The Worlds Best Cocktail Menu

We returned to London, after our short trip to the South, we were looking forward to exploring some more of the city’s top bars.  A place which was at the top of our list was a bar called “Callooh Callay”.  This bar was recently awarded (in my opinion) one of the highest honors in the cocktail bar world, “Best Cocktail Menu” in the world.  What makes a top cocktail menu I hear you ask? It's many things. Design and layout come into play, but mainly it comes down to the drinks them self. Bars who wish to win this accolade as Best Cocktail Menu, spend many hours researching consumer trends and fads, but still keep trying to push the boundaries with new ideas. The menu is constantly evolving due to what fruits and ingredients are in season and easy to obtain during certain times of the year. But most of all, the cocktails on a menu, must appeal to customers and keep them returning again for new drinking experiences. Industry experts thought that in 2012, "Callooh Callay" did this better than anywhere else in the world. So naturally Cara and I had to find out. 

We walked into a jammed packed bar. Unfortunately for us, not a spare seat to be found. However we were able to stand at the bar and watch the bartenders pump out drinks for the punters. As the famous menu was handed to us, we were instantly impressed by the unique layout of the list. The menu had been designed as a colour swatch book. It fanned out in front of us, with each colour on the menu, representing another cocktail.  Our first thoughts... It came across a little tacky, but it was hardly designed to be classy. It was designed to be fun, which it was. After browsing through the swatch book for quite some time, we each picked a cocktail that stood out to us. As it had been a usual cold day in London, Cara had picked a drink called "Grow a Pear". It was a cocktail which was served hot and consisted of Bacardi 8 year old rum, Rhubarb liqueur, pear puree, a pinch of cinnamon, almond syrup, lime juice, apple pieces and finally a dash of the London cocktail society's own "Christmas Bitters". This cocktail was like have a jazzed up 'Hot Toddy'. It was a perfect winter cocktail to have on a cold London day. It was fruity and sweet, but the pinch of cinnamon give it a subtle spicy after taste which made the drink unique and fun to drink. I was drawn to one of the award winning cocktails on Callooh Callay's menu, the "Ale of Two Cites". I was attracted to this drink due to it's use of the 42 Below Feijoa vodka, which I know from experience, can be very tough to use in cocktails due to it's over powering nature. This cocktail consisted of the Feijoa vodka, Punt e Mes (dark brown Italian vermouth), lime juice, apple juice, wild nettle cordial, and malt syrup. This mixture was all shaken together and served in a half pint glass, making for an interesting looking beer. I was pleasantly surprised that the Feijoa vodka didn’t take over at all. It was a perfectly balanced drink. It had a slight sour and citrus taste, with the flavours of the vodka lingering longer than anything else. Overall it was quite easy to drink. The only criticism is due to it being served in a beer glass, it didn’t look very appealing, and with no garnish the presentation did let it down a little. However it was still and enjoyable and most importantly, it tasted great. 

We departed from 'Callooh Callay’, satisfied that we'd seen enough and that we could tick it off the list of bars we must visit before leaving the UK. The menu was everything we had come to expect from a world class cocktail list. The drinks we’re creative, there was something for everyone and the presentation was unique. Maybe, before we arrive back to Australia, we may come across other menu which could rival the worlds best. 

“Grow a Pear”

Served Hot

30ml Bacardi 8 year old Rum

15ml Briottet Rhubarb Liqueur

15ml Pear puree

Pinch of Cinnamon

15ml Almond Syrup

15ml Lime juice

2 - 3 Pieces of Apple

Dash of London cocktail society christmas Bitters

Fill to the top with hot water and stir

“Ale of Two Cities”

In a shaker:

30ml 42 Below Feijoa

15ml Punt e Mes (Italian Vermouth)

15ml Lime Juice

30ml Apple Juice

Dash of Wild Nettle Cordial

Dash of Malt syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a half pint glass

A Night in Liverpool

Well... What can I say about the city of Liverpool? As we arrived, We instantly noticed the typical ’Scouse’ traits. The girls dressed up with fake tan and big hair, the blokes with trendy designer labels and flawlessly styled hair. Aside from the fashion, Liverpool is famous for being the home to pop music in the UK. It was labelled by the Guinness World Records Book as being the “World Capital City of Pop". Which is understandable, the city is the birth place to bands and musicians like The Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, along with many others. 

