Celebrating World Martini Day in the Grand Cocktail Bar way!...
Not to be left out and following on from the hugely entertaining National Waiter's Day escapades, our hard working and competitive Cocktail Bar staff decided they wanted to get into the action and celebrate World Martini Day coming up on the 19th June 2015.
And so on Wednesday 27th May at 10.30am the scene was set for a competition like none other! In conjunction with the renowned Belvedere Vodka range (stocked in the hotel Bar), each member of the Cocktail Team pitted themselves against each other to create their best, most delicious Signature Cocktail. The winner to have the honour of serving up his or her cocktail throughout the month of June... The nail biting, soul searching, secrecy was in force and the race for a new Vodkatini was in the making! Any of the Belvedere Brands could be used. To make it even more interesting the judge was Marine, our Assistant Food and Beverage Manager, well someone had to do it didn't they!...
The exact origin of the Martini is rather vague, research does show however, that a certain Jerry Thomas makes mention in his Bartenders Manual of 1887 when he was working at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco. The belief is the drink originated from the hotel bar for travellers on their way to the nearby city of Martinez. This original recipe was with Gin and Vermouth rather than Vodka though! The Vodka Martini seems to have come along somewhat later, maybe even as late as the 1950s under the name of Kangaroo Cocktail.... James Bond certainly helped putting it on the map... His shaken not stirred obviously!
So back to the competition...... the overall winner was well deserved and awarded to Ryan Lee, it was a close run competition though and all recipes were highly recommended by our impartial judge! She was just about still standing by the end!.. Ryan has kindly agreed to share his winner recipe, although he would like to stress if you want the real McCoy you best come in and taste his!!!!
- 1 mint leaf
- 3 bar spoons of Maraschino Cherry Juice
- Dash of Apple Juice
- 1/4 Lemon Juice
- 75ml of finest Belvedere Vodka
- (Garnish with Cherry)
Simply shaken in a 3 piece glass with plenty of ice then strained into a traditional Martini glass.. what could be simpler!
As mentioned before this specially made Signature cocktail plus the whole range of Vodkas on offer in the bar are available for the whole of June. These include Flavoured Belvedere Vodkas, Grey Goose, Stolichnaya Gold and Chase Vodka to name a few. So if Vodka is your tipple a trip to the Grand and Ryan is a must... Date for your diary 19th June 2015 and have a great World Martini Day