Marian Beke of Nightjar creates an "Absinthe Orgy" for La Maison Fontaine.

Apologies for the bad photography but hey, Nightjar is discreet and uber cool, glaring lights would just not work. This has been a favourite bar of mine for quite a while now and I'm not alone, every review I've read has been positively glowing!

I recently asked Marian to come up with a La Maison Fontaine cocktail which he kindly obliged, the deal was - he'd come up with the drink, and I had to come up with the name. Now you'll have to forgive me but when looking at the ingredients the first two things were Absinthe and Orgeat, so "Absinthe Orgy" popped into my mind and wouldn't leave.... Marian liked the name, so Absinthe Orgy it became.

Absinthe Orgy by Marian Beke

37.5ml La Maison Fontaine Absinthe

17.5ml Orgeat (homemade at Nightjar

Half Fresh Lime Juice

Dash Orange Bitters

Egg White

Shake all the ingredients hard over ice and strain into glass, garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

The drink is amazingly smooth, complex and very well balanced. We joked with Edmund that there should be a minimum purchase of 4 to be true to the cocktail name!

Another of my favourite Nightjar drinks, thanks to Dan Priseman for putting me onto this one!

Remember the Maine

Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon
Sweet Vermouth
La Maison Fontaine Absinthe
Cherry Brandy

Stir slowly for good dilution and strain, garnish with cherries.

The drinks name refers to the USS Maine that was sunk off the shores of Havana in 1898, which ultimately sparked the Spanish - American War of the same year. It was however, in 1933 that the global imbiber and author of "The Gentleman's Companion: An Exotic Drinking Book," Charles H. Baker Jr. created the drink off the shores of Cuba during a night of intense bombing. What's interesting and left unexplained is Baker actually specified the drink had to be stirred clockwise....

Next up Marian got creative at the bar with eggs, Wray and Nephew Overproof, sugar and a blow torch... take my word for it, it was delicious!

Alessandro Paludet from 22 Below and his La Maison Fontaine Absinthe Old Fashioned

22 Below, just off Carnaby Street, is a real hidden gem with a very cosy atmosphere. Alessandro and Emelie run a tight ship and have developed a pretty comprehensive cocktail list. They have a gentleman's corner section with real classics such as a Sazerac and a Martinez. There's also a tiki page and on Thursdays - all tiki jars are only £5! Of course it was the absinthe section that I wanted to check out and above Alessandro is beginning to make the La Maison Fontaine Old Fashioned. The first ever Absinthe Old Fashioned as far as I'm concerned!

Now as you probably know Old Fashioneds take a while to make with the slow building and gradual dilution so while Alessandro cracked on with it I noticed the above contraptions. Test tubes with their own holders which are to be filled with iced water for an unsual perfect serve drip with your 'dose' of absinthe - novel indeed!

La Maison Fontaine Old Fashioned

35ml La Maison Fontaine

15 ml cold mineral water

few dashes mint bitters

sugar

fresh mint garnish

Quite simply make in the same way as a traditional old fashioned, by slowly building all the ingredients into a rocks glass stirring all the time while gradually adding ice. Not only is this quite original I'm certain it's the first LMF "white" absinthe cocktail to be green!

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!

Jenny Gardener of Vanquish Brand Management visits St Nicholas Abbey

Vanquish were very proud to have St Nicholas Abbey 10 Year Old Rum from Barbados join the Vanquish Brand Management portfolio. The Rum fitted our profile perfectly - rare, artisanal and authentic as well as great liquid and stunning packaging.

We have since seeded SNA (St Nicholas Abbey) into many top venues throughout London (Paramount, Zuma, Movida, Artesian, Mahiki, Tramp.....:) and gained many, many more fans along the way.

RumFest 2010 was the first time I'd seen the Warren's since... well.... ages!

http://deliciousdrinksandspirits.blogspot.com/2010/10/st-nicholas-abbey-12-year-old-rum.html

It was while chatting to Robert A. Burr at this year's RumFest that I was made aware of the Rum and Beer festival in Barbados in November.... It occurred to me then that I should perhaps take myself on holiday to Barbados, The Rum and Beer Festival and most importantly - St Nicholas Abbey....

My first sighting of Barbados, this is the highly desirable West Coast.

