Whilst sauntering around London the other month, post-London Distillery visit, we chanced upon Turnips, the amazing fruit and veg stall, situated deep in the cavernous bowels of Borough Market. (Our visit to the market was purely educational, and in no way were we using it as a cut though to reach the Market Porter and its fine array of real ale boozes)
We had just enough time to take some crap Iphone pictures of the tomato display and purchase a couple of fermentable items before heading off for an important meeting with a couple of pints of Cascade Pale. Key among those ingredients were a selection of chillis for some fearsome booze making experiments.
First up we’ll be fighting fire with fire and ratcheting up a standard ginger beer with chillis. Our experiments will range from the mildest of chillis to the frighteningly hot Scotch* Bonnet.
This hot, hot liquid refreshment will then be put through its paces as a base to make a super-hot ‘Dark and Stormy’ cocktail. Just add two shots of rum to a glass of your chilli ginger beer and give it an extravagant stir. Garnish with a couple of mint leaves if you are feeling particularly dandy.
Once that heat has subsided we’ll be looking at tickling a deep, black stout with a touch of chilli heat before dicing the remainder to line the rims of martini glasses for various cocktails.
Face, prepare for ignition…
* Coincidentally it was in ‘Scotch-land’ (Scotland), circa. 1995, where we were to taste our very first chilli vodka. The deadly spirit was excreted and served from a jar stuffed full of vicious chilli peppers which sat amongst the optics of a now defunct Edinburgh bar. We must have missed the small sign labeled ‘English tourists and idiots only’. The results were spectacular, and remains to this day the only time we’ve actually had to run from a drinking establishment.
Relief was only found through draping our singed tongues upon the cold Heart of Midlothian stone, thus possibly starting this rather peculiar Edinburgh tradition.
Tomatoes. Not hot enough.
