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MEMBER’S AREA

ASTERLEY BROS COCKTAIL CLUB

Firstly, thank you so much for being a part of the Club! Each month we post exclusive content and discount codes in the Member’s Area, so please ensure you check back each time you receive the monthly box.

We wanted to create a unique Cocktail Club, different from the standard offerings out there, and so we decided to take a new approach:

• We release a new cocktail every month. It must be seasonally focussed and delicious

• We only use premium spirits in our cocktails, no cheap products to bulk up margins

• We want to champion and showcase Independent British brands in our drinks and will be highlighting products we truly believe in each month

Joe Schofield, our Creative Director, will be designing the cocktail recipes each month and Joe has won many awards over his career working in bars. Having worked at The Savoy in London, and The Tippling Club in Singapore, in July 2018, Joe was awarded one of the most prestigious honours an individual can receive in the industry; 'International Bartender of The Year' in the Tales of The Cocktail Spirited Awards. This was shortly followed by the equally as prestigious title, 'Bartender’s Bartender' at The World’s 50 Best Bars 2018. He is the first person in history to have won both awards. He is also an author, having written the definitive classic cocktail recipe book, ‘Fine & Classic Cocktails’, available on Amazon.

Naturally all these cocktails will contain our Asterley Bros products, so each drink will veer towards being either an Aperitivo (Pre-dinner / Primer) or a Digestivo (After-dinner / Finisher) drink.

Each month we release a unique cocktail with an intensely seasonal focus, to be part of our Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter collections. We want to take you on a journey through the world of seasons, flavours, spirits and serves that we love, and we want to share them with you all!

Next up…

spring COLLECTION: EPISODE 1

the tea punch

Spring is here! Finally? Can you feel it? We can feel it…

This cocktail is a bright, super clean and fragrant sipper: Rum esters with hints of botanicals, a big chunk of lime bitterness and acidity with a sweet finish as the camomile and mint cleanse the palate at the end. It’s the kind of drink that slips down real quick! You have been warned!

TO SERVE:

Okay, NO PREACHING from us this month! That’s a relief I’m sure…this one is so simple.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Keep your cocktail pouch in the fridge and then transfer to the freezer 30 mins before you are ready to drink it.

2. Take an old-fashioned glass / tumbler and fill with ice

3. Pour 100ml into your glass

4. Peel off a strip of lime zest and squeeze over the top of the glass, then drop the lime into the glass

5. DRINK!

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THE RECIPE

If you wanted to recreate this month’s recipe at later date, simply follow the steps below…

• 35ml Mad City Botanical Rum (infuse 500ml rum with 3g dried peppermint & 3g camomile flowers for 24 hours)

• 20ml SCHOFIELD’S Dry Vermouth

• 15ml Lime juice

• 15ml Sugar syrup (combine 100g hot water with 100g caster sugar and stir until dissolved. Infuse syrup with 10g lime zest for 24 hours in fridge)

• 30ml Cold brew camomile & mint tea (infuse 10g dried camomile & 10g dried peppermint in 1L cold water. Store in fridge for 24 hours, then strain)

This is a great cocktail to pre-batch by the litre and take with you to BBQs / picnics etc over the next few month. Absolutely delicious!

LIVE TASTING

We will be joined by James from Foxhole Spirits, for a live tasting on Instagram on Thursday 15th April at 7pm! See you there?

Cheers,

Rob, Jim & Joe.

THE tea (TI) punch - A social affair

This month’s cocktail is a light, elegant twist on the original Ti Punch.

Originating from Martinique and often found on the French speaking islands of the Caribbean the name comes from ‘Petit Ponch’ meaning little punch! Traditionally served as three ingredients that the guest would blend themselves: Agricole Rum, Limes and Sugar Cane Syrup. The guest would blend the drink to their liking using these three elements, served over ice and the drink itself is very similar to a caiprinha or daiquiri in it’s makeup and simplicity.

Our version plays with the botanical elements of the Mad City rum and enhances the bouquet with the delicate notes of camomile and peppermint. The perfect sipper for a Spring afternoon aperitif!

this month’s INDEPENDENT BRAND PARTNER

SPRING COLLECTION, EPISODE 1: MAD CITY BOTANICAL RUM

Each month we aim to showcase one of the independent brands that we love and have used to create the cocktail of the month.

This month its the the turn of Mad City, a fascinating rum to emerge from the new and burgeoning category of ‘botanical’ rums.