To find out more about the island please visit:

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

One of the first things I did was go on a boat trip from the capital Bridgetown up round the West coast to moor off Sandy Lane beach - awesome. I was staying in the district of St Peter in the apartment of Andrew and Karene - they made me feel very welcome and the invitation to join them on this boat trip introduced me to lots of the locals, who are all rum ambassadors!

Everyone goes off the side and into the water!

After training and talking to so many people about St Nicholas Abbey and it's rum it was incredible to finally visit in person. I went on the tour which explains the history of the Abbey and the people who owned it and I even picked up a few new anecdotes along the way.

The film they show is quite incredible, dating back to 1935 the footage is consequently extremely rare. It was made by the previous owner Charles J.P. Cave when he took his family from England all the way to the Abbey filming the whole trip on a recently acquired cine camera.

When you are next planning a holiday think about Barbados and a visit to St Nicholas Abbey, I can honestly recommend it! Check their website for more information and history:

http://stnicholasabbey.com/



Anna has done a really amazing job in the gardens.

The grounds of SNA

The tropical jungle just beyond the grounds of SNA

The Still - "Annabelle"

It was a real pleasure to see the still not only up close and personal but actually distilling! It had been a long struggle for Larry to get the still licensed but perseverance and Larry's indomitable spirit eventually paid off. On the day of the Wine, Food and Rum Festival lunch at the Abbey "Annabelle" was fired up! She worked very hard turning St Nicholas Abbey's very own produced sugar cane "honey" (the juice is extracted using an original steam mill, the water is then evaporated off and the juice becomes concentrated) into fine rum! Of course, it will be a while before it's ready but the best things in life are worth waiting for.....

Now you may be a bit confused if you were paying attention earlier.... Didn't I say it was the Rum and Beer Festival I was off to visit not the Food, Wine and Rum Festival....? True, all true - it was very confusing for everyone! There were indeed two festivals on the same weekend - what a double whammy! In fact it was a Rum, Beer, Food, Wine, Rum Fest!

http://www.rumandbeerfestival.com/

http://www.foodwinerum.com/

Every aspect of producing the Rum at St Nicholas Abbey is hand crafted.

Theses are the hand embossed leather caps that fit into the mahogany tops of the Rum bottles.

This is the bottling line..... tiny production indeed!

Kathy in the bottling room, after hand filling the bottles she engraves the date and number onto each bottle.

The Abbey is now a big tourist attraction for visitors to the island and what better souvenir than a bottle of St Nicholas Abbey 10 Year Old Rum engraved with a personal message! Above is Michael engraving a couple of bottles for me.... If you take the empty bottle back they will refil for a reduced price.... what perfect recycling.


Cherry Tree Hill Reserve

The Warren family is keen to preserve the national heritage of St Nicholas Abbey and the plantation. The historic site of Cherry Tree Hill, which has been growing Mahogany for generations, is consequently assured a future for generations to come under their guardianship.

East Coast view from Cherry Tree Hill

The East Coast is very different from the glamour of the West Coast - it's rugged and wild and as you can see quite mountainous.

Foursquare Distillery

I'd heard lots of things about Foursquare Distillery - Disney World and twinkle town were common descriptions and they were not wrong. Fairy lights adorn the outside of buildings and while there's an obvious sophistication in the high tech eqipment, it's underpinned by a mischevious sense of fun. We were invited to a secret party and distillery tour with Richard Seale himself, which was a real honour. Above is some of the range of Rum that Richard makes and if you're wondering why St Nicholas Abbey Rum is there - where have you been!?

Follow Simon Warren at the Abbey on Twitter @snAbbeyrum

Follow Jenny Gardener in the UK on Twitter @StNichAbbeyRUM

Join the group on Facebook - St Nicholas Abbey 10 Year Old Barbados Rum (UK)

Join the page on Facebook - St Nicholas Abbey (Barbados)

La Maison Fontaine, Ed's Christmas Party, the new Shunt and Jimmy Wales.

On Sunday 19th December Ed Saperia hosted one of his amazing Acid Jam parties, "You won't survive outside, not on your own" was held at the new Shunt on Bermondsey Street to celebrate the holidays and raise money for Wikipedia.

