Sipsmith Distillery in Hammersmith
Hidden behind a rather unassuming but freshly painted blue door on a quiet residential street in Hammersmith is something quite extraordinary – London’s first new copper still distillery for 190 years. This is the brainchild of Fairfax and Sam who, with their master distiller Jared, distil hand-crafted vodka and gin here at their curiously but cleverly named Sipsmith distillery. We were privileged to be able to pay them a visit yesterday evening along with several other London food and drink bloggers.
For those who don’t know a lot about distilling, vodka is a neutral spirit – essentially alcohol (ethanol) from an agricultural source and water. Which sounds very simple, but the process that is used to arrive at this spirit can have a profound affect on its taste and the best quality vodkas are neutral, yet have a distinctive character. Mass produced vodkas are made in industrial continuous stills made out of stainless steel, which don’t afford much character to the resulting spirit and also result in harsh flavours which are usually removed by filtering. Using a copper still however, removes a lot of the harsh flavours by the action of the copper itself as the spirit flows through it.
Copper pot stills each have a life of their own, each giving a slightly different unique character to spirits that are distilled in them. At Sipsmith they have named their still Prudence and although there is a reasonable, family-related reason behind the name, it does imply a wonderful irony. Water is also very important here and they source their water from Lydwell Spring, which is a source of the River Thames in the Cotswolds. Apart from being a good source of pure spring water, it also seems very appropriate for London-based distillery; water from the Thames itself has rather murkier implications.
When distilling in a pot still, a certain amount of spirit will be produced over a length of time. The first part of the spirit that is produced is generally harsher or lacking in flavour and is discarded; this is called the head. Similarly, the last part is also discarded; this is called the tail. The middle section is what is worth drinking and this is called the heart of the run. At Sipsmith they found that the first 40% of the heart was the best and it had a very smooth, buttery character that was so good that it would be criminal to mix it with anything else and dilute it. So that first 40% is all that they use for their vodka and because of its purity, it does not need to be filtered.
The rest of the heart is not wasted though; it goes back into the still to be re-distilled and goes into making their gin. It is obviously still very high quality spirit, but because gin is flavoured with several different botanical ingredients that all add their own aromas and texture, getting that buttery character that went into the vodka is less important. And here they only take 55% of the heart of the run when the gin is distilled, in order to keep only the flavours that they want to give the gin its character.
The EU definition of London Dry Gin is that it is gin that has been distilled with the flavourings introduced during the distillation process itself rather than added afterwards. If you add flavours afterwards then it’s just plain gin. And the main flavour should be of juniper, which is hard to measure in practice of course, but is generally true.
In addition to the juniper, all gin manufacturers will have their own, sometimes secret, mix of botanical flavourings that they add. Coriander seed is very popular, second in importance only to the juniper itself and at Sipsmith they also use lemon peel, sweet orange peel, almond, orris root and licorice root. These are all added during the distillation process, so their gin does qualify as London Dry Gin. The resulting character of the Sipsmith gin is fully flavoured, an old fashioned style of gin, with the distinctive and slightly bitter juniper coming through strongly, backed up by the earthiness of orris root, the fleeting spicy sweetness of the licorice and the top notes of the citrus.
After the visit, we were treated to a lovely chilled glass of gin and tonic, which we sipped while enjoying the sun on the patio (aka pavement) outside. Altogether a wonderful experience and great opportunity to see the inside of an artisanal distillery. After the explosion of micro-breweries in the US, a number of micro-distilleries have started to pop up too; hopefully this pattern will follow in the UK too to mix things up (apologies for the unintentional pun) in the world of spirits. Sam and Fairfax have started something remarkable here and I am sure it will not be long before you see the chic yet aptly old fashioned labels of Sipsmith’s Barley Vodka and London Dry Gin in a bar near you.
Where’s My Pork Chop?
Where’s My Pork Chop is Dan from Food Urchin‘s little side project. He works nights and doesn’t often have time to prepare something decent to eat in the evening so wondered if he could convince fellow bloggers to swap a portion of something tasty from their kitchen for some wine or something similar. I hate to think of anyone going hungry so was happy to get involved, when Dan said I could have something from his allotment or some of his sourdough starter I was even happier.
