Drinks doctor: How can I be innovative with my food and beverage pairings?
You can go a lot further than just standard wine and cocktails, says Nicola Tickle, co-owner of Heft and its front of house and bar director
We've always enjoyed the link between chefs and the front of house, marrying a smooth partnership between my husband Kevin's menus and the drinks available at the bar. However, this year we're pushing things a little further and marrying up food trends with our drink offerings.
Go for no
We are focusing on our food and drink pairings so they feature more than just wine and cocktails. We're looking to get our chefs fully on board so they really make a contribution. We want the ingredients that we use and the non-alcoholic drinks that we create using their ideas to force their way to the front of the queue, as that way they will be more than just an afterthought for the designated driver or individual who just wants to drink something really appealing with no alcohol.
This is coupled with an already booming spirit trend where gin is showing no sign of becoming passé and rum is becoming more popular and interesting by the week. Cocktails, drinks pairings and beer look like they're going nowhere other than the next level.
Collaborations have always been advantageous to businesses, but since 2020, teamwork and working alongside other like-minded producers has, on occasion, been quite simply lifesaving for some operators. This ultimately means that we can tap into their production expertise and use that to create something magical.
Foraged birch syrup
In the meantime, we get all the fun of filling our cocktail list with foraged produce from this year, or even last. Our next addition to the menu will include something we've been using in the kitchen for a long time: birch syrup. Harvested in the early spring and reduced down slowly and very patiently, it provides a more complex flavour than maple syrup, with subtle herbaceous and molasses tones. Much like honey, birch syrup varies with each batch, each tree and each reduction – creating a vintage, so to speak.
Collecting from birch trees involves a lot of time spent in woods, tapping trees and patiently waiting for its beautiful sap to flow. It's time well spent in our book, but it also gives us time to find more interesting things to pick while enjoying the peace and quiet.
We'll be including this year's batch of syrup in an espresso martini of sorts – a new coffee and birch syrup cocktail. We've been working with the brilliant Red Bank Coffee Roasters to find a coffee blend that works alongside our 2023 vintage of birch syrup.
Red Bank are absolute masters in what they do. They work exclusively with a group of carefully selected small-scale seasonal coffee farmers who produce truly amazing crops of coffee beans that are only roasted when they are at their best.
Red Bank's Onwards roast is a washed community blend from the Café El Zapoteco group of producers in Mexico. We picked this blend for its rich and fruity flavour. The gorgeous maple and pecan notes it exudes sit alongside the strong and interesting punchy taste from our birch sap. Handily, Onwards also holds up well to that boozy kick that we all love from an espresso martini. We've also made the decision to use the same blend for our house coffee in the restaurant and bar.
When the Onwards season and 2023 vintage of birch syrup run dry, we'll be looking forward again to see what our local producers and our own harvests will yield for next season's drinks menu.
Seasonal food and drink pairing: Asparagus and Sauvignon Blanc
As we run head first into asparagus season, it's time to break out the Yealands Estate Single Block L5 Sauvignon Blanc. With a focus on quality, this wine is filled white peach and green apples underlined with a fresh grassiness. The lingering finish brings a final flourish of clean, saline, sea air.
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