The Hide Bar - Newsletter

 

                                                     Number 3, May 2007

Welcome to our third newsletter, May 2007, sent out, appropriately enough on a gloriously sunny 1st May.

The lovely weather has meant that our new cocktails have been going particularly well, along with the new rosé wines and Champagne. We think the Ayala Rosé Champagne is particularly fine on a sunny evening, so we’ve knocked £6 off the price of a bottle (down to £30) or £1.20 off a glass (down to £5) to encourage you to try – please let us know what you think of it. We have also managed to get hold of the new Ayala Zero Dosage Rosé, the only rosé Champagne with no added sugar ‘dosage’ (most Brut Champagnes have 9-14 grams of cane sugar added per litre). Dry and crisp with red fruit notes, it makes the perfect aperitif. Sadly a little more expensive as only the best grapes can be used - £49 a bottle.

We’re also going to change one of our tap beers, swapping the Meantime Wheat from Greenwich for their Raspberry Wheat beer from Friday the 4 th. It’s like the wheat, but has raspberries added to it (brilliant tasting note!). It’s the same price as the wheat, but we’ll knock a bit off for the first week.

As well as the changes to the main list, we have been working on the Reserve list as well. This includes some exciting new additions to the wine list including for example Krug 1988 for £180 – less than many off-licences, Châteauneuf du Pape vin de Cedres 1978 - A legendary vintage considered by many to be one of the best of the last millennium, and a bottle of Dominus 1992 - a classic wine from one of the best estates in California. On the reserve beers, we have a few bottles of the famous Thomas Hardy Ale, vintage 2005, voted Overall Supreme Champion International Beer Challenge 2006. It weighs in at 11.7% and has an £8 price tag to match, but has amazing complexity and matures for up to 25 years in the bottle. Absolutely brilliant with stilton!

The spirit Reserve list now includes Port Ellen 1983 Old Malt Cask - Single cask Islay malt at 50 %abv, the swan song from this legendary distillery which closed in 1983. We also have a bottle of Baron de Lustrac 1978 folle blanche Armagnac (£7 a shot). Made from 100 % folle blanche grapes, one of the four old noble varieties in the Armagnac region, this is very light and floral, but with amazing depth and complexity. Well worth a try at the end of the night.

There are lots of other things on there, so please feel free to come and browse the reserve list for fun even if you’re not buying!

Paul & Rufus

EVENTS

Our Tuesday tastings have been getting busier and busier, with a record turn out for the Champagne tasting last Tuesday (surprise surprise).

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.

This month, we have:

Tuesday the 1st, 7pm
Mojitos! To welcome in the sunny month of May, we will be making mojitos with different rums and adding different fruits – come and learn how to make the perfect mojito for your parties, or just see which flavour you like best for the next time you’re in.

Tuesday the 8th, 7pm
Terrazas de los Andes wines from Argentina: Part of Moet-Hennessey, Terrazas produce a range of superb wines. We will be tasting their Malbec, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, with all three available by the glass that week. http://www.terrazasdelosandes.com

Tuesday the 15 th, 7pm
Islay whisky: we’ve got 6 of the Islay distilleries behind the bar – we’ll probably pick 4 and see how the differences square up – from the lighter Caol Ila to the full-on peat of the Lagavulin 16 year old.

Tuesday the 22 nd, 7pm
Rosé: all our rosés, including the house rosé Champagne in a lovely evening of cold, pink fruitiness!

Tuesday the 29 th, 7pm
Meantime Beer: we’re very proud to have a representative from Meantime Brewery coming all the way from Greenwich to go through their products. Fruit beer, dark beer, wheat beer, hoppy beer and chocolate beer – what more could you want?

 

Specials

Still new on a weekly basis, currently including:

- Cooper’s Best Extra Stout, a big (6.3%), malty, naturally top fermented Aussie stout for £3, usually £3.60.

- Cederberg Chenin Blanc 2005, South African from one of the highest wine growing areas in the country, has a great crisp bite with intense fruit. Down to £16 from £19, £4 a glass.

- Caipirinhas and Caipiroskas (Cachaca or vodka with limes, sugar and crushed ice) for £5.

 

Random bit

A very random bit for the random bit this time – a couple of passages from our two favourite old cocktail books, both available to browse at the bar:

Firstly from ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas’s Bar-Tenders Guide, 1887, a challenging recipe for a drink designed for ‘a small party’; if any small parties would like to pre-order, we’ll gladly make some up!

Royal Punch  

Take 1 pint of hot green tea.
½ pint of Brandy
½ pint of Jamaica rum
1 wine-glass of Curaçoa
1 wine-glass of Arrack (palm or sugar spirit)
Juice of two limes
A slice of lemon
White sugar to taste
1 gill of warm calf’s foot jelly.

To be drunk as hot as possible.

This is a composition worthy of a king, and the materials are admirably blended; the inebriating effects of the spirits being deadened by the tea, whilst the jelly softens the mixture, and destroys the acrimony of the acid and sugar.  

If that doesn’t take your fancy, then how about this from the 1931 edition of The Savoy Cocktail Book:

Loud Speaker Cocktail

1/8 Lemon juice
1/8 Cointreau
3/8 Dry Gin
3/8 Brandy  

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. 

This it is that gives to Radio Announcers their peculiar enunciation. Three of them will produce oscillation, and after five, it is possible to reach the osculation stage.  

This is actually a great drink and comes highly recommended by this bartender, although I’ve yet to dare the five in a row…  

Finally a recommendation from The Savoy Cocktail Book, which we thoroughly endorse:

Drink your cocktail as soon as possible. Harry Craddock was once asked what was the best way to drink a cocktail: “Quickly,” replied the great man, “while it’s laughing at you!”

 

Other stuff

Our back room is available for hire, and we’d love to hold tailored wine tastings or cocktail classes. Just get in touch and let us know what you’d like to do. Likewise if you have any comments and suggestions, please email everyone@thehidebar.com.

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