I get excited about
all of the distillers table events, but Mexico was particularly close
to my heart. Myself and the long suffering wife spent some time
exploring Mexico earlier this year and fell in love with the country.
I couldn’t recommend it more, it is such a magical place, the food
is to die for, the people are super welcoming and the Mezcal is so so
tasty.
We spent new years
in Mexico city which was pretty wild, contrary to the rumours it felt
pretty safe as a city to visit and we will definitely be going back
soon, for the tacos alone if nothing else! We then flew down to
Oaxaca, which is now my favourite city to visit, I can’t quite put
my finger on it was that I fell in love with but there is just
something about the city that you really need to experience, and in
all of my travels I’ve never eaten better. We then grabbed a hire
car and spent a few days exploring the Yukatan and checked out pretty
cool old stuff and ate more tacos and drank more Mezcal! The trip
definitely inspired the cocktails for this instalment of distillers
table.
Everywhere we drank
in Mexico we were served great snacks and so we had to put some food
out to go with the cocktails. We served home made guacamole, pico de
gallo and corn chips to get people in the mood.
We kicked the drinks off
with our take on a classic Mexican cocktail, the Paloma. I went with
Woden gin for the big grapefruit hit and spice notes from the fennel.
To the gin I added fresh grapefruit juice, fresh lime juice, agave
syrup and soda and served it long, with a chilli lime salt rim. A
nice refreshing drink to kick things off and wake up the palate for
what was to come.
For our second
cocktail I wanted to use flavours I found in the markets of Oaxaca,
(quite literally as the chillies came back in my hand luggage). I made
a rich, bright sour with Aqvavit, avocado and a smoked arbol chilli
syrup, lime juice and Mezcal.
As
a fun little
palate cleanser we served up a shot of tequila with a verdita chaser
which is a green spiced juice made of pineapples, coriander, jalapeños
and some secret ingredients. Whilst serving the verditas Steph and I
donned our wrestling masks and got our luchador on in the
garden. No surprise but Steph was victorious.
For the finale I
wanted to use some of the flavours of the Mexican spiced chocolate
mole sauce, but in a subtle way. So I made a Negroni - Martinez hybrid
of gin, vermouth and a spiced chocolate and orange syrup.
We of course drank
much Mezcal and Tequila as the evening progressed to help us get in
the true Mexican spirit, what better way to spend Cinco De Mayo.
We launched the world's first AI gin in November, a collaboration between Circumstance Distillery, Tiny Giant and Rewrite digital. Here we ask Liam and 'Ginette' (the Artificial intelligence created to design the world's first AI gin) a few questions about the process. First of all can you explain a little about ‘Artificial intelligence’ Liam: Artificial intelligence is using computers where human intelligence is normally required. The computer has the ability to acquire knowledge and apply it. AI is still in its infancy. Its not about to take over distilling spirits, let alone the world. Ginette: As a general definition, artificial intelligence (AI) refers to machines that can perform tasks that are beyond the human capabilities. These machines are able to act intelligently and autonomously. These machines have no specific skills or mental capabilities but can learn and interact with the human environment by making connections to what the human has learned. ...
Lunch at the Spiny lobster was truly delicious and we’d strongly recommend a visit next time you have a craving for seafood. We were welcomed by the lovely F.O.H staff and settled at our table in the middle of a busy Tuesday service. To say we were spoilt for choice was an under statement, but luckily for us we had David, Emma and Charlie on hand to make the tough decisions of ‘what to order’ for us. To start, always my favourite, roasted scallops with garlic butter (which tasted just as good as you are imagining), the largest fresh prawns I’ve seen in a long time served simply with olive oil and sea salt, then crisp fried cuttlefish and aioli. A whole Grey mullet and a John dory followed with polenta chips, mustard greens and the house special mashed peas (these really are a must order, so simple but the tastiest peas I’ve ever eaten); the charcoal Josper grill really does cook the fish to perfection. It was a real treat and lovely to enjoy a spiny gin and tonic in i...
51 weeks ago we opened the doors to Circumstance, to introduce the world to a little project that had been several years in the making. We had one hell of a party, over 200 people came to join us, Eatchu served up some tasty dumplings and Messrs Scott and Keegan knocked out copious amounts of gin and tonic from the makeshift pallet bar. We launched C.D.T. (Circumstance Distillery Tokens) and some lucky customers got their hands on some limited edition playing cards to mark the occasion. Once we had sorted out the hangovers and cleaned up after the party, it was time to get Circumstance fully up and running. Over the past year we have had a whole lot of firsts, fermented our first mash, distilled our first wash, filled our first casks and launched our first products. It has been a super steep learning curve and it's been a hell of a lot of fun! Time has flown by, but we have also managed to achieve a lot in 12 months. As well as releasing Barley, Cane and Mixed Grain...
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