Liverpool is also known to have the best nightlife in the UK, better than rival cities, London and Manchester. So Cara and I were excited to head out and see what made Liverpool’s nightlife so great. We spent the day exploring the city, visiting places like the famous Liverpool Cathedral, the Merseyside docks and of course a walk past the “Cavern Club”, home of the Beatles. We returned to our hotel and quickly got ready to hit the town at night.  We noticed that Liverpool has a huge nightclub scene. Along with the clubs, there are also many pubs (which is a standard feature in cities throughout the UK), there seemed to be a lack of high end quality cocktail bars. However, there was one place, that all the guides and reviews online mentioned was a must see bar. This place is called “Alma de Cuba”. This was a bar which had been built inside an old cathedral. It has been said to be one of the best looking bars in the UK. As we made our way through the Cathedral’s front doors, we saw the bar, which was positioned in the centre of the building (where the aisle of the would usually be). On one side of this island style bar was a more relaxed lounge type set up. Whereas the other side of the bar was designed to be more of a stand up area, with a couple of high tables and small booths running along the churches wall.  The far end of the cathedral was a small stage where a jazz band was about to start playing. As Cara and I took found a seat in one of the booths, we were amazed by the “mish-mash” decor. Many elements of the old existing church still remained, but there was now added features such as palm trees, along with other cuban influenced details. The menu was also a combination of Cuban flair with a religious twist. The first page of the menu was a ‘tongue in cheek’ version of the 10 commandments starting with “Love thy neighbour...they may be drunk”.

When Cara and I sit down at bars, we tend to look around the room and see what other people are drinking. It’s usually a mixture of beers, wines, mixed spirits and cocktails, but at Alma de Cuba, almost everyone was holding a cocktail. This could only mean one thing... Their cocktails were good. Cara kicked it off with ordering an Alma original, a drink called a “Kingston Crush”. This tiki inspired cocktail consisted of Appleton Estate VX rum, muddled pieces of watermelon, pineapple juice, lime juice and frozen chunks of grapefruit, shaken and strained over crushed ice. It was lastly topped up with ginger beer. These types of cocktails can be dangerous. Not in the sense that it’s high in alcohol, but dangerous because it’s not. This drink was fruity, refreshing and very tasty. You could hardly taste the rum. It’s a drink that you could have half a dozen very easily. But the rum was not going to ly down with out a fight. If you were to down six of these fruity concoctions, it would hit you hard. It’s hard to go wrong with this mixture of watermelon, pineapple and lime, they are always popular ingredients.  But the use of grapefruit and the fizzing finish of ginger, makes this drink a little different then your standard tiki cocktail. It was perfect for Cara. A nice fruity, refreshing cocktail, one which would quench the thirst after an afternoon exploring Liverpool.

I decided to consult the bartender and ask him to make me his signature drink. When a bartender is asked to make their own creations, you can guarantee that little extra bit of love, care and attention will  be put into that drink. His creation was a cocktail called “Mrs Jones’s Breakfast”, a drink which was inspired by his mother. The bartender explained to me that when his mum made him breakfast throughout his childhood, she’d serve up cereal covered in pieces of grapefruit and apricots and sprinkled with sugar on top. He recreated this meal in the form of a drink by starting with Aperol,   followed by Elderflower liqueur, Caradores Blanco (Tequila), a dash of grapefruit juice and lemon juice. It was all shaken together with ice and strained over into a sugar rimmed glass. It was a simple concoction but one which was well thought through and well executed. Each ingredient complemented the other nicely. It wasn’t to sweet, or sour, or bitter.  Even the non-tequila drinkers would love this cocktail. I thanked the bartender for sharing his story. A cocktail seems to always taste better when it has a story and not just thrown together randomly.

As we made our way back to our hotel, we could see the surrounding nightclubs were getting into full swing. We were both glad we got the chance to visit Liverpool, even if it was only for a short time. We had an early start to the next day, as we were returning to a place, which now feels like our second home. We were going back to London.






