The Cariel Vanilla Maverick Martini – Porn Star Martini SINFULLY DELICIOUS

The Cariel Vanilla Maverick Martini SINFULLY DELICIOUS Back on the early 2000’s London’s Mixology Revolution was taking hold. Douglas Ankrah, owner and Head Bartender of The Townhouse and LAB was a pioneer In The Townhouse he had developed an idea for a drink based on Passionfruit and the newly available Cariel Vanilla Vodka Douglas was commuting between London & Capetown to write his book “Shaken & Stirred” and the drink was perfected there and named after a racy bar the team were frequenting after hours called “Maverick’s”

SINFULLY DELICIOUS Glassware: 2 Martini glasses, preferably frozen 2 tall shotglasses for the champagne on the side Ingredients: 3 oz (90ml) Cariel Vanilla Vodka 1 tablespoon Passoã (passionfruit liqueur) Flesh and seeds of 4 fresh passionfruit 5 teaspoons vanilla sugar 4 oz (120ml) champagne 1 Passionfruit, cut in half Hard ice cubes The Method: Shake all the ingredients (except the champagne, passionfruit halves and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla sugar) in a cocktail shaker and strain into the Martini glasses. Separately, pour out 2 glasses of champagne, then dust the passionfruit halves with the remaining sugar. Dunk the passionfruit in the martini glasses, with spoons: the idea is to fish out the fruit and eat it with the spoon, drink the champagne and enjoy the cocktail at leisure *reproduced from Douglas Ankrah’s “Shaken & Stirred” published 2004 by Kyle Cathie Ltd. Available on Amazon.com The Cariel Vanilla Maverick Martini – Porn Star Martini Recipe*

The Cariel Vanilla Pornstar Martini: The Full Story SINFULLY DELICIOUS One such man was Douglas Ankrah. Douglas by this time was a already paragon of cocktail excellence as head bartender and proprietor of The Townhouse at 31, Beauchamp Square. Douglas also owned the famous LAB Bar which had an offshoot in Cape Town, South Africa and he was commuting between the two in this period to find thinking space for the book he was writing (now a best seller: “Shaken & Stirred”). Way back in 2003, London was the epicentre of the new mixology revolution. Seemingly forgotten techniques and exotic tastes were reborn in a flurry of spirits excellence. Fortune and fame beckoned for some of these audacious innovators. The quality spirits in vogue in these special times were to assume almost legendary status as were the men (and women) who fashioned bibulous fancy from them. Prominent in Douglas’ thoughts at this time was an especially delicious drink he had started developing in the Townhouse. It was constructed around the newly established Cariel Vanilla Vodka introduced to London by its Swedish creator Peter Carlson. At LAB Cape Town he experimented with versions of this drink. At this time Douglas and his colleagues (which included Jamie Terrell) were frequenting a rather racy Cape Town establishment by the name of ‘Maverick’s’ and so they came to refer to this new drink as the “Maverick Martini”. During these creative sessions a colleague remarked that is was not so much a “Maverick” but a “Pornstar”. British English vernacular at this time was using “Rockstar” and “Pornstar” interchangeably to describe something which these days we might describe as “awesome”. Like an Awesome Martini. A Pornstar Martini. A star was born. In Cape Town it was refined and perfected. It was served with a shot of chilled champagne on the side. And re- exported back to London, all grown up. It was the ultimate in luxury. Or conspicuous consumption. Suddenly The Pornstar was THE drink, popping up in various incarnations in the best places. Being drunk by THE in-crowd. The bartender community that received this sensational new drink in London embraced it as a beacon for this cocktail Renaissance. And as these young men and women fuelled a mixological diaspora they took it in various glorious incarnations to the ends of the earth. Today you can ask for and receive a Pornstar in the most salubrious and unlikely of places around the world. And you can sit there happy in the knowledge that you aren’t just having a drink. You are communing with a legend.