Bottoms up

I for one am a person who just likes a good drink when I go out. Once the waiter attends my table, I actually look up and smile and am ready for my first order whilst the rest of the guys with me are either indecisive or don’t want to order themselves.

Your drink could be on the rocks, neat, dry, stiff or a vintage. You name it. You can order anything to your particular needs at the time. Personally once I start the second drink I know I will go a long way into the night and end up no remembering half of it. So to my buddies I’m the second round guy, once I’ve ordered my second drink they know I’m going for it.

On Saturday night I found myself in one of the many retro themed cocktail bars that are cropping up around London. This time it was in the back streets of the City beyond all the noise and drunken stumbling confusion of Shoreditch high street sipping on an Exploded Vodka Martini ™ - which to you and me is Belvedere Vodka, Gancia Bianco & Hydraulic Pressure Hydrosol.

It is on this last ingredient I’d like to focus on, as it is in essence water infused with steam distilled plant material to extract their oil, and destroys the fine vodka and vermouth that it is mixed with to create a taste akin to dishwasher residue. “Beer please bartender!” Too many of those Vodka Martini’s would have definitely had me going on back home, and end up putting on Fred Flinstone outfit, grabbing my club and just hitting passer-by’s whilst I walk myself back central into the city.  Then I would be expecting the bouncers to let me into lounge bar with the rest of my mates, claiming that the outfit is one of the smartest and only clean set of clothes I have on a Saturday night. ‘Come on guys I only want to find my Welma.’ Tssstt!!!

Point made here is to stick to the basics when ordering your cocktail, mix your drinks for effect yes, but don’t try to get too fancy. And if you really knock yourself out, do it on an empty stomach and tell your group beforehand not to let you go off wondering alone…