Tasting notes on Sacred English Vermouth
http://sacredspiritscompany.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=52
and Monin Pomegranate Syrop
http://www.moninstore.com/prod_Detail.html?prodID=43

OK. So, back to back with a bland middle of the road Martini Rossi. Sacred is more complex (duh!), more orange citrus and crucially more bitter. Nowhere near Punt e mes or such like but still more bitter than your average Italian V. Hence Sacred's recommended Negroni is 35ml Gin, 25ml Sacred vermouth, 15ml Aperol, 15ml Campari. So light on the Campari style bitters, light on the vermouth and heavy on the gin. Generally, It's strong tasting so you can use less of it than you would normally. And (hic!) 50ml Jim Beam, 25ml Sacred, 6 drops Angostura, 6 drops Bitter Truth Orange stirred for 40secs is most excellent! Compared with say, Caparno, it's fairly obviously Microdistilliary and in your face, where Caparno is classically elegant. My problem is that I can't get though 1L of Carpano before it goes off and it doesn't keep. So I asked Gerry's for a half bottle but they don't carry them and suggested this instead.

Meanwhile, Monin Pomegranate Sirop is extraordinary. If you stopped using Grenadine as an ingredient because it's too damn sweet, try this. Darker colour, more citrus acid, less sugary stickiness. Same kind of deal in that I ask Gerry's for an alternative to Grenadine, preferably less sweet and they suggest this. The background is a wonderful cocktail that Zetter's do called "Master at Arms". Myers dark rum, port evaporation, grenadine. When they do it, it's dry and delicious. When I try and re-create it, it's sweet and like cough medicine! Maybe that's why at Zetter's it's £8.50 with a door policy, unlike my kitchen. So what makes Pomegranate syrup into Grenadine?   

via Gerry's in Soho, London http://www.gerrys.uk.com/ Where I also picked up a bottle of Portobello Gin http://portobellostarbar.co.uk/portobelloroadgin/