Next up on the menu—offering another glimpse of what people who will attend Taste Festivals this year might enjoy—were mussels accompanied by an exhilarating concoction of Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky, peppermint tea, green herbal liquor, celery bitters, and sweet potato shrub. It’s exactly this fusion, or this blurring of the lines between food and drink, that Diageo’s Global Cocktailian Lauren Mote believes is turning the drinks industry on its head.
“We are really passionate about sustainability and innovation. Bartenders call it root-to-flower while chefs call it nose-to-tail (where they’re using every aspect of everything). Now we are starting to take notes of what the chefs have been doing all these years. And rather than having these two separated departments of cooking and making drinks, the chefs are really involved in the cocktail planning and the bartenders can be quite involved in how we develop menus. I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to bring these two things together. It’s never really happened before—food and beverages have never really been paired together in this way.”
And if dreamy, creamy cocktails are more up your street, the milky mix of Zacapa 23 rum, almond and rice milk, oloroso sherry, French brandy, chocolate bitters, and grated nutmeg might be considered a dessert in its own right. And the perfect way to end the start of the new adventure between these culinary and drinks giants—poised to change tastes and palates across the world.
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