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

Some of the fun included; a mulled wine hot tub, mulled wine (not the same source you'll be relieved to know), barbecue, great live bands, jamming room stuffed full of instruments, edible installations, hay bails, comedy, pegs (you had to be there), Christmas trees everywhere, hot cider, La Maison Fontaine Absinthe Bar and The Machine!


We were very pleased indeed to be invited to host a La Maison Fontaine Absinthe Bar and even more pleased to be given the upstairs of The Machine. If you have not yet been to the Shunt warehouse on Bermondsey Street, check it out! We all highly recommend it:

http://www.shunt.co.uk/

The Machine refers to a bespoke theatre set for the production of The Shunt Company show "Money" (I haven't seen the play yet but it's high on my 'to do' list - if they bring it back...) it's a massive construction on three floors - some of which are see through. We were on the top floor and could see down into the jamming room on the second floor - awesome!

We decked the bar out with lights, a fountain and La Maison Fontaine, providing revellers with the choice of a classic serve or a Pontarlier Mule - all the proceeds are going to Wikipedia, naturally!

The thing that made it really special for me was the people. Everyone I met was really genuine, friendly, open minded and agreeable - they were all just so bloody nice! So a big shout of thanks has to go out to Ed, all the Shunt team - Nigel, Will, Andrea, Daniel, Dan and the rest..., Madaleine, Nicola, Caroline, Manfred, Daryl, Clayton and Alex for helping! With a very special thanks to Jimmy Wales - he turned up to the party where others had failed due to the snow and happily partied with us all evening, he also posed for a squillion photographs.... what a gent!


Did I mention the edible installation? This is it - a huge edible snow scene with Christmas trees, yule logs, marshmallows, candy floss..... At several points there were also bubbling vats of dry ice billowing out white vapour - incredible!
for more info please visit:
http://www.fontaineabsinthe.com/home/agecheck
and
http://www.vanquishwine.com/

La Maison Fontaine Infusion Competition - Extended Deadline!

This was a tasting we did recently in Gerry's. Yet again the infusion proved to be a major success! In fact, given the interest in general, we've decided to extend the La Maison Fontaine Infusion Competition deadline to the end of April 2011.

Given how much bar tenders are loving the La Maison Fontaine fountains we will also include a few amongst the prizes.....

The only rule is to use La Maison Fontaine with your infusion. Once you are happy with your infusion let us know and we'll check it out before the deadline..

To find out more in general about the Competition please go to this earlier update:

http://deliciousdrinksandspirits.blogspot.com/2010/09/la-maison-fontaine-infusion-competition.html

Get in touch if you'd like La Maison Fontaine in your bar..... Jenny@vqwine.com

Giles @ Shochu makes a last couple of drinks...

I'm always sorry to hear of a favourite bartender leaving a favourite bar but that's progress for you! On Friday 29th October 2010 Giles Cowen will be leaving the Shochu bar at Roka for good. Needless to say I hot tailed it down there last night to catch up with Giles and share some La Maison Fontaine Absinthe with him before he left. It's always interesting to have a conversation with bartenders about Absinthe, so many myths to explode! Absinthe should never be set on fire, it doesn't make you mad, it's not hallucinogenic and there's a scientific reason for the high alcohol strength....etc....etc.

Although Giles is not a massive fan of anise he was very pleasantly surprised by the smoothness and complexity of La Maison Fontaine, inspired he made a drink:

Purple Rain

25cl La Maison Fontaine
25cl Gin
15cl Cherry Brandy
10cl fresh lemon juice
5-10cl sugar syrup

Shake all ingredients over ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Lemon zest as garnish.

This was really very easy to drink and now Giles was warmed up he ventured onto something very different indeed.

Snow Fairy

25cl La Maison Fontaine
25cl fresh cream
15cl Cartron white chocolate liqueur
5-10cl almond syrup
5cl sugar syrup
Fresh mint leaves

Bruise the fresh mint with the sugar then add all the other ingredients and shake the hell out of it. Fine strain into a chilled martini glass and add a mint garnish.

I'm not a massive fan of creamy cocktails but this was very well balanced and reminiscent of mint chocolate ice cream. A Snow Fairy is the sort of drink where you look at the ingredients and think maybe it shouldn't work - but it does!

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