Words by Bryan Rodriguez (Wine & Spirit Buyer at Harvey Nichols)
Bryan recently joined us for Episode 83 of our Bring a Bottle Podcast where he shared a number of fantastic products with us, so naturally, when asked if we would like to hear more we jumped at the chance to bring more drinky news your way. Here’s what he had to say…
As a Wine & Spirit Buyer, I am always discovering new and exciting beverages, as well as re-tasting and going back to old favourites that provide consistency and comfort. When asked, I always have a wine or spirit recommendation to offer, whether for a specific occasion or the appropriate vessel to drink from.
In this line up, I offer my suggestions based on topics discussed during my appearance on the Bring a Bottle Podcast with Aidy and Helena.
When recording the podcast, I brought a bottle of the wonderful Lambic Geuze beer with me, all the way from the brilliant Boon Brewery based in Lembeek near Brussels, Belgium. The beer really caught both Aidy and Helena’s attention. The beer is known as the Vat 31, it’s difficult to find commercially so below I recommend two of their more widely available styles.
Rum was also discussed and for me, the Daiquiri is the ultimate rum cocktail. As an avid lover of rum, I am always testing out different rums in a daiquiri. Every bartender has their own recipe and version. This is my personal recipe I use at home…
Ingredients
60ml White or Gold Rum
25ml Velvet Falernum
25ml Fresh Lime juice
2 to 3 dashes of Angostura Orange Bitters
Method
Shake over ice and pour into a frozen glass
Of course, depending on the rum used, measurements might need to be adjusted but the above should offer a good starting point.
I recommended a brilliant Harvey Nichols Own Label red wine from Napa Valley. Along with this, I offer my personal favourite white and sparkling from our Own Label range. A perfect dinner party trio that will match up against a wide variety of foods and will certainly be crowd pleasers.
Finally, as an extra addition, I offer what I describe as “essentials” – two of the products used in the Daiquiri recipe, as well as specific glassware that works with the drinks recommended, as well as a whole host of other cocktails and beverages. I always like to recommend different glassware according to the drink being consumed. I find it can elevate the drinking experience, especially for wine, with grape and region-specific glassware being released by the likes of Riedel. Plus, I always find that elegant glassware can enhance your online and social imagery of bottles, drinks, and cocktails in the same way a beautiful piece of jewellery can enhance a fashion shoot.
BEER
Boon Geuze Marriage Parfait
One of the finest beers in the world full stop. The Boon Geuze Marriage Parfait is an unfiltered Lambic sour beer made in Belgium at the Boon Brewery. The beer itself is a 3-year-old Lambic, aged in large oak barrels known as Foeders. Boon uses Foeders built between 1883 and 1914 so the beer you’re drinking may have been ageing in wood over 100 years old. The unique addition to the beer that gives it its sourness, character and complexity are the wild yeasts and bacteria from the brewery which descend on the beer during the wild fermentation. This includes microflora of previous generations of wild yeast remaining on the wood. This all results in a wine like beer. A beautiful gold colour with rich ginger, grapefruit and bergamot citrus aromas along with gentle vanilla, sweet cooking spices and oakiness reminding you of both light styles of Scotch whisky and buttery chardonnay. Enjoy chilled now and in decades to come as this beer can outage fine wine. Just have a look at the best before dates on the back label. It will only get better with time and ageing, preferably in a cool and dark place. Gives this a try with fish and chips. The acidity will cut through that batter leaving your palate ready and refreshed for the next bite. Serve in a wine glass or tulip shaped beer glass.
Size: 375ml
ABV: 8%
Find Here: UK £6.00
Boon Kriek Cherry Lambic
There are fruit beers and then there’s the Boon Kriek. It stands on its own, heads and shoulders above the rest. The beer is made using 250 grams of fresh cherries per litre fermented naturally with young lambic beer before being blended with older lambic beers for added complexity and left to mature in barrels. It is bottled unpasteurised for a fuller bodied mouthfeel and texture. This should definitely be on every beer or drink lover’s list of drinks to try. It has an aroma of wonderful, deep, marzipan like cherries, kirsch, vanilla oakiness and acidity that keeps your palate feeling fresh and vibrant. It’s perfect as an aperitivo but also works with dessert alongside a dark, rich chocolate mousse. The vintage date on the beer represents the year the cherries were picked. Serve in a wine glass or in a tulip shaped beer glass.
