Damien mixes: The South African Sun in a Glass
© Damien Guichard
Bar ohne Namen
Entschlossen verweigert sich Savage, der Bar einen Namen zu geben. Stattdessen sind drei klassische Design-Symbole das Logo der Trinkstätte in Dalston: ein gelbes Quadrat, ein rotes Viereck, ein blauer Kreis. Am meisten wurmt den sympathischen Franzosen dabei, dass es kein Gelbes-Dreieck-Emoji gibt. Das erschwert auf komische Weise die Kommunikation. Der Instagram Account lautet: a_bar_with_shapes-for_a_name und anderenorts tauchen die Begriffe ‘Savage Bar’ oder eben ‚Bauhaus Bar‘ auf.
Für den BCB bringt Savage nun sein Barkonzept mit und mixt für uns mit Unterstützung von Russian Standard Vodka an der perfekten Bar dazu.
Once again, two unique ingredients went head-to-head in our community cocktail vote on Instagram. The winner, Slangbos, prevailed, and Damien Guichard was already busy mixing in South Africa, the origin of the exotic herb.
For this new community cocktail, we are flying to sunny Cape Town in South Africa where I just spent a week meeting the local bar community and sampling South African brandies. I was very fortunate to learn about the fynbos tradition thanks to the talented team at the “Cause and Effect Bar” in Cape Town, which specializes in using these herbs.
Fynbos: unique diversity of plants and herbs
Fynbos refers to the region and shrubland found in this particular part of the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is home to thousands of unique plants and herbs that can be used as botanicals or burnt for purification. The collection of such herbs is strictly regulated to protect the biodiversity. I had the privilege of sampling slangbos also known as snake bush.
What's special about Slangbos
"Why that name?" you're probably wondering. Well, here's something trivial: when fynbos snakes shed their skin, they slither through slangbos because its rough and hard texture helps them get rid of their skin more easily. Slangbos also has a very distinctive taste. It is very earthy, peppery and woody.
Rotovap in use
Normally I would process an ingredient with a quick hack or an easy to reproduce technique, but due to the rarity of the plant I decided to distill it with a rotovap - also called a rotary evaporator. Since Slangbos is a rather dominant and aromatic herb, a vacuum distillation would also give the most pleasant result, as it allows extraction at a very low temperature, preventing any kind of browning or oxidation.
Ingredients "Snake in the Grass":
50ml Richelieu 10 South African Brandy
30ml Late Harvest Dessert Wine
5ml Raspberry Eau de Vie
2 Sprays Slangbos and Naartjie Distillate
© Damien Guichard
Instruction:
I first combined some freshly picked Slangbos to another product native to South Africa known as naartjies: it’s a citrus fruit that has a taste similar to mandarine. We combined a handful of slangbos with the peels of two naartjies into 1L of vodka and let it steep overnight. We then distilled everything starting at 30C in order to keep the integrity of the ingredients. The result was a beautiful citrusy and aromatic extract.
Because we were in South Africa, I decided to use local ingredients such as an amazing brandy called Richelieu 10yo – beautifully floral with a lot of depth, vanilla and dried fruit notes – a perfect excuse for a twist on a Manhattan. I would then combine it with a late harvest dessert wine which I sampled in a local distillery and which has tropical fruit notes and a light oxidised aftertaste. Last but not least, a raspberry eau-de-vie which I brought from Germany. The Slangbos and Naartjie distillate would then be used as a spray, the same way you would express citrus oils. The whole thing is served in a chilled coupe.
And voila, it's ready – the "Snake in the Grass".
Cheers, your Damien
© Damien Guichard