Stephen and I were out last night so didn’t have time to cook anything specifically but, as luck would have it, one of Dan’s requests was our bean chilli which we just so happened to have a portion of in the freezer. I tucked that into a cool bag, stopped off to buy some bread (he didn’t have a toaster for pitta bread and I didn’t want to risk poisoning him with reheated rice in this weather so settled for a crusty roll) and some cheese to grate on top and began my journey.
Dan arrived shortly after me with a suspiciously large carrier bag which looked rather heavy. It was indeed heavy because it contained a huge amount of potatoes, courgettes, courgette flowers and curly kale, all home grown and picked this morning. I was beginning to feel really bad about the fact that I’d just plucked something from the freezer when he hit me with a jar of sourdough starter too. I felt even worse then but also incredibly excited about the prospect of making my own sourdough at home.
When I got home, I set about cleaning up the vegetables and sorting out Velma (the sourdough starter, as named by Dan, daughter of the ‘mother’ Veronica) which sent me into a bit of a panic: I didn’t want to kill her on the first day. Luckily, Dan came to the rescue with some very clear instructions so she’s been fed and watered and is sitting happily in the kitchen.
Having fed the newest member of the family, I started to think about what we were going to eat this evening. I wanted to use some of the vegetables from Dan’s huge carrier bag while they were still so fresh so settled on a potato salad, some griddle courgettes and, rather aptly, some pork chops.
Before that, we had the beautiful courgette flowers to attend to. We decided against stuffing them as, having never eaten them before, we wanted to taste as much as we could without masking the taste with other flavours. I made up a straightforward batter and added just a little cheese to it and then Stephen did the scary deep-frying. They tasted faintly of courgette but it wasn’t a strong flavour. Dan’s suggestion of stuffing with mozarella and anchovies would have been very good but I’m glad we got to taste the flowers relatively au-naturel.
I kept the potato salad simple and just added some light olive oil, salt and pepper and some red onion that I’d steeped in lemon juice to sweeten. These were the real star of the meal, the potatoes were firm with a sweet and earthy flavour and they tasted really potatoey.
The courgettes were also treated simply with just a brush of olive oil and a little seasoning once they came off the barbecue. Like the potatoes, they were sweet with a pleasing bite in both taste and texture.
The pork chops were marinated for a couple of hours in our current favourite marinade of oil, lemon juice, salt, garlic and oregano before being grilled on the barbecue .
I’m not sure I’ve eaten vegetables as fresh as these before and you could certainly taste the difference. I’ve never been able to smell potatoes when I’ve washed them before, as I did with these and, I have to admit, I’m not the biggest fan of courgettes usually but Dan’s might have just persuaded me otherwise.
I think we definitely got the better deal here: not only did we have a really tasty dinner this evening, I also realised that I like courgettes and we still have lots of lovely vegetables to keep us going through the week. We owe you a drink next time we see you, Dan!
Barbecued Lamb
Another sunny weekend so, somewhat predictably, another barbecue. We spent the weekend in Kent with my family and Stephen butterflied this leg of lamb and marinated it overnight. A generous glug of oil, some rosemary and oregano, garlic and some salt and pepper was all that needed before this went onto the coals for about 45 minutes. Cooked through more than we would do normally so that my nieces could enjoy it too. Served with pitta bread, salad, tabbouleh, tzatziki and hummus. My family always have roast potatoes with a barbecue too, probably because my mum’s are so good so, in order to preserve tradition, we did those too.
We probably wouldn’t have had those at home but they went surprisingly well with the lamb.
Barbecued Lamb Chops
The picture didn’t turn out that well because I got the white balance on the camera wrong, but that obviously didn’t stop them being really tasty. An impromptu barbecue this evening, I bought some lamb chops on the way home and we cooked them simply with some rosemary, garlic and salt. Just a few minutes each side on the barbecue and they were done. We kept the lid on the barbecue to try to keep in more smoky flavour as we have been doing quite a lot lately and it worked out well. We served them with some taboulleh.
These were double loin chops which we have had a couple of times before and found them to be good; better value than a rack based on taste and quantity vs price. They were certainly good value on the taste side of things today. We bought these from our local deli and they are from Bretby.
