Dan Caddell from 3 Session Street and Grant Murray from Cru Holdings discuss spring cocktails with SLTN
Dan Caddell, 3 Session Street, Dundee
Q: As spring approaches, how important is it to have a seasonal cocktail menu?
A: Seasonality is always an important part of menu development, but with the inconsistency of weather, having a well-rounded list is often more important. Development of our menus takes around six months start to finish as we search for the best ingredients and then tweak to find the perfect balance before working through menu concept and design. We always look at what’s going to be seasonally available through the course of a menu run.
Q: Which spring serves are most popular in your bar?
A: Our Toffee Apple has been flying out the door – it might sound like a bit of an autumn drink, but the combination of Sea Wolf Rum, calvados, house-made caramel syrup and Merchants Heart Ginger Ale makes a beautiful balance between light, refreshing, and sweet with a little ginger heat coming through.
Q: What techniques do you use to ensure drinks are lighter for the warmer weather?
A: There’s definitely a shift from heavier fruits and spices, to berries and herbs. We also start using ultrasonic for more of our infusions rather than the sous vide, which we use all the time in autumn and winter – it carries over the lighter flavours rather than some of the cooked down flavours gained by heating.
Q: What can bars do to promote their spring drinks offer?
A: We work in customer service – for me it’s always just been about remembering that; sometimes you might have spent time developing an offering, but people just want to enjoy a Mojito. Well hey, that’s their call, let them enjoy a Mojito! Year round we just always focus on the customer and what they’re looking for. We might love our mezcals and amaros but they really aren’t for everyone, so just find out what they’re after, if you deliver what they’re after perfectly then they’ll trust you when you suggest something off the menu!
Q: Sustainability is a top priority for bars now, how do you ensure your bar is environmentally aware?
A: Bars have started to move past standard local fruit and have been looking more into the spirits that are being used. Now we’re looking past even this and starting to consider the source of ingredients in these spirits and where they come from – two of our favourites are Tayport Distillery and Arbikie Distillery.
Q: What is your favourite spring serve and why?
A: It’s over a year and a half since I quit drinking, so where before I might have said a bourbon is always the best serve, this year I’m looking forward to trying out some spritz-style serves with the Aecorn Aperitifs – here’s hoping they fill the amaro-shaped hole in my life.
Grant Murray, Cru Holdings, Inverness
Q: As spring approaches, how important is it to have a seasonal cocktail menu?
A: Having a well-balanced cocktail offer year-round is massively important but adapting our offer seasonally allows us to get creative and lean on so many extra factors. It helps us to engage the team, engage our audiences on social media, and leverage support from brand alignment. I like all of those things!
Q: Which spring serves are most popular in your bars?
A: Quirky and visual drinks are and have always been popular in our area. We always try and find the balance between accessibility and craft when creating new serves. As the weather improves, people are drifting away from the heavy and warming drinks towards light, refreshing ones, so spring and summer usually see an increase in fresh fruit, sparkling wines, sodas, etc. That being said, there’s no wrong time to have a White Russian!
Q: What can bars do to promote their spring drinks offer?
A: Social media is everything these days and its 99% visual. I’d say its important to have good photography and good looking drinks which are well promoted… the actual content is a very close second from a promotional sense.
Q: Sustainability is a top priority for bars now, how do you ensure your bars are environmentally aware?
A: Coming out of winter, we are leaning towards more fresh, and perishable produce. If we have anything in our bars that will be wasted – whether it be turning fruit, citrus zests or a half-empty, flat bottle of Champagne – we tend to see this as an opportunity to get creative.
Things can be transformed into delicious syrups and liqueurs, dehydrated into garnishes, etc. making the very most out of these wonderful ingredients!
