Wynand Fockink Rum Punch?

August 15, 2011

Andrew Nicholls Wynand Fockink Rum Punch , , , 1 Comment

Decanted Wynand Fockink Rum Punch

I entered Wynand Fockink armed with a little bottle of Nestle Pure Life Purified Water, filled not with it’s original content, but rather with a sample of Rum Punch decanted for me a my State side friend; Jake Parrott.

Just over three weeks ago we were in New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail and Jake (in true Jake style) whipped out this gem of a bottle, possibly dating to around 1917. The content was black and had the consistency of a runny syrup and had been open for just under a week (cork was well preserved), but was pretty oxidized. That aside, it was still full of “punch” and on the nose had pronounced notes of Pedro Ximinex Sherry, plumbs, vanilla and dancing all around them was the ever present character of Rum.

The palate was as the nose suggested, oxidized notes of plum, raisin, vanilla and Dutch pancake syrup. Its texture was thick and and certainly lingered. The aftertaste went right back to full bodied notes of vanilla, plumb, rum and more of a molasses note than Dutch Pancake Syrup.

Jake had given me sample to bring back to Amsterdam and ask the guys at WF if they could shed any light on the origin, recipe or lets be honest, any information they could share. I was fairly hopeful they would have something…

The Outside of Wynand Fockink

A tall gentleman made his way down the stairs, shook my hand, tasted the Rum Punch and simply stated, “Thats interesting, but we have no information on it.”

I was sure there must be something so probed a little further and eventually he agreed to check the archives upstairs. On returning, he had three, beautifully hand written books filled with recipes from the 1800‘s, none of which were a recipe to our now mysterious Rum Punch.

We did find a note stating how WF prepared their rum for use in various products such as the Punch. Rum was purchased from the Caribbean and redistilled at WF, relieving the liquid gold of many of the unwanted heads and tails. Much of the rum back then was harsh to say the least so I can see why this would have been necessary to achieve a balanced product. The gentleman from WF then went on to tell me that he couldn’t be 100% sure that this rum would have come from the Caribbean due to the fact that Batavian style Arrack was prominent at that time as well. He then went on to say that if it was rum from the Caribbean, he would have no idea which part, because they imported from all over the Caribbean.

Wynand Fockink Rum Punch (circa 1917)

Based on my tasting, I don’t think the main ingredient was Batavia Arrack, but what I think may have happened is rum was imported from the Caribbean (I don’t think it was French Rhum), distilled again at WF, infused with plumbs and vanilla and colored with molasses or a very raw form of syrup. It’s worth pointing out that a small piece of the decrepit label shows reference to American Law so was clearly intended for the American market.

Apparently Bols owned WF in the 1950’s so I’ve asked if they can check their archives to see if anything pops up. Hopefully they will…

All in all, we right back at the start. We still know very little about Wynand Fockink Rum Punch…

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The Influence of the VOC on Modern Bartending

August 11, 2011

Andrew Nicholls This Influence of the VOC on Modern Bartending , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Click on Image to view Presentation Slides

The second seminar I was involved with at Tales of the Cocktail was all to do with was the VOC (Dutch East Indies Trading Company) has done for the modern bar. The moderator for this seminar was/is a great friend of mine called Misja Vorstermans from Global Bartending and ISAAC Company.  The link to the seminar slides will give you bullet points which were elaborated on in far more detail during the seminar, but this should give you a rough idea on what was touched on.

We were joined by Eric Seed from Haus Alpenz who also happened to be our sponsor for the session and provided everyone with great information on the production of Batavia Arrack, Swedish Punch as well as the trials and tribulations that sometimes come with both. Thank you Eric…

It was fascinating researching this seminar, diving into archives and even paying a visit to the Coffee plant who’s snippets were taken by the Dutch to Surinam and from there, to almost all of South America, the Carribean and even parts of Africa. Holland is indeed a small country, but as you’ll see through the bullet points in the presentation slides, it’s influence has been mega.

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In House Soda Program

August 8, 2011

Andrew Nicholls In House Soda Program , , , , , , Leave a comment

Click on Image to view the Tales Site

For most in the Northern Hemisphere, July represents a break from the bitter cold. It’s signifies what should be the beginning of a few months spent basking in the sun, sprawled out like some kind of super chilled leopard. For bartenders however, July is somewhat of a holy month, resulting in a annual pilgrimage to what must be one of the world most unique cities. The event we all congregate for is called Tales of the Cocktail (affectionately called “Tales”), the city is New Orleans and when I say bartenders flock there, I’m not kidding…this year there, it is reported that as many as 22 000 people attended the “celebration of Spirits”.

A major part of Tales is education and this year I had the opportunity to appear on stage for a second time with Darcy O’Neil (www.artofdrink.com) in a sold out seminar, explaining the process (technical and creative) behind creating your own in house soda program.