Beefeater Distillery Tour
I don’t know much about gin, apart from that I like the occasional gin and tonic and I really don’t like Bombay Sapphire, so was really looking forward to visiting the Beefeater distillery and learning a bit more about how gin is made. The distillery isn’t open to the public and is based in a beautiful old building in Kennington where it’s been made since 1957, the opportunity to wander around somewhere that would normally be off-limits was something else to get excited about.
The tour was run by the master distiller, Desmond Payne, who has been with Beefeater for 15 years. Before that he was at Plymouth gin for 25 years so he really knows his stuff. He took us on a short tour of the distillery where he explained how they make Beefeater gin before guiding us through a comparative tasting.
During the distillery tour, Desmond explained that the definition of gin is something along the lines of “predominately flavoured with juniper”, the juniper is therefore (obviously!) one of the most important ingredients. Desmond tests 150 varieties each autumn to ensure quality is maintained in the Beefeater gin. Aside from the juniper it’s really up to the distiller what other botanicals they add, Beefeater use the original recipe which is x years old and contains: juniper, orange, lemon, almond, orris root, licquorice, coriander and angelica seed root. They make 2.4 million cases of the stuff a year.
The comparative tasting was one of the most enjoyable parts of the afternoon for me, we tasted six different types of gin and I was surprised at just how different they were. We’ve been drinking Tanqueray and Hendricks at home lately but not at the same time so I haven’t really been able to compare the two, apart from recognising the distinctive cucumber note in the Hendricks. Tasting the gin without tonic to confuse the flavours was also something new to me and allowed us to really understand what the different botanicals add. Initially, I found the Beefeater to be slightly rougher than the other examples and really enjoyed the Plymouth gin we tasted directly after the Bombay Sapphire. Coming back to the Beefeater having tasted all six varieties, I was aware of how punchy the botanicals were and just what they added to the overall flavour; the Beefeater was definitely more subtle that the showy, upfront Bombay Sapphire and generally had a lot more character than the Tanqueray. The Plymouth was my favourite though, well balanced with complex layers of flavour, smooth and with a long finish.
After we’d finished our tasting, we enjoyed a Beefeater Gin and Tonic in the bar which was wonderfully refreshing on what was a hot afternoon. The addition of orange to the glass was unusual but really helped to bring out the orange note in the Beefeater gin without overpowering the other flavours.
Chicken Goujons
A quick dinner this evening of chicken goujons and chips (last minute decision) and salad. We simply cut two chicken breasts into strips, coated them in flour and then in egg (that had mustard mixed into it) and then coated in seasoned bread crumbs. We fried them in a little olive oil, but left them a little too long on one side which came out darker than the others, but they turned out quite well for an impromptu dinner. Not sure why I piled them up like that – they look like some sort of deranged fish fingers.
Pasta with Pancetta and Broad Beans
Early dinner this evening so that we can take advantage of the last of the sun in the park. We saw these tennis racquet pasta shapes in our local deli recently and thought they would be fun to eat during Wimbledon fortnight. The dish itself was a little claggy from the cream and would have perhaps been better with oil instead.
Fry off the pancetta until the fat has rendered, add some chopped sage and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add a generous splash of white wine and let it cook down until almost reduced right down. Add some cream, stirring to pick up the flavours in the pan and then add cooked broad beans before finishing with lemon juice and a good grind of black pepper.
We’re taking the Pimms and the exceptionally tasty strawberries that the lovely people of Good Natured sent to us yesterday to the park now. We put some of the strawberries into the Pimms, but that did seem a bit of a crime as they were so good on their own – soft and juicy and tasted just like strawberries should, rather than the hard and tasteless ones that supermarkets often sell for “half price”.
Wimbledon, Pimms and strawberries and cream; I think this means summer is finally here!
Lentil and Smoked Mackerel Salad
When I arrived home from work this evening, Kerri was busy flaking up the smoked mackerel to put into the salad, which was all that remained to be done before it was ready to eat.
