The Aperitif Guy

2021 has been the year I fulfilled a dream, to work freelance supporting the hospitality industry with advice, ideas, training and front-of-house work, drawing on over 30 years of experience as a cook, host and cocktail specialist. Much this has been demonstrating cocktail-making techniques to bar staff and developing manageable cocktail lists for bars or restaurants, but my favourite part is always creating new cocktails, something unique to each bar. All of us who enjoy making cocktails love this part. It's the flash of artistry that gives us chance to show off a little, the moment we prove our credentials by pulling-off something akin to magic: spinning spirits someone thinks of as antiquated into a radically new drink they love and know will sell well with their customers. Here are the recipes for my favourite creations of this year. Avezzano I created this riff on a Manhattan for a customer's birthday and invited him to name it. He chose the name of his home town in Italy,...

Q.: I've been making cocktails at home for a while and I think I'm pretty good at it. When I go to a cocktail bar, though, the drinks I'm served seem to have that extra bit of magic that I don't achieve at home. I follow the recipes carefully but don't seem to get the same results. Where am I going wrong? A.:  The first thing to say is that you're not going wrong. By following those well-known recipes, you can be sure of consistent results, and if you and your guests enjoy them, you're doing everything right. I'm guessing from your question, though, that you're aiming to make, not just good cocktails, but great ones. That's where things get tricky. You see, cocktail waiters are notoriously individualistic in their work. They all want to make the greatest Martini there ever was, the most interesting Negroni or the subtlest Alexander. To achieve this, they have to stray from the classic recipes and bring in elements from elsewhere. The most common...

Sazerac - a brandy Old Fashioned with an absinthe twist  I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to cocktails. All mixologists enjoy creating new drinks and playing riffs on the well-known ones, but I get as much enjoyment out of tracing a cocktail back to its origins and serving it as it was first served (as far as possible). There's a lot to be learnt about cocktail-making by learning the classic versions of the recipes. It teaches you how to structure a drink, what effect different methods of mixing have, and the advantages and disadvantages of certain garnishes or glassware. Whenever I visit a new bar, or am introduced to a bartender who describes themself as a cocktail waiter/mixologist, I like to put them to the test a little, by ordering a classic cocktail that isn't on the list, usually a White Lady or a Negroni. If they make it well, I know I'm in good hands. If they look it up, I know they're probably inexperienced but skilled and not full of BS. If they can...

The Beloved and I sat up watching the BAFTAs last evening, and next weekend we can look forward to the glamour and excitement of the Oscar award ceremony. It got me thinking about drinks to celebrate films and film actors. One of my oldest and dearest friends, Kath, is an avid film fan. Avid, as in obsessed and indiscriminate. She seems to know everything there is to know about every obscure film and has an encyclopedic knowledge of Oscar statistics. She’s also a cocktail fan. Over the years, we’ve tried old cocktails together, invented new ones, compared variations and generally done untold damage to a pair of no-longer-young livers. A conversation with Kath gave rise to the following ideas. It's too easy to name the vodka martini as the film cocktail. However, Bond ordered a variation on the martini in Fleming’s original James Bond novel, Casino Royale, something he would never do on film until Daniel Craig took the role. In his variant, Bond calls for a mixture of vodka wit...

We often think of the 1920s as the heyday of cocktail drinking. This is partly because the prohibition of the manufacture, sale and possession of alcohol in the USA, from 1917 to 1933, drove many wealthy Americans to seek refreshment in the hotels and restaurants of the European capitals. The strength of mixed drinks, and their endless variations of flavour and colour, seemed to fit with the mood of cities rediscovering joy after the horrors of the Great War. The leisured classes relished the fun and frivolity of cocktails and could afford to patronise bars that employed expert cocktail waiters, who were starting to be feted as celebrities.  That's not where cocktails began, though. The earliest known evidence of the word being used to refer to alcohol comes from the Balance and Columbian Repository , a New York newspaper, when the editor answered the question "What is a cocktail?" thus:      "Cock-tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any...

Over the years, I've visited a few whisky distilleries. The highlands and islands of Scotland, in particular, are home to many distilleries, set in beautiful surroundings, which have seen commercial advantages to receiving visitors. Until this year, I hadn't been inside a gin distillery, though, and I thought it about time I rectified that. (Pardon the pun.)  Photo courtesy of The Lakes Distillery As luck would have it, I discovered the Lakes Distillery, through their exceptionally clean-tasting gin. Then I discovered that they are open to tourists and even have a bistro on site. Perfect. We booked ourselves in for a distillery tour - and lunch in the Bistro - on the way home from a weekend away. We were blessed with a quiet day and the wisdom to book a morning tour. Not only did this provide us with an ideal aperitif before lunch, it meant we had the tour guide to ourselves. We could ask trivial questions, probing questions, follow tangents and cause our guide a gi...

And so we come to the mighty, magnificent Martini. Image: C Dixon While other cocktails have come and gone in popularity, the Martini remains the epitome of cool. Undoubtedly, James Bond and the Madmen TV series have helped, but the creators of those fictions have borrowed the Martini’s chachet to present their character as sophisticated (or not: see below). Presented in the perfect cone of a classic Windsor Martini glass, it is cold, clean, clear and strong, requiring only a green olive for garnish. A well-made, well presented Martini draws attention by not seeking it. As an aperitif, the Martini will not be to everyone’s taste. It’s virtually pure gin, of course, so some will find it overly strong. The secret to making such a strong drink palatable is in the mixing, but for those who dislike neat spirit, I’ve suggested some lighter alternatives below. With something this strong, you’re going to need to be careful about the number and timing of your aperi...