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The Hide Bar - Newsletter

Number 21, November 2008

'Tis the season to be chilly again, so to help you through those dark and wet winter's evenings, we've changed some cocktails and wines for November. Back on are the warming hot cocktails (recipes in the last bit at the end of the newsletter), lots of changes to the standard cocktails, and some delicious new wines. You can now have a juicy glass of Argentine Malbec with your aged rib-eye from The Ginger Pig, or a pint of Meantime Stout with your wild boar & Chimay sausages.

We've got a few new spirits in stock as well - Beefeater's latest edition, the 24, is full of citrus and a hint of green tea. Great with tonic or ice-cold and crystal clear in a dry martini. Moet-Hennessey's 10 Cane r(h)um, an agricole style produced in Trinidad is a nice entry into rums produced from pressed cane, light and grassy with a brandy-like finish (unsurprising as it has been put together by Hennessey distillers and uses cognac stills). In the vodka market, we have the newest addition, Pincer, made with milk thistle and elderflower, while in the land of tequila, we're getting quite friendly with Maracame at the moment. From the Los Altos region of Jalisco State, this is quite a masculine tequila; the blanco has lots of pepper and a pungent agave quality, while the reposado is a lot softer on the palate, but retains the pepper and chucks in a nice round woody finish. Tasty.

New wines include the Chanson Chablis, Finca La Linda Malbec and a red from Roussillon, all by the glass. We're more than happy to let you have a taste of any of our wines by the glass as always. Sam Adams Boston Lager has proved so popular, we'll be keeping that as well. As for the cocktails, we'll let you come and try them out so we can tell you their history in person.

Cheers!

Paul

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EVENTS

3rd to the 6th November - Monday to Thursday - London Bar Week.

We are doing lots to celebrate being chosen as part of London Bar Week. It means we've been judged to be one of the best bars in London, so we'd better try to prove it! See www.londonbarweek.co.uk for more information about other bars and activities.

Tuesday 4th: A free bottle of Asahi to anyone who mentions London Bar Week (one per person, while stocks last). At 7.30 we will be holding our usual Tuesday Tasting on Caribbean Daiquiris. See the tastings section below for more details.

Wednesday 5th: A free bottle of Asahi to anyone who mentions London Bar Week (one per person, while stocks last). To celebrate the results of the US Elections (whatever they may be!) we will have a range of American craft beers on special, including Sam Adams Boston Lager, Brooklyn Lager, Anchor Steam Beer and others with which to toast the victor!

Tuesday tastings
Last roughly an hour to an hour and a half and include random facts, helpful hints and a little bit of tasting. They are often free to attend, but please book in advance now, as we're limited to about 25 people in our back room. Pay events can be paid on the night. For all bookings, please contact bookings@thehidebar.com or call us on 020 7403 6655.

    Tuesday the 4th November 7.30pm - Daiquiri tour
To celebrate rumfest and show off what we found there, we'll be making a selection of natural daiquiris made with rums from around the world. Free daiquiris and free rum facts from the bartenders at The Hide. See whether you like your rums light and appley, or rich and treacly!

    Tuesday the 11th November 7.30pm - Port and Cheese Tasting
This was by far and away our most popular tasting of 2007. Neal's Yard Dairy cheeses, Vintage, Single Quinta, 40 year old Tawny and many other ports besides go to make an fabulous evening. We'll start at 7.30, but go on until the port and cheese are all finished. £20 a head, but worth every penny!

    Tuesday the 18th November 7.30pm - Martini master-class
Okay, we've done these before, but it's always a crowd pleaser. Free martinis, history behind martinis, variations on martinis, martini stuff. See whether you prefer yours shaken, stirred, olive, twist, Gibson, Montgomery, naked or filthy.

    Tuesday the 25th November 7.30pm - Delamain Cognac
In the run up to Christmas, a chance to taste some delicious, and some very rare cognacs from Delamain. £10 will get you some expert tuition from Amanda, the UK brand representative, along with some of the best cognacs you're likely to taste this year! I'm reliably informed there might be some more cheese, and possibly even chocolate to go with them... Again, please book early as spaces are limited. Pay on the night.

December Tastings

Unfortunately for tastings, we are getting very busy in the run up to Christmas and will be unable to hold any during December due to event bookings. Normal service will resume in the New Year. If you want to hold a tasting as part of your event, or get some friends together for a Champagne tasting for example, please call us for availability and hopefully we can put something together for you.

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LAST BIT - Hot Cocktails

I know we wrote something similar this time last year, but hey ho - can't get enough of a good thing!

All these recipes are now available from The Hide, but in case you fancy giving them a go in the comfort of your own living space, here are the specifications.

