Four bartenders have won places to join Sloane’s Gin on its annual trip to the Netherlands for the final of the “Inspired by Sloane’s” cocktail competition.
Leon Dalloway from Cold Bar at City of London Distillery in the City of London and Daniel Cook (pictured above) from Southsider Cocktail Club in Battersea, London, won the London heats.
Alex Jones from Almost Famous in Manchester and Michael Cameron from Guy’s Restaurant & Bar in Glasgow won the heats in Manchester and Edinburgh.
As well as competing with each other, they will face bartenders from the Netherlands for a chance to win the €1,000 grand prize on June 13.
Sloane’s Gin takes its inspiration from Sir Hans Sloane, a 17th-century botanist who brought back to Britain many of the botanicals used in gins, such as cardamom, angelica, orris root and cassia bark.
Bartenders were asked to create a cocktail in recognition of Sir Hans Sloane. Michael Cameron made a cocoa and almond milk-based cocktail to acknowledge Sloane’s role in creating hot chocolate while Leon Dalloway used a variety of herbs and spices introduced by Sloane for a stout-based drink, served alongside a Sloane’s Gin-based chutney (pictured below).
The Journey by Leon Dalloway
50ml Sloane’s Gin
5ml Chestnut liqueur
5ml Homemade chocolate liqueur
50ml Mulled stout, mulled with juniper, vanilla, coriander seeds, orange, lemon, liquorice, cardamon
2 dashes of The Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Own Decanter Bitters
5ml Honey water
1 Egg white
Wet shake to dry shake and pour into a half-pint tankard, with no ice. Garnish with a dusting of cocoa. Served on a Hans Sloane-inspired manuscript. Food match: bacon crisps and chutney made with Sloane’s-infused juniper and beetroot.
Rheum Rhubarbarum by Daniel Cook
50ml Sloane’s Gin
35ml Rhubarb shrub (three varieties cooked three ways in Côtes de Provence and cider vinegar)
15ml Honey water
10ml Lemon juice
2.5ml Rosehip syrup
Serve with an amuse bouche of popcorn-flavoured Crème anglaise.
