The Hide Bar - Newsletter

 

                                                     Number 2, March 2007

 

Hello all

 

Welcome to our second newsletter, March, just a little on the late side, but at least that’s less time to wait until the third!

 

Firstly, many many thanks to everyone for making the first two months so successful. We’ve been pretty busy and had lots of positive comments which are keeping spirits high! Bars are obviously dependent on their customers for atmosphere and character, and you’ve been providing plenty of both! People have also been kind in their reviews, some of which will be going up on the website later in the week.

 

We’ve made a few changes in the bar since the last newsletter, and will be continuing to tinker with things, so if you have any comments, please let us know (yes, the ceiling is supposed to be like that, it really is ALL non-smoking, no, we don’t serve ‘energy drinks’ or alcopops, and new bar stools are coming shortly to answer a few…). The change of particular note is in our opening times. We have stopped opening from 8am and are now only open from 10am during the week. – just not enough interest I’m afraid. At the weekends though, we have started opening from mid-day on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday roasts and brunch are available from 12 until 6pm at the moment, with the Sunday papers, Bloody Marys/Marias and some pretty good wines to settle into the afternoon with.

 

That’s all for the moment, but hopefully see you soon! More ramblings beneath…

Paul & Rufus

EVENTS

Our Tuesday tastings have been pretty good fun.  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 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.

 

Last month we had some great Rioja, drunk rather too many Duvel, tried making Sazerac cocktails from 10 cocktail books through the ages and tasted so many rums I lost count. Next up we have:

 

Tuesday the 3rd, 7pm

Bourbon and Rye: some chaps from Buffalo Trace Bourbon (our house pour and pretty good stuff it is too!) will be over to taste some different ages of bourbon and rye whiskeys with whoever’s willing. They have some brilliant products, and our bartenders will be serving them in discounted Old Fashioned and Manhattan cocktails all night.

 

Tuesday the 10th, 7pm

Sauvignon Blanc: a pretty popular grape, so this one might get a little full… We’ll be opening Chilean, French and New Zealand bottles and showing some of the differences in styles and differences across the price ranges. Hopefully you’ll find something to your liking. All our Sauvignons will be 10% off after you’ve had your free tastes…

 

Tuesday the 17^th. 7pm

Real Ale: we’ll go through the range of bottled ales we sell, explain why we haven’t got any on tap(!) and suggest a few ale-food pairings you might like to try. Again, all the ales will be discounted.

 

Tuesday the 24 ^th. 7pm

Champagne – we’ll be giving out glasses of our House Champagne, Ayala, along with the rosé version, their Zero Dosage and Blanc de Blancs. This Ay Champagne has a high percentage of Pinot Noir in the blend (um, except the elegant blanc de blancs!), giving it a great fullness and intensity; we’re proud to have it as our House Champagne (it even goes in the cocktails) and look forward to sharing it with you.

 

 

Specials

Our specials are changing weekly and sometimes daily at the moment (with the weather), so rather than put them up here, please drop in to see what we have on. There’s always something on offer for you bargain-seekers!

 

 

Random bit

 

We wanted to have a random section of the newsletter where we went off on one about something or other.  Hopefully these will prove variously interesting, educational and diverting. To start with we thought we might explain how we got our names, both for the bar itself and for our operating company; BloodandSand Ltd. (The Hide is our only bar by the way).

 

The Hide

We wanted a name which had relevance to the area. Part of the attraction of Bermondsey was the obvious buzz locally and the mixture of long term residents, newer residents and working people, but there is also a rich history which we wanted to acknowledge. We toyed with the difficult to pronounce “Beornumund’s” from whose Island or Eyot Bermondsey allegedly derives its name. We also considered “The Rood of Grace” which was the reason the causeway which became Bermondsey Street was built in the first place. It was an ancient cross found in the marshes and installed in the Abbey on Beornumund's Eyot (now the site of the antique market). It attracted pilgrims so a causeway was built across the marsh to facilitate access. But we kept returning to the simpler name of The Hide, a reference to the tanning trade upon which the area's initial economic success was built (first mention of tanning in the area in 1392), because we were also trying to build a place where people would want to secrete themselves away and indulge in great drinks, hence why we retained a back room away from the prying windows of the front. Your boss would have to be pretty determined to find you in there on a rain-lashed afternoon!

 

BloodandSand Ltd

The name comes from one amongst equals of our favourite drinks. Sangres y Arena (loosely translated as Blood and Sand) was a 1909 tale of a matador written by Vicente Blasco Ibanez. No we aren't Spanish literature anoraks! The book however was turned into a film featuring a young Rudolph Valentino and in 1922 and legend has it that as part of the premier an unknown barman created a celebratory cocktail, The Blood and Sand, specifically designed to replicate the colour of blood-soaked sand. As if that wasn't off-putting enough take a look at the ingredients; Scotch, Sweet red Italian Vermouth, Cherry Brandy and Orange juice all in equal measure. But this bizarre looking combination works incredibly well (we think!). The drink features in a few cocktail books of the 30s so if the premier story is true it was definitely for the 1922 silent film rather than the 1941 Tyrone Power and Rita Hayworth version and let's not even get started on the straight to video 1989 3rd remake with Chris Rydell and a young Sharon Stone.

 

The first time we tried this drink it was made by one of the best in the business. Milk & Honey (the Soho member’s cocktail bar) had organised at very late notice a whisky cocktail night using whisky from a fledgling blender by the name of Compass Box mixed by Dale Degroff. Dale is kind of like the don of the cocktail world (think Parky amongst chat show hosts or Des amongst football presenters!). He set up the Rainbow Rooms in NY along with many other fine establishments and is a key member of the Museum of the American Cocktail. Due to the late notice and our desire to get out of work early there weren't many people there early on so we had some dedicated bartending from Dale and he explained how he had come across the recipe in The Savoy Cocktail Book (a copy of which is available in our library) and had dismissed it at first before eventually trying it out and falling in love with it. And it is damned good –somehow the various odd ingredients perfectly round each other off – it isn’t as sweet as it sounds and it’s a good way to tame scotch for those not that keen. A year or so later a barman suggested trying it with a good peaty Islay malt rather than a blend and the combination is fantastic. That opens up a debate about whether it is right to use high end premium spirits in cocktails. Lagavulin 16 year old is an incredible dram, but it is also absolutely stunning in a Blood and Sand. Whatever you build is only as good as its component parts...

 

That night of whisky cocktails with Dale Degroff (he is a dab hand at chucking fire around with a Blue Blazer as well which is worth seeing) was also important as we met John Glaser for the first time who was there promoting the great work he does with Compass Box, which was the start of a relationship which made them the first name we filled in on our list of house pours.  Hopefully John will be in to do a tasting on a coming Tuesday where his full range will be available, but in the meantime most of it adorns our back bar waiting to be sampled...

 

Blood and Sand

 

1 part Scotch Whisky - we use our house Scotch, Compass Box Asyla, but as per above try it with a peaty Islay malt...

1 part Sweet Red Vermouth

1 part Cherry Heering

1 part Orange Juice

 

Shake hard over ice and strain into a martini glass