Size: 375ml
ABV: 4%
Find Here: UK £4.60
RUM
Plantation 3 Stars White
The Plantation 3 Stars White is difficult to beat when it comes to value for money. This is a seriously good rum which is appreciated by both industry professionals as well as the home consumer. The rum is made using distillates of various ages from Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad with distillation taking place in a mix of Column and Pot stills. After blending, the colour is then removed via filtration through carbon resulting in a slight yellow hue. A textbook white rum made for use in a daiquiri but try sipping it neat out of the freezer or give it a go in a mojito. The slightly fuller bodied nature of the rum will add to the weight and texture of the drink.
Size: 700ml
ABV: 41.2%
Find Here: UK £26.00
Equiano Light Rum
At Harvey Nichols, we declared the original Equiano release as “Probably the most important and critically acclaimed inaugural release from any rum company ever.” We still hold to that belief, and I feel the Light Rum is a perfect continuation of their journey. It is a blend of two distilleries. Firstly, it uses molasses based 3-year-old ex-Bourbon barrel matured distillates from the Legendary Foursquare Distillery which adds weight, power and robustness. Secondly, it uses unaged sugarcane juice-based distillates from the Gray’s Distillery in Mauritius which impart some grassy, vegetal, and citrus notes. Both distillates are blended at the Foursquare distillery by master blender Richard Seale and result in a beautiful, balanced, and delicious rum. The company is female led and has Global Rum Ambassador, Ian Burrell as a co-founder. The rum itself is named after Olaudah Equiano (Born c.1745, Died 1797), a Nigerian slave turned writer, public speaker, and anti-slavery activist. Donations from the rum go towards quality projects and ending modern day slavery around the world. All this said, the rum is beautiful to drink, elegant with a real mix of complex flavours that work perfectly sipped neat or in a Piña Colada using fresh pineapple.
Size: 700ml
ABV: 43%
Find Here: UK £44.00
Doorly’s XO
Have you ever tried a Daiquiri with dark, aged rum? If the answer is no, now is as good a time as ever. My first was at OXO Tower Bar in a cocktail named The Gayle Seale, a daiquiri recipe created by Global Rum Ambassador Ian Burrell in honour of Gayle Seale, the Foursquare Distillery Global Brand Ambassador and wife of Master Distiller/Blender Richard Seale. If you want the exact recipe, it is…
Ingredients
50ml Doorly’s XO
25ml Fresh Lime Juice
15ml Taylors Velvet Falernum
5ml Simple syrup
3 Dashes of Angostura Bitters
Method
Shake over ice and pour into chilled glass.
Aged rum adds a complexity and flavour to a cocktail like the daiquiri that sends it in a different direction. It adds to its texture and gives it a certain morishness, especially the Doorly’s XO which sees maturation in Oloroso Sherry cask. Talking of the Doorly’s XO, I picked this rum as it’s a consistent, affordable, and outstanding rum made at the Foursquare Distillery in Barbados. It is bottled un-coloured and un-sweetened resulting in a rich, wonderful, moreish rum that sips beautifully neat or can be used in a Corn N’ Oil, Mai Tai or simply mixed with Ginger Beer for those days when you want a break from a Daiquiri.
Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Find Here: UK £43.50
OWN-LABEL WINES
Harvey Nichols Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
Imagine finding a fully blown, full bodied, powerful Napa Cab made by a producer like Joseph Phelps that doesn’t cost the world? Well, here it is! A wine we are very proud of and one I always like to show off. The wine is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 1% Malbec. Some of the grapes used in the blend are de-classified from Insignia, Joseph Phelps flagship, 3 figure iconic wine. It sees 14 months of maturation in a mix of used American and French oak. Open and decant for a few hours to reveal a polished, decadent Cab Sav with wood polish, cedar wood, crème de cassis, graphite, and sweet cooking spices. Perfect alongside a fillet of beef, roasted lamb or with robust, earthy vegetable dishes. It comes with some bottle age on it but will age for another 10 years+ so a perfect wine to buy and put away.
Size: 750ml
ABV: 14.5%
Find Here: UK £35.00
Harvey Nichols Aconcagua Chardonnay 2019
Probably my favourite of the Own Label white wines. This particular Chardonnay is produced by the excellent Chilean winery, Errazuriz Estate from vineyards in the cool climate Aconcagua region, roughly 100km north of Chile’s capital Santiago. Errazuriz makes South America’s best examples of Chardonnay, some of which could easily compete and beat the Burgundians best, but at much lower price points. This Chardonnay is made from hand picked grapes and matured for 10 months on its lees in French oak barrels. 20% of those barrels are brand new. The result is an elegant, creamy, citrus, and tropical fruit lead white with perfectly balanced, vibrant acidity and a whisper of smoke from the barrel. Big complexity levels but not so much that you can’t just simply enjoy a glass in front of the TV or outside in the sun. Perfect with grilled fish, white meats, steak tartare or on its own, chilled in a big round wine glass.
