‘Primavera’

As I introduce you to the drinks on my menu post by post you will see that they are relatively simple creations. A homemade syrup, infusion or liqueur here and there, but nothing especially complicated.

The two reasons for this being:

A. The place i have found myself in has scarcely experimented beyond Classic cocktails. To give you some idea, Elderflower as an ingredient is considered innovative. So, I had to be wary of scaring people off with ingredients they’d never heard of. At the end of the day, I had to create drinks that sell.People don’t generally spend money on something that they don’t understand.

B. The bar I have been working in, Bar en Bois (Literally ‘Wooden Bar’) also acts as a service bar to the restaurant of Le Colomba, which can seat over 100 people. Being the only Barman, I needed simple drinks that I could bash out all night. (Mis en place, Mis en place, Mis en place!!!!)

My cocktail ‘Primavera’ was, along with ‘La Pasqua’ among my first experiments with Corsican products. I did a very simple infusion of Corsican Thyme, a sprig of fresh thyme being left to macerate in a bottle of vodka for 3 days before fine straining into a clean bottle.

1155497985-c%E9drat%20CORSICA.jpg

To pair with the thyme I used a Cedrat liqueur from the Mavela Distillery. Cedrat (Citron in English) ,is one of the 4 original citrus species, from which all other varieties that we  know today have been produced by hybridisation. The original 4 being: Citron, Pomelo, Mandarin and some Papedas (Kaffir lime being one) .  I can only describe Cedrat as a lemon on steroids. It’s huge, bigger than a grapefruit, has a thick skin, and is basically inedible in its natural fruit form. However, for generations people have candied the skin to produce Fruit confit. Traditionally Corsica was the worlds leading supplier of Cedrat for this purpose.

Historian Laurence Pinelli explains:
“Cedrat was a source of considerable wealth for Corsica. It shaped the landscape, added a great deal to our culinary heritage and boosted the island’s economy considerably.”

…Thanks wikipedia.

So, the Cedrat liqueur is  important, both to Corsica, and to my drink. The delicate floral elements not too much unlike Kaffir lime, pairing magnificently with the Thyme. The name ‘Primavera’, Italian for Spring represents the fresh, vibrant flavours of this drink. ‘Primavera’ is also the name of the little boat that bought me to this beautiful island.

‘Primavera’

40ml Thyme infused vodka
25ml Liqueur de Cedrat (Distillerie Mavela)
20ml Fresh Lemon Juice
20ml Sugar Syrup

Shaken and served on crushed ice.
Garnished with a lemon twist and a sprig of fresh thyme.

Another VERY simple drink, but a drink that I have  made hundreds of times this summer.

Salude!

‘Monteverde’

Another travel inspired drink, which appeared on my menu at Le Colomba pretty early and has remained one of the biggest selling cocktails this summer, ‘Monteverde’.
I wanted a drink with a tropical feel to it, so i drew inspiration from my time in Costa Rica 8yrs ago. My memories being the hot, dark rainforests of the beautiful Monteverde region.

La Fortuna Waterfall

Capuchin Monkeys

Monteverde Forest

My base spirit of choice for this drink was Centenario 9yr old Costa Rican Rum, with notes of vanilla and dark fruits, it was the perfect choice of rum for this drink. Next, Creme de Mure (Blackberry Liqueur), the dark forest fruits pairing wonderfully with the rich rum.
I then added Suze, a Swiss (not very tropical i know!) aromatic bitter aperitif made with the roots of the gentian plant. The wonderful bitterness of the Suze and unusual flavour of the gentian adds a layer of complexity and length to the drink.   A little pineapple juice, lime juice, sugar and Angostura bitters complete the tropical vision in traditional style.

‘Monteverde’

‘Monteverde’

35ml Centenario 9yr
20ml Creme de Mure
15ml Suze
20ml Lime Juice
15ml Sugar Syrup
25ml Pineapple Juice
2 Dashes of Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Shaken, and double strained over cubed ice in an Old Fashioned glass. Garnished with 2 Blackberries and a Physalis.

I will have a lot more to add to this blog in the next few weeks, including a TV appearance and a visit to Domaine Mavela, the biggest distillery in Corsica! Lots of exciting things coming up!

‘La Dolce Vita’

As you can probably imagine, travel inspires me a lot when i’m creating my drinks, ‘La Dolce Vita’ was the first cocktail to appear on my menu at Le Colomba and is a homage to my time in Italy before i arrived in Corsica.

It’s an adaptation of a drink that I made at one of my first competitions back in the UK, and for me, is the taste of Italy. It’s fresh, complex, with a marriage of iconic Italian liqueurs, and Campari providing a wonderful bitter backdrop to the sweetness of the Abricot.

Photo by Matt Pollard Photography

‘La Dolce Vita’

25ml Stolichnaya Vodka
20ml Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
20ml Disaronno Amaretto
15ml Campari
20ml Fresh Lemon Juice
20ml Sugar Syrup
35ml High Quality Apricot Juice

Season review

The tourist season has finished here in Corsica and I’ve finally found time to write another post. Apparently by usual standards this year was quite a quiet one, however along with trying to produce a liqueur, organising Corsica’s first cocktail competition and a TV appearance it has kept me busy!

So after a month or so, my menu at Le Colomba began to take shape, a new cocktail being added as I created them. Sometimes it was one per week, other times I would have a crazy creative spell and 3 would pop up in a day!

Throughout the summer, drinks that didn’t sell were gradually replaced until I finally had a menu that I was satisfied with. Over the next few weeks I will post some details about the drinks on my menu. Before I do so I will tell you a little about Bastia as a city and what the bar scene is like here, hopefully that will give some kind of context to my menu.

Bastia is a city of 40,000ish people, situated on the east coast of Corsica in the north of the island. It is the 2^nd biggest city on the island after Ajaccio. It is built on steep hillsides centered around the two ports. The Old Port is the original port of Bastia and where I arrived from Italy on Primavera some 5 months ago. It is also the location of Brasserie Le Colomba. The new port is where the large ferries from Italy and mainland France arrive. It is hardly picturesque and is home to some very seedy nightclubs.
Being in the north of the island, tourists don’t generally stay here for long, most of the tourist sights are down south, the generally more beautiful half of the island. They arrive on the ferry, stay here for a night or two and then move on. Bastia might also be known by football fans, they have a team in the French Serie 1, finishing 10^th last year and currently sitting at more or less the same place this year. It is known in France as a difficult place to come to play, forget ‘The Beautiful Game’, these guys play hard. The Stoke City of the French league perhaps.

The Bar scene in Bastia is basic to say the least. Most bars are pretty much the same as each other, very few opting to do anything different. Most have similar wine , beer and spirit selections. As far as cocktails are concerned, I know of 2 bars in Bastia (other than Le Colomba) which have started to make their own creations, which is great to see. The other places don’t really serve anything beyond Mojito variations.
So, the average consumer in Bastia is not really accustomed to seeing anything innovative on a bars menu. The most commonly ordered drinks being Wine, anything with vodka, the horrible Mint flavoured liqueur called Get27 served with sparkling water and of course beer. As I said in a previous post, the gin craze hasn’t even made it to Corsica and G&Ts rarely ordered. So when I started work at Le Colomba, one of the first things I did was to put together a small gin selection to improve on the 1 gin behind the bar. Hendricks, Gin Mare, G’Vine, and The Botanist being my first additions to the Le Colomba bar.

Next post coming soon will start the run down of the cocktails on my menu… I promise you won’t have to wait this long for a post again.