Click on Image to View Presentation

There’ll more info coming soon regarding another seminar I was involved with and a bit of general info regarding Tales. Feel free to fire your soda questions in the comment area.

Cheers.

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Bartending Basics: How to Flame a Zest

July 7, 2011

Andrew Nicholls How to Flame a Zest Leave a comment

It has admittedly been a while since my last post, so I though I would get things going again with another Bartending Basics tip.
Recently I’ve had a surprising number of guests at the bar asking how to flame a citrus zest. As you’ll see below, it’s really simple and creates a great little show…

A strip of Lemon Zest

Start by cutting a strip or a disc of zest from your chosen citrus fruit. I’m using a lemon here to demonstrate, but oranges, grapefruits and even limes will work just as well. As you can see in the picture, I have not cut into the actual fruit, but simply sliced off the outer layer of zest, rich in citrus oil. It’s the oils of the fruit I’m after here, not the juice!

Flaming a zest over the surface of a drink is part show, but also sends a lovely, aromatic layer of caramelized citrus oils over the surface of the drink. Your nose will thank you when you go to take the first sip.

Preparing to Flame a Zest

Unfortunatly, I didn’t have anyone around to help me with taking pictures on this day, so you’ll just have to bare with me and use your imagnation a bit here…

You have to imagine that instead of a candle gently warming the surface of that lemon zest, my right hand (holding my camera in this photo) is suspended above the lip of a cocktail glass, grasping a lit lighter or match.

Flame!

Point the oil side of the zest towards the surface of the drink, hold the flame between the zest and the drink and give the zest a firm squeeze. Once the citrus oils hit the flame, they will ignite, caramelize and settle on the surface of your drink. Your drink will now have a beautiful citrus aroma to it and your friends will stand around wondering how the hell you just managed to do that…

Bartending Basics: Preparing Limes & Lemons

April 19, 2011

Andrew Nicholls Preparing Limes & Lemons , , , , , 2 Comments

Limes waiting patiently to be used in a delicious drink!

When reading a drink recipe you’ll often come across terms like “muddle the lime”, garnish with a lime wedge or a slice of lemon and you’ll be asked to use fresh lemon or lime juice. In other recipes, you’ll be asked to garnish a drink with a twist of lemon, orange or grapefruit zest. The average bartender will know exactly what all this means and how preparation should be done, but for the average home imbiber, it’s a very different story. Don’t feel silly if you don’t know simple bar terms as I promise you, there are PLENTY more scratching their heads at the sight of the same terms.

Trimming the top and tail of a lime

Trimming the bottom of a lime without cutting into the fruit

When preparing limes and lemons, you’ll want to “square them off” a bit, simply to make them look a little more clean cut. It’s one of those simple tricks a bartender will use to achieve that professional look of a drink. The objective here is not to cut away chunks of the fruit, but simply to remove the protruding bits at the bottom and top.

Slicing a lime in half length ways

Lime cut in half length ways

Cutting a lime half into quarters.

As you can see, I left the top “nipple” on the lime until I cut the lime half into quarters. I like to use it as a cutting guide to cutting equal parts, but this is not essential.

Lime wedges.

Once toped, tailed and cut into 1/8 pieces, your lime wedges will look great and be ready to use!

Limes for muddling.

Sometimes you’ll read a recipe which asks you to muddle a lime/lemon/orange/etc. This involves using a pestle like instrument to press down on the fruit, crushing it and therefore releasing it’s juice and some of the oils contained in its zest. When ever you’re asked to muddle a citrus fruit, the easiest way to prepare the fruit is to cut it into almost diamond shaped pieces. Cut the fruit in half, the same way you would for juicing a lime (see picture below) and then cut a half into quarters. You’ll be left with great looking “diamond shaped” pieces of fruit ready to be “squished”.

Cutting a lime in half for juicing or muddling

Placing a lime half into a citrus juicer

Juicing a lime

The "spent" lime half still in the juicer

View of a "spent" lime after juicing

To juice a lime or lemon, cut the fruit in half and place it in a hand juicer with the fruit side facing the holes in the bottom of the juicer. Squeeze the juicers handles together and the juice of the fruit will pour out of the holes and into which ever container you have below the juicer, ready to be used. You really don’t get much fresher than that!

If you don’t have one of these hand juicers at home, feel free to use a regular cone juicer, electric juicer or what ever else you might have to do the job. The bonus to these hand juicers is you can carry them with you very easily, where ever you go and they’re fast to use!

Preparing lemon slices

To prepare lemon slices, cut the lemon in half lengthways and lay the fruit on a cutting board with the fruit side facing down. All thats left to do is cut across the lemon, creating slices about 5mm thick.

