The Hide Bar Newsletter

The Hide Bar - Newsletter

Number 1, February 2007

Hello!

Welcome to our first newsletter, aimed at our regulars to let them know what’s going on, but also to anyone who just wants an idea of what The Hide is about.

We’ve now been open three weeks and are still very much ironing out the little issues that have cropped up since we first opened the doors. Aside from deliveries not appearing, two fridges and both glass washers breaking down, the freezer living in the back party room for a week, blocked toilets on the opening night and running out of beer (twice), things haven’t been too bad!

We want The Hide to be all about good drinks, whether it’s beers, wines, cocktails or soft drinks. We have food to go with them, but we personally choose that to go with our drinks. We have the Wine & Spirit Education Trust upstairs to help advise on the wines and provide us with access to their great library. We have our own library of cocktail books dating back to the 1880s (Jerry Thomas’ ‘Bartenders Guide or How to Mix Drinks’) which we loveto get out and try old recipes from whenever we get an audience.

Now we’ve settled in a little, we have started putting together our events and special drinks. For the rest of February, we’ll be selling a great Chilean Carmenere, Meantime Union and our Snow Leopard Martini at reduced prices just so you can try them. We’re also in the process of finding a few odds and ends for our reserve wine list, so we hope that will be with you next month. If you’re after that hard-to-find bottle of wine or interesting old bourbon, please get in touch and we’ll see what we can do.

Anyway, hope to see you soon. Please introduce yourself and we’ll endeavour to remember your drink if not your name!

Paul & Rufus

EVENTS

We’re planning to hold tastings every Tuesday. No particular order or structure to them, just someone who knows a little about the subject sharing their knowledge over a few complementary drinks.

They will last roughly an hour and include random facts, helpful hints and a little bit of tasting. They are free to attend for the moment and you don’t need to book. Just turn up and see what’s going on. If no one shows up, or we get too many, then we may have to ticket in the future, but fingers crossed not.

The Hide Bar, Tuesday Tastings for February 2007

Tuesday the 20th, 7pm (yes I know this is rather short notice…)

Martinis from the Martinez to the Vesper, shaken and stirred: a very informal look at the origin of the martini as we drink it now. Led by The Hide’s bartenders

Tuesday the 27th, 7pm

Rum and Rhum: making of, and styles of this incredibly versatile spirit, with a taste of a few of the 30+ that The Hide has on the back bar. Led by one of our rum suppliers

We have a few wines, a beer, another cocktail and a cachaca evening planned for March. More in the next newsletter

SPECIALS

Our specials change fortnightly. If there’s anything you’d like to see on there, please let us know!

Wine - Julio Bouchon Carménère Reserva Especial 2004 (£17/£4, from £20, not usually by the glass)

From the Maule Valley of Chile, this shows ripe red fruit, cassis, spice and a touch of coffee and chocolate on the nose. Smooth tannins, fruity flavours and a rich complexity from its eight months in oak and one year in bottle.

Our suppliers describe it as: “medium aromas of peat, elegant and round body, nice fruit and tannin structure”.

The Carménère grape was originally from the Médoc in Bordeaux and was exported to Chile in the 1850s. The old vines in France were wiped out in the 19^th Century and the grape was thought to be lost. In 1994 it was ‘rediscovered’ in Chile amongst plantings of Merlot, and has now taken on a new lease of life and is increasing in popularity. It tastes good too...

Cocktail – Snow Leopard Vodka Martini (£6)

Large measure of chilled Snow Leopard Vodka

Lillet vermouth wash

Sprig of rosemary

Lemon twist

Snow Leopard vodka is made entirely from spelt grains, one of the very old varieties of grain which has a fresh, nutty taste. Made in Poland, it is distilled four times and diluted with spring water. Really smooth, this martini has a fantastic nose from the rosemary and lemon, with a slight sweetness from the Lillet.

Paul spent the last six years working for a conservation charity before going back to bars, so thinks this is a great product. We’ll also be contributing £1 from each cocktail sold to the Snow Leopard Conservation Trust (15% of the profits the vodka company makes also go to the charity). Other conservation cocktails will be putting in an appearance shortly…

Beer – Meantime Union. 330ml bottle, 4.9% (£3 from £3.30)

Viennese style amber lager, dark and malty, it’s a combination of lager and dark beer – intriguing and we think really quite good… Brewed down the road in Greenwich too.

Meantime also supply all our tap lagers as well, so we obviously like them a lot. If you’re interested, there’s more at www.meantimebrewing.com

Other stuff

Our back room is available for hire, although demand seems quite high for weekends at the moment. We can organise food, wine tastings, special cocktails, etc – just get in touch and let us know what you fancy…

Please pass this on if you like. If you’ve received it from a friend, you can also subscribe (or unsubscribe) by emailing news@thehidebar.com. Cheers!

The Hide

39-45 Bermondsey Street, London. SE1 3XF

t: 0207 403 6655; f: 0207 117 4173