by Adam Wallhead

Created on: April 23, 2010

Its 3.15 AM, the two guys stood at the bar ask for another round, damn,I'm not getting home before 4.00 AM at the earliest. I pour the same round that I have poured twice already, two double measures of Dalwhinnie single malt......over ice! It hurts and goes against all of my experience to add liberal lashings of ice to such a quaffabledrink but hey, they're the customers and you know who's always right. I'm not out and out saying that what these two guys were doing in my hotel bar was wrong, far from it, I often have a splash of water in some single malts to open the flavours up, what I'm getting at is the fact that the drink that really appealed to them after a night out on their company expenses talking about what there next rep-mobile would be or what their golf handicap was, was a good single malt with ice.

For me, different situations and different moods, determine what I drink and how much I enjoy it. One of my all time favourite drinks has to be the humble yet somehow ruggedly sophisticated Caipirinha. Picture the scene - Its summer 2000, I am sat in a bar carved into the side of a cliff, the whole place is lit just by candles, there are five or six of us, all work colleagues, sat around a table next to wide open french doors which lead out onto a balcony, the rhythmical crash of the Mediterranean waves lapping the base of the cliff can be made out in between the intense,up close rhythm of St. Germain's tourist playing over the loud speakers. The bar is in St. Florent, Corsica and we are lucky enough to be able to call it our local as we work in a nearby hotel just a short stagger along the beach. Again, its early hours and chef brings me a drink unlike any I have tried. The muddled lime and crushed ice give the drink its rugged charm, the chunky rocks glass add to the image. From the moment I took a sip of that cool, refreshing glass full of pleasure I knew that my life would never be the same again.

Sounds like a huge, bold thing to say just because of one drink but that simple mix of fresh lime, sugar syrup and Cachaca (a Brazilian spirit made from distilled sugar cane), made so perfectly, made me realise that there were so many flavours, experiences and cultures available in a glass, it was the start of my lifelong interest, maybe slight obsession for finding the perfect drink.  I have found many perfect drinks since,each with their own story and memory, each one is my own personal story to go with the drink.

I suppose what I

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