National Rum Day – 16th August

So there was an ulterior motive with my Rum Punch recipe I shared on Friday (admittedly with some tedious email issues…oooops).   Yes folks, today, Sunday 16th August is National Rum Day!!!  One of my favvy days of the year…after St Pirans Day obviously.

Today is all about celebrating the one drink that stands head and shoulders above all else in the party stakes.  Love it or hate it, its the only drink that is synonymous with fun!!  It is so diverse that for those that say “I don’t like Rum” simply means they haven’t found their way to enjoy it yet.

Go on…Celebrate National Rum Day

 

I love it all ways.  Neat, as a Mai Tai, as a Dark and Stormy, as a Mojito, as a Daiquiri…and as a Rum Punch!!

So make this afternoon a fun afternoon and crack on with your favourite recipe.

To help you on your way, here are a few simple ideas that you can quickly and easily knock up at home!

 

Rum Punch

See my recipe here

 

Mojito

• 50ml Rum of choice (Brugal or Havana 3yo for example)
• Half a fresh Lime cut into Wedges
• 15ml Sugar Syrup
• 12 Mint Leaves
• Sparkling Water

Watch my Mojito Video here

Dark and Stormy

• 50ml Rum (anything goes from Lambs to Kraken Spiced Rum!!)
• 2 Lime Wedges
• Old Jamaica Ginger Beer (its the Best for this by a mile!)
• Angostura Bitters

Use a tall glass, add the Ingredients over plenty of Ice

 

Daiquiri

• 50ml Light Rum (Brugal or Havana 3yo for example)
• 25ml fresh Lime Juice (juice of 1 lime)
• 15ml Sugar Syrup
• 15ml Chilled Water

Shake all the ingredients and double strain into a Martini Glass
You can even add fresh fruit like Strawberry to the mix

 

Cuba Libre

• 50ml Rum (The whole point is Cuban Rum like Bacardi…but don’t be shy to use Havana 3yo/Brugal
• 2 Lime Wedges
• Coke

Use a Tall glass, add the ingredients over plenty of Ice

 

Pina Colada

• 25ml Light Rum
• 25ml Malibu
• 2 Lime Wedges
• 50ml Pineapple juice
• 50ml Coconut Cream

Combine all of the ingredients into a shaker with Ice and shake the hell out of it for 12 seconds!

Dark and Stormy

 

There you go folks. There’s 6 very simple Rum Cocktails you can get your lips around today! There are plenty of others too. This list could be endless.

Have a great National Rum Day.  I’ll see you on the other side…

Rum Punch

So here it is, my first proper weekly Cocktail Recipe, direct to your inbox!!  I’m gonna start rolling these out Every Friday with the specific intention of making them easy enough for you to understand and make at home. And for you to be able to source all the ingredients at the same time as your weekly shop from your local Supermarket. No more need to default to the Pimms and Lemonade for your Saturday afternoon BBQs!

The Rum Punch is the ultimate Party Drink. And one of my favourites as I love all things Tiki. Kind of fits with my personality and shirt collection! Tropical, Sweet, Colourful and instantly puts a smile on your face.

At a young Bartending age, I was taught this very simple Formula that you can use to make any kind of Punch! Whether that’s Rum, Vodka, Brandy or Whiskey!

Its the 1, 2, 3, 4 Rule

If you break your Cocktail up into 10 parts, you can follow the simple formula and I guarantee you can make an amazing Punch every time…whether that’s individual punches, in a jug, or in a giant fish bowl to create that central masterpiece at your next party. But how does it work?

• 1, is 1 part Sour. So Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit etc
• 2, is 2 parts Sweet. Mainly your Sugar Syrups in the booze aisle (Grenadine, Sugar) or syrups like Vanilla, Almond/Orgeat, Caramel in the Coffee aisle. Or even posh cordials like Elderflower and Ginger in the drinks aisle.
• 3, is 3 parts Strong. Your Rums, Vodka’s etc
• 4. is 4 parts Weak. Juices, Lemonade, Ginger Beer etc

You also have what I call ‘Crossover’ Spirits…Liqueurs. Supermarkets now sell fruity liqueurs like Strawberry, Raspberry, Cassis…heck even Peach, Banana & Lychee these days! Plus there’s liqueurs Llike Passoa, Midori, Tia Maria, Archers etc. They’re not as strong (about 15-25% abv).  So you could in fact use 2 parts Rum and 1 part Banana!

Now you’ve got the inside track, here’s my tried and tested Rum Punch Recipe…

StBs Rum Punch!

Steve the Barman’s Rum Punch

 

3x nice and juicy Lime Wedges
15ml Grenadine
15ml Orgeat Syrup
50ml Kraken Black Spiced Rum
25ml Strawberry Liqueur
50ml Tropicana Orange Juice
50ml Tropicana Pineapple Juice

Just a side note to this, firstly on Thirsty’s Bars, I use Old J Spiced Rum. I love it.  It’s the old Sailor Jerry we all use to love back in 2009 before they changed the recipe. And as for the Juices, I use a Brand called Eager. The important thing to take away is, don’t compromise! I purposely listed Tropicana as they are the best 100% pressed and squeezed juices you can get from a supermarket. DON’T SKIMP. Don’t go down the Concentrate Juice route as most Bars would do, just to save a few pennies. You have to appreciate, if you want to drink something, you want it to taste as good as it can do. So spend that extra 50p/£1 on real juice. I promise you, you will taste the difference.

