Chapter Eight: SoCo for Everyone

As anyone who knows me would testify, I am not much of a drinker. Since the week that followed the end of my exams (there were woo woos involved. Pitchers of woo woos. And a pole. Details are not necessary) my vulnerability to sudden drunkenness has been starkly evident, and I am felled by amounts of alcohol that wouldn’t render fourteen-year-olds on park benches tipsy. Apprehensively, then, I accepted an invitation to Southern Comfort’s launch of their new cocktail recipes and the offer of a mixing lesson, and with memories of vomit-strewn gutters braced myself for a mess.
The party, held at a gallery near Oxford Circus, was a preview of SoCo’s new campaign pictures, and I was there to interview Remi Nicole and Frankmusik about their participation for t5m.com. Luckily for me, though, the PR team offered me a cocktail-mixing lesson beforehand, and I was introduced to resident mixologist Giles Looker. A bespectacled gentleman in a maroon velvet jacket (I want one), Looker has turned his passion for alcohol (some would call that alcoholism, but one man’s treasure…) into a lucrative profession, and he started off giving me a few tips for perfect mixing. First of all, a cocktail can rest purely on the standard of the ice. It is impossible to produce a perfect cocktail without a perfect ice-machine, and since Looker recommended ones that cost in excess of a few grand, it appears that I will be sipping flawed drinks for years to come. Without the flawless shape, size and temperature of the ideal ice cube, the dilution of the drink will occur too quickly, and the balance of the drink will be off kilter.
‘So what?’ I hear you wonder (Literally. Chapter Seven’s Tarot lesson has unlocked my telepathic abilities), but for Looker, everything is in the balance obtained in the mixing. A good cocktail should blend sweet with sour and strong with weak, and without the balance you are left with something too extreme for the palate. A good mixologist must always be aware of what each ingredient is bringing to the drink, and with a sweet base like Southern Comfort, adding extra sugary substances renders extra bitter ones vital. The new campaign is all about showing people that a SoCo and Coke is not the only option, proposing several tasty cocktails inspired by the drink’s New Orleans heritage. Looker talked me through a couple; the Southern Belle, the Bayou Fruit Cup, the Crescent City Smash; before teaching me how to make the Louisiana Jam.
To make the Louisiana Jam, pictured left with Remi Nicole, we started off with an empty jam jar, which I added two cocktail spoonfuls of apricot jam to. It’s a perfect way to start a cocktail; who doesn’t have jam?; but as it becomes tempting to turn the final contents of every jam jar into an alcoholic beverage, you might want to book your place at Alcholics Anonymous. Next came the Southern Comfort in a generous measure; he tried to teach me the stylish way to pour, holding the neck of the bottle before flipping it vertically, letting it pour for three seconds (about 35mls worth) before flipping it back. One second later and there’s Southern Comfort everywhere and I apologise for screwing up the most simple of tasks. The same little trick is required to add the 20mls of lemon juice. ‘Surely’, I think to myself, ‘I can’t spill this again. A monkey could master the art of turning a bottle upside down.’ Needless to say, in a few moments there was more liquid on the bar then there was in the jar, and any hopes at glass throwing were abandoned for the welfare of those around me. Adding a splash of sugar syrup to balance out the sour lemon, and eight slapped mint leaves (giving them a good whack releases the smell), all that was left was the crushed ice. And then the genius of the jam jar was unearthed, its lid providing the perfect way to shake the ingredients, encourage the slight dilution of the ice, and unlock the flavours of the mint. My enthusiasm for the shaking process was childlike, but by then I had sampled three cocktails and was in no fit state to handle glass. I could, however, just manage the final garnish, a sprig of mint and lemon wedge (always match the garnish to the drink’s content) and promptly drank the result, a sweet and tasty cocktail reminiscent of a mojito, the jam giving a really nice kick. Cocktail mixing is about skill and precision, but it is also just about knowing what goes together, so while I certainly don’t have the flair for the job, I definitely have the tastebuds. Three more cocktails later and clutching one of my favourite things – a goodie bag – I stumbled out into the darkness, searching for jam.

For recipes for the full range of Southern Comfort's new cocktails see bigeasycocktails.co.uk