Bottled cocktails are both something rather old and rather newsworthy; that is, after many, many years in the wilderness, they are starting to make a comeback. The attraction is simple: excellent, high-quality cocktails that are ready to drink with minimal preparation and a convenient, affordable price.
We’ve written about the excellent range by Master of Malt, but, on a recent trip to the Cotswolds Distillery, I learnt how they had taken a slightly different approach when making an Espresso Martini.
The Espresso Martini was created in the 1990s by Dick Bradshaw and typically consists of a mix of vodka, coffee liqueur, sugar syrup and fresh espresso. At the Cotswolds Distillery, however, they make their bottled cocktail not through a compounding of the various ingredients, but by producing a range of distillates: coffee (Enorga and Malabar), coriander seed, fresh orange peel, and spice (mace, cassia, and cinnamon). These are then blended together and lightly sweetened. Let’s see what it tastes like.
On its own (from the freezer)
Nose: Dark, rich coffee beans and rich fruit.
Taste: More rich coffee, mingled with dark chocolate and cherry, followed by a delicate sweetness that gradually intensifies to a short, but lovely, genuine sugar note. Towards the finish, the notes of chocolate are combined with spiced orange.
Finish: Light, intriguing floral notes of coriander and rose or violet creams here and there, with the continuation of the same fruity, chocolate and coffee notes.
Tall Espresso Martini (with soda)
This has lovely – and decidedly non-sickly – notes of chocolate orange; in particular, cocoa powder and a sweet fruitiness (both orange and richer, darker fruit like cherry). The fizz lightens the drink so that it has an almost cola-like element to it at the start, which gradually develops into notes of coffee and dry cocoa. A great way to make a spirited version of a coffee soda.
In Conclusion
Cotswolds Distillery’s Espresso Martini is full of flavour and unexpected complexities, making it an excellent example of how a bottled cocktail can be much more than something you could make at home. I also liked the innovative method of production, and am intrigued to know what other products might be available in the future.
The Espresso Martini would be perfectly placed at the end of a meal on its own (with its fruity, chocolatey, coffee notes), or at any time when mixed with soda. Now I’m just left with the conundrum of deciding how to drink the rest of our bottle!
