Gin 'Chai Tea' Sour Ft Portobello Road Gin

If you've read my previous post, you'll know a little bit about why I ended up at The Distillery on Portobello Road, serving up a signature cocktail in front of seven other finalists and the team at I Love Gin...not to mention a camera, recording my every slip-up...of which there were many. 

If you haven't yet read it, I wont take it too personally, but should you wish to take a peek, check it out here. I'll pause for a minute for you to skim it over quickly....

Ok, so now we are all caught up, we can get back to the subject matter at hand, my cocktail presentation. 

So, initially my thoughts turned to coastal flavours, to draw on the fact that I live on the South Coast of Engand...flavours such as sea salt and seaweed were ones I played about with, mixed with a tonic and plenty of citrus. But something just wasn't quite right and more importantly, it didn't really represent either me wholeheartedly enough. Back to the drawing board. 

Now, for those of you who follow my insta, you will know that a couple of weeks ago, I lost someone very dear to me. My grandfather. Yes, yes, I know this is screaming 'X Factor sob story'...

Anyhoo, my second, and ultimately 'signature' cocktail, paid homage to this fantastic man by incorporating something he had a great passion for...tea. I have wonderful memories of wandering into Grandpa Davids kitchen, and seeing his array of beautifully decorative tins of loose leaf tea in a variety of flavours. The man knew his teas and favoured a tropical flavour toward the end. Now, I am not personally the biggest fan of overly fruity teas (sorry Grandpa), but instead, drew inspiration from the Gin itself which boasts botanicals such as nutmeg, liquorice root and cassia bark. These strong flavours lent themselves perfectly to pairings with Earl Grey (from which I concocted a beautiful earl grey, lemon and saffron cocktail which I will share with you very soon) but better yet, Chai Tea. 

Base ingredients selected, it was then a case of constructing a cocktail, for which I went straight to a firm favourite of mine...a gin sour. So, with no further ado, here is my recipe for a Chai Tea infused Gin Sour, henceforth to be known as the David White. 

Ingredients:

Portobello Road Gin

Lemons

1 Cup water

1 Cup Sugar

Chai Tea Bags

1 Egg

Angostura Bitters

Cinnamon and Star Anise to garnish. 

Method:

To make your sugar syrup, combine equal measures of sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. When mixture bubbles take off the boil and leave to cool, adding two tea bags to the mixture to infuse. Leave for 4 hours and then strain the mixture to remove all 'bits' which may have escaped from the tea bags. Pour your infused sugar syrup into a bottle or jug ready for use. 

Next its time to prep your lemons and egg. Juice your lemon, ensuring you have at least 25ml of fresh lemon juice. Crack your egg and separate yolk from white, discarding the yolk and shell. 

Serve:

Into a cocktail shaker, add ice and the following measures of ingredients, shake well until creamy, double sieve into an ice-filled glass or teacup and serve with a dash of cinnamon and a star anise to really bring those flavours out of both the Gin and the tea;

2 shots Portobello Road Gin

1 shot Lemon Juice

1/2 shot Infused Sugar Syrup

1/2 Fresh Egg White

3 dashes Angostura Bitters

Gintern Finals with ILoveGin.com

So, last year I applied, on a whim, for the dream job (well, MY dream job more specifically) ... along with 5000 other hopefuls. Three intense rounds later and i'm down to the final eight candidates! to say I am proud of making it this far, would be an understatement, but lets be honest, no one wants to get this far and not win... we are all thinking it, all eight of us. Every one of us hungry for the end goal...the internship of a lifetime. I count myself blessed to have made it this far...10% talent and 90% sheer dumb luck to be perfectly honest! I have enjoyed every second of the journey and if I make it no further, I will be no less proud of my accomplishment (cringe).

Yesterday marked the final challenge on the road to Ginternship; The Ginterview!

ILoveGin.com had pulled out all the stops in arranging this final stage and revealed the location of the interviews to be The Distillery at Portobello Road, home of Portobello Road Gin. 

I have to be honest, my arrival in London was far from graceful, having woken at 4.30am to leave home by car at 5.30, I foolishly assumed that 4.5 hours to make a 2.5 hour journey would suffice, how wrong I was. Murphy's Law 'aint got nothing on yesterday morning, lets just say that! I burst, sweating and panting, through the door of The Distillery in the nick of time, having run across what felt like the majority of London...to be greeted by the team at ILoveGin and the other finalists (all looking decidedly less sweaty and stressed than myself). Not the best start I grant you. 

Stage One:

So for this stage we had been asked to prepare a pitch, including questions, for the team at Portobello Road Gin. Selling them on the idea of signing on with ILoveGin and at the same time, ascertaining their suitability as a prospective brand partnership. I'd prepared a few notes and dutifully met with the Brand Ambassador - Paul Gillan - to chat....made somewhat more nerve wracking by the presence of one of the ILG team, quietly note-taking in the corner. Selling someone on a company partnership - no problem! Selling someone on a company partnership whilst representative from said company is in the room assessing you....whole different story!

Stage Two: 

The cocktail/signature serve round!

A couple of weeks prior to yesterday, we had been asked to prepare a signature serve to present on the day, with some semblance of reasoning as to why...a back story or basis to the serve we were presenting, if you will. 

I wont go into the umming and ahhhing which preceded my eventual decision, but needless to say it involved a fair amount of research based G&T's! (I'd like to take a moment to thank my good friend James here, who selflessly joined me on my quest to find the perfect pairing, despite nearing death-by-man-flu)...I toyed with the idea of a salt and seaweed based G&T on the basis that I am from a coastal part of the UK. However, I eventually settled on one of my original ideas which was to involve tea. Now, after a couple of (rather delicious) attempts with Earl Grey, I headed on to the spicier notes of Chai, which paired beautifully with the botanicals of Portobello Road. My reasoning behind the involvement of tea, is as a nod to my incredible Grandfather who unfortunately passed away only two weeks ago. I have wonderfully fond memories of his love of tea, and his kitchen filled with beautifully decorative tins of loose leaf tea in a multitude of flavours. So, thank you Grandpa David, you're my inspiration in so many different ways. Sleep well old man. 

I will follow this blog post up with a recipe post detailing my final cocktail so definitely check that out if you're intrigued (or bored) enough to find out what I presented. But for now, here's a sneak peek. 

I have to take a second to raise a glass to my fellow competitors who seriously wowed me with their Gin creations. Everything from chilli G&T's to magical colour changing cocktails! 

Interview and signature serve completed, the awesome team at ILoveGin had a little treat for us up their metaphorical sleeves. 

Not only a complete gin-crafting lesson from the folk at Portobello Road Gin, including nosing and tasting of botanicals at their incredible 'Ginstitute' .... but the opportunity to then use this information, and create our very own 70cl bottle of gin infused with our very own unique blend of botanicals. 

I feel so privileged and grateful to have been part of this entire experience. Thank you so much to the team at ILoveGin.Com, Paul and the team at Portobello Road Gin, and of course, my fellow finalists. 

Win or lose, its been one hell of a ride. 

For more information on the 'Ginstitute' at Portobello Road, click HERE

For more information on ILoveGin click HERE