“Kingston Crush”
In a shaker:
Muddle 3 - 4 chunks of watermelon
15ml Lime Juice
60ml Appleton Estate VX Rum
30ml Pineapple juice
3 - 4 Pieces of Frozen Grapefruit
Shake firmly and strain over crushed ice
Top up with Ginger Beer












"Mrs. Jones’s Breakfast”
In a shaker:
15ml Cazadores Blanco Tequila
15ml Elderflower Liqueur
30ml Aperol
15ml Grapefruit juice
15ml lemon juice
Rim short glass with white sugar
Shake and strain into the glass over ice

Our visit to the “Blue Dog"

Every city we go too, we get recommendations and ideas of places and bars we “need” to visit. So far almost every person we’ve spoken to in Glasgow has recommended one bar, the “Blue Dog” bar. It’s safe to say that Glasgow has not got a massive cocktail scene. The Scot’s are more into their pubs. So after hearing all the glowing reports on this cocktail bar, Cara and I had to check it out and see if it was worth all the hype.

The Blue Dog opened it’s doors in 2003. It instantly became Glasgow’s home to great cocktails. They complement their large cocktail menu with an array of live entertainment act’s playing piano and jazz classic’s all night long... so it certainly sets the scene and the mood for a great night out.  The Blue Dog instantly reminded us of many of the cocktail bars in London. It’s low ceilings, cosy lounges and with the sound of jazz music lightly playing in the background. This bar was right up our alley.

As we looked over the menu, we noticed that the Blue Dog were offering many concoctions. Certainly lots to choose from. But none of which jumped off the page like some of the drinks we’d seen and tried in London. This is to be expected though. Trying to sell cocktails to locals who are not big cocktail drinkers is always going to be tough. So the Blue Dog’s menu, despite being vast, is still very simple. It consists of many classics which have been slightly tweaked to make them more interesting.  However the drinks are still basic and they are not confusing punters with weird and wild creations.

As per usual, I always order the house signature cocktail. I believe that a bars signature cocktail is the drink that the staff are most proud of. It’s a drink that defines the style and standard of the bar. No surprises that the Blue Dog’s signature cocktail, was a drink called “A Blue Dog”. A fruity creation consisting of apple vodka, blue curacao, fresh passion fruit, lime juice, apple juice and pineapple juice. This was a very nice refreshing drink, but I feel for a house signature, it’s a little too safe. It’s hard to go wrong when mixing fruit juices together. I was hoping for something a more creative from the Blue dog team, but as I mentioned, things can’t get to crazy when trying to appeal to a "pub-type" crowd.

All in all, Cara and I had a great night. Listening to jazz and sipping our cocktails. Cara was drinking original daiquiris, a drink which has been her favourite for some time now. She’s managed to test out the original daiquiri all over the world.

This won’t be our one and only visit to the Blue Dog. We’ll definitely be back to see what other drinks they have to offer.

“A Blue Dog”

In a shaker:

30ml Apple Vodka

30ml Blue Curacao

Dash of Passionfruit pulp

15ml Lime Juice

30ml Apple Juice

30ml Pineapple juice

Add ice and shake

Strain over crushed ice

Serve in a tall glass

Garnish: 1/2 Passionfruit

Drinking at the Pot Still

One of the things which I’ve really enjoyed during our travels so far, is scratching below the surface of cities and discovering it’s icons which are only well known to the local people. Glasgow is full of iconic places which are not famous world wide, but places that the Glaswegian's know and love. In my last post I wrote about the story of the oldest pub in Glasgow, The Scotia.  After visiting this pub, I got put on to another place, which was a “must-visit” during our time here, a place called “The Pot Still”.  Scotland is famous for it’s whiskies, and the Pot still boasts a collection of over 460 whiskies on offer, making it Scotland’s premier whisky bar. 