We have tried something like this before, but we didn’t put in the wild rice this time, which made it easier to eat – the wild rice was very chewy. It just contained some cooked green lentils, some flaked smoked mackerel and then various fresh vegetables chopped up small. It all went together quite well, especially with the dressing which contained honey, lemon, English mustard and olive oil. There was just enough of the dressing for the flavours to come through without it being overpowering.
We ate it with some left over French bread. Tasty and healthy.
Pork Pie
There’s nothing more perfect for a picnic than a pork pie. This one was sent to us for review from Abel and Cole which we took along to eat while Stephen played cricket yesterday. Well, I mostly ate it while Stephen was busy but, as it was so large, there was plenty left over when he finished.
We also had one of the smaller, picnic sized pies as a comparison which I preferred. The larger one was lacking somewhat in jelly and was very densely packed full of meat. While I like a meaty pie, I think there also needs to be a little fat to balance the meat and keep it moist. Very good crumbly pastry though and well-seasoned.
Indian Barbecued Chicken and Lamb Biryani
We decided to plan ahead for Saturday and do something a little more elaborate than a mid-week meal. And while we were keen to involve the barbecue, we didn’t want that to be the sole focus of it in case it rained.
So first up was barbecued chicken legs, which at a push we could haave grilled in our oven if it started raining heavily. We followed a general chicken tikka style recipe, except we used whole pieces of chicken rather than pieces on a skewer. Having planned ahead a lot more than we usually do, we had the chicken and marinade ready the night before and let the chicken sit in it overnight. We skinned the chicken and cut a few slashes into each piece to allow the marinade to penetrate more deeply. The marinade contained the following, which we simply mixed together and it made about the right amount for two drumsticks and two thighs.
1/4 cup yoghurt
juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3 cardamom pods, ground
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp turmeric
salt
When it came to cooking the chicken, we cooked it on the barbecue with the lid on, for 20 to 30 minutes, turning it a couple of times during cooking. This was really delicious. The chicken had taken on the flavours of the marinade very well – there is a lot to be said for planning ahead and marinating it overnight! The outside of the chicken tasted slightly sweet, almost fruity, it must have been the work of the yoghurt and lemon juice. Having the barbecue char-grilled flavour added a lot to it, giving it a tandoori-like taste – a lot better than doing it under an electric grill – thank you rain for staying away!
We tried cooking naan bread on the barbecue too, but it didn’t turn out very well. We suspected it wouldn’t be great because the dough hadn’t risen much. We ended up with what were essentially two large naan crisps. Tasty, but not quite what we were after obviously. We followed Anjum Anand’s recipe, which is supposedly easy but suspiciously contained neither yeast nor yoghurt, which would cast doubts on its authenticity if nothing else.
We followed this with a Hyderabadi lamb biryani. Having gone on about how well prepared we were, we actually did miss out the fact that we should have marinated the lamb pieces for about two hours before cooking them, so they only got half an hour. The basic method is to parboil some basmati rice and marinade the lamb in yoghurt and spices, then layer the rice and lamb into a pot with deep fried onions (yum!) and flaked almonds (not sure how authentic these are but we had them lying around so put them in), pour on some saffron-infused milk and some melted butter (or ghee) and a little of the rice cooking water, then cover with a tight-fitting lid and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. The aroma when lifting the lid after cooking is wonderful.
We were a bit disappointed in the flavour of this dish after the brilliance of the chicken. However, I think we were being a bit hasty in our initial judgment – it had a milder flavour than the chicken had but it did have its own complexity to it. It didn’t help that I’d been a bit heavy handed with both the cardamom and the saffron, which gave it something of a mouth-drying quality. Somehow I can never get saffron right – it looks like so little when it goes in, but it’s really easy to overdo it. Or at least I find it really easy to overdo it. Maybe others don’t. Maybe I should concentrate on learning from my mistakes rather than moaning about it.
One particularly good thing about the biryani was how well it went with the Alsace gewurtztramminer that we were drinking. We tried some with Thai curry recently but that curry was too hot to match with wine. As a standalone wine, this one didn’t seem as interesting an example as the previous one (this one was Sainsbury’s “Taste the Difference” label), but it did have typical rose petal and fruity lychee aromas, round texture and a dash of residual sweetness which were a perfect match for the mild spices and butteriness of the biryani.