So there you have it.  Thats my own personal recipe. But the combinations are endless. Just follow that 1,2,3,4 formula and get cracking!

 

Tell you what I’ll also do.  There’s a FREE Cocktail Kit up for Grabs!

To win, upload a piccy of yourself enjoying your own Punch creation, to either Facebook or Twitter and use the Hashtag #StBRumPunch. You have until 8pm on August 31st, 2015.

Win our very own Cocktail Kit

 

 

 

 

 

Can a Cocktail Recipe be wrong?!

A few weeks ago, I published my recipe for MY version of the Porn Star Martini.  Its a tried and tested recipe that I’ve used for the last 3 years, simply because you guys love it.  As in Absolutely LOVE it.

Steve the Barman’s Porn Star Martini

However it drew some amusing comments from other bartenders and bars about how it wasn’t the proper recipe…

Now granted, its not exactly the same recipe that legend Douglas Ankrah created way back in 2002. However when you read his recipe, it is in essence just a Vanilla and Passion Fruit Martini served with a shot of Prosecco. When you look at my recipe, my take on the Porn Star Martini is again, a Vanilla and Passion Fruit Martini…and in actual fact, not wildly different at all.

So this begs the question;
Can a Cocktail Recipe be wrong?

As most of you reading this know, I’ve been behind the Bar for 20 years now.  I’d say that’s a shed load of experience.

But am I the best Bartender out there? Am I the Authority on Cocktails?
No.

I can’t claim to be, as I never really got involved in Cocktail Competitions during my youth. Nor do I wish to be. I never had the ego to want to be the best.  Instead, I chose a different route. I dedicated my career to making the tastiest drinks I could possibly make, that my type of customers would actually order and want to drink….not just once to try it, but over, and over….and over again!

You see in Bartending, there is no right or wrong recipe. There is no one individual or organisation who can say that’s right or wrong.  Take the humble Sex on the Beach for example. A quick Google search results in 3 equally as tasty recipes, all from 3 leading UK Bar Chains. Which one of them has the correct recipe?  And is the correct recipe tastier than the other 2?  Also the amazing Espresso Martini has a different recipe in every bar you walk in to. The ONLY people that can judge that, are the actual customers buying the drinks.

The same can be said the same about Cooking. When researching this Blog post, in 2 minutes I found 6 different Roast Chicken recipes and 3 different Lasagne recipes. Which one of those is correct?!

Over my 20 years or Bartending…16 of which have been out and out Cocktails…I’ve recreated a lot of popular Recipes and put my own twist on them, using the ingredients I could easily get from my Suppliers.

Over the last 2 years though, I’ve discovered a new passion, a new USP.  I love to share recipes that you guys can make at home, by using ingredients that are readily available from your local Supermarket.

And while Thirst First’s Cocktail menu for Events is a tad different…there’s lots of weird and wonderful using some really cool brands…Steve the Barman’s personal Menu is all about the Supermarkets, simply because you guys don’t have access to a hell of a lot of products that us pros do.  I want you guys to be able to go away and make tasty drinks for yourselves. I want you guys to have more imagination than just defaulting to Pimms and Lemonade at your Saturday Afternoon BBQs. By taking great Cocktails and flipping up the recipes to make them more accessible to you guys, well, there’s nothing wrong with that…is there?!

Starting this Friday (14th August), I will be sharing amazing recipes each week, that you guys can make for yourselves at home.  Everything from very simple serves, right through to the more in-depth Cocktails. However, they will always have the common theme and will use ingredients that you can purchase from the big 3… Tesco’s, Sainsburys and Waitrose.

 

To get these delivered direct to your inbox every Friday, simply fill in this form below…

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The Porn Star Martini

If there’s gonna be one Cocktail Steve the Barman is gonna be remembered for, guaranteed it’s gonna be his version of the Porn Star Martini!

It is one of the most simplest cocktails I make, but it gets the same reaction every time I make it.  It always follows the same form too.  I make one. Then I make another 2. Then before you know it, we’re a bottle of Vanilla Vodka down!

I personally never serve it with the shot of Prosecco, as I believe it adds nothing what so ever with the finished cocktail. The cocktail speaks for itself. But each to their own.

At first glance, you’d be excused if you thought that the orders of this were dominated by the female species, however I have to tell you, even the manliest of men order this in their droves!
Its easiest of Cocktails to make and all of the ingredients can be sourced from a local supermarket. Here’s the recipe;

25ml Stolichnaya Vanil Vodka*
25ml Galliano
15ml Monin Vanilla Syrup
1x Lime Wedge
75ml Rubicon Passion Fruit

Add all the ingredients to a Cocktail Shaker with plenty of Ice and shake for 10/15 seconds.
Double strain into a Martini Glass.
Garnish with a Passion Fruit Wedge.

 

So there you go, my secret is out! That’s how you make my amazing Porn Star Martini. My only hope is that I’m there to make it for you at your next event!

(*a good substitute would be Absolut Vanilia)