The Wild Drink Blog

Just got back from an exhausting couple of days spent in two cities, both new to me. On Saturday I drove through a Cornish blizzard (light snow storm) to Urban Beach Hotel in Bournemouth, I was doing training with Jimmy and his bartenders on the Monday but we met up a day before to travel down to Brighton together for the vodka leg of the Reserve Brands World Class Bartender competition.

The drive from Brighton to Bournemouth was a blog post in itself, with Chad (from Reserve Brands) at the helm of the trusty minibus (how he got the deposit back I will never know!) and the booze flowing like water. What with all the snow about an obligatory snowman stop was required, closely followed by a snowball fight, a large camera acted as my target insurance!

On to Brighton and we arrived slightly the worse for ware.

The competition was being held at the well renowned Pintxo People. 24 hours previously I had not really planned on competing but Chad twisted my arm and I came up with a last minute cocktail. As I already said, the competition was vodka based, specifically Smirnoff Black No. 55 and Circoc. I quickly put together a drink based around Russian ‘Borsch soup’, using beetroot juice, rosemary and sweet chilli sauce. I was really quite pleased with the aptly named ‘Borsch’d Together’ for only 24 hours work and though I didn’t place top 3 the judges did take time to tell me they really enjoyed my drink.

A booze fueled journey back to Bournemouth and a night in one of the bloody lovely rooms at Urban Beach.. if you’re staying in Bournemouth I find it hard to believe you’ll find anywhere as nice as this for the price.

The training on Monday involved a morning of barista skills followed by an afternoon of cocktail training and a mini competition using random ingredients pulled out of a hat.

We cupped a couple of nice coffees, one of them a Daterra from Dorset coffee and I think the guys went away with a greater love and respect for coffee as a raw product, then lunch was mainly taken up with YouTube latte art videos..! The espresso was flowing and the hangover was gorwing but the training was paying off as the passion and enthusiasm for good quality espresso was taken on board. I do find it hard coaching latte art as it’s one of those things a bit like swimming, you find it impossible until one day you just ‘get it’ and suddenly you can make patterns, it’s then just a case of getting better.

So on to the afternoon and Jimmy had collected a box of weird and wonderful ingredients for us to play with, including honeybush tea, raspberry and lovage syrup, hibiscus juice/cordial and banana and garlic chutney. The idea was for the staff to pick an ingredient out of a hat then make a drink based around it, not an easy task on the spot but the results were impressive.

Ones that I can remember which really stuck out were a pineapple drink with preserved geen pepper corns… sunflower tea with tanqueray, elderflower and mint… Jimmy’s hibiscus drink with sugar cane juice, tanqueray 10 and grapes… Danielski’s honeybush tea drink with a honey rim.

I hope you guys enjoyed the training, I certainly thought we had a good time and I look forward to my next trip to Bournemouth (never thought i’d say that) or seeing you in Cornwall.

PS. Flattered that you guys are using the homemade cola!