The premises of the Pot Still has been operating since 1867, but it wasn’t until 1981, when John Waterson took over the existing pub and rebranded it “The Pot Still”. The aim was to create a pub which was heavily focused on whisky and themed around stocking rare hard to find malts.  The bar was an instant hit. It has been known, that businessmen from London, would fly to Glasgow for the day, just so they could drink their favourite whisky, because the Pot Still was the only place they could find it.  Today the bar is owned by whisky enthusiast, Frank Murphy. Frank began working in his Dad’s pub many years ago, and now he and his Dad both run the Pot Still.  I had the pleasure of speaking to Frank’s dad, during my visit. He described his son’s passion and love for all things whisky and how he is now happy to now take a step back and let his boy run the majority of the pub. He also went on to say that Frank is constantly trying and sampling new and different whiskies. They are hoping to have the collection up to 500 before the end of the year. 

So of course a visit to the Pot Still would not be complete with out trying some of the collection. I decided to try one of the bosses recommendations, the Benromach 10 year old. It was recommended because it’s matured in a sherry cask and has a sweet chocolate and fruity sultana flavour which I love so much in some of the Australian fortified wines. This malt also had a spicy after taste which on further investigation, I discover was cinnamon.  It was light in smokey peat flavour too. Many malts can taste to smokey, almost burnt, but this wasn’t. The sweetness of the sherry cask took centre stage and the peat smoke taste lingered in the background. 

I’m definitely guilty of sometimes letting the complex world of cocktails and mixology take over,  causing me to forget about the raw spirits. When you are always trying to push the boundaries and create new tastes and flavours, you sometimes forget that the most satisfying drinks are the ones which are raw and pure.  Sitting at the Pot Still sipping on my whisky and water, it was great to have the chance to talk to people who don’t care about cocktails, they just care about whisky. 

What to do on a cold Scottish Day?

After our amazing adventure to Italy and Spain, It was time to get back to reality. We said goodbye to the warm weather and returned to Glasgow, where the weather was turning cold and grey as winter was soon upon us.  It was time for us to knuckle down and get into the day to day life of living and working in Scotland. After a busy few weeks, the day finally came when I had some free time, and wouldn’t you know it, It was pouring with rain and quite cold. So what was I to do on my day off?  I decided to look into some traditional Scottish pubs. The ones which were cosy and warm, the perfect place to be on a winters day. As far as Glaswegian pubs go, they don’t get any more traditional than “The Scotia”. So I braved the wet and went for a short walk to check it out. 

The Scotia was established in 1792. It’s Glasgow’s oldest pub. It’s located a short distance from the famous River Clyde. At the time the river was a thriving waterway for many sailors travelling through the area. When boats ported in Glasgow, The Scotia was the nearest pub. By 1862, the pub had already established itself as one of the most popular pubs around, but this was boosted even more when the 'Variety and Music Hall’ opened up right next door. This attracted a new cliental of performers and theatre goers to the Scotia. This influx of new patrons helped influence and shape what the Scotia is today, a music venue.  The pub is now one of the cities most popular live music venues. 

I’ve noticed many things about the Glasgow pub scene. One being that the city is littered with tiny (what they call) “Old-Man Pubs”. The type of pubs which are often quiet with a half dozen old men, hunched over a pint talking about football.  These are the types of places which can be quite intimidating to foreigners like myself. I’ve been into a few of these places already and have not felt welcome. I have to be honest, as I made my way to the Scotia, I expected a similar type of 'unwelcoming' atmosphere. I could not have been more wrong. As I walked in, I was instantly greeted by the man behind the bar. It was just the sort of pub I was hoping for. It’s low ceilings made for a cosy feel. The typical pine wood interior is exactly what you’d expect from a traditional pub. Around the bar was a collage of labels from previous beers that they have sold. Usually I’m not a fan of tacky signs or label behind the bar, but here it seemed to suit. It all added to the charm of the pub. As I pulled up a stool, I decided to try something new. I couldn’t go past the “William Wallace Scottish Ale”.  I’d tried traditional ale’s in London, and even though I could appreciate the flavour and I understood why people loved them so much, for me personally, It’s not my cup of tea. However, I love being adventurous, So I ordered a pint of the William Wallace. 

