MEMBER’S AREA

WATERMELON COSMO

**SUMMER COLLECTION: EPISODE 1**
- BOATYARD DISTILLERY VODKA
- ASTERLEY BROS DISPENSE AMARO
- CRANBERRY JUICE
- WATERMELON LIQUEUR

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…

SUMMER COLLECTION: EPISODE 1

the WATERMELON COSMO

Ah, the late 90’s! Remember them? Heady days for sure, and we’re bringing them back with a bang with our Watermelon Cosmo.

An update to the classic Cosmopolitan, we use Boatyard Distillery’s ‘grain to glass’ Vodka, our Dispense Amaro, Orange Bitters and Watermelon Liqueur to make the juiciest Summer Cosmo you’ve had since Carrie met Big for the first time.

Bright, super-drinkable and rich with melon aromatics. Garnish this one with flaming orange zest and get your Manolos on the dancefloor!

TO SERVE:

INSTRUCTIONS:

Keep your cocktail pouch in the fridge and then transfer to the freezer 30 mins before you are ready to drink it.
Take a martini glass / coupe / small wine glass and put it in your freezer for at least 1 hour
When ready, pour 100ml into your frozen glass
Take a strip of orange zest (remove with a peeler) and SQUEEZE it over the glass before dropping in.
DRINK!

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THE RECIPE

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

30ml Boatyard Distillery Vodka
15ml Asterley Bros Dispense Amaro
15ml Giffard Watermelon Liqueur
5ml Briottet Melon Liqueur
1ml Watermelon Syrup
5ml Supasawa
50ml Cranberry Juice

Cheers,

Rob, Jim & Joe.

the COSMOPOLITAN

The cosmopolitan, AKA the Cosmo, is the ultimate ‘Beginning of Summer 2021’ cocktail.

Juicy, sweet and lusciously pink, this popular cocktail will always be highly requested on beaches and parties! It’s a classic cocktail that continues to get updated with modern times. The simple and iconic cocktail, frequently recognised from a multitude of appearances in Sex And The City making it the most infamous sipper of the 90s!

It has a delicacy to it, the cranberry and lime classically used to offset the intensity of the vodka, to add a playful touch and remove some of it’s spirit forward character.

Paired here with watermelon, an iconic summer fruit, and with a touch of acidity coming from the cranberry & Supasawa, we also added a melon liqueur to up the fruitiness of the drink and add another dimension of complexity. Super-crushable, but light enough so that you’ll still be able to walk back from the beach (or park) with a spring in your step!

this month’s INDEPENDENT BRAND PARTNER

SUMMER COLLECTION, EPISODE 1: BOATYARD DISTILLERY VODKA

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 BOATYARD DISTILLERY, one of our very favourite vodkas, packed with delicious flavour and complexity

Check out boatyarddistillery.com for more info.

the DISTILLERY

The Boatyard Distillery is situated on the banks of Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, North West Ireland. Boatyard is Fermanagh’s first legal distillery since 1890. Records suggest that the county town, Enniskillen, had two operational distilleries at the end of the 1800s and it is even thought there was a gin palace at one time.

Our story begins in 2013 when the founder, Joe McGirr, started with planning. Joe had a pedigree within the spirits business, having worked at The Glenmorangie Company for 10 years. Whilst in Scotland he had a dream to return to his native Fermanagh to set up a distillery. Move forward to 2016 and this dream became a reality with the Boatyard Distillery opening for business. The distillery takes its name from the disused Boatyard that it’s built on. It makes us unique as a distillery as visitors can arrive just as easily by boat as they can by car.

Joe grew up on a dairy farm in Enniskillen. Returning home to set up his business has very much allowed this to be a family affair. Ever-present within the distillery team since day one is his sister, Teresa. The poetry on the labels is written by elder sister Marie. As for the farm this too is in safe hands with brother Brian looking over the land, which also has a botanical used in our gin growing on it.

We believe in being innovative, truly transparent, obsessed with quality and passionate about distillation. There are no short cuts when it comes to producing our spirits. There simply can be no blurred lines here.

How is it made?

We have a direct relationship with a farmer who maps out his land with us to plan for the wheat crop. Having this direct relationship with the farmer means that economically we can make it better for him. He then grows the crop and once harvested it gets malted. Following this stage it comes to the distillery where we mash by hand a very tough job and early starts for the team. It then moves to a slow and low fermentation that uses Champagne Yeast a highly inefficient yeast, but one that delivers a natural process capturing much flavour.

Distillation occurs over three stages starting lower and then moving up to the final stage of rectification. The aim throughout the process is to capture as much flavour as is possible. All ingredients are 100% organic. In our vodka production only organic wheat grown in Ireland is used in this farm to bottle product.

We also produce a Double Gin, as well as an Old Tom Gin that has been aged in PX casks and is sweetened with PX; a Sloe Gin we are about to release; and locally we have released a Winter Solstice Gin too.

boatyard vodka

TASTING NOTES

NOSE

Notes of butter, black pepper, orange zest & beeswax

PALATE

Creamy, with a soft caramel sweetness. A touch of citric acidity lurking; think candied lemon slices

FINISH

Smooth spirit character with delicate wheat notes & vanilla sweetness on the finish.

perfect serve

BOATYARD VODKA & PINK CITRUS TONIC

50ml VODKA

100ml PINK CITRUS TONIC

Build over ice and garnish with a slice of grapefruit

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:

amaro ramazzotti - 30% ABV

THE HISTORY:

At the beginning of the 19th century, well before the unification of Italy, the particular Italian situation, driven by popular uprisings and political instability, made spices difficult to find in Milan. Despite the context, thanks to his passion and personal initiative, a young entrepreneur and aspiring herbalist created something unique in a small laboratory.

Ramazzotti made several experiments blending ingredients from all over the world like Italian sweet orange peels, gentian, rhubarb, turmeric and rosemary. Aiming to create a flavoured drink, tailored to be enjoyed at any time of day, Ausano created Amaro Ramazzotti, a harmonious blend of 33 spices, herbs, flowers and fruits. Amaro Ramazzotti soon became Milan’s favorite bitter liqueur. Suitable to be drunk at any time of the day with coffee or as an aperitif or digestive, it perfectly represents that Milanese epoque, the symbol of a new Italian lifestyle.

The recipe is still kept secret, from generation to generation and these days it's one of the biggest selling Amaros in the world, great as a digestif or as a cocktail ingredient.

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 or a cheeky affogato!

TASTING NOTES:

NOSE: Root beer, candied grapefruit peel, chicory & nutmeg

PALATE: Bittersweet, with a rich and complex attack. Cola nut, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg & allspice at the mid-palate. Long bittersweet finish with orange peel and a toasted herbal root bitterness.

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

Asterley Bros online shop

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