Boisdale: The Art of Gin Cocktail Making
Tuesday 6th June.
If you think Rendezvous is just about matchmaking people – you’re partly right but we’re also pride ourselves in being pretty good at matching ourselves to brands to give our singles the best possible backdrop to a perfect social night out.
Boisdale’s last week was a balmy summer evening, buzzing, boisterous and bubblicious a bloody-brilliant Thomas Dakin Gin event in the back bar. The effervescent and contagiously-enthusiastic head of events for Boisdale the delicious Mark Shelton and I hatched a plan a few months back to do a mash-up of our two members clubs. Boisdale members to be mixed with Rendezvous club members.
This mix-up theme got our crew mixing cocktails. And they got really involved! Thomas Dakin Gin curator Alix Walker in his flat cap and waistcoat, shared his stuff about the history of Gin. Thomas Dakin was an entrepreneur and a forefather of Gin in the 18th Century. At the time only the Dutch were dabbling with the stuff and calling it Juniper; the Brits took the fluff out of that name and got it down to a neat abbreviation that would roll off the tongue in any state of inebriation. Cheers.
Our crew got to work behind the bar, shaking, swizzling and stirring in pairs, freshly prepared cocktails were passed to new friends but some were just too good to give up!
Whatever happened the combination of mixing, stirring, muddling and laughing made for a superbly good fun night. And just to conclude my theme on all things good starting with B (modest moi?) …can we just say Boisdale Belgravia – Back Bar….the coolest little cocktail bar in town.
Here’s the creations that Alix himself came up with and we got to shake up.
The Manchester Bee
Serve in Coupettes or Martini glasses
- 35ml Thomas Dakin Gin
- 2 tsp of honey
- 25ml lemon juice
In a shaker stir honey with the Thomas Dakin gin until dissolved, add the rest of the ingredients. Shake or stir with ice and strain into a Martini glass. Garnish with thin orange wheel float.
Tom’s Spritz
Serve in a Casablanca style glass/tall rocks glass.
- 35ml Thomas Dakin Gin
- Sugar syrup
- Ground Black pepper
- Basil
- Lemon juice
In a glass pop the basil first and muddle, followed by the black pepper, Gin and sugar syrup and top up with your favourite mixer. Ours was by fab mixers Brand Merchants Heart in their lemon flavour.
We had such fun with Boisdale we will be having another event in August. If you would like to be on the waitlist for the event as it sold out quickly. Please email barbara@rendezvous-london.com
