The Collector Vermouth

Not only a candidate for drink of the week but drink of the year, this small-batch Somerset vermouth is one of the most delicious products I’ve come across in 2014.

It was created by the award-winning Ethicurean, a restaurant in a stunning walled garden in Wrington, just outside Bristol. They started making it for their own cocktails but were pressed to bottle it for general sale.

It’s based on plants that are grown in the garden including bay, rosemary, sage, wormwood and yarrow along with foraged ingredients from the surrounding Mendip Hills such as rowan berries and scots pine. The team, headed by mixologist Jack Adair Bevan, uses them to make tinctures using an apple-based spirit distilled from organic cider apples, then blends them with a homemade caramel made from English sugar and white wine from Malvasia grapes from the Veneto.

The flavour is unusually warm and rich - less bitter than many vermouths - like a gloriously alcoholic marmalade. You can drink it on its own over ice with a fresh bayleaf as I did when I had a sneak preview of it at the Wells Food Festival back in October or use it in cocktails. (It apparently makes a great Negroni* though I haven't had a chance to have a play, a mean Manhattan and a pine Martinez with pine-infused gin though I'd probably leave that one to Jack.)

They also cook with it at the restaurant though that seems a bit of a waste. I can imagine it would make a great match with Stilton cheese or, more locally, Dorset Blue Vinney.

The Collector costs £31.45 from The Whisky Exchange, £34 from the restaurant and around £38 from independent Bristol wine merchants such as Corks of Cotham and North Street, Weber & Trings and Grape and Grind. (See here for other stockists and bars which serve it) A lovely Christmas present for someone who appreciates quality drinks.

*Using less Campari than usual according to their Facebook page - 25ml good gin, 40ml The Collector Vermouth and 10ml Campari

For other last minute gift suggestions see here.

Compass Box Whisky: The Lost Blend

I’ve long been an admirer of Compass Box whisky who were one of the first blenders to create and package sophisticated modern ‘artisan’ whiskies as they like to describe them.

This is one of their latest expressions which pays homage to one of their early releases Eleuthera which they no longer make. The name refers to a short story by the American writer O. Henry about two guys who try to recreate a blend of spirits with supernatural properties - which seems particularly appropriate for Hallowe’en night.

It’s a blend of two Highland single malts Clynelish and Allt-a-Bhainne and Caol Ila from Islay - and manages to be both scented and floral and peaty. At the risk of stereotyping I’d say it was a very feminine whisky. At any rate I love it.

Apart from sipping it on its own it would be great with smoked salmon or maybe a crumbly cheese like Caerphilly. Not cheap, I’m afraid at £77.54 (Master of Malt) and £78.95 at The Whisky Exchange but a terrific present for any whisky-lover.

* One of the ingenious touches is that there are three different labels which I suppose encourages collectors to buy all three. Clever.

RinQuinQuin à la pêche

I love old-fashioned French aperitifs but the name of this Provençal one makes it doubly irresistible. And the peach flavour makes it perfect for this time of year.

RinQuinQuin - pronounced ran can can - is named after the Occitan verb requinquilhar - to cheer up or invigorate. It’s a 15% white wine based aperitif aromatised with three different kinds of peaches, peach stones and leaves which gives it a really intense natural peachy flavour (so not like Archer’s)

The classic way to drink it would be chilled on its own or on the rocks but it also makes a delicous low alcohol drink topped up with tonic.

Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen is using it for a cocktail called the French Lieutenant’s Woman along with another lovely French aperitif called Lillet Blanc: pour 5ml RinQuinQuin and 35ml Lillet Blanc into a champagne flute, top with tonic and garnish with a lemon twist. (All ingredients should be chilled, obviously.) Or use it to boost the peach flavour of a bellini.

I also like the producer's idea of drinking it with fruit salad though perhaps not with foie gras as the French (of course) suggest. You could also add it to a peach compote or jam (I love adding a little booze to jams).

It would be a great bottle to take to the hosts who have everything. You can buy it from thedrinkshop.com for £17.22, The Whisky Exchange for £17.95 and, I’m sure, from smart department stores and off-licences.

The Pickle House Original Pickle Juice

If you’ve ever been to the great Pitt Cue Co in Newburgh Street, Soho you may well have had a drink called a pickleback - a bourbon washed down with a chaser of homemade pickle juice.

Well some enterprising company called The Pickle House* has now bottled their own pickle juice and if you like tart, tangy flavours you’ll love it!

You might well think - wouldn’t the juice from a jar of dill pickles do? and the answer is no - it’s too sharp and sour. You could drink the pickling liquor if you made your own dill pickles but who’s got time to do that these days? (Answer, me when I go on holiday in a couple of weeks’ time!) But at £7.50 for a handsome-looking 500ml bottle this is an easy way to get your pickle fix.

Incidentally although I prefer it as a chaser they were mixing it on the stand [at Imbibe Live] with bourbon and ginger ale. (I felt it disguised the flavour of the juice so it didn’t do it for me.) It’s also supposed to be good in a Bloody Mary.

You can buy it direct from The Pickle House website or write to them for other stockists.

Incidentally if you want to know more about picklebacks there’s a good post on The Thrillist website here.

*Based in Hackney. Of course.