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Pisco Sour & Ceviche

April 16, 2011

Andrew Nicholls Pisco Sour & Ceviche , , , 4 Comments

Pisco Sour & Ceviche

Anybody unsure of the potential behind pairing cocktails with food has clearly never tried the combined delights of Peru’s national mixed drink with their national dish.

Pisco is a colourless brandy produced in both Peru and Chile where it is the national spirit of each country. The spirit originates from Peru where by law, they must still use traditional methods of production.

The Pisco Sour, with its notes of fruit, subtle spices and the sweet and sour combination of lemon juice and sugar makes one of my favorite tipples for a hot day (or any time time really…). The other crucial part of the Pisco Sour is fresh egg white. The only people who should be even slightly worried about egg white are very old people, very young people and pregnant ladies. Trust me, the drink simply is not the same without it!

Pisco Sour

The recipe for the Pisco Sour is as follow:

60 ml/2 oz Picso Acholado or Puro

30 ml/1 oz FRESH Lemon Juice

15 ml/1/2 oz Sugar Syrup (2:1)

1 FRESH Egg White

3 drops Amargo Bitters (Angostura Bitters will work fine as well)

Place all the ingredient, except the Bitters, in a cocktail shaker and  shake HARD for about  eight seconds. Strain the drink into a chilled glass and drip three drops of bitters on top of the foam (as seen in the above picture).

Ceviche

Ceviche is simply raw fish left in fresh lime juice, where the acidity “cooks” the fish. You’ll need to the fish in the fresh lime juice for at lease 20 minutes. Use a firm fleshed fish such as Sea Bass or Red Snapper. Other ingredients are finely sliced red onion, Diced tomatoes, red and yellow peppers. Finish the dish off with a little fresh chopped coriander.

Ehm…one more please?

Trust me on this, buy the ingredients for both the Pisco Sour and the Ceviche now and taste what I can only describe as a match made in heaven!

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Bartending Basics: How to Make Vanilla Syrup

April 13, 2011

Andrew Nicholls How to Make Vanilla Syrup , Leave a comment

Boiling Water for Vanilla Syrup

Vanilla syrup is simply a syrup flavored with vanilla. Making it yourself is very easy and tastes significantly better than any of the commercial syrups I’ve tasted. There are a few different ways of making it, but this is the method I’ve found yields the best results. You’ll want to use the same sugar to water ratio as regular sugar syrup, but as you can see in the picture, we’re going bring our water to the boil for this one. Placing the vanilla in boiling water before adding sugar seems to bring out more of the vanilla flavor and gives it a lovely golden colour.

Splitting a Vanilla Pod

Scraping the Beans from a Vanilla Pod

Once the water has reached the boil, split one vanilla pod for every 500 grams of sugar you intend to use, scrape the beans from the pod and place the beans and the scraped pod into the water (I’m using Madagascan Bourbon Vanilla pods here). Once they’re in, you can take the pot of water off the boil by tuning off the heat or removing the pot from the stove. Do not leave the water boiling too long as the constant evaporation will reduce the amount of water in the pot and your whole ratio of sugar to water will become too concentrated.

Pay attention to the vanilla you’re using as well. A hard and rigid vanilla pod means the pod is too old and you may as well get rid of it. Vanilla should be soft, shiny and have a very subtle sticky texture to it’s outer “skin”.

Dissolving Sugar for Vanilla Syrup

This is the time to add your sugar. Remember, you’ll want to go with the ratio of 1:1 sugar to water OR 2:1 sugar to water. I prefer a ratio of 2:1, for the same reasons mentioned in the post on How to Make Sugar  Syrup. Once the sugar has completely dissolved, set the pot aside and allow the syrup to cool.

Straining Vanilla Syrup

Filter Catching All the little Bits of Vanilla

Once cool, strain the syrup through a filter to catch all the little bits of vanilla, leaving you with a full flavored, gold coloured syrup.

Decanting Vanilla Syrup

Vanilla Syrup Ready for Use

Decant the syrup into a clean, empty bottle and get ready to make drinks with an edge that no shop purchased syrup will deliver!

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Bartending Basics: How to Make Sugar Syrup

April 12, 2011

Andrew Nicholls How to Make Sugar Syrup 2 Comments

Adding Sugar to Water to Make Sugar Syrup

More often than not, a drinks recipe will call for some kind of Sugar Syrup or Gomme. The latter is simply another word for sugar syrup. Making sugar syrup is easy and simply involves dissolving fine white sugar in water to the general ratios of one part sugar to one part water OR two parts sugar to one part water (1:1 or 2:1). I prefer a ratio of two parts sugar to one part water as this seems to provide the sweetness I need to balance certain drinks, without adding too much additional dilution.

Dissolving Sugar in Water

In this picture, I’m dissolving one kilogram of sugar in 500 ml of water. You do not have to heat the water to dissolve the sugar, but the sugar will dissolve a little faster in warmer water.

