Aperitif

Dear subscriber,

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2010. A new decade, but same newsletter and same great drinks! Obviously we'll be changing them as the year goes on, but we're sticking with the hot cocktails and current list for the time being. Given the present snow and ice, it's looking like the mulled wine will be particularly well received for a while longer...

As well as keeping the current menu, we'll be keeping the current prices for the time being. No VAT increases from us yet (Darling).

The drink fairies tend to stay in hiding over Christmas and New Year as us bartenders are so busy, but we expect to have some nice things appearing for you in the coming weeks, so drop in and ask what's new on the back bar. We always have something tucked away that's not on the list, whether it's a bottle or two of red, an interesting beer or a rather special scotch.

Lastly, we would like to thank you for helping us to make The Hide such a nice place to drink in 2009 and to wish you a very Happy New Year - all the best for 2010!

Cheers,

Paul

Tuesday Tastings

Our Tuesday Tastings cost £10 per person. Tastings start at 7pm and last around 2 hours. They are a mixture of tasting, talk from one of us, a wine maker, spirit producer or expert of some kind, general chat, plus a little bit of food to pair with the tastings.

They are held in our back room, so we are limited to 25 participants on a first-come basis. We can take reservations for the tasting. Please let us know if you would like a table in the bar afterwards as well.

Tuesday 12th January 2010, 7pm
Pulenta Estate wines from Argentina
Pulenta Estate is located in Alto Agrelo, Mendoza. They produce some great wines, from the young 'La Flor' range of easy-drinking bottles, through to the Estate reds that see 12 months in new French oak and 12 months bottle aging. We will have a range of their products to taste, along with a knowledgeable young chap to show them off. Our particular favourite is the straight Estate Malbec, but come and give us your opinion.

Tuesday 26th January 2010, 7pm
Meantime Brewery
Meantime, provider of our tap beers and regular supporters of our Tuesday Tastings, will be back again to tell us about what they have planned for 2010 and to taste a few things. The guys & gals from the brewery are always great to have over for a glass or two, so we hope you can join us for beers and beer snacks. More details nearer the time.

Click here to reserve a space at a tasting

Digestive

Best and worst of the year

While planning the first digestive of the new year, we found we had rather too many ideas. As we couldn't decide on one alone, we thought we'd fall back on the old magazine staple of reviewing the best and worst of 2009. Everyone else has done it in the last few weeks, so why not! So here are five 'same again please bartender' and five 'into the sink while no one's looking', with a nod to what to look forward to in the new decade. The worst first:

In the drip tray:

o   The new wave of lower alcohol spirits and liqueurs: no more samples of flavourless, artificial versions of traditional drinks please! 22% a.b.v. cachaca with lime flavour - eugh! If you want a lighter option, we'd suggest traditional vermouth, sherry or wine cocktails such as the Adonis (Sweet vermouth, dry manzanilla sherry, orange bitters).

o   The Mojito: while a great drink, the Mojito has rather ruled the roost in the last few years. Fortunately we're now seeing a fight back from other classics. Here's to ordering diversity in 2010!

o   Exchange rates. With the pound so weak against the Euro, prices of everything from wines & spirits to the grain for beer have gone through the roof in the last 12 months. Time to grow your own grain and grapes (Chateau Tooting anyone?).

o   Supermarkets offering rubbish at below cost price - we're trying to get you drinking better things, not over-burdening the NHS! For once we actually agree with changes in drinking legislation - a minimum price per unit of alcohol seems like a reasonable idea.
 
o   The recession. Less money to spend on cocktails - rubbish! Hopefully improving in 2010, but VAT back up already and promises of further rises to come after an election. Boo.

Repeat orders:

o   A massive increase in the number and quality of English gins on the market: cold distilled, rare botanicals, silly bottle, or just made by the guy down the road, gin is great and has seen a huge resurgence over 2009. Our particular favourites at the moment are Jensen's (see opposite), Beefeater 24 (with hints of green and black teas), Junipero from San Francisco (good, strong gin that works well in a slightly wet martini) and Sipsmith, a small batch gin distilled in a copper pot still (called Prudence) in a garage in London.

o   A continuing rise in the popularity of craft beers: as well as the amazing number of American craft brewers, the UK has been seeing a lot of beer action, as exemplified by our friends at Meantime (come along to our tasting this month to taste a few of those), and popularised by press-favourites Brew Dog. Tactical Nuclear Penguin (32% abv) anyone?

o   Ice: 2009 has seen bars starting to focus more on that ubiquitous, yet often overlooked cocktail ingredient. Sochu (Charlotte Street) and other Japanese bars were doing this years ago, but places like PDT (New York) are leading the way in getting hand-carved classic ice back on the list. Whilst we can't fit a block of ice on the bar (too many bottles of spirits!), we will be experimenting with some specially frozen stuff in the coming year.

o   Molecular mixology (or the science of drinking): not quite snail porridge and bacon ice-cream, but inspired by the likes of Heston Blumenthal, bartenders have been experimenting for years. 2009 has seen this come a little more mainstream - if you haven't yet been, pay Tony Conigliaro a visit at 69 Colebrooke Row to see how it's done. His 'dry essence', made by extracting tannins from grape seed and mixing with vermouth botanicals is something else in a martini! He has the advantage of a lab above the bar, but we'll also be playing around with some more foams and atomisers in the coming months, though might draw the line at PDT's Bacon Old-Fashioned...

o   The Hide - winner of Best Spirit Pub of the Year in The Publican Awards!