After just entering the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the year 2016 competition with a picture of a cocktail that we could have, honestly, been a little better prepared for.  Max said he wanted more drinks in his portfolio.

Suits me, drinks are a bit more challenging to shoot (as I found out).  You have a glass, which is a reflective object.  Restricted angles, potentially more time sensitive elements like ice, bubbles and condensation.  The point when the cocktail looks it’s best usually only lasts a few seconds before it starts to look flat.

So in the absence of any super hot drinks trends on my radar I turned to Mr Google to inspire me.  What does 2016 hold for the drinks industry?  And then I realised it was sitting under my nose.  I don’t think we are getting many points for classy ideas with this one.  But with summer approaching (kind of) something I had witnessed a few times over the past months while I was out with husband and friends, suddenly bubbled to the front of my memory.

I had witnessed on 3 separate, unrelated occasions, people ordering…a Shandy!

This had not happened since college and did not go unnoticed.  The idea to me seemed inspired, a breath of fresh air, as something normally considered nag and retro suddenly made sense.  A grownup nostalgic drink with a twist of sugar and a responsible about of alcohol.

It seemed ridiculous initially but I thought with the right treatment, me and Max could somehow make Shandy cool again!  I had seen the words ‘Beer cocktail’ splashed about on the internet a few times, so after some digging, I turned up quite a lot of ideas.

The craft beer movement is gaining momentum here in Berlin.  With an enthusiasm for artisanal products and a growing rejection of mass produced anything, I decided to turn our attention to some local brews.  My idea was to take 3 suitable craft beers being produced in Berlin, come up with an inspiring way of mixing them (glamorous Shandy’s), and then to pair them with a ‘bar snack’, that gives Max something else to think about.

Here is our first instalment made with one of my favourite Beers sorts, IPA.  Heiden Peters is a small brewery selling our of Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg.  We actually bought one of his beers (well a whole keg) for our Wedding, (thats a small, personal endorsement).  This American IPA goes well with citrus flavours and we used pink grapefruit so as not to be too obvious.  For the food pairing, Max wanted to exploit the Indian connection so spicy chilli nuts became the order of the day.  They are a great combination!

Indian Summer Cocktail

For 1 large or 2 small cocktails

• 50 ml oz Tru Organic Gin
• 25 ml Fruitlab Hibiscus Organic Liqueur.
• 25 ml Simple Syrup.
• 20 ml Pink Grapefruit.
• 10 ml oz Lemon.
• 1 x small bottle Heiden Peters
• Ice

Pour all ingredients except the beer into a cocktail shaker with ice.  Shake and strain into a tall glass on the rocks.  Garnish with Grapefruit Zest.

Spicy Nuts

• 1tbsp smoked salt
• 1tbsp sweet paprika
• 1tbsp cayenne pepper
• 1tbsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1tsp thyme getrockeneter
• ½ tsp brown sugar
• 3 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 egg (size M)
• 500g mixed nuts (such as almonds, peanuts, walnuts, pecans, cashews, etc.)

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Combine all the spices. Wash the rosemary and shake dry. Whisk the egg white until stiff. Mix the nuts with the spices, herbs and egg white and layout on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Bake in preheated oven until golden brown and crispy for about 14 minutes.

The spicy nuts can be well kept in screw or tin cans.

Indian Summer

Für einen großen oder 2 kleine Cocktails

• 50 ml guter Gin
• 25 ml Hibiskus Likör
• 25 ml weißer Rohrzuckersirup
• 20 ml frisch gepresster Pink Grapefruit Saft
• 10 ml frisch gepresster Zitronen- oder Limettensaft
• 1 Flasche Heidenpeters American IPA
• Eiswürfel

Alle Zutaten in einem Shaker mixen. Eiswürfel in die Gläser geben,
Gin-Grapefruitmix daraufgeben und mit Bier auffüllen.

Man kann dazu gut kleine Grapefruitstücke mit –saft oder einfach Wasser einfrieren und den Cocktail mit Grapefruitzesten oder Scheiben garnieren.

 

Würzige Nüsse

• 1 EL Räuchersalz
• 1 EL Paprika edelsüß
• 1 TL Cayenne Pfeffer
• 1 TL frisch gemahlener schwarzer Pfeffer
• 1 TL getrockeneter Thymian
• ½ TL brauner Zucker
• 3 Zweige Rosmarin
• 1 Eiweiß (Größe M)
• 500 g gemischte Nüsse (wie Mandeln, Erdnüsse, Walnüsse, Pekanüsse, Cashews etc.)

Den Backofen auf 180°C vorheizen. Gewürze mischen. Rosmarinzweige waschen und trocken schütteln. Eiweiß mit einem Schneebesen kurz schaumig schlagen. Nüsse mit Gewürzen, Kräutern und Eiweiß mischen und auf ein mit Backpapier ausgelegtes Backblech geben.

Im vorgeheizten Backofen ca. 14 Minuten goldbraun und knusprig backen.
Die würzigen Nüsse lassen sich gut in Schraubgläsern oder Blechdosen aufbewahren.

04 Apr This entry was published on April 4, 2016 at 6:18 pm. It’s filed under Uncategorized and tagged berlin, berlin food photography, berlin food styling, Chilli Nuts, Cocktails, Craft Beer, drinks, food photography, grapefruit, Heiden Peters, IPA, nicky and max, nicky walsh food photography, recipe, Shandy. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.