Be prepared for a heady, hilarious and more importantly, intriguing experience when settling in for a schooling on caffeinated mixology by local cold pressed coffee liqueur gurus Mr Black. National Brand Ambassador, Malcolm Gandar knows how to spin a good yarn and has an ungodly knack for incorporating the deliciousness of Mr Black and a perfectly brewed espresso with a myriad of unlikely ingredients to create cocktails which are deceptively easy to drink and make (but fanciful enough to impress one’s friends).
Mr Black’s Caffeinated Drinking: Cocktails for Coffee Nerds sessions ran alongside a host of other coffee related workshops (such as Latte Art, Home Brewing, Cupping and of course Coffee Appreciation) in the two week lead up to the Aroma Festival last Sunday. For those unfamiliar, this annual festival is an amalgamation of all glorious coffee related things converging at the Rocks for a day, including some of the more innovative brewing styles and speciality brewers such as Pablo and Rusty’s and St Ali’s Sensory Lab.
11am on a Sunday morning proves to be the perfect time to ingest ridiculous amounts of caffeine and alcohol in the warm, comfy and tastefully nautical themed Cruise Bar Junk Lounge. Faced with a tray of gargantuan glistening ice cubes, an array of condiments, ingredients and utensils, attendees threw together three cocktails whilst combating waves of tipsy-ness via tasty canapes provided by bar staff.
Apparently the creator of the Espresso Martini British bartender Dick Bradsell came up with the Vodka laced beverage (as was the popular spirit in the 80s) after an encounter with a now infamous model who asked him to ‘wake me up and f**k me up’. Mr Black’s version: a simple four ingredients 25ml Mr Black, 30ml Vodka, 25ml Espresso and 5ml sugar syrup tipped into one of their trendy branded jars and, key step here, shaken to a point of emulsification, magics into a sweet foamy caramel liquid topped with thick crema happily slurped up through a straw.
Challenging the status quo of what a complementary flavour palate should be is Malcolm’s slight twist on a Tormenta Negra (spanish for ‘Black Storm’), a tall glass of Ginger Beer mixed with 30ml Spiced Rum, 30ml Mr Black and a generous squeeze of lime juice. Attendees were given free reign to play with the proportions of liqueur and rum resulting in a quite unexpected, refreshingly springy tipple warmed by the mellow flavours of coffee and ginger – the perfect elixir for a summer’s day.
Having already pumped an excitable crowd full of caffeine and alcohol the course finished on a sugar high as a more traditional Affogato, made its way to the table. Vanilla bean ice-cream simply topped with 30ml of Mr Black had guests going to town with lashings of pistachios, hazelnuts, cinnamon roasted cashews and decadent shards of Lindt salted caramel dark chocolate. An altogether heavenly end which judging by the silence around the table (punctuated by the odd moan of pleasure) was a unanimous highlight.
The story of Mr Black’s origins is low and slow, co-creators Philip Moore and Tom Baker use a cold press process with a seasonal blend of arabica beans, one of which is a Kenyan Tchakakhani (yes it is almost pronounced like Chaka Khan, respect) fused into an almost flavourless wheat based spirit. Every nuance of flavour interpreted by anyone drinking it purely originates from the beans & brewing process. There are no concentrates, flavourings or preservatives added.
Anyone super keen to try out some of the other Mr Black creations such as their Chocolate and Raspberry versions of the spirit and sample a few more innovative cocktails, can visit home of where the magic happens Distillery Botanica in Gosford. To top things off a collaboration between Mr Black and Campos has produced an AA rated limited edition liqueur, the base of which comes from the ‘Geisha Panama’, the world’s most expensive coffee. Only 150 bottles are available at $185 a pop and have limited accessibility via a ballot. If just a taste will suffice, a small batch has been made available throughout Rockpool venues nationally.
For more information on Mr Black visit http://mrblack.co
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