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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 3

the GOOSEBERRY NEGRONI

Well it looks like the Spring has finally turned a corner and we have sunshine at long last! Let’s pray it holds, but you know what works really well in the sun….? Alongside a family picnic or to cap off a long beach walk…? That’s right: An Ice Cold Gooseberry Negroni!

TO SERVE:

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 a tumbler and fill with ice

3. Pour 100ml into your glass

4. Take a strip of lemon zest (remove with a peeler) and SQUEEZE it over the glass before dropping in.

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…

• 20ml Sipello Aperitif

• 25ml Asterley Bros Estate Sweet Vermouth

• 25ml Gooseberry Gin (we like Berry Bros & Rudd)

• 25ml Lavender Honey Water (blend 15ml water with 10g lavender honey)

Cheers,

Rob, Jim & Joe.

the negroni

This month’s cocktail needs no introduction. An absolute classic, that never goes out of style. The Negroni.

Born in Milan in 1919, always stirred and never shaken. Traditionally made with one part gin, one part sweet vermouth and one part Campari, served in a tumbler with ice and garnished with an orange slice. The classic 3 part recipe makes it the easiest cocktails to make, great for the home bartender, but the trick is to balance the bitterness, sweetness and herbaceous notes of the vermouth and the gin. It’s a classic for a reason.

Over the years there have been thousands of variations of the Negroni, where drinkers have mixed or added ingredients, infusions have been made and spirits substituted, It is this flexibility that has inspired so many different iterations and variations can, of course, depend on the seasons. The sweet vermouth can be switched for a Dry or Bianco vermouth, in Winter you could infuse Campari with cacao for rich and delicious take, and for Summer you could use a Vodka as the base and a lovely bright Amaro instead of the vermouth. The variations are (almost) limitless!

Gooseberries are such a classic English fruit, super seasonal and with a unique blend of acidity, sweetness, tannin & fragrance. We couldn’t resist adding them this month!

this month’s INDEPENDENT BRAND PARTNER

SPRING COLLECTION, EPISODE 3: SIPELLO APERITIF

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 SIPELLO APERITIF, a delicious and unique aperitif which is just about to launch in the UK! Hot off the press!

Launching in July 2021, check out www.sipello.com for more info on launch dates.

the process

Handcrafted in the Surrey Hills, Sipello is a drink that transcends occasion with its versatility, unique flavour and positioning. Its an ode to the eccentric and this is reflected in the liquid.

By marrying a gooseberry-led blend of British ingredients such as rhubarb and the little known chuckleberry with sustainably sourced botanicals from around the world Sipello evolves on your palate as you sip it. Our botanicals, led by sandalwood, gentian and wormwood are hand-picked, wild harvested and where certifiable, organic. It is a fruit-forward aperitif with a long bitter finish.

After almost 18 months of experimenting and blending batches at the distillery, I approached dozens of top bartenders in lockdown, many of which are household names with a batch I felt was close to the finished article and asked if I could send them a sample. Most were happy to receive one so I’d jump on my bike if they were in London and hand deliver them myself – much to their surprise. In those moments on their doorsteps I’d explain to them what Sipello is but not how they should drink it. December, January and February were pretty cold and I did about 600-650km rain or shine and sometimes in -2c!

When put in their hands for the first time, they created riffs on dozens of classic cocktails like Boulevardiers, Martinis, Americanos, Spritzes, Hugos, Garibaldis and Negroni’s mixing Sipello with everything from gin, prosecco, sea salt, single malt whisky, coconut water and Champagne to mezcals, pale ales, fruit liqueurs and Elderflower Pressés. 

The invaluable feedback, insight and suggestions these bartenders gave me helped shape Sipello into the liquid it is now.

How is it made?

Sipello takes about 4 weeks to make as we macerate many of the ingredients separately before blending the fruity-bitter liquid to give it depth, complexity, and a long finish. We think of it as layering the flavours for a drinking perfume.

Gooseberry is a subtle and stubborn fruit so it took a lot of experimentation to get the right flavour from it. Most of our fruit is sourced from a strawberry farm in Kent where the fruit farmer trades her strawberries with farms that grow our fruits. Terroir then plays its part in how Sipello tastes from batch to batch. Sometimes the fruit is sweet, sometimes it can be really aromatic or even tart so we have to find a balance to get that Sipello taste. We then cuvee the liquid and let it all mellow for several days before bottling.

Some of the fruit is macerated fresh, some is picked and frozen before being pressed to keep the sugars locked in. I like to think of it as a similar concept to how they make ice wine. The rhubarb comes from 3 different counties (Herefordshire, Yorkshire, Kent) across England to offset our inclement weather.

We found that 22% abv was the right amount to bring out the best in the ingredients and along with the gentian give it the right mouthfeel.

sipello aperitif

TASTING NOTES

NOSE  

Light berry fruits on the nose, hints of strawberry & gooseberry with a lick of lime zest

PALATE

Sweet attack with a long & finely balanced, delicate bitter mid-palate with aromatic spicing

FINISH

Long and lingering with a stone fruit finish and light tannins

perfect serve

SIPELLO & LEMON TONIC

50ml SIPELLO

100ml TWO KEYS LEMON TONIC

Build over ice and garnish with a slice of lemon

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:

borsci san marzano- 38% ABV

THE HISTORY:

Hailing from Taranto in Southern Italy, this distinctive and full-bodied amaro utilises a rum base to add additional depths. Giuseppe Borsci created the recipe for this digestivo in 1840 using ancient recipes of an oriental medicinal concoction as his guide. Using 100% natural ingredients with a secret blend of Oriental spices at its core.

Fourth generation Edigio Borsci still oversees production at the distillery in San Marzano. Super rich with notes of bubble gum, cinnamon, cola, dried cherries, and chocolate. This is a stunningly rich and opulent digestivo.

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: A touch of smoke and caramel on the nose with little hints of cola and anise

PALATE: Bittersweet, coffee & cacao, moderately sweet with a touch of tobacco prunes, figs and black raisins

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

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