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MEMBER’S AREA

autumn COLLECTION: EPISODE 3

C&C XO.

Created by our Creative Director, Joe Schofield, we are ending the year on a deliciously indulgent digestivo: Our C&C. This is a new creation, a kind of cross between a B&B, with a touch of Espresso Martini thrown in for good measure! Coffee liqueur & cacao are blended with cold brew coffee, given a touch of bitterness with our London Fernet, and body & richness from the XO brandy.

SEVEN TAILS XO BRANDY

ASTERLEY BROS BRITANNICA FERNET

ALGEBRA COFFEE LIQUEUR

BALANCE COFFEE COLD BREW

BRIOTTET CREME DE CACAO

The garnish this month is that stone cold English Xmas classic…an After Eight! YES! Sip on the drink & nibble on the ‘eight’. Beautiful!

All you need to do is:

1. Keep your martini / coupe / nick & nora / small wine glass in the freezer for at least an hour

2. Keep your cocktail pouch in the fridge and transfer to the freezer 30-40 mins before you are ready to drink it

3. Pour 100ml into your frozen glass

4. DRINK THE DRINK. EAT THE AFTER EIGHT.

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We were also joined the one of the founders of Seven Tails XO, Joel Fraser, for a live tasting on Instagram live on the 22nd December. Please see the IGTV video below!

Cheers,

Rob, Jim & Joe.

SO what IS A C&C cocktail?

The C&C (Coffee & Cacao) is our twist on the classic cocktail, the B&B (Brandy & Benedictine). A super delicious and incredibly simple cocktail to make, the B&B is simply equal parts Brandy & Benedictine, stirred together and sipped either with, or without ice. What could be simpler? An absolutely classic digestif cocktail.

Our C&C takes that brief, continues with the Brandy base, combined with a sweet and aromatic liqueur, but lightens it with a touch of cold brew coffee for dilution, and adds Fernet for bitterness and depth.

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SERVING NOTES

SERVE COLD

1. Please ensure the liquid is cold when pouring, ideally -10C (at least 30-40 minutes in the freezer)

2. Freeze your glass to make sure your drinks stays perfectly chilled as you drink it

OUR INDEPENDENT BRAND PARTNERS

EPISODE 6: SEVEN TAILS

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 Seven Tails Brandy, a truly innovative brandy that has just launched in the last year. Founded by Joel Fraser and Arnaud de Trabuc, it is unique in the world of brandies and aims to defy convention and disrupt the category.

Seven Tails brandy is a blend of three types of brandy: Cognac, Armagnac and 'French brandy'. The idea of blending these different brandy categories is revelatory, and completely shaking up the somewhat ‘staid’ brandy category. The blend is then rested and married in Port casks, again a method that the closely controlled Armagnac and Cognac categories are simply not allowed to do, and this imparts even more fruitiness to the spirit. The guys behind the brand crafted the brandy to be used and experimented with in fun cocktails, to be an approachable XO brandy and to be a favourite ‘go to’ behind the bar.

Seven Tails received 93/100 points in the 2019 Ultimate Spirits challenge, with the judges praising its flavours: "Racy notes of fresh grape, dark chocolate and sandalwood are framed by rich berry fruit in this brandy's beguiling nose. The palate carries refined flavours of toasted pecan, marzipan, vanilla cake and a hint of savoury mushroom broth".

TASTING NOTES

NOSE: Praline, dried fig and toasted vanilla, with a touch of fruitcake

PALATE: Creamy walnut, almond and a hint of savoury umami, with lingering Black Forest gateau and spice on the finish

Perfect Serve: The Fox’s Tail

50ml Seven Tails XO

100ml London Essence Ginger Ale

Build over ice and garnish with a wedge of lime

If you like this brandy as much as we do, you can buy a bottle from the online store (you’ll find a link and 15% discount code below).

MEMBERS ONLY - DISCOUNT CODES

Get 15% of all online purchases - Use code ABCC15 at checkout

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

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!

A little 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 (the plural for Amaro) 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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The third Cocktail Club Mystery Amaro (#005) is:

AMARO AVERNA - 29% ABV

THE HISTORY:

Founded by Salvatore Averna in Caltanissetta, Sicily, Averna was first launched in 1858! The recipe was developed by monks on the island and eventually gifted to Salvatore, he began to produce it and over the years it gained in popularity before becoming a national icon towards the end of the 20th century. Now part of the Campari stable, bought from the family in 2014 (for 103M Euros, to be precise!), amaro Averna is one of the most popular Italian bitter digestivi and since the 1990s it has found a growing appreciation worldwide. Averna is made from a secret infusion (obviously!) of Mediterranean herbs, spices, and fruits including orange, lemon & pomegranate along with myrrh, mint, rosemary, juniper, yarrow and sweetened with caramel.

TO SERVE:

Pour 25ml into a tumbler with a single cube of ice

If you would like a longer aperitivo drink, add more ice and 75ml tonic to lengthen it, but it also works really well in a Caffe Corretto (Coffee + Amaro). A great alternative to the Irish coffee this Xmas.

TASTING NOTES:

Averna is delicately bitter, but rich and rounded with underlying liquorice, cocoa, orange & caramel notes. It is sweeter than some Amari and you will note hints of anise, citrus, myrtle, rosemary, and sage on the palate with a touch of myrrh and juniper on the finish.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

XMAS BONUS!

We couldn’t send a December cocktail without a little Xmas bonus, so you will find a pouch of the delicious Wardington’s Triplecello inside your box this month too, along with a few serving suggestions! For more info on the Triplecello, take a look here.

Made by the talented team behind Ludlow Gin, this is a super delicious, fragrant and aromatic citrus liqueur made in the Shropshire hills. A great digestivo for Xmas period, great in a spritz, or perhaps poured over a little sorbet? Glorious. Happy Xmas x

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