The William Wallace Ale is brewed by the TSA (Traditional Scottish Ale) Brewing Co.  They specialise in many different hand crafted Scottish beers. The William Wallace, is a pale ale which was made for people like me, who don’t usually drink ales. As I sipped on my beer, I could taste the hop flavours, but they weren’t too over-powering. Dispite it’s dark chocolatey colour, it was very refreshing.  It’s probably a bit to bland for your hard core ale drinkers. But for me it’s perfect. It’s advertised as having a fruity taste, but when you hear the description fruity, you may think citrus, which I don’t think this beer is.  If I was to pick any kind of flavour, I’d say nutty with a dry bittersweet finish, but overall quite refreshing.  The William Wallace was a good choice for me. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it has converted me to ales, but it was a nice change. I’d recommend it to any non ale drinkers. 

It’s was difficult to leave the warm and cosy atmosphere of The Scotia and make the walk home. But I’m sure I will return again on another cold and wet day in Glasgow. 

The Tastes of Spain: Part 2

Spain is famous for it’s tapas food. You might say that when people talk about Spanish food, tapas is the first thing that comes to mind. During our time in Barcelona, Cara and I were excited to find some good quality tapas to sink our teeth into. After doing a little bit of research, we found a bar which boosted to have, not only the best tapas in Barcelona, but the best tapas in spain. This bar was called "Quimet & Quimet”. 

Many bars and cafe’s claim to have the best tapas around, but Quimet & Quimet had glowing reviews from many different travel websites. So with that in mind, our expectations were high and we were excited to see what they had to offer. As we arrived to the little cafe style bar, we were instantly impressed with the wide variety of wines along with the range of fresh foods. We’d heard that Quimet & Quimet pride themselves on freshness. The tapas on offer included, fresh seafood such as prawns, salmon, sardines and anchoivies, a variety of olives, stuffed peppers, a selection of breads served with olive oil for dipping, along with much more. But one thing that the team at Quimet obviously loved was cheese. The variety of cheeses was astounding.  So with this in mind, Cara and I had some tough decisions on what to order. We decided to get a nice glass of white wine and a selection of breads, olives, prawns and the famous cheese selection. 

The bread selection was a mixture of the basic pita bread, crusty bread, croutons and water crackers. It also included some homemade olive bread and chilli bread which was all very tasty. The freshness of these breads made the taste amazing just on it’s own, but it gets even better when mixed with different oils and stuffed peppers. The prawn dish was a very elaborate concoction which consisted of a slice of olive bread, a marinated pepper, with a king prawn on top and finally finished of with a spoonful of black caviar. I’m not much of a seafood eater, but I couldn’t resist trying something new and this was a dish I knew would be hard to find anywhere else in the world. We weren’t disappointed either. I expected a strong "fishy" flavour, but it surprised me. It did contain a seafood taste, but the peppers and the olive bread balanced the dish out nicely which made it so enjoyable to eat. Our olives were just a simple serving of chilli and garlic marinated olives, but freshness goes a long way, which made these olives very tasty. Lasty was our outstanding cheese selection. If you are a cheese fiend and just happen to be in Barcelona, Quimet & Quimet is an absolute must. The selection was amazing. I wish I knew what all the cheeses were, but I just couldn’t tell. There were flavours which we couldn’t pick. The obvious ones were, goat’s cheese, blue cheese, feta and mozzarella, but the others I couldn’t tell.  It didn’t matter though. We were both enjoying our tapas and savouring every bite. As we continued eating, we looked at some of the other delicacies on offer. Olives stuffed with sardines, Salmon served with yogurt and truffle honey, mussels and clams all seem to be popular. As I’m sure you’ve gathered, the menu was predominately seafood tapas. There was a meat selection, which seemed to be very similar to an Italian anti-pasti meal. So we decided to stay clear of that and try some different things, and we are so glad we did. 

By the end, we both agreed that we’d definitely found the best tapas in Barcelona, maybe even Spain. Our visit to Quimet & Quimet was certainly one of the highlights of our trip to Barcelona. We hope to return to Spain in the future to try some more tapas and see if anyone can rivals the food we’ve had. 

Our Visit to Harry’s Bar

One thing that Venice is fantastic for, is it’s wide variety of cafe’s, restuarants and bars. There is seemingly a place to sit, eat and drink on every corner. But out of all these places, there was only one which Cara and I were excited to visit, the famous “Harry’s Bar”. In the bartending community, Harry’s Bar is seen to be the pioneer of cocktail bars. So it was our mission to see if Harry’s was really all it is cracked up to be.

