Movember Cocktails

Here at Notorious, we like getting involved in everything and when we can combine it with a worthy cause, well that's just the icing on the cake. This month, I've been growing a Mo for Movember - and this is how it's looking today.



Movember is a great idea. For those that don't know, participants grow their Mo for the month of November in order to raise awareness of Men's health issues, specifically prostate caner. Anybody can donate to a Mo - and the donations go to charity.

Movember is obviously a very appealing partner for a lot of Men's brands, from Wilkinson's Sword to Rockstar Games, and this year Finlandia Vodka have joined the list of sponsors.

Here's what they're doing:

"To celebrate Movember, Finlandia Vodka has created a menu of delicious Mo-inspired cocktails to tease and tantalise the tastebuds. This year sees the launch of Mo Academies across selected UK cities and we would like to invite you and a friend to hone your mixology skills.

The Academies are designed to give you a cocktail master class hosted by renowned industry experts, Soulshakers. The fun, hour-long course will help teach you some of the fundamental skills needed to be an amateur mixologist – from complimenting tastes to crafting stunning cocktail creations."

We're going to sign up and we'll let you know how it goes.

Courvoisier Mixology Event - Future 500

Courvoisier recently held a mixology event in London for members of The Future 500 as a way of showcasing the mixable nature of Exclusif. I'm biased because I work on Courvoisier, but I love cognac cocktails, partly becasue the Sazerac and the Sidecar are regarded as being two of the original cocktails ever to have been created. And guess what, they are both made with cognac.

The great thing about Exclusif is that it is made specifically for bartenders to create amazing cocktails. Many people read this as meaning that Exclusif is an inferior product that should be masked by coke or ginger ale. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Because of the fact that Exclusif is made using grapes from the four top crus it has a more complex taste profile that allows it to stand up to almost any flavour you throw at it. Rather than it being easier to make, it actually takes more effort and skill to craft. This makes Exclusif great for bartenders to experiment with in a range of cocktails.

The event was brilliantly put on by Drew, Greg, Delphine and Amy at White Label and was hosted by Andy Pearson. There were 5 tables which were each hosted by a different mixologist from the Courvoisier Future 500 network who guided the guests through a range of cocktail challenges. There were 4 round of cocktails ranging from the classic sazerac to begin with, through to creating a long mixed drink and a version of a cognac martini.

It was huge fun and taught us that the bartenders are far more skillful than we give them credit for. The crowd was a brilliant selection of fascinating people who you could spend the entire night talking to and bouncing ideas around with. I'm now looking forward to the next event.

Here are some photos to give you a feel for the event



Angella and Hayley marvelling at a Courvoisier float



Using lemon grass as a straw



Only use 5 drops of bitters (whoops!)



Strawberry and basil cocktail cleverly titled "The Faulty Basil"

For a much better write up have a look at the article in Theme Magazine here.

International Cognac Summit

From January 20th to 23rd 2008, the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC) is holding the first International Cognac Summit.

Bartenders and cocktail experts will spend three days in Cognac, debating and taking part in workshops, lead by Fernando Castellon (author of the Larousse des Cocktails). The main aim is to create a Cognac-based short drink and long drink that will take cocktail-lovers everywhere by storm. Media gurus will also be attending.

The guest list includes:

• Dale DeGroff, President of The Museum of the American Cocktail
• Salvatore Calabrese, National President of the UK Bartenders’ Guild
• Stefan Gabanyi, Head Barman at the Schumann’s, Munich
• Colin Field, Head Barman at the Ritz Hemingway Bar, Paris
  

It will be interesting to see what they come up with, given the importance of cocktails to cognac brands throughout the world.

For full details, see the BNIC website (linked here).

The site also has a useful links section, which mentions other cognac sites.