Greetings drinkers! We’re back with a brand new Bring a Bottle Podcast and Aidy is joined by a wine wizard and spirit sage to sip one of the most magical Speyside whiskies going. Also, the drinkers guess the most popular British pub name, plan the ultimate Halloween cocktail, and there’s even some juicy drinking confessions thrown in! Listen now for all that and more!
OUR GUEST DRINKERS
We’re lucky enough to be accompanied by two wonderful guests this week. Firstly, it’s Chris Dennis - a mixology mastermind and spirit sage. Two decades of industry experience mean his name is known at some of the finest bars in the world, like Zetter Town House, Calooh Callay, Milk & Honey, and Trailer Happiness. After co-founding Disrepute in Soho, his newest venture is Heads & Tails in West London where Chris has continued to work with tonnes of different spirit brands... so much so that since 2021, he’s been the Rum and Whiskies Brand Ambassador for Campari, representing some beautiful drinks like Glen Grant and Appleton Rum. Welcome!
Our second fantastic guest is Hannah Crosbie, a food and wine writer extraordinaire! Her understanding of wine is second to none and in sky high demand, so she can often be found curating wine lists for restaurants or hosting a plethora of events at the likes of Soho House and One Hundred Shoreditch. From Mob Kitchen to Refinery29, from Courier and the Evening Standard, Hannah has written for them all. In 2020, she set up the Dalston Wine Club, with the aim of making wine more accessible, inclusive, and welcoming to all. Bravo! We’re delighted to have you!
WHAT’S IN OUR GLASS?
In this episode we’re sipping on a 10-year-old Speyside single malt – Glen Grant because who better to introduce us to it than the official brand rep Chris? Beautifully amber on the eye, it has notes of green orchard, toffee and vanilla. It’s equally quaffable for a whisky beginner or a seasoned drinker and would sit perfectly in a long cocktail topped with Ginger ale.
Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Find here: £29.49
Glen Grant 10 Year Old Cocktail Discovery
The Glen Grant is used in a whisky sour style cocktail – The Brigadoon! Sour lemon intertwined with sweet apricot liqueur blends with the strong Speyside base to create an intense burst of flavour, settling down into complex layers with a subtle nuttiness from the orgeat. It’s incredible!
Ingredients
40ml Glen Grant 10YO
20ml apricot liqueur
20ml lemon juice
10ml orgeat (almond syrup)
Method:
Simply shake everything and serve over ice! Simply delicious.
DRINKS NEWS
From the ones seen in almost every village across Britain, to the weird and wonderful, we all love pub names. Did you know they date back to 1393 when King Richard II ordered every pub to be clearly signposted? Aidy has the list of most popular pub names, and Hannah and Chris get guessing! What’s your guess for top spot?
DRINKS CONFESSIONS
Drink related confessions always throw up something interesting, and this episode is no different. Is a 15k whisky wasted in porridge, or is it just a great start to the day? And find out why Chris was kicked out of a club for just opening a bottle of Champagne (we may have omitted a key detail there.)
Buy it or Bin it
The intriguingly named Tough Nut Moonshine is tried and tested in this episode! There are all kinds of smells going off with this, from Lotus biscoff to Belvita biscuits... but savoury also? It is indeed a tough nut to crack, but a dash of this hazelnut liqueur would really add to an Old Fashioned. It would also make a far more interesting cocktail balancer instead of sugar syrup! Their other flavours look just as alluring, from Sticky Toffee to Lemon Drizzle… a lovely Christmas gift.
Size: 700ml
ABV: 25%
Find here: £24.64
Mailbag
It’s the perfect October question this week, as the drinkers ponder, ‘What’s an easy Halloween cocktail to make at home?’ Their answer features one of the strangest ice ‘cubes’ we’ve ever heard of too – find out what we mean here.