Made by Foxhole Spirits, the team behind HYKE gin (another favourite of ours!) this is a truly unique rum with a real sense of purpose.

the process

Botanical rum is a really exciting category which is ever growing and evolving, but as yet there’s no definitive answer to the question ‘What is botanical rum?.’  You’ll find spiced rums, dark rums and white rums all labelled as ‘botanical rum’. To apply a common denominator, you could say that it is rum which is infused or distilled in the presence of botanicals. However, what makes Mad City unique is the way it’s made.

Keeping in line with the Foxhole Spirits mission to utilise surplus ingredients, this expression was made specifically with molasses-based rums (as molasses is a by-product of the sugar industry). The rums come from Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Guyana and Barbados, and the blend is infused and distilled with a selection of 25 botanicals in England. Picked to enhance the flavour profile of the rum itself rather than to flavour the spirit, and sustainably sourced where possible, the botanical list includes some incredibly aromatic and interesting profiles:

Botanicals: Coffee, Coconut, Papaya, Cherry, Lime Peel, Sweet Orange, Bitter Orange, Rosemary, Coriander Seed, Allspice, Cassia Bark, Green Cardamom, Black Cardamom, Cloves, Nutmeg, Vanilla Pods, Cacao Nibs, Ginger Root, Tonka Bean, Molasses, Liquorice Root, Lapsang Souchong, Cubeb, Hibiscus Tea, Vetiver Root.

MAD CITY BOTANICAL RUM

TASTING NOTES

NOSE  

Subtle rum aroma with notes of coconut flesh & papaya

PALATE

Soft mocha with citrus and tropical fruits on the palate, with hints of vanilla, warm spices and pecan nuts

FINISH

Cassia and cardamom spiciness, balanced by zingy burst of lime and orange

perfect serve

MAD CITY & BLACK TEA

50ml MAD CITY

100ml TWO KEYS BLACK TEA MIXER

Build over ice and garnish with a wedge of lime

IT’S…*FAINT DRUMROLL*………MYSTERY AMARO TIME!

We at Asterley Bros absolutely love the mysterious world of Amaro. It’s a subject very close to our hearts and we have been making both Italian and English Amari* now for the next part of a decade. So we thought we would take the time to introduce some of our favourites to our Club Members!

BACKGROUND

Amaro is the Italian word for ‘bitter’ and Amaro is a hugely popular category of Italian Digestivo liqueurs, usually consumed after a meal to aid digestion. Bittersweet, with a heady mix of herbaceous, medicinal, bitter, aromatic & floral notes, Amari are very much an expression of terroir. The botanicals and flavours found in Amari are hyper-reflective of the regions in which they are made, using locally grown fruits, herbs and botanicals to create complex and layered bitter liqueurs. Campari, Aperol, Cynar and Fernet Branca are all examples of types of Amaro.

*Amari is the plural of the singular Amaro…

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Our Mystery Amaro this month is:

stambecco amaro - 35% ABV

THE HISTORY:

Okay, so normally this ‘history’ section is peppered with family references of great-great-grandfathers, mysterious monks, top-secret botanicals and family history dating back 200 years… This amaro is a little different in that it is one of the new wave of modern amari (much like Asterley Bros in that regard!).

Stambecco Amaro was released in 2020 by Biggar & Leith (who also created Malfy Gin & The Hotel Starlino range of Vermouths) and is produced by the Vergnano family distillery, Torino Distillati in Piedmonte, North-Eastern Italy. Master Distiller, Beppe Ronco, creates the the amaro by infusing herbs and spices including sweet and bitter oranges, coriander seeds, marjoram, oregano, wormwood, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg with the unique addition of maraschino cherries. At 35% ABV, Stambecco at the ‘punchier’ end of the amaro spectrum and has a lovely, bright and rich cherry / almond nose and a delicate bitter finish.

TO SERVE:

Very simply: pour 25ml over a couple of cubes of ice, swirl around the glass a couple of times, and sip slowly.

Alternatively it works really well with a light tonic or soda over ice as a lovely aperitivo, as well going well in cocktails. We also really like it with a light ginger ale and a slice of orange

TASTING NOTES:

NOSE: Bright citrus notes with underlying spices of cinnamon and cardamom layered with cherry

PALATE: Medium rich and medium sweet on the palate, with subtle bitter notes. Smooth, fruity and rounded.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

MEMBERS ONLY DISCOUNT CODE

As a member of the Asterley Bros Cocktail Club you also get 15% discount from any online purchase in our store - Use Code ABCC15 at checkout

View Previous Months: March 2021 | February 2021 | January 2021 | December 2020 | November 2020 | October 2020 | September 2020 | August 2020 | July 2020

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