Giuseppe Cipriani
Outside his Bar in 1931

Harry’s Bar is said to be the first specialist cocktail bar to be opened. It was founded by Italian man, Giuseppe Cipriani. Giuseppe was born in Verona in 1900. His family immigrated to Germany, where he went to school and soon began working in a factory just before the first world war. When the war broke out the family fled back to Verona, where Giuseppe found work in a pastry kitchen. This is where his love for the hospitality industry started. After working in the pastry kitchen for a number of years, he decided to become a waiter in other restuarants. During this time Giuseppe moved for place to place only staying until he felt like he could learn no more at that particular establishment.  He traveled and worked throughout France, Belgium and Italy, finally settling in Venice where he got a job as a bartender in the Hotel Europa. The Europa is a luxury hotel which is still running in Venice today.  The hotel bar became a regular hang-out for the European and Venetian elite.  During this time at the Europa hotel, Giuseppe learnt and became passionate about cocktails. His dream then became to open his own bar, which was just as   elite and luxurious, but not attached with a hotel. It was a be a specialist cocktail bar. His only problem was his of lack of money to make this dream and reality.  

Whilst working at the Hotel Europa, Guiseppe became friends with a young American man called Harry Pickering. Harry had come to Venice with his aunt in the hope to cure his drinking problem. This attempt was hopeless as Harry spent most of his days sitting in the hotel bar. This caused Harry and his aunt to fall out. His aunt left Harry with no money and she returned to America.  Giuseppe lent Harry money to help him survive and not long after, Harry disappeared. After months of not seeing or hearing from Harry, Giuseppe gave up all hope of ever seeing his money again. Then in February 1931, Harry Pickering returned to the Hotel Europa and repaid Giuseppe his money, plus an extra 30,000 lira to say thank you and also to give Giuseppe the opportunity to finally open his bar.  Giuseppe went and opened his bar and suitably named it “Harry’s Bar”.  The bar opened on May 13th 1931. Coincidentally, this is the same day in 1806 where the word “Cocktail” was first published in print.

As we walked into Harry’s Bar, you really got the impression that the bar still looks exactly the same today as it did when it first opened. A waiter dressed in a smart white suit, sat as down and gave us the menu to look over. As in most bars in Italy, we were also given complementary serving of olives.  Sitting in Harry’s Bar you really got a sense of history. The menu is very minimal. It seems that the cocktail menu is exactly the same as it was back in 1931.  I think it’s nice that they are re-creating the original look and feel of the bar. As Cara and I both discussed our thoughts on Harry’s Bar, we both agreed that, if you are trying to recreate history and offer a very minimal menu and selling drinks at very exorbitant prices, the standard needs to be extremely high. Unfortunately when we saw Cara’s Bellini being mass produced in a shaker tin along with 3 other orders our expectation of quality started to fade. When her drink arrived, it looked nice and tasted ok, but that was all. It was just ok. During our travels through Italy, Cara has become a bit of an expert on Bellini’s and Rossini’s. She said that she has had better Bellini’s from other bars and we’ve paid a third of the price. I guess thats what you get when you mass produce cocktails. You get a drink which is just ok.  I ordered a classic Italian cocktail, the Negroni (gin, campari & sweet vermouth). My drink was a little better. A nice balance of sweetness and bitterness. But a Negroni is a simple classic, it’s hard to go wrong.  As we chatted some more, we really started to notice the finer details which really disappointed us. We noticed that the waiter had served us our drinks on a creased, almost crumpled napkin. In any other bar, we’d not have a problem with this. But in Harry’s Bar, of all bars, where you expect everything to be that little bit better than your average bar, it just wasn’t.  

So as we finished our drinks and left, we departed with mixed emotions. On the one hand we were thankful and happy for the experiance. It’s something that we’ll never forget. It was amazing to see something which is such a huge part of cocktail history. But on the other hand, we were disappointed, that the bar has lost it’s way. The passion of serving amazing drinks with outstanding service, seems to not be a priority anymore. The name and reputation of Harry’s Bar seems to be all that they are relying on. As far as Cara and I were concerned, we were happy that we’d been and done it. It’s just another thing we can tick off the list.