Winning a cocktail competition ain’t easy. You need a tip top drink of course. One that looks, smells and tastes great. It helps too if it really teases out the finer points of the base spirit. A great story makes for entertainment and education. And a bit of personality from the bartender should pull the whole thing together nicely.
We got all of the above and a whole lot more from the winner of the recent Sloane’s Gin International Cocktail Competition. Taking place in Holland, home of the gin, 10 bartenders were on hand with their drinks and stories. In the judges chairs were top Dutch drinks writer Albert “Mister Cocktail” van Beeck Calkoen, Dave Marsland from The Drinks Enthusiast, along with your humble correspondents.
The competition was extremely tough with the 10 bartenders having already already seen off some 65 other competitors in the local heats, but there could only be one winner. A certain Mr Leon Dalloway from C.O.L.D. Bar London. Yes he made a great drink, complete with stout infusions and chocolate powder. He had clearly also done his homework on the gin’s inspiration Hans Sloane, whose extensive travels in the 17th century were responsible for introducing the UK to some of the botanicals that go into making gin such as Cardamon, Angelica, Orris Root and Cassia Bark. But his research took him a whole lot further as he unearthed a bit of history about Hans Sloane’s daughter Elizabeth who was, how can we put this, a bit of a character. Against her father’s wishes she married a man deemed unsuitable. Taking this as his inspiration Leon also married together an unlikely pair in the shape of gin and stout. Cue a bespoke edition of Hello magazine called Oi!, a London Street sign covered with cocoa and an accompaniment of homemade Sloane’s Gin chutney and bacon crisps. All this and more is the award-winning Hans Off My Daughter – the cocktail recipe that keeps on giving.
Check out Leon in full flow as he creates his cocktail here.
You can try Hans Off My Daughter at C.O.L.D Bar London, 22-24 Bride Lane, London, EC4Y 8DT. cityoflondondistillery.com
Hans of my Daughter
Ingredients
50ml Sloane’s Gin
5ml Chestnut liqueur
5ml Chocolate liqueur
50ml Mulled stout (mulled with juniper, vanilla, coriander seeds, orange, lemon, liquorice, cardamon),
2 Dashes Jerry Thomas bitters
5ml Honey water
1 Egg White
Method
Shake all ingredients with ice, then shake again without the ice to create a frothy texture. Serve in a chilled beer mug.
