the botanicals in SW4 are dried when they go into the neutral grain spirit (some brands are now using fresh) and are steeped between 12 and 15 hours. I did ask Charles if the flavour profile would improve with a longer maceration time and he assured me that much longer would lead to 'over extraction', something I hadn't considered before.

Meet "Tom Thumb", Gin Still #1 at Thames Distillers which is used to distill SW4. Gin Still #2 is called "Thumbelina" and is on hand just in case anything goes wrong with Tom Thumb, which hasn't happened yet. Tom Thumb is a small batch, (500 litre capacity, the largest is 12,000 litres) stainless steel still made by John Dore. Interestingly, John Dore is the oldest distillery engineering business in the world. The company's roots go all the way back to Aeneas Coffey, famous for patenting the first column still in 1831.

When we went to visit the distillery the distilling of SW4 had already been done, but we were on hand to watch the bottling process. So I decided to film it with my trusty Ixus...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JV3JHYCxW8

So there you have it, SW4 Small Batch, London Dry Gin made and bottled in Clapham. Next time you're in the area and wondering where you might try some SW4 and Tonic - I can recommend popping into The Loft on Clapham High Street.


www.SW4Gin.com

http://www.sipormix.com/

La Maison Fontaine Absinthe at The Salusbury Wine Store - Queens Park, NW6

I don't venture up to NW6 very often - or rather hadn't until now. Now that I've discovered The Salusbury Wine Store in Salusbury Road, I think I might be in NW6 a lot more often! In previous incarnations I've run both Wine Stores and Delicatessens so I felt right at home amongst the wine and cheese.

We had arranged to do the La Maison Fontaine Absinthe tasting some weeks back and were hoping to do it outside in the, what now seemed to be normal, UK sunshine. Of course these plans were scuppered by the first bit of rain London had seen in months - and when I say rain... I mean rain!

We made up the absinthe fountain with the Fontaine of Youth - an infusion of cucumber, lemon and mint and we were off. I love talking to people about absinthe and dispelling all those myths,
"oh absinthe, it makes you mad, right?" is very common when offered a taste. "Will it make me cut my ear off?" is another classic or perhaps worse still is the "you set it on fire, right?".

Wrong! the idea that Absinthe makes you mad was largely fuelled and funded by the French wine industry trying to get back on their feet after the devastation on the phylloxera crisis of the 1860's. Phylloxera is a bug that attacks the roots of grape vines and within 25 years of its introduction the French wine industry had lost about 25 million acres of vines. Absinthe producers moved away from, the now scarce and very expensive, grape brandy to using neutral sugar beet spirit. Absinthe consequently rocketed in popularity with everyone across all sectors of French society now drinking it, simply because it was available. And, as for setting Absinthe on fire? A total invention of the 1990's, I imagine that had any one set their Absinthe alight in the 1800's, they may well have been declared mad!

Still, you don't have to take my word for it - there are some really well researched and in depth Absinthe histories out there - on the internet I'd actually recommend Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe

If you only ever buy one book on Absinthe make sure it is Barnaby Conrad III's "Absinthe, History in a Bottle" - written in 1988 - before the internet, it's an extremely well researched and original work (unlike a lot on the internet). The only flaw is the last section on the science of thujone which has since been updated - if interested, take a look here:

http://www.thujone.info/science.html

Recently released is the film "Absinthe" - a documentary by Chris Buddy, again, exceptionally well researched and well crafted - it delivers a comprehensive account of Absinthe's history from the beginning to the present day in a mere 70 mins! You can see the trailer on their website:

http://absinthefilm.com/

We're going to have a public showing of the film in June, do get in touch if interested.

So, after introducing The Salusbury Wine Store customers to a taste of La Maison Fontaine and a quick, myth exploding, potted history of Absinthe, we made quite a few new friends!

Here's Jez and Adam, now huge fans of La Maison Fontaine!

We are planning to go back to the Salusbury Wine Store to introduce some more of their customers to the delights of La Maison Fontaine (and so I can buy some more of their amazing cheese and wine) we will let you know when. Meanwhile, if you're in the area do pop in and get some great wine recommendations from Chris or Mattieu, there is only one Absinthe you would want to buy of course!

The Salusbury Wine Store

50 Salusbury Road

Queens Park

NW6

Telephone - 020 7372 6664

info@thesalusburywinestore.co.uk

If you would like a La Maison Fontaine tasting in your Shop, Bar or at an Event or any further information please email me at:

jenny@sipormix.com

www.sipormix.com

La Maison Fontaine Absinthe at The Box, Soho

If you haven't heard, The Box recently opened in London's Soho, (where have you been?) Since it opened it has been splashed all over the papers with London's glitterati getting papped outside - http://www.metro.co.uk/ 22nd February 2011 with many more partying on the inside - www.thisislondon.co.uk (Evening Standard) 22nd February 2011. Indeed, even before it opened its doors it was seriously news worthy - www.guardian.co.uk Friday 28th January 2011.