Decanting Sugar Syrup into Bottle

Once the sugar has fully dissolved into the water, decant the syrup into a bottle and you’re ready to go…

Wynand Fockink, Amsterdam

February 25, 2011

Andrew Nicholls Wynand Fockink , , , , , , Leave a comment

Looking in at Wynand Fockink

Located down a side street adjacent to Amsterdam’s Dam Square is a true imbibers gem.

Wynand Fockink is so much more than what meets the eye. The average person might stumble on this tiny watering hole, look through its window, chat about how cute it looks and then walk on without realizing what they’re leaving behind.

To cross the threshold here is a bit like falling through Alice’s rabbit hole. Established in 1679, the crew at Wynand Fockink still do things the way they were done all those centuries ago.

Way back then, many of Amsterdam’s bars were actually distilleries with a tasting room and a shop attached. Given the success of the Dutch East Indies Trading Company (VOC), Amsterdam was also a hot spot for exotic fruits, herbs and spices. Put the success of the VOC and an in-house distillation program together and  you have the makings for some pretty special Liqueurs. The Dutch have long been credited as the creators of Liqueurs, with sons like Lucas Bols producing them as early as 1575 in a distillery called ‘t Lootsje (Little Shed).

Distilling Equipment at Wynand Fockink, Amsterdam

At Wynand Fockink they still produce their own Jenever (Genever), Liqueurs and Tinctures.

The still in picture is in a large room next to the bar and scttered around the same room are large glass vessels containing fruits and spices for liqueurs and tinctures.

For those not too familier with Jenever (Genever), I will briefly describe it as a wonderful spirit, produced in Holland, Belgium, two French Provinces and two Federal German States. Jenever comprises of malt and grain distillate and is subtly flavored with botanicals such as juniper berries. Some in the English speaking world refere to Jenever as Dutch Gin, but to be honest, it tastes more like a subtle, aromatic whisky than a gin.

Rows of Liqueurs and Tinctures in the Making

Some of the Liqueurs infuse for a year before being moved all 15 meters to the bar where eager patrons eagerly await their arrival.

Drinking here feels a bit like claiming your little piece of history. In a weird way, you feel comforted by the fact that some bars still believe in continuing crafts and traditions of the past, regardless of what marketeers and pencil pushers claim is future of an industry they generally know so little about. I’ve had plenty of conversations with corporate people who claim that unless a bar looks and feels 21st century, it won’t work in the 21st century.

Bars work because they provide an experience and a sound level of service. A great experience will last the test of time, while fancy coat of paint on the walls will last as long as that coat.

Wynant Fockink was established in 1679 and I sincerely hope it’ll be around for the next 332 years, reminding us that sometimes simply doing the basics well will always see the light of a new day.

L&B Whisky Bar, Amsterdam

February 21, 2011

Andrew Nicholls L&B Whisky Bar , , , , , , Leave a comment

Behind the Bar in L&B

After a quick visit to the movies with my girlfriend, we decided a “wee dram” was in order.

Located just off Leidseplein in Amsterdam is a watering hole every whisky lover should make a pilgrimage to at least once in this lifetime.

The bar boasts a mere 1301 whiskies and the bartenders seem to know where every one of them lies in this cove of capped bottles.

The thing I like the most about this bar is the fact that it so laid back. There is none of the snobbish behavior sometimes associated with whisky and the bartenders will be happy to serve you your choice in whatever fashion you chose to drink it. Our bartender for the evening was Edwin Rotgans and in some ways is a great example to many of the “cocktail” bartenders or “mixologists” I meet today.

A part of the menu at L&B

I ordered a glass of Clynelish 14, followed by a Tomatin 12, while my girlfriend enjoyed a Cragganmore 12, followed by an I.W. Harper and not once was the drink presented with an opinion on how it “should” be drank, a history lesson or “set of rules”. Instead, we received a friendly smile and chat revolving around life in The Netherlands.

Thats not say the bartenders do not know their products. Their knowledge of what they serve is actually quite impressive given the sheer volume of offerings behind the bar and scattered around the rest of the room. They simply seem to adopt the “knowledge is like a Jedi power; you have to know when and how much of it to use” strategy.

L&B's Fruit Stock

 

I asked Edwin if they serve much in the line of cocktails and he said they get the occasional request for a Whisky Sour but not a hell of a lot other than that.

He proceded to show me the entire fruit stock for the night, totaling one lemon and four limes. This was quite amusing to me given the boxes of lemons and limes we can go through on a busy cocktail night.

I think cocktail bartenders/mixologists/whatever you like to call yourself need to spend more time in bars like L&B. They bring you back down to Earth and remind you that this profession is about the guest having a great night and not the set of opinions you have developed or mindlessly copied over the years.

 

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