Size: 750ml
ABV: 13.5%
Find Here: UK £15.95
HN Premier Cru Brut Champagne NV
My personal favourite style of wine is Champagne, so I feel it is appropriate to add the Harvey Nichols NV Brut Champagne to the list. I absolutely love this wine. It shows the essences of what a good, solid non-vintage champagne should be like year after year. Consistency is key with own label products, and this is the perfect example of that. Made from a blend consisting mainly of Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir from Premier Cru sites by Champagne Lombard & Medot who are based in Epernay. Made in the traditional style, this is a vegan friendly, comforting Brut style champagne that drinks perfectly on its own or will match any starter and light bite. It can also be used in a variety of cocktails such as the Classic Champagne cocktail. Imagine lightly toasted brioche, macadamia, yellow and stone fruits with refreshing acidity. Perfect!
Size: 750ml
ABV: 12%
Find Here: UK £32.50
ESSENTIALS
Angostura Orange Bitters
Bitters can help to elevate a cocktail and add complexity to it. Most people will recognise the standard Angostura Bitters with its yellow cap and oversized label usually used in an Old Fashioned. I always tend to recommend the orange variant of this brand as it’s slightly softer, lower in ABV and has a pronounced bitter orange and sweet spice woody aroma. I use it in just about everything from Daiquiris to Gimlets, G&T’s and even Martinis. You can also use it in food too. Just a few drops can make a big difference!
Size: 100ml
ABV: 28%
Find Here: UK £10.00
John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum
Falernum is tropical based syrup usually containing a mix of lime, ginger, almond and can also include clove, nutmeg, and other sweet spices. You can find it in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions. The John D. Taylors Falernum is an 11% abv Falernum made in Barbados. The alcohol helps to preserve the syrup making it last longer while adding to the flavour and texture of the liquid. I enjoy using this as an alternative to sugar syrup as it can add interesting notes to a sweetened cocktail. Next time you try a Gimlet, try the Falernum instead of simple sugar syrup for a tropical take on the classic cocktail. I recommend keeping this in the fridge.
Size: 700ml
ABV: 11%
Find Here: UK £18.00
Riedel Nick & Nora Glasses
The right glass can heighten the experience of the drink you are enjoying. Brands such as Riedel make glassware specific to the grape, spirit and even cocktail being consumed. With varying price points, there is an option for everybody and every pocket. The Nick & Nora glass was made famous by the 1934 movie “The Thin Man”. The design is a curved lip on a small bowl. It directs the alcohol to the mid-palate, allowing the aromas to travel directly to the retronasal olfaction, (the back part of your nose that allows you to “taste” flavour). Short and elegant, these will fit nicely in a freezer ready for a Martini, Daiquiri, Gimlet, Manhattan, or any shaken or stirred cocktail.
Size: Set of 2 Glasses
Find Here: £29.00
Riedel Overture Beer Glasses
As I mentioned a few beers earlier on, I thought I would add a beer glass recommendation that works with any beer type including the Lambic beers. I love these tulip shaped glasses. When full of delicious, crisp lager or hoppy IPA, deep, dark Stout or Sour Geuze, there’s something immediately pleasurable from holding these up, taking a sip and enjoying that perfect beer. The shape helps to maintain aroma, temperature as well as the head of the beer.
Size: Set of 2 Glasses
Find Here: £28.00
Riedel Performance Tasting Set Wine Glasses
The Riedel Performance glass is a very attractive, elegant glass that I personally use daily. The glass has an optical effect on the inside of the lip which increases the inner surface allowing the wine to open even more. It also adds to its attractive appearance. This set comes with (from Left to Right), 1x Sauvignon Blanc Glass, 1x Chardonnay Glass, 1x Pinot Noir Glass, 1x Cabernet Sauvignon Glass. Each glass can be used for different styles making this set very versatile and keeping in mind the three Harvey Nichols Own Label Wines recommended earlier, this set goes perfectly with them. The Sauvignon Blanc glass can be used for sparkling wine and champagne. The Chardonnay glass could be used for oaked-Sauvignon Blanc or even Junmai Sake. I use this for Blanc de Blancs Champagne too. The Pinot Noir glass can be used for Nebbiolo, Gamay or softer and lighter red styles, I also use it for Blanc de Noirs Champagne. The Cabernet Sauvignon glass can be used for Merlots, Malbecs, Cab Francs or any big, hefty red wines. With a set like this, you are pretty much covered!
Size: Set of 4 Glasses
Find Here: UK 110.00
If you’d like to hear more from Bryan, make sure to listen to Episode 83 of the Bring a Bottle Podcast!