Apologies for the rubbish pictures but they just don't have any bright lights in there and given they have a NO camera, NO phone, NO Blackberry policy - I was lucky to get anything....

With its decadent mix of Burlesque, Cabaret and Vaudeville acts on offer it is an obvious place to try the delights of La Maison Fontaine Absinthe..... We've installed the LMF Fountain upstairs, so if and when you are lucky enough to find yourself in The Box - do take a wander up there.....and look for this door to venture through....

http://www.theboxsoho.com/

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.

La Maison Fontaine at The Chelsea Brasserie

There's nothing I love more than talking about Absinthe, so the 3rd March got off to a great start! I arrived at Chelsea Brasserie in Sloane Square at 9am to train the staff on the wonderful ways of Absinthe and the delights of La Maison Fontaine.



The team were delightful and very enthusiastic. Tasting Absinthe at that time in the morning is not to everyone's taste, apart from the true adventurer of course. We even made up The Fontaine of Youth to demonstate the versatility of having a fountain in place and the perfect serve.

So, next time you're Sloaning around The Square do pop in to say hi and try some La Maison Fontaine.

The Bar Team at Chelsea Brasserie:

Cesar Vandamme
Beka Khmaladze
Peter Pusztai

Great Cocktails at The Bathhouse on a Friday with La Maison Fontaine Absinthe and SW4 Gin

This is not the first time I've featured The Bathhouse on these pages and I have to say I'm very pleased to be featuring them again. The reason this time is we are working alongside them on Fridays to provide a great cocktail containing firm favourite La Maison Fontaine Absinthe and other guest spirits for a bit of variety. This month we are working with SW4 London Dry Gin which is quite fitting for the Bathhouse because:

"SW4 London Distilled Gin, is a big and complex gin made in the style of the original London Dry Gins of the mid to late 19th Century. It has 12 botanicals in its recipe, with Juniper being heavily predominant, but then behind it come the citrus and spice notes, from botanicals such as lemon peel and cassia, which give it the fullness and complexity. The whole is then brought together by the Orris Powder."

"Distilled gins of this style pre-date the Cocktail era of the early 20th Century, which tended to give rise to the somewhat austere and less complex gins of that time. The older style gins being made to show at their best when mixed with water, ginger beer and most especially tonic, that eponymous drink of the British Empire. SW4 has taken this heritage and using up to date small batch distillation techniques brings you the 21st century version of the classic original gin style."

"Nestled in the shadows of the City, The Bathhouse sits within Bishopsgate Churchyard, a surviving treasure from Victorian East London. Hearkening back to the near-forgotten days of iniquity and indulgence, this late night establishment provides live music, performance and entertainment. Stepping into the 19th century Kiosk with it’s deceptively small exterior is like entering another era all together, descend the staircase, move beneath the streets of the City and a cavernous space opens before you. The historically listed building has been subtly enhanced, retaining the strong undercurrents of the Victorian era that revelled in anatomy, erotica and botanicals."

"In stark architectural contrast to its neighbouring buildings, The Bathhouse is an undiscovered beauty that is more than just a bar, a restaurant or an entertainment space, tighten your corset for a decadent step back in time."

"The interior design was lavish in its style, no expense was spared on plush velvet carpets, marbled mosaic floors, walls adorned with hand crafted tiles and decorative faience columns. Turkish Baths were an important part of a modern City Gent’s life in Victorian London; they not only provided services to relax and unwind but also served as a medical aide. The Bathhouse created “an arena in which health, pleasure, culture and curiosity could collide; a mystical world far from the restrictive, Victorian society in which it could be found”.

"With the arrival of the fifties, popularity for this kind of leisure and the need for Iodine Liquid Baths and Mercurial Vapour Baths were no longer so great. After a tough 1952 Budget it was deemed foolish to renew the lease on the establishment and by 1954 the Bathhouse stood empty."

"Gathering dust, the building was used a storage space for nearly twenty years after its closure, keeping all of its original features in tact. In the 1970s the doors were swung open once more, the Bathhouse enjoying a new lease of life as a restaurant. It has played host to hundreds of diners daily until February 2009."

"It is now however that the venue is being restored to its former glory. Opulence, decadence and sumptuous furnishings are the order of the day. The Bathhouse is once more the indulgent City hide away that it once was – we are however giving the Needle Baths a wide berth."

On Fridays the venue gets taken over by the wonderful Boom Boom Club:

http://www.boomboomclub.co.uk/

This months Cocktail is a variation on The London Cocktail from The Savoy Cocktail Book, Harry Craddock, 1930


The City of London Cocktail

2 Dashes La Maison Fontaine Absinthe
1/3 SW4 London Dry Gin
Grapefruit Juice
2 Dashes Gomme Syrup
2 Dashes Orange Bitters

Shake well over ice, strain into an ice filled high ball and top with grapefruit juce, garnish with grapefruit zest.


I hope to see you there.......