Whilst you may reduce the impact of the credit crunch drinking these at home, please be careful - by their nature, hot things tend to involve flame, boiling water or steam, all of which are potentially hazardous; more so when inebriated. We'd hate you to set light to your eyebrows or damage the coffee table! If in doubt, let us burn ourselves for you. After all, we're professionals.

Mulled Wine                           Merlot, spices, soft brown sugar and citrus fruit

                                                                             Classic winter warmer. Ours is a cracker!                                                                £4.00

Egg-Nogg                                  Rum, whisky, Madeira or brandy, milk, sugar, cream, nutmeg and an egg

Many assume this drink is a shocker from the 70’s but it is actually a very old drink, and when made with the lovely ingredients we use, it is light and delicious.                                 £6.50

Hot Buttered Rum                  Appleton V/X rum, honey, butter, water & cinnamon
Yes it is hot, and yes it has butter in! A lovely cocktail that is still widely drunk at Christmas time in the USA.                                                                                                                        £6.50

Chocolate Reviver                   Rich, creamy hot chocolate with cacao & orange liqueurs and a dash of brandy

                                                   The perfect drink to keep you warm on the slopes of SE1, or just to recover from a long day in the office.                                                                                                                                       £6.50

Pear and Honey Blazer          Calvados, Armagnac, fresh pear and honey flamed in a balloon

                                                                              A short, warming after-dinner blazer-style drink with fireworks                      £6.50

Stout & Rum Posset               Meantime London Stout, Diplomatico Reserva rum, milk, cream, sugar & an egg                                                     yolk

                                                                           Rich and with lovely lingering flavours of roasted malt. Cake in a glass.       £6.50

Everyone has their own mulled wine recipe. We like ours this way, but will happily make it your way. A rich Chilean merlot with grated nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, fresh orange juice and lemon and orange peels, steamed until hot.

The second on the list, the Egg-Nogg, is one of the classic cocktails, appearing in print from 1825, and also in Jerry Thomas's Bartenders Guide in the 1880s. His recipe is as follows:

       Take      1 large tea-spoon of powdered white sugar
                   1 fresh egg
                   1/2 wine-glass of brandy
                   1/2 wine-glass of Santa Cruz rum
                   A little boiling water.
       Fill the glass with rich milk and shake up the ingredients until they are                      thoroughly mixed. Pour the mixture into a goblet and grate a little nutmeg on          top. This may be made by using a wine-glass of either of the above liquors,              instead of both combined.
         Every well-ordered wine bar should have a time egg-nogg "shaker," which is a          great aid in mixing this beverage.

We do indeed have a shaker or two, and make our version by shaking cream, milk, sugar and egg with your choice of spirit or Madeira, then steaming gently until warm before finally pouring between tins to give it a final mix, and then serving out and dusting with nutmeg.

Thirdly we have the hot buttered rum. Essentially liquid rum fudge, this is another rich and warming drink that's not for the calorie-conscious. Take a good dollop of honey and add to a glass containing a good measure of nice rum (we use Appleton V/X as it's wonderfully rich but without being over-powering), some nutmeg and top with hot water. Lastly add a good knob of unsalted butter and stir in. Serve with a cinnamon stick.

The Chocolate Reviver is the disco drink of the selection. Creamy hot chocolate made with organic full cream milk, plus creme de cacao, Cointreau and a splash of Armagnac. As drunk on all discerning ski slopes.

We sell a lot of brandy and rum blazers, but the Pear and Honey variation by Paolo was worth putting on the menu. A simple blazed drink with Armagnac, Calvados, honey and pear. Put all the ingredients in a large brandy balloon over a glass of hot water until the spirit is warmed through. Carefully light the spirit and keep the balloon turning so it doesn't heat too much in one place. Stir the pear so it starts to caramelise with the honey in the flames. Very carefully pour into another balloon while alight, extinguish and drink without breathing in too deeply!

Finally the Stout and Rum Posset is another of those old-school numbers. Anything containing alcohol and milk or cream can be classed a Posset, and they've been made since the middle ages. Traditionally served in a Posset Pot, ours sadly just come in a glass. Meantime London Stout, Diplomatico Reserva rum from Venezuela, cream, sugar and an egg yolk are all steamed and stirred to provide a rich and fortifying meal in a glass.

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OTHER STUFF

Our back room is available for hire, and we’d love to hold tailored wine tastings or cocktail classes for you. Just get in touch and let us know what you’d like to do. We have a price list of some of our more popular tastings, available from the website at www.thehidebar.com/parties.htm.

Likewise please get in touch if you have any comments and suggestions, please email everyone@thehidebar.com. You can also sign up to keep in touch at ‘people who like to drink at The Hide Bar’ on Facebook.

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The Hide
39-45 Bermondsey Street , London . SE1 3XF
t: 0207 403 6655; f: 0207 117 4173
www.thehidebar.com; everyone@thehidebar.com